Odd Multiplayer results

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

Odd Multiplayer results

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Close Combat – The Bloody First >> Odd Multiplayer results

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

Odd Multiplayer results - 12/16/2019 6:02:40 AM

WillKnott

Posts: 48
Joined: 9/13/2010
Status: offline

2 times Friday night..i hosted default bocage as germans with both on elite settings. in at least 2 cases of battles. As the host. the game ended with a morale failure leaving one vl for us on the first map. The odd thing was, my opponent, who as we communicated on the phone, he continued to play the battle for many minutes..not knowing, i had a morale failure and the battle had ended. Eventually play stopped with basically identical results.

we thought maybe the game keeps the end of battle on the hosted client that finished first, and it saves on his end but the battle keeps raging from that point with or without ai help for a few minutes until it stopped. We saw in 2 battles he snuck up on my armor and destroyed it long after my hosted side ended. In my version my Marder was alive end well and had survived...each next battle i had my marder. We laughed it off but I could still hear the battle over the phone when i called him.

Regardless, the operation we were able to progress thru the operation.

-- ps I would really like to custom operations...even if it boils just selecting the force pools like a single battle on first operational selection...it would add replayability with humans.

Post #: 1

RE: Odd Multiplayer results - 12/16/2019 3:07:57 PM

SteveMcClaire

Posts: 4472
Joined: 11/19/2007
Status: offline

Did you mean seconds instead of minutes perhaps? It's possible the client will see the game continue for a few seconds after the battle has ended on the host as there are several seconds where the battle 'wind down' time and (assuming a slow internet connection) whatever information in transit finally arrives at the client.

Once the battle has stopped on the host the client shouldn't be able to play anymore -- order processing, unit movement, firing, AI, etc. are all handled on the host. The client can sit on the battle screen reviewing the final state of the battle for as long as they like before clicking 'Debrief' however.

(in reply to WillKnott)

Post #: 2

RE: Odd Multiplayer results - 12/16/2019 3:13:04 PM

WillKnott

Posts: 48
Joined: 9/13/2010
Status: offline

it was minutes.i had time to sit and wonder why it was taking so long...so i called opponent and he was still playing and giving commands and clueless the battle was over. Ill see if this persists and report in.

(in reply to SteveMcClaire)

Post #: 3

RE: Odd Multiplayer results - 2/20/2020 7:48:36 PM

WillKnott

Posts: 48
Joined: 9/13/2010
Status: offline

Its been a while since I posted on this topic, but I have more information.

In the previous mention of this, my opponent and I were remote, my game ended, but after several lengthy minutes, I called my friend and he said "we were still playing" and I could hear our battle raging in his background for several minutes. Finally, he reached end of battle and the results were 'in sync' with each other.

Since then, I have had opportunity to have my opponent come to my location and we played head to head operations on 3 separate evenings for several hours across a few weeks time sitting back to back. We played 20ish battles. Cobra and Troina. Most of the battles generally followed 'in sync'. However, we had a handful of them exhibit a different timeline between us.

On the side who's ahead in time...there is no notice of symptoms. Your orders are being responded to reasonably well and in a timely fashion..time seems to click by. You attack, my units respond, its normal battle.

On the side who's behind in time...there is the appearance of action. The game is running, and I can even continue to give orders. However, if you make a new command, and issue the order, while you see a response, the troop will still be in a different state. if he is defending and I issue a 'run' order, the game will accept the order, but my troops will stay in defense and never seem to 'register' the order. I have found if I ask my opponent, "what time is your game clock on" when this occurs, he invariably says 10s of seconds when first noticed, to a full 1-2 minutes ahead of my game clock, toward the end of one game it was 5minutes!

On one particular situation after we figured out some things, when there was 1-2 mins difference, we stopped giving orders and each hit 'truce' and proceed to watch a replay of his entire tank attack he made vs some troops in a hedgerow, seeing my troops offer up defense, plink his armor and deal some minor damage a few times w a rifle grenade, watch his tank back out, trade some combat shots for several minutes until finally the timeline of the 'truce' caught up and ended the battle, with the results properly recorded.

of the 20ish battles, we observed this 4-5 times. We found dropping our resolutions and using elite/veteran settings would mitigate this, as well as using the 'lagging' side as the HOST would help the situation, which seems to play in favor of the weaker host doing the HOSTing. Happens most often when fastest machine is HOST. Seems as though the servers 'timeline' is the master timeline, and as the game plays through its orders and results, it displays them on each side's local timeline. The onetime side is up to date w server, but the laggy side issues orders for sometime in the future. Thats how we could tell when the lag was upon us when troops orders were delayed by enough seconds. We could also gauge explosions, if an arty strike was blowing up and I would see calm or a long counter, it was obvious. We ended up just deciding as soon as we see symptoms we both truce let the games catch up on the timeline and let the game progress the operation.

(in reply to WillKnott)

Post #: 4

RE: Odd Multiplayer results - 2/20/2020 10:06:58 PM

SteveMcClaire

Posts: 4472
Joined: 11/19/2007
Status: offline

Thanks for the additional information WillKnot. I have not been able to reproduce this myself but will look into it.

You are correct that the host player's game is the master state. Commands from the client player's game go to the host and are processed into events. That said the two should not be able to get that far out of sync.

< Message edited by Steve McClaire -- 2/20/2020 10:07:59 PM >

(in reply to WillKnott)

Post #: 5

RE: Odd Multiplayer results - 2/21/2020 9:50:13 PM

WillKnott

Posts: 48
Joined: 9/13/2010
Status: offline

thanks, we are 100mb fiber internet, so i don't think it was a latency or bandwidth type of problem. Lowering resolution on both sides a bit, using moderate gfx setting, changing the host and using fewer units with elite/veteran settings were helpful. we had many more battles that did work fine, before and after these changes. Hardware is not the newest but still capable, just seems like a processing deficiency sort of thing from experiencing it. The changes above made a difference.

Its completely interesting thing to witness though...as we watched the timeline catch up to the end it played out exactly what my opponent did and my troops responded as he remembered just like a replay.

(in reply to SteveMcClaire)

Post #: 6