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goMac · Jul 14, 2002, 10:14 PM

Hello all!

I have two machines running X. One is a G3/400, the other is a iMac G3/500. Now, my G3/400 has no trouble playing on gameranger, but when I do network play between the two machines, it is very unstable. One will usually just quit, no warning. Sometimes there is trouble even getting into the game (sits at the waiting to join screen) and sometimes the game crashes the first time a human player moves a unit.

Ideas? I'm running the latest version on both and have tried re-installing.

BillStevenson · Jul 15, 2002, 09:11 AM

I made a separate networking config for "gaming" in my locations. In it I put in IP's of 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 (respectively, for the two machines). Both are upgraded to 1.0.4 on the boldgames website - this is essential because multiplayer doesn't work right without it. Both are simply plugged into a hub that I use to split my cable modem. Both work, for the most part, just fine. Particularly well if I unplug the cable modem - then all traffic on the hub is just my two machines gaming. When I am done I go into locations and switch to "automatic" and plug in the cable modem. Viola.

glowingcactus · Jul 19, 2002, 08:58 AM

This bug cheeses me off big time.

Version 1.04 was supposed to fix a lot, but multiplayer (non gameranger) is still knackered.

I get a dropped player lots. (By this I mean one computer will have the application just quit without warning). You can save the game and restore but what a pain.
Sometimes (rarely) there is an error message along the lines of 'out of sync error'

We have:
iMac G4 800 and a G4 Powerbook (Rev C) both running MacOSX 10.1.5 with 512Mb RAM and privately networked via a DSL switch at 100Mbit with decent cat5e cables. I can't see that it is a hardware / network performance thing.

However I get the impression that a player drops when there maybe a lot happening in the simulation eg at the very start of a new game or when battle is hotting up after about an hour or so.

Or is it an OS X thing?

THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED. Microsoft should at least acknowledge the fact that this important feature does not work reliably.

Sorry, its driving me and my son nuts.

This would be an excellent game but for this.

Brad Oliver · Jul 19, 2002, 10:31 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by glowingcactus:
I get a dropped player lots. (By this I mean one computer will have the application just quit without warning).<hr /></blockquote>On my iDisk (boliver) there's an OpenPlay archive. Download this and replace the files in your Age2 install with these. Make sure all the players in your game do the same. That will fix the issue with players dropping the game. There should be a forthcoming Age2 patch that fixes this and a few other bugs "officially" if that aspect bothers you.

Brad

glowingcactus · Jul 20, 2002, 04:51 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Brad Oliver:
On my iDisk (boliver) there's an OpenPlay archive. Download this and replace the files in your Age2 install with these. Make sure all the players in your game do the same. That will fix the issue with players dropping the game. There should be a forthcoming Age2 patch that fixes this and a few other bugs "officially" if that aspect bothers you.

Brad<hr /></blockquote>Thanks brad. downloaded and will try today.

glowingcactus · Jul 20, 2002, 12:41 PM

Hats off to you Brad!

Your fix was spot on. Managed a 3 hour battle with no player drops!

What is the story behind this fix?

Brad Oliver · Jul 20, 2002, 04:04 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by glowingcactus:
What is the story behind this fix?<hr /></blockquote>The short version is that it fixes a case in OpenPlay/NetSprocket where "guaranteed" packets would become corrupted under certain conditions, the most often being under high bandwidth/high latency conditions. It's actually a bug that's been in NetSprocket for a long time in various forms.

Brad

goMac · Jul 21, 2002, 05:13 PM

I'm also happy to report that the new version of OpenPlay fixed the problems!

This probably ranks in the worlds most stupid/silly questions, but I'll ask it... Has Microsoft considered using OpenPlay as a option in the Windows version? I'm guessing that both the mac and PC versions talk sorta the same, but of course they use different protocols.

Then they could even port Age of Empires to Linux :snort giggle laugh:... ok.... I'l stop there... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />