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Question about Internet speed/bandwidth and computer specs for Roll20

September 19 (10 years ago)

Edited September 19 (10 years ago)
Hi,

firstly I wish to say that I'm really honoured to be using such a great tool in Roll20 and that I love the work; kudos to the guys and gals who set this all up. I've only just started using it and its blown me and others away with its versatility and vision.

I have a few questions which I hope you can help me with, mainly regarding connection speeds/bandwidth requirements and possibly recommended computer specification to run roll20 smoothly. I'm in the UK and I have GM'd a short adventure with 2 friends I have in Poland - apart from some problems with audio ie getting each other to hear each other which I believe was down to personal audio settings, everything was pretty plain sailing over 4 or 5 session that we played. Last night, I introduced some new players to my adventure, all of which reside in the UK: 3 players and myself in total. While generally, we could see and hear each other (we used webRTC), we would sometimes get one player who lost the audio of another player when it was there seconds ago - then when they tried exiting the game and rejoined, the loss of audio swapped between the two players who were having the problems! One player could not get his mic to work at all and yet could get a level on the mic in his computer settings and hear everyone else perfectly. All the players said at one point my video box disappeared behind the table top grid and could only see about 20% of my video box. I'd say in a three-hour session, each player had exited and re-entered the game about 5 times to "reset" or "cure" the issues.

Please don't take this as a complaint - it seems to be just technical issues I'm sure. It did get me thinking though about each person in the game as to what specification of PC/laptop and their internet connection and whether therein lies our problem. I use a fairly decent desktop PC with a reasonably fast speed connection for the UK - my players however, are on some varied gear and varied connections. The guy who couldn't get audio full-stop lives in a rural area, which in the UK means about 2mbps at best on his connection and then he's using the connection wirelessly on-top of that. Another player (I don't know his connection speed) when rolling dice, I was seeing the result (3d dice) about 7-10 seconds before him, when he was initiating the dice roll! All my players would've been connected wirelessly whereas I was connected hard wired.

So, did we just have a bad night or is there a kind of benchmark for computer specification/internet speed and does it raise per player in the game particularly when each player uses a webcam and mic? Is there some sort of peer-2-peer going on or is everything being played out server side? How do you deal with such a variation in bandwidth/latency?

l'lI finish by saying we still had a lot of fun though and we're planning another session!
September 19 (10 years ago)

Edited September 19 (10 years ago)
Pat S.
Forum Champion
Sheet Author
There is not a true benchmark for the bandwidth but if audio and video is being used then the bandwidth is spiked high. Usually for those that are using low speed connections (basic dsl and lower) will discover that if they don't use the video their audio works much better and their lag is reduced to a minimum. The amount of bandwidth consumption for just the basic roll20 (no audio and video) is about the same for facebook or so. This is what I've noticed while doing some research on bandwidth consumption.

Now the technical issues

The audio / video drops are usually due to the internet connection speeds.
The mic not working is probably due to a setting not being right. Have the player check on his setting tab in the game that his audio and video is set properly. If it is then he will need to reset the browser permissions probably. You could have him click on the padlock up by the url and scan down the menu list to media and make sure it is "allowed by you" or such then reload the page.
The video box disappearing and slipping behind the grid needs to be posted in the bugs /technical forum. I think it has been reported before but a new post doesn't hurt.

Suggestions.

If video is not truly needed then have everyone disable it. If you all have skype then try it or another instant messenger that you all are comfortable with. This will allow you all to talk outside of the game room along with probably supply a more stable voice chat. The devs have taken massive steps to make webrtc more stable and usable to everyone but it still misbehaves sometimes.

Additional reading material

https://wiki.roll20.net/Solving_Technical_Issues
https://wiki.roll20.net/Optimizing_Roll20_Performa...
https://wiki.roll20.net/Video_and_Voice_Chat

September 22 (10 years ago)
Thanks for the reply, I'll have a read of the wiki's and have a chat to my players about our next game - we don't really need video, its just nice to have!
September 22 (10 years ago)
Pat S.
Forum Champion
Sheet Author
Sorry that I couldn't be more helpful but good luck with your game.
September 22 (10 years ago)
You are using the built in video client then? I would suggest experimenting with Skype or Oovoo -- it has been my experience that those products work a little better than the in house brand, and are somewhat more adjustable.
September 22 (10 years ago)
Gid
Roll20 Team
You might also want to try running your Roll20 game through a Google Hangout.
September 23 (10 years ago)
Had a session last night with the same players (4 of us in total) - all had webcams and mics and by-and-large, everything went pretty good in terms of stability. A few audio and video drops and one player dropping in and out a bit but that was due to his router/ISP. I guess we just had a bad night, the other night, as nothing had changed in terms of hardware or connection speed. Most players turned off 3d dice and that seemed to help a lot.
Before I discovered roll20, we were always using Skype for our players that are away from the physical table when we play and last night the players commented that the roll20 video/audio experience was far better than Skype's! Though this might be because we all had individual mics as opposed to several peoples voices coming through one mic at the table!
I might have a look at Google Hangout but if it generally can run as good as last night then I'm happy with the in-house video/audio. BTW do you need Google+ accounts to run Hangout?
PS Can I also say a big thanks to Kristin for producing those tutorial videos - They were a great help to get my campaign up and running and learning how to use Roll20!