PerformanceOptimization
Optimize Avalanche Trivia for smooth, lag-free gameplay on any device.
Keep the mountain board reactive and the player feed responsive with proven network and device optimization techniques.
Stabilise the real-time feed
Avalanche Trivia relies on Firestore listeners and a Socket.IO bridge. Follow these steps to avoid desyncs during play.
- Prefer wired Ethernet or a strong 5 GHz Wi-Fi connection when hosting. Packet loss during avalanche events can delay resets for affected players.
- If you notice delayed leaderboard updates, refresh the page after confirming your network is stable. Rejoining keeps your `playerId` intact because the server tracks it in Firestore.
- Close VPNs or bandwidth-heavy downloads while playing. The WebSocket connection between the client and the server falls back to polling if it cannot keep a persistent tunnel open.
- Hosts should leave the game tab in the foreground while avalanches resolve. Paused or throttled tabs delay the animation completion signal and can hold players in a pending state.
Tip: Run a quick latency test before tournament games. Staying under 80 ms round-trip keeps the mountain board nearly real time for everyone.
Streamline your browser
A clean browser session prevents frame drops during animations and keeps the waiting room video from stuttering.
- Use a modern Chromium-based browser or Safari 16+. Older versions throttle background timers aggressively, which can pause countdowns and shield prompts.
- Disable unnecessary extensions for the duration of the session. Ad blockers or script injectors sometimes intercept Firebase requests.
- Enable hardware acceleration in browser settings so the mountain, snow, and avalanche particle effects render on the GPU instead of the CPU.
- Hosts can open an Incognito or Private window dedicated to the dashboard so cached service worker data and stale Firestore credentials do not interfere.
Tip: If a player device is aging, reduce browser zoom to 90% to render less DOM area. The responsive layout keeps text readable while reducing paint cost.
Tune the host device
The host renders the animated board, logs, and audio simultaneously. Keep the machine responsive to avoid dropped avalanches or missed prompts.
- Mute background applications and music players so the avalanche audio cue remains audible. The cue warns you that a player triggered a zone.
- Set the browser tab to full screen or split view on a dedicated monitor. This prevents the OS from putting the tab to sleep when you monitor other workspaces.
- If you need to screen-share the board, share just the browser window instead of the entire desktop to save bandwidth.
- When Auto Weather is enabled, watch the log panel. If you see weather cycling faster than expected, toggle the feature off and set conditions manually to reduce update churn.
Tip: Keep chrome’s task manager (Shift + Esc) open. If the Avalanche tab climbs above a few hundred megabytes, refresh during a break to reclaim memory before the next round.
Device-specific notes
- Switch to Wi-Fi before joining; mobile data hand-offs can pause the WebSocket connection.
- Enable system-level reduce motion if animations bother you—the layout respects OS accessibility preferences.
- Close camera and screen recording apps. They compete with the waiting room video for hardware decoding.
- Use landscape orientation during busy rounds so answer buttons and the encouragement banner fit side by side.
- If the browser reports it is running out of memory, clear the site data for avalanche.baffl.fun between matches.
- Plug in before long events. Battery saver modes throttle CPU frequency, slowing avalanche animations and socket callbacks.
- Connect a mouse or trackpad with precision scrolling. The host logs support smooth scrolling for quick review of recent events.
Quick troubleshooting
- Refresh the player tab to re-establish Firestore listeners.
- If you are the host, confirm the events subcollection is receiving entries—lack of entries indicates the game client lost permissions or connectivity.
- Pause other video streams on the device.
- Use the browser’s picture-in-picture control to shrink the preview; it reduces decoding cost without leaving the room.
- Check for high CPU usage in browser task manager—if the main thread is saturated, the prompt may render after the timer starts.
- Avoid switching tabs immediately after answering a danger-zone question; wait for the prompt decision to complete.