Network Simulator¶

The network simulator allows testing your game under various network conditions.

Overview¶

Simulate real-world network conditions:

Packet loss
Latency (ping)
Latency variance (jitter)
Bandwidth limits
Packet duplication
Out-of-order delivery

Enabling Simulation¶

// Enable the network simulator
peer->ApplyNetworkSimulator(
    0.1f,    // 10% packet loss
    100,     // 100ms minimum latency
    50       // 50ms variance (jitter)
);

Parameters¶

void ApplyNetworkSimulator(
    float packetloss,        // 0.0 to 1.0 (0% to 100%)
    unsigned short minExtraPing,  // Minimum added latency (ms)
    unsigned short extraPingVariance  // Random variance (ms)
);

Example Configurations¶

Good Connection (LAN)

peer->ApplyNetworkSimulator(0.0f, 5, 2);

Average Broadband

peer->ApplyNetworkSimulator(0.01f, 50, 20);

Poor Mobile Connection

peer->ApplyNetworkSimulator(0.05f, 150, 100);

Terrible Connection (Stress Test)

peer->ApplyNetworkSimulator(0.2f, 500, 200);

Disabling Simulation¶

// Disable by setting all values to 0
peer->ApplyNetworkSimulator(0.0f, 0, 0);

// Or check if enabled
bool isEnabled = peer->IsNetworkSimulatorActive();

Testing Strategies¶

Test with varying conditions - Change parameters during gameplay
Test edge cases - Very high latency, high packet loss
Test recovery - Network improves/degrades suddenly
Test all reliability types - Ensure UNRELIABLE and RELIABLE both work

Build Configuration¶

Network simulator is only available in debug builds by default. To enable in release:

// In RakNetDefinesOverrides.h
#define _DEBUG_NETWORK_SIMULATOR 1