Running multiple instances of a game

[raznitzan]

Hi,
I do an invetgiation of an idea of running a game server that runs several instances of a game and video of each instance is sent to seperate user. (GCluster is doing similair thing). I would like to know if it is possible without hacking a game title to run several instances of a 3d game on single CPU/GPU pair.
Thanks,
Raz

[monjardin]

invetgiation = investigation?

I don't see why not, as long as you can select a different host port for each instance.

[geon]

video of each instance is sent to seperate user.

You mean like streaming the video over a network?

[raznitzan]

Yes.
I was told that a game runs and catch all the resources of the CPU and GPU and as a result the next instance will run very slowly. Is this true. Is it possible to run e.g 4 instances of DOOM on single CPU and GPU?

[Wernaeh]

Usually, the problem is not that one instance runs particularly well and another particularly bad, but rather, all of them run a lot slower. Just think about it, the CPU needs to do four times the work now. (However, some games tend to stop gameplay calculations while minimized, so you might not always have that effect...)

However, given enough CPU power, there should be no problems at all.

Excluded are games that for instance only allow a single game process per machine.

Why don't you just go ahead and try it with a few example games ? ^^

The only problem I'd see is to reroute game video output from the window surface to some offscreen video streamer...

Cheers,
- Wernaeh

[monjardin]

I thought the OP wanted to run several instances of a game SERVER on one machine, and then connect with a single client on each seperate machine... Is this correct?

[geon]

If you just need some low-end graphics and simulations, it would probably work fine.

For a modern game, though, forget it. To get 2 instances running decently you will need to double the recomended specs. And you will still need some more CPU for the video compression and streming.