Way to handle issues without freezing?

[bendib]

Hi, I get endlessly annoyed at getting into the fun part of a game with howitzers and such just to find Warzone just lock up and leave me with no options except to kill the process, which then results in anything from whining from the others or accusations of leaving because we were "losing". (usually not) It's alarming to me that so few people are able to host a full 8 player game without worrying about this, whats more, the most recent game that crashed was a 2v2.

If Warzone can't communicate with a connected player, there HAS to be something better to do than just hang! It also happens when games you click in the lobby no longer exist, on rare occasions when you try and host a game, and worse yet, it can sometimes do it when you are getting into someone's game room. Please, if you do have an idea, please implement it in 2.3.8 if you can, because 3.0 is a long way off and we can't just suffer like that until then.

Thanks. :^)

-Ben

[BunkerBlaster]

Hi, I get endlessly annoyed at getting into the fun part of a game with howitzers and such just to find Warzone just lock up and leave me with no options except to kill the process

Yes me too. It is because of additional high latency not detected by ping, bad disconnects and sometimes cheating. Much of which has been fixed in Master version.

It's alarming to me that so few people are able to host a full 8 player game without worrying about this,

My host names are BunkerBlaster, Alien, HostMaster. I can host about 45 eight players games without freezing or locking up with ver 2.3.7. Its not by chance, its because I picked who can connect to me simular to arranging games on IRC. The difference is I spent time after every game identifying cheaters, latency, the type of disconnects and IP provider net ranges including dynamic. Started doing that since ver 2.2.4

whats more, the most recent game that crashed was a 2v2.

With ver 2.3.7 its possible a 1v1 can crash.

If Warzone can't communicate with a connected player, there HAS to be something better to do than just hang! It also happens when games you click in the lobby no longer exist

I don't think its hanging, its trying to connect, click the back arrow or just wait a minute, it recovers.

on rare occasions when you try and host a game

There are several reasons for this, some of which the game has no control. But I agree it should not lock up.

Please, if you do have an idea, please implement it in 2.3.8 if you can, because 3.0 is a long way off and we can't just suffer like that until then.

Yes it would be nice if the new net code was incorporated into a 2.3.8 but its already been stated there were no plans to do that. I stopped hosting except for maybe a couple games over the weekend because I can now see that the extra stuff I do to be able to host open eight player games with ver 2.3.7 as a waste of time. In my opinion the SDL Master version of the game is stable enough, just nobody playing it yet. If you want to host 8 player games with 2.3.7 I suggest you arrange your games on IRC and come up with your own record keeping, it would be much easier than what I did.

[NoQ]

Porting the new netcode to 2.3 was discussed several times, as far as i remember, and they decided not to waste manpower on that, focusing on the new release instead.

[bendib]

In that case, hi Alien. What I mean is I don't mind if I hear a "player exiting warzone" message if it's unable to maintain an 8p game, but it should be doing this instead of just freezing like that. If there is an error, you shouldn't have to wait 30 secs to a min to find out what it is. Same with the lobby. If it's taking a bit to connect to a game, you should be able to click the back arrow, but when it locks up, often for more than a minute and even at times staying locked up, you can't do this.

[BunkerBlaster]

In that case, hi Alien. What I mean is I don't mind if I hear a "player exiting warzone" message if it's unable to maintain an 8p game, but it should be doing this instead of just freezing like that.

I am not a programmer but I can tell you these things are fixed with Master because I play it. In my opinion ver 2.3.7 is unstable and the SDL Master version is stable. Technically its not stable until the programmers say so . The difference between 2.3.7 and Master as far as netplay is ver 2.3.7 crashes. Master does not crash due to latency or bad disconnects. What master does do which can also be an annoyance is pause the game for everyone if one or more players are very latent. Master version tells you who the latent players are. These are the same players that I was filtering out in order to host 8 player games in ver 2.3.7. The bells and whistles should be going off here so to speak . If you don't like Master pausing the game you can filter out that player by adding that players net range to your firewall for future games. If that is to complicated then arrange games on IRC with Master, you will be much more successful. I can see it being fully feasible hosting 10 player games with little or no lag if the Host knows what he is doing. I'm guessing here but for me about 95 percent of players do not lag to the point where its noticeable. In other words you need to filter out that 5 percent. The percentage may be different for you. See you in game.

[JDW]

If there is an error, you shouldn't have to wait 30 secs to a min to find out what it is. Same with the lobby. If it's taking a bit to connect to a game, you should be able to click the back arrow, but when it locks up, often for more than a minute and even at times staying locked up, you can't do this.

Yeah, I experience the same, the Back button isn't clickable for a long time when there's a connection error.

[BunkerBlaster]

If there is an error, you shouldn't have to wait 30 secs to a min to find out what it is. Same with the lobby. If it's taking a bit to connect to a game, you should be able to click the back arrow, but when it locks up, often for more than a minute and even at times staying locked up, you can't do this.

Yeah, I experience the same, the Back button isn't clickable for a long time when there's a connection error.

The Back Button is clickable for me, it takes 3 to 5 seconds for the screen to change if its in the process of attempting to connect to a host that no longer exists. I can only guess maybe it works for me because my hardware is better? I chose my words poorly when I said wait a minute, it was a figure of speach. What I was trying to say is the game will tell you it cannot connect when its done trying. Whatever the time frame is I agree its a little long. If the back arrow is not clickable for you with Master you should make a ticket.

[Buginator]

Please, if you do have an idea, please implement it in 2.3.8 if you can, because 3.0 is a long way off and we can't just suffer like that until then.

Yes it would be nice if the new net code was incorporated into a 2.3.8 but its already been stated there were no plans to do that. I stopped hosting except for maybe a couple games over the weekend because I can now see that the extra stuff I do to be able to host open eight player games with ver 2.3.7 as a waste of time. In my opinion the SDL Master version of the game is stable enough, just nobody playing it yet. If you want to host 8 player games with 2.3.7 I suggest you arrange your games on IRC and come up with your own record keeping, it would be much easier than what I did.

For what it is worth, there are just way too many changes for the new netcode that needs to be done, and nobody has that kind of time to do it. It isn't a simple swap.

I also think people who play MP games should be using 'master' releases, not 2.X.

People who play SP, should use 2.3.X, since master is a bit broken right now.

[BunkerBlaster]

If it's taking a bit to connect to a game, you should be able to click the back arrow, but when it locks up, often for more than a minute and even at times staying locked up, you can't do this.

Yeah, I experience the same, the Back button isn't clickable for a long time when there's a connection error.

When I said it works for me (after a few seconds) I was using Windows XP SP3 with recent drivers from the manufacturer for my network card.

I tried Linux and experienced the same thing with locking up after clicking the back arrow when it could not connect to a game. And the reason is because of drivers. You guys didn't say what operating system your using, whatever it is, try installing drivers for your network card directly from the manufacturer.