   Run multiple game instances
  Hi,I was wondering whether it’s possible to run multiple game instances on a single CPU+GPU? I’d like to build a game machine which does what G-Cluster are doing and run more than one 3D game instance and sends the output to a client.How it can be done without any hacking to game?Thanks,Noam.   
  If the operating system and the game supports it, then you just start them. If the os or the game doesn't support it, you can't. Modern windowses and most games do support it. If the game has any anti cheat, anti macro or some other protection code in it, then you can't do it.Viktor   ;  Hi,I'm not completely familiar with the anti cheat, anti macro or some other protection code in it.Do games like 3D shooter(quake, doom etc.), sports games (EA stuff) have this kind of protections?Do you know about a 3D game that allow this multiple option?Thanks,Noam.   ;Quote:Original post by Noam AdikaI'm not completely familiar with the anti cheat, anti macro or some other protection code in it. Do games like 3D shooter(quake, doom etc.), sports games (EA stuff) have this kind of protections? Do you know about a 3D game that allow this multiple option?Quake and Doom are set to run only one instance of the game at a time, but for those kinds of games the "protection" isn't intended solely for protection, exactly; it's done moreso to conserve memory and processor time, if anything, as those games usually require large amounts of both. For any game that plays online, though, the single-instance-only protection is put in to disallow players from having two characters in the game world at the same time, which could lead to a plethora of cheating, especially in MMO's.As for any 3D game that allows multiple instancing... I can't think of any. As I said, most games will put in the single instance checking just to keep the use of system resources to a minimum. Also have to keep in mind the fact that only one instance will be receiving player input at a time (rare exceptions excluded), making the other instance(s) worthless.If you still want to run multiple instances of a game, though, it would be helpful to know what exactly you're trying to achieve and why, then we can work from there.   ;  Thanks for the detailed reply.I'm really interested in what G cluster doing (http://www.g-cluster.com/).They offer gaming-on-demand for broadband networks. Their architecture is a PC like server which located on the cable operator headend, which runs the game from the commands that are sent from the end user at home.The server is running the game and then it compressed it to standard MPEG2 and send it over the cable network.I know that they say they can run multiple instances (more than 5 and for simple games even more than 20) on a single PC.Do you have any idea how it can be done?Is there a chance to do this without any hacking at all to game?Thanks,Noam.;I use multiple instances for debugging network code sometimes. I built a system in the code for enabling/disabling multiple instances. The second instance is usually running much slower and that's why I run that instance with degraded gfx etc. Cheers   ;Quote:Original post by Noam AdikaThanks for the detailed reply.I'm really interested in what G cluster doing (http://www.g-cluster.com/).They offer gaming-on-demand for broadband networks. Their architecture is a PC like server which located on the cable operator headend, which runs the game from the commands that are sent from the end user at home.The server is running the game and then it compressed it to standard MPEG2 and send it over the cable network.I know that they say they can run multiple instances (more than 5 and for simple games even more than 20) on a single PC.Do you have any idea how it can be done?Is there a chance to do this without any hacking at all to game?Thanks,Noam.What is the reason why you'd want to do this? Is it so you can play the games on your TV or something?;  You can run two (or more) copies of Quake II on the same computer at the same time!   ;  FYI, EVE-Online, a MMO, permits to runs X instances of the game at the same time on the same computer. You can't just be loggued with the same account.   ;Quote:Original post by Noam AdikaThanks for the detailed reply.I'm really interested in what G cluster doing (http://www.g-cluster.com/).They offer gaming-on-demand for broadband networks. Their architecture is a PC like server which located on the cable operator headend, which runs the game from the commands that are sent from the end user at home.The server is running the game and then it compressed it to standard MPEG2 and send it over the cable network.I know that they say they can run multiple instances (more than 5 and for simple games even more than 20) on a single PC.Do you have any idea how it can be done?Is there a chance to do this without any hacking at all to game?Thanks, Noam.For example, modern windows terminal server oses can use the video card to accelerate terminal sessions. The games render to a texture which can be compressed and sent over the network, but this fact is hidden from the games. The problem with this solution is that it requires specialized video drivers and very high capacity video cards. Modern videogames push even the best videocards to their limit even with the realtime rendering of a single screen of data.A cheaper alternative is to use blade servers as standalone clients and capture and compress their native video output with the video on demand server. This requires connection hardware between the blades and the video stream server, but no software modifications at all. This system only needs as much blades as many players are online at the same time, not as many as the number of potential users.The third alternative is to run some kind of virtualization framework (vmware vsx server) and let a bigger machine run multiple copies of the os and the game, while they think they have the whole hardware to themselves.Viktor   