(Originally posted on BZC in September 2006)
I made a contact with one of the original BZ programmers regarding our FPS problem. I told him what is that bug doing to this game and how future, with even more powerful computers coming, doesn't look very bright. Without something done, things can only become worse. I suggested him some kind of patch which will lock everybody's FPS at 60, because 60 FPS is the sweet spot and anything above that gives unfair advantage. At the moment, the only thing that can lock FPS is vertical sync (option in a graphic card), but V-sync can only lock FPS to the monitor refresh rate (60Hz - 60FPS, 85Hz - 85FPS), so even those with CRT monitors have advantage over those with LCD monitors (if they don't manualy limit FPS to 60 in graphic card settings). Also, there are two things that can override V-sync: playing in window mode and playing in software mode. So, even though we all talked about V-sync fix before, we actually need FPS fix.
For those who don't understand how FPS impacts on BZ gameplay I will explain it with two tests:
Test 1 – set refresh rate on your monitor at 60Hz, and turn V-Sync ON in your graphic card's settings (this will give you 60FPS in the game). Of course, you have to be in a full screen and hardware mode. Open a game with 5 minutes mission time. In the same time the game starts you start your stopwatch. After a 5 minutes, you will see that both times are synchronized.
Test 2 – set your monitor refresh rate at any value you want and turn V-Sync OFF this time (this will give you more FPS than 60, how much exactly it depends on your computer configuration). If you don't have graphic cards control panel and/or you cant find your V-sync, then just start BZ in window or software mode for performing this test. For example, let's say that you got 200 FPS. Now start measuring mission time vs real time (stopwatch time) like in the first test. After 5 minutes you will notice that mission time is over and stopwatch is at 4.20 (if you by turning V-Sync OFF got more or less FPS than 200 this result will be slightly different).
60 FPS –> mission time vs real time – 5min : 5min
200 FPS –> mission time vs real time – 4.23min: 5min
300 sec : 263 sec = 1,14 : 1
200 FPS is 14% faster than 60FPS
I made few more tests and the results are: 100 FPS is 4% faster, 300 FPS is 24% faster and so on. For every 10 extra FPS you are 1% faster.
Conclusion is that with 60 FPS (V-Sync ON) mission time is the same as real time, but with more FPS than 60 (V-Sync OFF) mission time runs faster than real time.
60FPS 0%
100 FPS 4%
200 FPS 14%
300 FPS 24%
Now, I will explain how that difference affects the game. We know that a person with 200 FPS has 37 seconds advantage in a 5 minutes game, but what that really means? It means advantage of a 14 % in every segment of the game. 200 FPS ship will move, fire, strafe etc. 14% faster. His stabbers, mags, rockets will be 14% faster. While ship with 60 FPS travels 500 meters, ship with 200 FPS travels 570 meters. 200 FPS ship can exchange fire for a while and at any point turn and head for ammo and/or repair. 60 FPS ship can't catch him, because after every 100 meters, speed up ship gets advantage of a 14 meters. His pilot is falling from the air to the ground 14% faster, and he is very hard to snipe because of that. You also probably noticed how certain persons can destroy your recycler very fast. It is not because they are good, it is because of their too big FPS. I could write a book about unfair advantages of a V-Sync OFF, but the thing is that you already know all this, because you have all seen it. You just didn't know what it was. You thought that it was lag, E-W bug, players skill or even a hack. FPS difference is sometimes very hard to notice, and sometimes is so big that it is easier to notice than a slight odf hack. By now you all know bomber TailSpin (last week he was flying by the name 2Slow, this week he is RearAdmiral). His speed is hard not to notice. He for sure has more than 300 FPS. If you don't believe me, try once following him when he's heading for repair or ammo, try to catch him, it's impossible. Only way for killing him is to step on his way. Watch his rockets going fast as SP stabbers, or watch him when his pilot is falling to the ground. All other pilots (with reasonable FPS) are falling slow like they have parachute on, but it looks like Tailspin's pilot parachute won't open. He's funny guy. The same goes for Reaper, he runs BZ in window mode and he is getting 250FPS. There are lot of those characters in BZ and with new computers coming their number is rising.
while sitting yesterday in the lobby and telling people about this post, in a few hours, i got around 10 new enemies. hehe, not that i didn't expect it, but i had to mention it here. those who fight against hackers and tweakers will always have bunch of enemies, it is a price i got to pay. i can live with that, can you? unfortunately every second ship in bz is speed up, but what to expect from people when even our yesterdays bz guru (reaper) has 250 fps. people need heroes, people need role models. i can't blame them if they found something in reaper, because i did too at one point in the past, i saw his love towards this game. now i found out the truth about him and his 250 fps. he is making new weapons for bze and in the same time he is cheating all bz players. whatever he did for battlezone, he is now taking it back. i never slept better in my whole life after i wrote that post. how you slept reaper?
you guys should see sir stratking's apc pilots in strat... he admitted 140fps, but when i saw those little creatures firing like crazy and him falling from the sky like he has weights around his neck i realized that his fps is much bigger. i remember when few months ago warchild said to reaper that apc pilots in 1.4l are hacked, not stock. he said that after a game with stratking. i laughed back then, but now i know what he was talking about. i can understand why are those like stratking, reaper and tailspin/rear admiral exploiting this bug, they are not very good players and they are trying to compensate that with big fps, but what i just can't understand is why some good players need extra 50, 60 fps, just a little advantage to be even better. this is just a game, right? you can only win or lose, you can't really die.
maybe we yesterday needed a fix for flash cannon, but today i don't really care about that, i care about fps bug and east-west bug. bb1, your skin for lander looks very nice, i'm so happy because of it. you just keep the good work!
i noticed how some people are defending name, not person. i don't care if his name is reaper, he is cheater. if you defend him, after you saw his speed, you are same as him. some also like to say: 'i played with him since '98, he was always fair.' but guess what, he is now on a new comp with 300 fps and he is not fair anymore. he has v-sync off or he is playing in window mode. there will always be those who will abuse this bug, when it's so easy to do it; 1 click and you are better pilot, you don't have to practice much, you just need good comp. even 2 years old machine can give you around 300 fps. now when you know how this fps bug function, when it is not enigma for some anymore, it is just on you to decide will you exploit it; are you honest or not?
few examples of a fps bug in a strat:
scavenger - 5 / 4
minelayer, light tank, turret - 7 / 5,6
factory, rocket tank, armory, tank, constructor, apc - 10 / 8
scout - 12 / 9,6
walker, bomber, howitzer - 15 / 12
first number is time (in seconds) needed for building units with 60 fps. second number is building with 260 fps (reaper's speed).
as you see, difference is from 1 sec to 3 sec. not much dmer would say, but every stratter knows that in a tough games every second is important and different units and buildings are destroyed/built numerous times.
1 second for a scavenger is not much, but you should know that besides faster build, every single scavenger of 260fps guy will also collect scrap 20% faster. scary thought...
let's take a look at what can be done in 80 seconds... 60 fps player will have 8 tanks, 260 fps player will have 10 tanks - big difference! you already know that 8 normal tanks are weaker than 8 speed up tanks, because they fire and move faster... imagine 8 normal vs 10 speed up... not a nice scene...
if 60 fps and 260 fps guy start exchanging fire, in situation when they are equal dmers, 260 guy wins because, among many advantages, his stabbers travel faster. in situation when 60fps guy is slightly better dmer, they will both finish in the air at the same time. so, you gotta be far better dmer to win a dogfight over speed up guy...
also, during dm, shorter distance goes on a hand of speed up ship, he will not exchange fire from 150 meters, he will try to come as close as he can, when distance is 50m or less he can kill you even faster because of his faster stabbers.
from the beginning of the game till the end, speed up guy has huge advantage. he deploys rec faster, builds scavengers faster who collect faster. he builds constructor faster who builds silo, hangar, supply, barracks, towers faster. he repairs and reloads faster. he builds all units faster. his minelayers lay mines faster, his howitzers get into right position faster and they are shooting mortars faster. his tanks and bombers can reach opponents base faster, they can destroy it faster. he can rebuild lost units faster etc. did i forget to say how faster he is?
as you can see, in strat, speed up tank of your opponent is the smallest worry you will have...
the last example i will give, but not the least important is destroying of a recycler; for a long time i thought that some guys are good in destroying recs. that simply isn't true. reason for them being "better" than others is their fps. with fps high enough ai can't hit them if they spin around. in that case only unit that can stop them is you. if you are not there 20 units and 10 towers isn't enough, because ai is programmed to shoot at 60fps ships. speed up ship can only get hit if he stops moving. if he goes for your rec with full speed ai simply can't stop him, he can strafe with an ease until rec is gone...
60 fps guy needs 15 seconds for a rec. when you see ninja tank (with 260 fps) spining around your rec, and your ai units missing him because he is too fast for them, even 15 seconds wouldn't be enough for saving your rec. knowing that 260fps guy needs only 12 is discouraging. in most cases, you can't stop it, so it is better to build 2 scavs and call your constructor...
good stratters with 60 fps will not have problems with average stratter with big fps. that's why is jenny losing every big game, despite her turbo speed. i just don't like the fact that i can't help those strat beginners when they run onto jenny. i saw too many new stratters, after few of those unfair games with jenny and other tweakers, turning into dmers...
What we can do about it while we are waiting for the patch? We (fair players) can unite and fight against those who are not fair, against those who exploit this FPS bug. Those with CRT monitors are not our problem, they are not doing anything wrong, they have to keep their monitors at 85Hz and anyway their +25FPS above normal (2.5% faster) is not a big deal, but Reaper's +190FPS above normal (19% faster) and Tailspin's +240FPS above normal (24% faster) is a very big problem. First we need to spread the word about this, then politely ask speed up ships to turn their speed down. If that doesn't work, only fight on the battlefield will remain. I'll tell you what I do in the games when I spot a speed up ship; first I ask speed up ship to turn his V-sync ON, or whatever he is using to get extra FSP (window mode, software mode). If he refuses or denies it, I warn everybody of his presence. Then people can see with their own eyes what is going on, if he's speed up or not. If he stays speed up in the game, I just go killing him, I ignore others. Speed up ship soon starts to eject and calling me names, and soon he quits. Mission accomplished. If I'm not alone in that fight and others help me to get rid of the cheater he will next time think twice before coming to the game with such a big FPS.
Thank you for your cooperation,
Mr. Spock
P.S. Few cheaters screenies (click on them to expand):
ߧ«§ìgfrèíd[MGen] (more than 200 FPS...)
Oc Bort (he removed FPS counter completely...)
Oc Loki explaining to Oc Bort how to play Bz at 300FPS, clanmates always stick together
reaper aka Dx (240 FPS)
Edit:
after my fps bug explanation a programmer fixed fps bug in bze, but not in bz. in bze you might see more than 60 fps, but the game will act like you have only 60.
How to limit FPS at 60 (on ATI graphic cards) in bz:
Catalyst Control Center - Graphics Settings
Display Options - 3D Refresh Rate Override - 60 Hz
3D - All Settings - Wait for vertical refresh - Always On
(on nvidia is a little bit different)
Mr. Spock
