Having trouble staying connected for MP game (Full Version)

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Blacklight -> Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/29/2008 11:13:23 PM)

Here's what's going on. Everything is configured correctly. My firewall and router are open on the correct ports. I can connect to a server or run my own no problem. When we get into the game, everything runs like a champ, but after maybe between 3-10 minutes, the computers will drop connect. I've had this problem with playing against other players as well as testing it multiple times between my two computers here.

I get no error message. A message just pops up on both computers saying that the other player has left the game.

I've tried this with multiple scenarios and have gotten the same results.

There is no problem with my router and other games that connect through the internet run fine with no problem.

I have not tried connection through a direct LAN yet, but this is occuring when trying to connect over the internet.
Any ideas what's going wrong ?




rsharp@advancedgamin -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/29/2008 11:28:58 PM)

We'll look into this as it sounds like something is timing out. What router do you use? Are you using a wireless connection?



Blacklight -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/29/2008 11:45:19 PM)

I'm using a wireless connection. I've watched my connection while playing and I am getting full bars for a perfect connection.

I've run my tests just by setting up some ship courses consisting of four of five waypoints and just letting them toodle around so it's not reproducable traced to any action or button I click. The game just seems to drop connect within several minutes (varies).

We are not being kicked off the server. After we exit the game, we are both in the "lounge" screen and can chat on it freely. It's just that the game itself just drops us several minutes into the game.

This is also occuring no matter what computer is used as the server.

My router is a Linksys WRT54GS



Shemar -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/30/2008 1:48:25 AM)

Have you tried several different scenarios using different databases to verify it is not something relatet to a specific scenario? It sounds to me that the computer may be mistakenly assuming somebody's victory conditions were met and not all scenarios play properly on multipayer.



Blacklight -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/30/2008 5:48:50 AM)

I've tested with multiple scenarios and with separate databases. It makes no difference.

It's not the victory conditions being met. It just ends the mission with both of us failing, and it says on each computer that the other player has left the game as if one of the players had disconnected. Only it does this on both computers.



Shemar -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/30/2008 6:36:21 AM)

Do you have the capability to test it on a LAN? That will completely eliminate any possible external factors.



Blacklight -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/30/2008 6:42:56 AM)

That's my next step for tomorrow. [:D]



Shemar -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/30/2008 7:02:43 AM)

Good luck [:)]



Blacklight -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/30/2008 11:08:24 PM)

Ok.  I tested the game with a direct ethernet cable from one computer to the other.  The game ran fine until about 7-8 minutes in, and then the game ended claiming on both computers that both players had left the game.  I tried this with a few scenarios using the default Harpoon database with the same results.  I also did a couple scenarios with the PlayersDB, also with the same results.  So it's not a problem with the wireless router.

Once again for the tests, I simply set courses for the units involved and let them toodle along their paths doing nothing else.
The scenarios ran fine when I ran them single player.

I did some futher investigating on the results after the drop.

1. It claims on both computers that the other player left the game. The game end screen pops up on both computers informing them that they failed their missions along with all the evaluation windows and such.

2. Upon closing the windows and exiting the game, both players go back to the lobby

3. The client computer can see the other player logged on in the lobby. The server computer cannot see the other player logged on in the lobby.

4. The client computer can type messages in the lobby. The messages do not show up in the client computer's chat window but do show up in the server computer's chat window.

5. The server computer can type messages in the lobby, and see the messages it enters in it's chat window. The client computer cannot see any messages in the chat window.

6. The client computer can see the game session listed when the server player selects a new scenario and can join the session. Client computer still cannot see any messages in the chat window if they are sent by both the client or the server computer.

6. Since the client computer cannot be seen on the server side, it cannot be assigned a side for the game.

This is leading me to believe that there is some fault with the server program.



Shemar -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/31/2008 12:07:46 AM)

Could it have anythng to do with the server computer also being a client computer? All my MP games were using a dedicated server and while we had one-sided diconnects on occasion, they were most likely due to the other side's dial-up connection and we never got disconnected simultaneously as you describe.



Blacklight -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/31/2008 12:17:25 AM)

I don't know, but that really shouldn't be a problem. Other games that use a separate server program run fine on this system.

Me and another player also had this problem originally the other night when we were trying to play on a dedicated server so I don't think that would be the cause. That's what prompted all my testing in the first place.

I also changed which of my two computers that I used as a server.

We tried playing originally on a dedicated server, then, to eliminate the server being the problem, we tried: him being the server/client with me logging in, me being the server/client with him logging in... all with the above results.


After that, I decided to eliminate my router and his computer from the equasion and I did the above tests.




rsharp@advancedgamin -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/31/2008 12:21:42 AM)

Are you using a multi-core system for the server or client? This has proven to cause unstable behavior in the past. You can set the processor affinity in the Windows Task Manager for the server process.



Blacklight -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/31/2008 12:22:53 AM)

I am not running a multi-core system on either computer here.

My specs are:
Computer 1.
AMD Sempron 2800+
2 Gigs Ram
Windows XP Pro, Service Pack 2
NVIDIA GForce FX 5500
Linksys Wireless G PCI adaptor
VIA Rhine II Ethernet adaptor
Sound Blaster Live

Computer 2.
AMD Sempron 3300+
2 gigs ram
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 series
Broadcomm 802.11 b/g WLAN
Realtek RTL8139/810x Fast Ethernet NIC
Conexant AC-Link Audio (Integrated)

I've also noticed that the game seems to take longer before dropping when I run the server program on one of my computers. When we were playing on the dedicated server, the drop would occur anywhere from 1-5 minutes after game start. This increases to between 5-10 minutes when I'm running the server on one of my computers here.




BurntFingers -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/31/2008 6:26:10 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Blacklight


My router is a Linksys WRT54GS


I doubt it is this... but what version is it? Firmware 1.4 was a bit suspect at maintaining connections.

Unlikely, I'm just trying to eliminate it.

Oh yes... also, what version DirectX?

I'm just playing Devil's advocate, trying to elimate possible causes other than the game.

(Thinks: I'd better build another box this weekend).

Stay with it. You're doing a good reporting job.

EDIT: Reason I asked about the router is that the default firmware (1.4 I think) has a tendency to drop connections on some games. Reason I ask about DirectX version is that some releases of "Windows XP2" are actually pre-releases and need a real copy of SP2 to go over the top (mine does this). You also need to install SP2 for the networking on all the PCs on your network.



Blacklight -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/31/2008 10:30:04 PM)

Ok.. my router's firmware is 4.71.1

DirectX version is 9.0c

Both computers are Windows XP SP2
One computer came pre-loaded with the windows with sp2 already in it and the other I manually put SP2 in.

Today, running a test through my router, I picked a short mission "Dawn Patrol" and had the ships wander around. This time, I didn't turn on the time compression so it was running real time. The scenario is supposed to have a 12 hour time limit. I also was watching the server window while the two computers were connected.

This time, the game ran for about 2 hours like a champ, but then the client timed out and was dropped. The game kept running on the server computer like nothing had happened, but the client computer was disconnected with all of the above wierdness that I listed (Disconnected.. but somewhat connected).

Last night, I ran two tests on a dedicated server with the guy running the server watching the packets. One test made it to the end of the scenario. Another test had the client time out.

I really don't think this is an issue with the router as I'm having this problem when I directly connect my two PC's with a pass through cable as well.



rsharp@advancedgamin -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/31/2008 11:28:38 PM)

Blacklight,

I recommend trying out Tony's server with the HUD3 to see you can maintain a connection there. This would give an independent comparison and Tony is the most experience at maintaining a server.



Blacklight -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (3/31/2008 11:50:47 PM)

Tony's server was the one I used for my test last night. That was the test I did where I had one time out and one full game.



Blacklight -> RE: Having trouble staying connected for MP game (4/1/2008 5:05:37 AM)

After reading this in the bug list, I feel that from all my testing, that my problem could be related to this issue.  This is pretty much what I'm experienceing and conisdering that I was able to get the game to run without disconnecting for two hours or so running without time compression as opposed to a time of 5-10 minutes with a little time compression leads me to believe that there may be a relation here.
quote:

36.> Game ends abruptly

When playing Multi-player games, scenarios will end at incorrect times. One side gets a message that it has not fulfilled the ViConds and has lost. He is then kicked from the game even though there is plenty of time remaining. This occurs more often during "high" time compression rate (1:60+). 




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