[Q] time compression/pulse question

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[Q] time compression/pulse question

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[Q] time compression/pulse question - 1/24/2017 1:48:55 AM

Rangoon

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Joined: 9/25/2013
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I've never quite understood the logic behind how time compression works in CMANO while in non-pulse mode. Compression implies a ratio, and when it's listed as 1 second, 5 seconds, 15 seconds, etc., I expect that number of simulation seconds to equate to one second of real time. And it works as expected while in pulse mode. I would expect non-pulse mode to smoothly update unit positions based on the capability of the system running the simulation while maintaining the selected time compression ratio. However, when I switch to non-pulse mode, I see the clock tick up by that number of seconds with every update while the actual movement of game time is significantly faster than the selected compression ratio.

Non-pulse mode works as it seems it should while in 1:1 time because the simulation still holds the proper time ratio while simply not waiting for the next one-second pulse to update positions. It's simply smoother, as desired. However, once you increase the compression, the simulation time runs wildly away from what is selected. I would prefer if it held true to the selected time compression ratio, but simply maintained the smooth "as fast as possible" updates to unit positions. It would give that smoother feel, yet still maintain a predictable logic as to how much time is passing. It's easy to feel time compression in your mind if you know the ratio, but not if the ratio becomes seemingly random. It's disorienting.

It seems that non-pulse mode would be so much more useful in this way. Is there any way to implement this?

< Message edited by Sunburn -- 1/26/2017 10:16:43 AM >

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RE: time compression/pulse question - 1/24/2017 10:36:38 PM

dcpollay

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Joined: 11/22/2012
From: Upstate New York USA
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I've noticed this too. 1 second time = real time, but 5 second time ~ 1 minute of game time. I don't play that often to bring it up, and always just assumed someone else would notice and fix it, if there is something to fix.

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RE: time compression/pulse question - 1/25/2017 5:06:27 PM

Rangoon

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Joined: 9/25/2013
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Time compression with no-pulse would be so much more useful if it was true to its stated ratios because you could actually use the full spectrum and "know" how much time is passing without staring at the clock. As it is, I think 1:1 and 5:1 are the only useful ones on a regular basis, and I often I find 5:1 no-pulse too fast/frantic (while 5:1, 15:1, even 30/60:1 are great speeds in pulse mode on a regular basis). I can't imagine using the faster compressions other than in the odd fit/spurt here and there where you're simply trying to advance the scenario without caring about what's actually happening (again, pulse-mode these are useful ratios, but you have that artificial feel to the pulses).

A question to the programmers: what is the actual compression ratio of 5:1 no-pulse supposed to be? Is it variable for each computer running the simulation? Or is it some other fixed ratio? If it's fixed, can at least the menu be changed to reflect that? And if not, is it possible to implement a mode "in between" the two already present which would lock the compression ratio to the stated ratio but still allow updates to happen as fast as possible (smooth)?

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RE: time compression/pulse question - 1/25/2017 7:09:01 PM

mikmykWS

Posts: 11524
Joined: 3/22/2005
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Inspiring post. I think we'll all be skipping home tonight

Pretty sure increasing the time increments in no pulse mode acts like an accelerator. Your computers performance will impact this. Nobody including the pro's has complained about this yet or thought it was inaccurate. We'll look into it to see if there though to do our due diligence.

Hopefully a dev will feel up to responding to this more concisely at some point.

Thanks!

Mike

< Message edited by mikmyk -- 1/26/2017 2:06:42 PM >

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RE: time compression/pulse question - 1/25/2017 8:37:28 PM

Dimitris

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Joined: 7/31/2005
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In pulsed mode, the game continuously "starts and stops" the sim execution in order to maintain the (familiar to old Harpoon players) "one refresh per second at most" map refresh rate. The various compression rates then determine how much scenario-time passes on each refresh.

In non-pulsed mode, the game runs the sim as fast as it can, while also refreshing the map at a much faster rate (it tries to maintain a consistent 10-FPS rate). The different compression rates mostly lose their significance in non-pulsed mode; if you go higher than real-time the sim just runs fast, period.

If I understand correctly, you would prefer essentially a combination of the two (e.g. at 1:15 sec, run 15 secs of scenario for 1 sec of real time and refresh the map fast). This is neither easy/simple to do nor what most of our users have been telling us they want. Most players want the sim to either run smoothly at real-time, when they're hands-on with one aspect or another, or otherwise run as fast as possible, stopping only at significant events (which is why we provide a wide range of configurable pop-up alerts that halt execution).

Thanks.

< Message edited by Sunburn -- 1/25/2017 8:45:18 PM >

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RE: time compression/pulse question - 1/26/2017 4:03:16 AM

Rangoon

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Joined: 9/25/2013
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Thanks for your explanation. You're correct that the combination of the two current options would be my preference. I was hoping it might have been something relatively straight-forward to implement, or that perhaps I was not understanding those time options correctly. But I get what you're saying.

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RE: time compression/pulse question - 1/26/2017 8:58:35 AM

Peter66

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Joined: 11/13/2016
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Thank you Sunburn I had often wondered how this worked myself. Never found it a problem but it's always handy to know how things work.

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RE: time compression/pulse question - 1/27/2017 12:19:47 AM

Rangoon

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For what it's worth, then it seems that the 5:1 with no-pulse mode should be about 50:1 (multiply each compression ratio by ten, in theory?).

One problem I have had, though aggressive use of pop-ups helps with this, is that the key commands don't stop/reset the clock when things start to happen. sometimes, it seems, many things begin happening all at once (missile launch events, new contacts, etc.) and no matter how quickly I hit Enter, or Control-Enter, or Control-Q, or the Minus key, nothing happens. I have to actually click the Stop button with the mouse.

Needless to say, I'm using more pop-ups now!

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RE: time compression/pulse question - 1/27/2017 5:42:40 AM

Rory Noonan

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From: Brooklyn, NY
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With the pop-ups, I've noticed this happens when I have the message box open in a seperate window. Is it the same for you?

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Post #: 9

RE: time compression/pulse question - 1/27/2017 7:40:35 PM

Rangoon

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quote:

ORIGINAL: apache85

With the pop-ups, I've noticed this happens when I have the message box open in a seperate window. Is it the same for you?

Yes, I have the log open in a separate window. I was wondering if that is what was going on, as if the window becomes the active window and you need to have the map be active in order for the hotkeys to work. If so, it would be great if the time/play/pause all worked regardless, as long as something/anything CMANO was active.

Good observation, apache85.

(in reply to Rory Noonan)

Post #: 10