3.13 patch, multiplayer, and loss of sync

Esgaro

Chieftain
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Feb 5, 2006
Messages
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So I just installed the 3.13 patch, and fired up a multiplayer game with a friend of mine. Immediately after starting the map, before even taking the first turn, we got a nice red message on the screen stating that we had lost sync. A save a reload fixes it, but it always pops up soon afterward. We've played plenty of games with 3.03 before, and have never had this problem. Something tells me there will be a 3.13.1 or 3.14 patch soon.
 
I am having the same problem since installing 3.13. I've tried playing with my friend online, or my wife on the laptop and the message pops up within a few turns. I've played BtS weekly (or more) with my friend online and have never seen this bug before. Additionally, although it states that we're out-of-sync, we can continue playing until the annoyance of the big, red message drives us from the game. Anyone else have this problem or know how to get rid of the text?
 
Are you sure your friends have the same version?
 
Does this happen even on LAN games? This would be game breaking for me since I usually play with a friend on the same network... :sad:

It seems I have to stick on 3.03 for now... :cry:

Cheers,
Charge
 
Yes, I'm sure both my friends and I have the same version. However, it appears that this is not a terribly common problem, so you could consider updating without too much fear of a big red banner across your screen.
 
I'm glad they delayed the patch to do all that extra testing to catch these very obvious and game breaking bugs. I usually play multiplayer with my friends so this kind of ruins it. We've been forced to use 3.02 and direct IP connect due to the bugs in 3.03. Looks like we will have to keep using old versions and direct connect if we want to play multiplayer.
 
Yes, we both have the same version. I have only tested it with Direct IP games, and not LAN. I have no idea if this problem happens for LAN games.
 
I play often with a friend over direct IP, and pre-3.13 we have sproadically had OOS. Sometimes a save and relaod fixes it, sometimes we have to roll back an autosave or two. How it occurs is unclear, though a few circumstances seem to trigger it, like using ctrl-H (supposedly fixed in patch), and drafting seemed to do it 8or there was one big circumstance). Though overall, it could appear several times in a short while, or not at all for hours.

Now however, with the 3.13 patch, it seems to appear steadfastly after a few rounds. And it doesn't flash as it used to, it's solid. So, the patch broke direct IP-games at least :(

Yes we have the same version, both 3.13.

Anyone have experience with keeping on playing like this?
 
Something tells me there will be a 3.13.1 or 3.14 patch soon.

You're optimistic! :)

Seriously, don't get your hopes up waiting waiting for a timely patch. You're probably better off rolling back to a patch you know works for the time being.;)

Firaxis is like a box of chocolates...:mischief:
 
I play often with a friend over direct IP, and pre-3.13 we have sproadically had OOS.

I just tried 3.13 with a friend of mine tonight and in 2 attempts, we had an OOS error each time before we even issued our first move. It was a new game, Direct IP, simultaneous turns was unchecked, 6 AI Civ's, Epic, Fractal map, Era is Ancient, Monarch difficulty level,only item checked under options was "No Vassals". What the heck! Who does the tests the patches before they are released?
 

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Hmm, I just played 20 turns of a MP game locally without any OOS errors. Did I just get lucky? Anyone else playing MP and -not- getting OOS errors?

Bh
 
Well, all my avenues for game play are now negated. I attempted LAN play and was thwarted by the OOS popping up within the first turn. What gives? Looks like I'm going to have to roll back to 3.03 and deal with crappy corporations until the next patch comes out. I've sent a query to 2K Games about this, but have yet to receive any response.
 
Hmm, I just played 20 turns of a MP game locally without any OOS errors. Did I just get lucky? Anyone else playing MP and -not- getting OOS errors?

Bh

We tested an old save several times, OOS popped up within one turn. Then a new game for testing purposes, and the OOS was there from the word go. Doesn't seem to be something you are lucky about, probably there's one specific factor that might not be active for everyone.

And a firaxis-patch to fix this is something I have no hope of whatsoever. Maybe someone else might stumble upon a solution, there's a lot of good work being done by you guys. But aside from that, I wonder if the OOS-signal actually means something is wrong and continued play will end up with people being on different sides of tuesday with their underpants on their head, or if it's a false signal. Surely a fresh game can't actually be out of sync before anyone has as much as moved?
 
Well, the first thing to do would be to ensure that both copies of the game are identical. If, for example, one of them ended up with an old 3.02 file, for example, that certainly would lead to OOS errors. The way I did it was install the game on one computer, and then copy that installation directly over to the other one. That way I could ensure that both computers had identical files.

Bh
 
Hmm, I just played 20 turns of a MP game locally without any OOS errors. Did I just get lucky? Anyone else playing MP and -not- getting OOS errors?

Bh

I, for one, appear to be in the same boat. I can't report any problems so far so the problem is not universal.
 
I wonder if the OOS-signal actually means something is wrong and continued play will end up with people being on different sides of tuesday with their underpants on their head, or if it's a false signal. Surely a fresh game can't actually be out of sync before anyone has as much as moved?

We had started a large ring map with four teams of two. Both of us were on the same team. We had the out of sync message right at the beginning as well, before the first turn had occurred. A reload fixed it for about ten turns before it reappeared again. We had decided to try to keep playing, and there were obviously still problems. I got a special event of five barbarian spearmen popping up outside of my capitol VERY early. My teammate did not get notice of the event, and could not see them. In the following three turns, they proceeded to capture my capitol. According to my teammate it looked like I still had control of my city.

From this experience, it doesn't sound like something you can just play through.

We are both playing stock BTS. No mods have ever been installed on either of installations of the game.
 
Well, the first thing to do would be to ensure that both copies of the game are identical. If, for example, one of them ended up with an old 3.02 file, for example, that certainly would lead to OOS errors. The way I did it was install the game on one computer, and then copy that installation directly over to the other one. That way I could ensure that both computers had identical files.

Bh

Well there are several reports of people getting incomplete installs of the patch, I had that myself as well, had to do a full reinstall to make sure. Possibly, that might cause it. But there ae hundreds, thousands of component files, are there not? Hard to tell if one file deep down didn't get patched. Patchnumber ingame was 3.13 on both of course, but that just means the file with the number got pached :crazyeye:

We had started a large ring map with four teams of two. Both of us were on the same team. We had the out of sync message right at the beginning as well, before the first turn had occurred. A reload fixed it for about ten turns before it reappeared again. We had decided to try to keep playing, and there were obviously still problems. I got a special event of five barbarian spearmen popping up outside of my capitol VERY early. My teammate did not get notice of the event, and could not see them. In the following three turns, they proceeded to capture my capitol. According to my teammate it looked like I still had control of my city.

From this experience, it doesn't sound like something you can just play through.

We are both playing stock BTS. No mods have ever been installed on either of installations of the game.

Well that's that settled then, thanks for the info.
 
Yeah, you can't keep playing with an OOS. The random number generator will be generating different results, which means you'll be playing different games.

Have you tried doing a full reinstall? As I said, it's possible (if unlikely) that it didn't update one of the files properly for some reason.

The other idea is to turn on all the debugging options. The MPLog.txt tracks the synchronization, and could give an idea of what's causing you to lose it.

Bh
 
You modify the CivilizationIV.ini file in "My Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword". I don't recall specifically which logging option enables the MPLog.txt, but generally if you enable (set to '1') all the options at the end of the file that have "Log" in the name, I'm sure you'll get the right one. :)

Bh
 
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