Speaking to the "it's hard to change colors" topic... Morganni, I can envision half a dozen scenarios that would, in fact, make it as hard or
harder than what's been stated. But the most likely one, in my book, is the fact that as things stand they only have to transmit one piece of data -- a
very small one, in fact -- to tell every client that can 'see' your character what that character can do (ie, powersets) and therefore how to draw it.
We're talking -tiny-, here; it could be as simple as a single number.
Add in something even as simple as color customization, and suddenly you've exponentially (or more!) increased that data, because now you have to transmit
the color information as well as what powersets -- and that's only assuming they allow ONE change per powerset. If they allow, say, blue-flame aura but
green-flame fireballs... yikes!
If you limit it -- say, you can only do primary colors (bad example, but whatever), you're still -at least- tripling the potential information being
transmitted. And remember, this has to go to each and every connected client that can 'see' your character. Imagine the lag that would come from
tripling the amount of data being transmitted in Atlas Park alone.
Now, I'm not saying that's the situation -- I can think of a few other ways to get character data schlepped around that wouldn't have this problem
-- but if the system was never designed to allow this sort of thing from the beginning, it means a partial re-write at the ground level to accommodate it.
Which is a helluva lot of work.
Again, I don't have the direct line into NCSoft's studios, I dunno if this is the problem or not. But it IS a very common problem with
heavily-trafficked networked applications, which is something I -do- know a bit about .![[Image: smile.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/smile.gif)
I found some posts a while back that led me to think this is indeed the issue, but damned if I can find them right now. They were by the Brawler, with a very
definite "let's end this discussion" note by... Castle, I think? late in the thread. It didn't state this explicitly, it's just what I
read between the lines. At any rate, if I can find them again I'll edit this to post the link.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
harder than what's been stated. But the most likely one, in my book, is the fact that as things stand they only have to transmit one piece of data -- a
very small one, in fact -- to tell every client that can 'see' your character what that character can do (ie, powersets) and therefore how to draw it.
We're talking -tiny-, here; it could be as simple as a single number.
Add in something even as simple as color customization, and suddenly you've exponentially (or more!) increased that data, because now you have to transmit
the color information as well as what powersets -- and that's only assuming they allow ONE change per powerset. If they allow, say, blue-flame aura but
green-flame fireballs... yikes!
If you limit it -- say, you can only do primary colors (bad example, but whatever), you're still -at least- tripling the potential information being
transmitted. And remember, this has to go to each and every connected client that can 'see' your character. Imagine the lag that would come from
tripling the amount of data being transmitted in Atlas Park alone.
Now, I'm not saying that's the situation -- I can think of a few other ways to get character data schlepped around that wouldn't have this problem
-- but if the system was never designed to allow this sort of thing from the beginning, it means a partial re-write at the ground level to accommodate it.
Which is a helluva lot of work.
Again, I don't have the direct line into NCSoft's studios, I dunno if this is the problem or not. But it IS a very common problem with
heavily-trafficked networked applications, which is something I -do- know a bit about .
I found some posts a while back that led me to think this is indeed the issue, but damned if I can find them right now. They were by the Brawler, with a very
definite "let's end this discussion" note by... Castle, I think? late in the thread. It didn't state this explicitly, it's just what I
read between the lines. At any rate, if I can find them again I'll edit this to post the link.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs