One of the reasons why 2k4 ONS requires so many resources is because 2k4 was built on the infrastructure put in place in 2k3. It was not really expected, or designed to support 32p vehicle servers, even though the possibility existed. In fact, if I remember correctly, Epic did not really even approve of the attempt to run one, until Cain proved it could be done. And if not for the miraculous AMD technology of the time, it would never have been done.
Supposedly, the 2k7 infrastructure will be completely re-written with vehicles in mind. This would imply the requirements should at least not get worse for 32p in 2k7. What makes the difference (and would allow in theory, infinite numbers of players) is that fact that 2k7 will be multithreaded, meaning it will use multiple CPUs/Cores to get the job done. So if one core could support 32p, then 4 cores would certainly be able to support 64 or even more. In terms of gameplay, they initially talked about knitting several "Torlans" together to make the arena for 64p warfare.
And also Warfare sounds more task oriented. There might not even be the possibility of having 64p in an encolsed area which is where you get the humungous CPU usage. You might need to "split up" teams to accomplish different things. Who knows. It's all speculation.
So really, it is a limitation of the 2k3 codebase. Because things like tribes and BF1942 have had 64 player capabiltiy, correct?
But, (and correct me if I am wrong since I have not played those games extensively) there are no maps like dreamus, where you have 32 people crammed into a small spot. From what I understand, they are all like the very large maps for ONS. Therefore, you can do clever tricks to reduce the overhead.
zeus wrote:So really, it is a limitation of the 2k3 codebase. Because things like tribes and BF1942 have had 64 player capabiltiy, correct?
But, (and correct me if I am wrong since I have not played those games extensively) there are no maps like dreamus, where you have 32 people crammed into a small spot. From what I understand, they are all like the very large maps for ONS. Therefore, you can do clever tricks to reduce the overhead.
yes but those are produced by EA. And EA produces mediocre stuff at best. Thus anything associated with EA, save for their sports games, is instantly garbage.