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Board » Technical Support » Refresh timess

Posted by
Rod


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Posts
392
Registered at
2010-06-24 22:30:48
2014-01-30 02:29:59 - Refresh timess
The subject of the refresh times has arisen in the chat again. I have attempted to rationalize the "4 times per minute" refresh in terms of 'distance covered' and 'regularity of time', without much success.
I realize that this problem is noticeable only during the so-called "Practice Races" and the "Timed races".
I have also found that the execution of the 'Send command' is quite variable in its timing.
For example, when approaching a mark, and the Boat Icon is positioned immediately prior to the mark, I have counted out 10 or 12 seconds (One-hippopotamus, two- hippo...as well as by the seconds hand of a watch or clock) and then clicked on the "send command" button, only to see that my boat has turned immediately, short of the mark, making a course reversal and a second rounding attempt is nescessary, with the loss of most of a minute.
My basic enquiry is this:
Has anyone managed to develop a rational explanation of the system used by the program?
In addition, at "race start", it is usual to see three arcs of vessels, spaced one quarter minute apart, indicating that some boats start earlier than others. Is this choice "at random", or is some other criterion used to determine "who" starts first, and who waits for a number of seconds before starting? This problem is also of minor significance in the regular races, but can be very important during practice and timed races, where a 'half minute' lag can be very difficult to make up.
The level of skill in these Sol competitions has become so markedly improved that these two timing problems have become much more important than they probably were when the original program was written.




If it breaks, it's not strong enough--if it doesn't, it's too heavy.
Posted by
Svein


Users avatar

Posts
84
Registered at
2009-05-04 15:09:20
2014-01-30 20:32:46 - Re: Refresh timess
Rod,
this is not an uncomplicated issue, however in no particular order:
my observations yield that there is a basic 15 second update cycle, which is 30 seconds about every third time and exceptionally 45 seconds - that is update to your boat position on the client screen.
This makes tight water nav tricky at best.
However, the position of boats on the client screen does not not represent the true position of the boats in the server - everybody start at the same time in the server.
I have lost "fast and furious" races because of terrible turns, whether it was my fault or server quirk.
I believe that Markku (hmm) will eventually (as we get more familiar with server personality) be able to explain the intricacies at hand.
You are describing the situation well and maybe the issues can be treated with more computer power or software redesign, but I do not believe it is priority one yet, but again thanks for good desciption

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