CODEWITHSUNDEEP
network-programminglatency
JPtheK9
JPtheK9

Reputation: 307

How do I measure ping?

I get how to calculate ping - current time minus the time stamp of the packet - but how do I create a time stamp in the first place? What synchronized concept of time can I use? Note: I use .NET 2.0.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 8222

Answers (1)

return true
return true

Reputation: 250

It could be as simple as when you issue your ping request (I will explain this in more detail in a moment), you make note of the current time, and then, when the server/client responds with a pong, you make note of the time again. Subtracting the pong time from the ping time gives you the amount of time for the communication to go between the two applications.

Wikipedia describes ping in the following way:

In multiplayer online video games, MMOs, MMORPGs, MMOFPSs and FPSs ping (not to be confused with frames per second) refers to the network latency between a player's computer (client), and either the game server or another client (i.e. peer). This could be reported quantitatively as an average time in milliseconds... Rather than using the traditional ICMP echo request and reply packets to determine ping times, game programmers often instead build their own latency detection into existing game packets

What I like to do, is when I make a client and a server, I always write in a simple 'ping/pong' command. In short, a ping request is made by one application, when the other application receives it, and sends back a pong confirmation command. This is good for debugging, but for actual development and depending on the game, I usually piggy back this with a heart beat to make sure everything is running as it should. Hope that helps!

Upvotes: 4

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