2016-02-05 21:55 , edited 2016-02-05 21:57 by Braddock512

Today we are happy to announce that we are increasing the default simulation (tickrate) of our 32 player servers for Battlefield 4!This means ALL PlayStation 4 & Xbox One small servers (32 players and smaller) will now run at 45hz compared to the previous default rate of 30hz.This increase improves ALL networking delays of the game by ~11ms per action – a massive impact on the second-to-second gameplay.There are several factors to consider when looking at this data and picking a new default tickrate:• Client bandwidth increase• Server bandwidth increase• Server/hardware load increase• Number of players on the server & compound impactWith the Holiday Update (released just before Holiday 2015) we included several features to improve upon these factors, both on the server load and bandwidth usage side. This enabled us to run several tests in which we filled up servers running various tickrates (45hz, 50hz, 55hz).After looking these results, we decided to go with the more cautious choice (45hz @ 32 players). Even though higher rates works pretty well for most players, we need to make sure this change affectsy.We are not increasing the default rate for 64 player for the same reasons. We did see issues for both players, and sometimes the server in certain circumstances in our testing – even at small tickrate increases.On top of this, we also crosschecked by looking at our data from 64 player servers used in the High tickrate PC beta (which share the same exact hardware setup), and this cemented our decision.We did not feel confident that 64 players will work flawlessly on all maps for ALL players if we increase the default rate for 64 player games.As changing the default rate is quite a big change, we need to take extra precautions in its roll out.To ensure everything works as intended and it improves the game across the board, we are going to confirm our assumptions with a final testing period.45hz default tickrate will be enabled on all 32 player (and smaller) servers in the North American East coast server pool (PS4 and Xbox One).This rollout will start at 10AM CET.Confirmation testing period, ensuring the change works as intendedFull roll out globally (if successfull) - timings to be decided.Please use this thread for both questions and feedback during this period. We will try and answer as many of the questions as possible!See you on the Battlefield!/David SirlandTwitter: https://twitter.com/tiggr_ [twitter.com]