One of the
biggest things that many players forget when
they use Kali is that Kali can do so much of the work FOR
them. Right now, there are probably about 50 players on
Kali, perhaps 25 are in a JK game, but only about a 1/3
of them are using Kali to its full potential. Why?
Because they are using Jedi Knight with TCP/IP protocol. TCP/IP versus IPX
Many ask me,
"What is the difference in gameplay?" The
answer is: practically nothing. I quote an email that has
been circulating on Kali for a while now:
Question
from FearNo1
Date
sent: Sun, 05 Oct 1997 10:51:30 -0500
From: FearNo1
To: kali-list@kali.net, support@kali.net
Subject: TCP/IP vs IPX
For
gaming via the net, is there a definitive advantage
to either of the protocols? Does one of them have
smaller packets or something? Lately I have heard
(with Jedi Knight and TA) that TCP/IP is faster than
IPX. Ne truth to that?
Question
from FearNo1
From:
"Kali Technical Support Team"
<support@kali.net>
X-Real-Sender: RICHARD
Organization: Kali, Inc.
To: FearNo1
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 11:17:58 EST
Subject: Re: TCP/IP vs IPX
The
actual data size is the same. It's the header info
that makes a (very) slight difference. By the time
you add in the Kali information, the IPX packet is 5
bytes larger than normal IPX. This still means it's
smaller that TCP/IP, but larger than UDP.
What
does this mean for your games speed? Nothing. The
game would have to be sending over 40 packets a
second for the speed difference to be noticeable.
There is no game (including JK) that sends that fast.
Thanks,
Richard
So what
you have here is no difference in gameplay possible. So
now you ask "If there isn't any difference, then why
can't we just use both?" The answer to that one is a
bit more simple than you can probably imagine.
Joining
IPX games
IP games
have a game list listed ONLY on the host's IP address.
IPX games are listed on the games list on the Jedi Knight
Kali Server. This means that if you want to just
"drop into a game" all you have to do is start
up Kali, go to the JK server, start up JK, select Join
game, IPX protocol, and you get a nice, tidy little list
of all the freekies that are playing JK right there in
front of you to choose from.
Hosting
IPX games
If you
want to host a game, no problem. Just do the same thing,
except instead of join, you pick host. Set your settings
and drop into the game. If everyone used IPX, you would
never have to advertise your game in chat... you would
have all the advertisement you'd need for people to join
JUST by being on the games list after you host. Trust me.
People will join.
TCP/IP
Games
The
alternative is to host a game with your IP address by
displaying your IP to everyone you want to play with you.
Then, you start up JK, host a game of TCP/IP, and drop
in. This is the hard part:
If someone
wants to join, they have to know your IP address. Since
you gave it to them in chat, all they have to do is copy
the numbers to the clipboard, and paste it in the nifty
DirectPlay dialogue box when JK asks for it. Easy huh?
Yes and no.
If you
miss the cut and paste (it happens sometimes) then you
have to alt-tab BACK to chat to get it. If it was in a
private window that address is GONE, baby! You'll have to
sit this one out (unless the host did something stupid...
more on that in a bit).
Say you
get into the game successfully, but after a while, you go
weary of everyone beating you down because you wanted to
use Deadly Sight and not any of the Neutral Powers... you
keep getting blinded by Disciples and such <G>.
So you
leave the game to make yourself a new character and try
to go back. Same thing, if you lost that number on your
clipboard, or that IP address isn't in a chat window you
can get to anymore, you are out of luck. Unless...
Using
/away to advertise
Unless the
host is advertising a game with an /away message. By
doing this he accomplishes a number of things that are
beneficial to the people that will join his game, but he
also does one thing that is pretty detrimental to his
clients.
People can
now look for the IP address in the main chat window, so
there won't be any losing the numbers. People can come on
the server and instantly see all the IP games going on
(maybe... some folks leave their away messages on when
they aren't really away, consequently they are saying
they have a game up, when in reality, they don't).
Downside
to staying in chat with this /away message displaying to
everyone when they join the server is that your computer
(and internet connection) is still concentrating on
updating your chat window with ALL the people in Kali
Chat. This wouldn't be so bad if you were JOINING a game,
since your computer doesn't do Object Management for the
game... the HOST'S computer does that.
Host
Computers Jobs
But if you
are hosting, your computers responsibilities are greater
than you may think. You have to start the game, send
notify packets to everyone that is wanting to join the
game, send current game info to everyone first joining,
keep track of all the doors, objects, and trap triggers
on the entire map for EVERYONE in the game, and then of
course keep track of your personal damage count when you
get hurt and send damage packets to client computers.
And then
you want to add about 35 lines of chat text a minute to
that mix? I don't think that you will be doing your game
a favor by taking up that little bit of bandwidth so you
can stay in chat...
You
probably won't see a difference on your end since you
will always be able to modify your environment instantly
(you being the host and all), but your client's computers
will have to wait just a TAD longer to pick up objects,
go up an elevator, open a door, or flip a trap's switch.
It is already bad enough that you get the advantage of
"instant gratification" but now you want to
make it worse for them... on purpose?
Not to
mention when your name is on that list, people think you
are THERE. I've never done it so I wouldn't know, but
I've been told of horror stories where someone was in a
game and in chat at the same time, and someone private
messaged them, crashing the game. Gasp!
Conclusion
Using IPX
protocol on Kali is so easy... just start up and go. It
is just like the zone, except that Chat is WAY faster,
and you don't have a bunch of 12 year olds playing Level
8 games and shouting "NO MORE GRIP! NO MORE
GRIP!"
Use Kali
IPX for Jedi Knight. If everyone did it, this game could
be as organized as Descent 2 is (Descent 2 had to put in
a port address function so that they could separate IPX
games list on Kali Servers... there are THAT many games
in progress at one time).
See you in
chat!
-SOB
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