It estimates the ping using geolocation (based on your IP and the IP of the gameserver). Given those estimated pings, the scoring system then tries to find a server, taking into consideration all the party members (not just the leader).
One of the main advantages of the new system is that it will never put people into an empty server. People who get matched into an empty server are extremely likely to immediately quit and reenter matchmaking. Instead, it groups players together to seed a server with at least N players. (Currently N = 8.) In that case, it explores combinations of N players and gameservers, looking for the best gameserver / players combination. It can definitely prefer to start a new match rather than putting you in one that's already started, if the game in progress is too far away. Eventually I'd like to use the geolocation only as a rough way to limit the search, and then get a few pings for the most promising servers. But it's not quite there yet. In general, geolocation is an OK proxy for ping time. It can be fooled if your route to the server across the street bounces halfway across the country and back. But it can avoid connecting to a server halfway across the world. The new system also is more willing to have players wait in the queue, rather than dumping them into some server on another continent just because that was the only sever with a slot open at the moment they hit "start searching." It examines the same server multiple times, rather than once. (Players come and go from servers pretty rapidly, and waiting for an opportunity very often pays off.) In general, it should never put you into a distant server, unless you have already been waiting a long time, or unless you have somebody else in your party who is from halfway around the world, in which case it will hopefully find a server about halfway between you. Basically the threshold for "good enough" slowly decreases over time. You can get matched into a bad server, but only after it has spent enough time waiting for a good server opportunity to come along. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dr. McKay Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 6:02 PM To: Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list Subject: Re: [hlds] Improvements to TF matchmaking beta are live How does it match you to servers now? By average ping? McKay On Jul 27, 2012, at 7:53 PM, Fletcher Dunn <[email protected]> wrote: > Basically putting players on servers closer to them. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Russell > Smith > Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 4:38 PM > To: Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list > Subject: Re: [hlds] Improvements to TF matchmaking beta are live > > Any hints on what the improvements were? > > On 27.07.2012 16:15, Fletcher Dunn wrote: >> Hello All. >> >> Some improvements to the matchmaking beta in TF2 have just recently >> been made live. >> >> If you have reported a problem previously, thank you! Keep an eye out >> and let me know if you feel an appreciable difference. It *SHOULD* be >> a fairly dramatic improvement. >> >> If you have a particularly bad experience (either as a server >> operator or a client) that you think is probably a bug, please report >> the time of the event, and the IP of the gameserver. >> >> Thanks! >> >> Fletch > > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please > visit: > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please > visit: > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds
