Looking for answers

[unmerged(6268)]

I am currently playing a MP game with my brother over a cable connection. We have made it 100+ years into the game. We play in about 5 hour stints. The game sessions have not proven very stable(3-10 crashes per session), but playable. If it were more than me and my brother, it wouldnt be possible.

Warspite, you dont suffer from the problems. I am a little suprised. You say having a "stable" setup will enable a stable game. Maybe you can help me stabilize my system. Ill even give you my opponents setup. Any advice would be appreciated.

Me:
1ghz Athlon
320 RAM
32Mb Radeon
SB Live
Win98 SE
-As a rule, I only have systray and explorer running in the backround. Neither of us are behind a firewall. I have updated my sound a graphics drivers within the last month, as a matter of fact, right before I bought EU2. And like I said, we both have cable.

Bro:
Pent500
300+ RAM
32Mb Diamond Viper
SB Live
Win98 SE
-He also only runs systray and explorer in the backround. He has also found his latest drivers.

Short of doing Vodoo rituals, what are we missing?

 

[Warspite]

Well friend to be quite honest you are doing well. YOu have fast computers, fast connect, you minimize background use, and have plenty of memory it seems.

When i play, i usually get through about 40 years on avg before i get a crash. Like i said , there are hickups online no matter what so you just have to head them off at the pass. Save your game yearly and be patient. I also agree that too many players will lead to a shorter game. If you dont have a strong group of people you connect with it is sorta hard to make it all work.

If you crash every few years or even 10 years consistantly then you may have a problem connecting to the server or staying online with it. There are so many variables its very hard to diagnose where a problem is without paradoxs help directly. Best we can do with what they give us is work with it and plan for the inevitable hickups with saves.

 

[unmerged(6268)]

Thanks. I did find your response helpful, though. Sometimes, knowing that Ive done all I can do is comforting enough.

If you can get through 40 years at a time, that implies EU2 can be very stable, under certain conditions. I wonder if my cable provider is providing a stable connection. Maybe its something else. What kind of sound and graphics card do you use?

 

[AndrewT]

Your brother has the slower machine , so make sure he is the host. If the fast machine is host the slow one won't be able to keep up.

 

[Warspite]

Originally posted by AndrewT
Your brother has the slower machine , so make sure he is the host. If the fast machine is host the slow one won't be able to keep up.

Not necessarily, you have to test it out, keep in mind that if the slow machine hosts then you run a good chance of fast machines getting slowed down graphics and other features of the game. Not to mention the slower machine might well be less stable. The fast machine should be the host if able but i think people need to find their comfort zone and what works for them and use it.

I just know from testing that the slow machine hosting leads to more crashes, causes some graphic lagg on faster machines etc.

 

[korny]

Make sure every driver is updated.

video
chipset
sound
everthing

Make sure your swap file is set to at least 512 mb.

goto www.speedguide.com (i think thats the url) and do the cable modem/DSL tweaks it will help stop packet fragmentation.

I can play fot 6-8 hours before i run into issues - i think its related to memory leaks.

 

[AndrewT]

Originally posted by warspite


Not necessarily, you have to test it out, keep in mind that if the slow machine hosts then you run a good chance of fast machines getting slowed down graphics and other features of the game. Not to mention the slower machine might well be less stable. The fast machine should be the host if able but i think people need to find their comfort zone and what works for them and use it.

I just know from testing that the slow machine hosting leads to more crashes, causes some graphic lagg on faster machines etc.

I too am speaking from experience. Having my fast machine as host means the slow ones drop off almost immediately. With the slow one as host we played for 100 years with one dropout only. The fast machine being a little slower as client is the price you have to pay for stability.

 

[unmerged(6329)]

Originally posted by warspite


I just know from testing that the slow machine hosting leads to more crashes, causes some graphic lagg on faster machines etc.

Hard to say... for EU1, I have a two computers (cele300, 196M, voodoo3... win98se and amd1.4G, 256M, gfII MX-400 64M, win98se...), my friend has a one (cele600, 128M, gfII 2MX, winME). We play tcp/ip over internet, same isp.

if I host, with cele300 it works well, client (my friend) does not crash. but, with amd1.4Ghz my friend crashes in few years.
if my friend hosts, cele300 crashes in few year, amd1.4Ghz works ok.

Hard to say what's wrong...

It seems, eu1 is missing simple lag detector (it should be on every multiplay game), if lags, it will cause serious problems on client and this causes probally crash on clients (if it does not know when to hang on for long time).

Then my another suspect, when I coded a simple worm game over tcp/ip (with sockets), for some reason or not. when host sends a data to client. "Move xxx to yyy", then next millisecond "Move aaa to ddd". Client might get those two orders on same *line, and if it does not know how to break those lines/data, client will not understand the second data. This does not happen on LAN, because LAN has no usually lag... but it appeared on tcp/ip games sometimes.

Yours,

Timo