3.13 patch, multiplayer, and loss of sync

[jray]

After some more testing I found out the following:

If you get the OOS Error immediately after starting a game this can be fixed by turning of random events in the game options.

But there is a better way to fix this error:

As Tyler found out this problem seems to be caused by corrupted game cache Files. This can easily fixed by the following steps:

Navigate to the folder C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Local Settings\Application Data\My Games\

In this folder is another folder called "beyond the sword". This folder contains your game profile and some cache data. You must either delete or simply rename this folder.

After you do this start BtS. You now will have to reset your graphic and game settings. After you did this you can start a new game and there shouldn´t be any more problems. I hope this works for other people too, for me it did. Remember that every player should follow this procedure.

Edit: I also tested a LAN game between me (Civ 4 + Warlords + BtS) and another friend (Civ 4 Complete). The game is starting without a problem and without the OOS error. We both are running Bhruic´s 1.07 Patch.

Do you really have to delete the profile directory too? Different profiles shouldn't be a problem. What happens if you just delete the cache directory?

 

[DelphiDie]

It might be enough to delete the cache subdirectory, but I can´t say for sure, as I haven´t tested this. Perhaps someone who still has this error could try this?

Edit: Yesterday I played a game with 2 friends until industrial age. It works perfectly without OOS Errors.

 

[JimMac99]

Yesterday I played a game with 2 friends until industrial age. It works perfectly without OOS Errors.

Did you have random events on?

The reason I ask is that I intend to start my first 3.13 LAN mp this Sunday with the intention of playing a few hours each Sunday for the next few weeks. And I would prefer to keep random events on, if possible.

 

[DelphiDie]

Did you have random events on?

Yes we did, and they definitely occured.

You really don´t like it, if monte is your neighbour and he get´s the free shock promotion for his axemen, but that´s another story

Everyone of us deleted their

"C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Local Settings\Application Data\My Games\Beyond the Sword"

folder, which resets your profile as described a few posts earlier. It might be enough to delete the

"C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Local Settings\Application Data\My Games\Beyond the Sword\cache"

folder, so you could give that a try first.

 

[JimMac99]

I think I'll get everyone to delete the main local settings folder, just in case.

Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[Alphard]

I can confirm that al least for me, the issue was random event related. we were getting OOs from turn one both on direct IP and LAN games, and when I turned Random events OFF and Random seed on reload ON (if that matters), we never had another OOS.

The installations were otherwise identical, though I did not do any byte comparison

 

[JimMac99]

Well, myself and my two brothers just played 3 hours of Lan BTS; random events on. It worked perfectly! We all had a good time and although I may be imagining it, it seemed to me that it was running smoother than Warlords mp did.

I cleared the cache in the way that was described above.

It is odd that some people seem to have a good experience of MP and others get OOS, believing that events cause a problem...I wonder, could it be that there is a fault with a specific event?

 

[Aquatic]

It is odd that some people seem to have a good experience of MP and others get OOS, believing that events cause a problem...I wonder, could it be that there is a fault with a specific event?

No, sorry, it's unlikely to be something like that. With my games the OOS was there right at the beginning and simply turning off random events was sufficient to clear it. Personally, I wonder what the connection is between random events and the profile of each player. I would appear that the problem lies there.

 

[DelphiDie]

Without knowing too much of the game internas I would guess the following:

Inside the Cache subdirectory are two files civ4eventinfos.dat & civ4eventriggerinfos.dat. The problem seems to occur if 2 players have different versions of this files. This might be caused by patching from different versions. I myself patched from 3.02 to 3.03 and then to 3.13, my friend patched directly from 3.02 to 3.13. But the most important thing is, that deleting the folder fixes this problem.

 

[onedreamer]

This is not entirely accurate. I have OOS issues trying to play multi-player direct IP games quite frequently on certain games with my girlfriend and I know with 100% certainty that our versions and patches are identical.

It is accurate when you read what I wrote, which is "if you have OOS from right away" IE set up, launch, and OOS before even settling the city.

It's not just a matter of different versions/mods/whatever. There are other factors such as non-default installation locations (which should NOT be a factor, but because of the borked programming in the 3.13 patch, it is...).

Custom installation is NOT a factor, the fact you SUPPOSE it is doesn't make it a fact or a factor.

 

[jray]

Custom installation is NOT a factor, the fact you SUPPOSE it is doesn't make it a fact or a factor.

Although I just use the default installation location myself, I have read a number of bug reports from people who have had trouble from custom installations. See ori's post here, for example:

The problem is indeed a crappy installer routine (basically they just hardcoded a few install paths relevant to the various BtS versions instead of querying the windows registry). I am not sure how it looks like but basically the installer should create the file structure it needs by itself so it might be possible to just copy the stuff the patch dumped on c: to your actual install to patch but it is a move by Firaxis/Take2 and it is one of a few things that should have made them patch their patch already

So maybe we're all just chasing ghosts. If you have evidence suggesting it's a false diagnosis, I'd be interested to see it, and then I'll stop propagating bogus rumors .

 

[ori]

While it is true that non-default installs experience issues, my post did not touch oos - simply because I am not doing MP myself, so I don't know - the problems arising from non-default install paths are more in the realm of the patch installing partially into the right and partially into the default location. In most cases people cannot even start BtS when this happens let alone dream about MP
This is of course not to claim that the OOS issue does not have one of its causes in this as well but there is no hard evidence for this while the cache thing and the random events (which seem to be cached as well) has been shown pretty convincingly.

 

[onedreamer]

Although I just use the default installation location myself, I have read a number of bug reports from people who have had trouble from custom installations. See ori's post here, for example:

So maybe we're all just chasing ghosts. If you have evidence suggesting it's a false diagnosis, I'd be interested to see it, and then I'll stop propagating bogus rumors .

All the evidence you need is that I have a custom installation and I experience no OOS in multiplayer. OOSs are due to mods and user MODIFIED (or installed by other users modified) files. The location of files is not relevant, if it was you would receive game errors, not out of synchs.

 

[EricLeDespote]

Well same bug (i can't say anything else) with the french version of the patch 3.13 for bts...
After about 40 turns OOS message, and if the game is reloaded... same message on next turn... so it is now impossible to play the game in multiplayer...
2 players or mode connecting through direct LAN
No anti-virus activated
No options, no addons, no mods... Juste basic BTS with patch 3.13
Same version of the patch on each computers, and of course original disk in each computer.
Waiting for next patch... 3.13.X or better... 3.14 ^^
I hope they'll do it soon...

 

[DelphiDie]

Hi Eric,

no need to wait for the next patch, you just have to delete the game cache folders on every PC as described some posts above. This should fix your problems.

 

[Aquatic]

Specifically DelphieDie's modestly referring to the useful post 80, and perhaps the interesting post 81 that may well refine what's said in post 80. This is an excellent solution until such time as there's an official patch.

 

[kristopherb]

"C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Local Settings\Application Data\My Games\Beyond the Sword\cache"
I can't find my Local settings folder.
please help

 

[Bhruic]

Yes, I believe it's hidden by default. What you need to do:

In My Computer view, click on "Tools" in the menu at the top. Select "Folder Options" which will open a new window. Select "View" from the tabs at the top. Under "Advanced Settings" you'll see a bunch of buttons. You'll have one checked which is "Do not show hidden files and folders". Check the button underneath that "Show hidden files and folders". Then click on the "OK" button at the bottom.

If you've done all that correctly, you should be able to see the "Local Settings" folders.

Bh

 

[kristopherb]

Thankyou Bhruic

 

[Bulbhead]

Could someone please tell me where I can find the cache directory on Windows Vista?