From: jsbell@acs.ucalgary.ca (Joshua Bell)
Subject: Re: More on MUDs (Was Re: VR Worlds better than Reality)
Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1991 16:41:54 GMT
Message-ID: <1991Aug06.164154.4807@acs.ucalgary.ca>
Organization: University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada


In article <1991Aug5.191006.11130@milton.u.washington.edu> usdgog@vtserf.cc.vt.edu (Greg Granger) writes:

>Continuing the thread (pardon if I rehash anything, I haven't been
>following this long).
[stuff deleted, big time]
>
>What kind of processing power/net bandwidth would be required for a VR
>game in 3D space with stereo sound for say 50 players on-line?

Doesn't GEnie's Air Warrior sort of do this by cheating? (Never played, so
this is speculation) You down-load a flight simulator-type program, that acts
as a terminal in the background, and sends your position to the central
computer, and receives a list of everyones position, heading, damage, etc.
Linewars, a kind of Elite klone, is a two-player version of this with modems.
Spectrum Holobyte's new Falcon 3.0, and their next releases of A-10 Tankkiller
and Tank work on the "Electronic Battlefield" concept, similar to how GEnie's 
AW works. It _should_ work on a office-type LAN.

You can get 3-D, high frame rates, and 3-D stereo sound with 50 players
fairly easily, IF you move the graphics/sound processing away from the central
computer. You probably need only about 1k-byte per .1 second bandwidth, but
its got to be fairly reliable. Processing power: I'd say at least an Amiga
2000 or a 386sx clone w/ VGA for a standard screen, probably double that
for a true VR (goggles/gloves)

TTFN/TTYL...  Joshua B-)
[these opinions for sale, cheap!]
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