DIRECT IP
So, say you want to play a MP game with your friends, what's your best choice to minimize Out Of Sync problems? I can share my experience but I will update this thread when we gain more experience with different players/games.
I always use Direct IP, I suppose it works the same if you use Hamachi or Evolve to create a VPN, but I've never tried.
I know there have been some problems with the Steam version of the game. I don't own a Steam version so I'm not sure how to solve them, but if I'm not mistaken there's some kind of compatibility option you have to check.
One thing you might need to do is to edit your hosts file if there are more than 2 human players. This is necessary because when Gamespy was shut down it somehow broke MP. Luckily we can now rely on some free server.
What you have to do is open with a text editor the file "
hosts" that you can find in
C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
and add the following lines
Code:
148.251.130.188 civ4bts.natneg1.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4bts.natneg2.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4bts.natneg3.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4bts.available.gamespy.com
You can see why/how to do it
here.
What will probably happen if you don't do it is that you'll get a message about the firewall not being properly configured for the third player when he tries to connect.
Another thing you have to make sure is that you have EXACTLY the same copy of the mod. And I really mean exactly the same. Same revision, gameoptions, BUG options, etc. I'm not sure if graphic options matter (they shouldn't), but I've always used the same options (Single Graphic Units and similar). Also same options in CivilizationIV.ini file.
For some reason sometimes options are being reset, mostly when you change revision or when you play another mod between sessions of your MP game. For this reason, I suggest you select the options you want to play with while starting a single player game. Then you quit the game (to desktop), and
make a backup copy of your CivilizationIV.ini, UserSettings folder, XML, Config and Python folders. Store them away from your mods folder in case they are needed. If you want to make sure you're all sharing the same files, send your backup folders to your friends and have them delete UserSettings, XML, config and Python folders and replace them with yours. Check also CivilizationIV.ini, those files can't be identical since they store the name of the player and other similar data, but make sure they both have the
same gameoption string and victory conditions (those are 2 strings of 1 and 0), and also make sure all players have set
DisableCaching = 1
DisableFileCaching = 1
Another thing I suggest is that you avoid alt-Tab during the game.
Some settings that I can suggest are:
- All players use the english version to stay safe.
- You'll have to set ALL your RevDCM options BEFORE starting a MP game, in a SP game; you can't change them once the game is started because that page under BUG options is locked in MP.
- Remember that every player must have the very same UserSettings folder; I suggest you make sure you share the same revision of the mod; then the host chooses his BUG settings in single player and then sends the UserSettings folder to other players, which will delete their own UserSettings folder and replace it with that of the host. This way you'll be sure you're using the same settings.
- Turn off Debug or Cheat modes if you have used them
- I play with Simultaneous Turns which is working more or less; I haven't tried No Simultaneous Turns
- New Random Seed on Reload and No Barbarian Civs are forced off via dll, no matter what's your choice in the starting options. I think it's not necessary for No Barbarian Civs, and I'm not sure why Barbarian Civs should cause problems with OOS but I haven't tested yet. Moreover you can't change it unless you recompile the dll so this is staying like this for the moment.
- FYI Revolution causes no problem; I've played with it all the time in MP and no problem even when rebels were being spawned.
- I've had some troubles in my games caused by Surround and Destroy and Great Commanders options, so although those are designed for MP, I suggest you don't use them for now.
- I strongly suggest you turn off Archer Bombard, Opportunity Fire, Stack Attack, Defender Withdrawal, Battlefield Promotions, Dynamic XP, Resource Depletion. I think I've used pretty much everything else without serious problems. Some of the above mentioned options might work, I'm still not sure what's causing some OOS between Defender Withdrawal, Battlefield Promotions and Dynamic XP.