Crossformat online multiplayer unplayable :/

[lindsay40k]

I'm running OSX 10.6.8, my friend's running Windows 7 64 bit service pack 1. We're plying BTS on Steam, connecting through GameSpy.

When we get a game running, OOS errors happen constantly. This happens regardless of who starts the game. The OOS numbers blink on and off, and both numbers change between each blink.

Leaving and reconnecting does not clear up the problem, and seems to have a high rate of making my Civ4 glitch and be unable to attempt to join any games in the lobby and have to be restarted.

We both have robust fiberoptic internet connections that don't have disconnection issues. We sometimes get OOS issues when playing BTS or Next War, but only once or twice and it's usually several hours into a game. This is at the start of a game, and continual.

Also, in the lobby, we found the leaders and civilizations were not listed alphabetically; made it very difficult for us to make our selections.

 

[Xyth]

I'm running OSX 10.6.8, my friend's running Windows 7 64 bit service pack 1. We're plying BTS on Steam, connecting through GameSpy.

When we get a game running, OOS errors happen constantly. This happens regardless of who starts the game. The OOS numbers blink on and off, and both numbers change between each blink.

Leaving and reconnecting does not clear up the problem, and seems to have a high rate of making my Civ4 glitch and be unable to attempt to join any games in the lobby and have to be restarted.

We both have robust fiberoptic internet connections that don't have disconnection issues. We sometimes get OOS issues when playing BTS or Next War, but only once or twice and it's usually several hours into a game. This is at the start of a game, and continual.

If you're getting OOS errors right from the start of the game then that suggests something went awry during map generation and/or game setup. The most obvious candidate is the Culturally Linked Starts setting, which was added in the last version. Could you try start a game with using Randomly Assigned Starts instead?

If that doesn't make a difference, please let me know which settings you chose when setting up the game and I'll see if I can isolate the cause.

Also, in the lobby, we found the leaders and civilizations were not listed alphabetically; made it very difficult for us to make our selections.

The civilizations are ordered geographically. The leaders, however, are ordered randomly. It's a side effect of modular loading and unfortunately I'm not sure there's anything I can do to fix it.

 

[lindsay40k]

Come to think of it, we did have cult link starts on. We'll give it another go over the coming days. Thanks!

 

[lindsay40k]

Uh-oh. The exact same problem happens, even without the cultural starting positions

 

[Xyth]

Uh-oh. The exact same problem happens, even without the cultural starting positions

Hmm. And it's happening as soon as a game starts, or after a few turns?

 

[lindsay40k]

It's happening from the very start, as soon as we're both ingame. Hers loads up earlier than mine; as soon as I arrive in the game, it happens.

 

[Xyth]

It's happening from the very start, as soon as we're both ingame. Hers loads up earlier than mine; as soon as I arrive in the game, it happens.

Okay. Can you please list the game and map settings you're trying. Can you also try loading a game via 'Play Scenario' and see if the OOS errors occur there too.

Just in case, have you made any alterations to either of your installs? For example, the resource distribution patch I posted a while back?

 

[lindsay40k]

We'll set up some more games and take notes of settings etc.

We've not made any alterations, just downloaded the Mac and PC versions respectively off Steam about two months ago, and a couple of mods which didn't come with anything we had to put outside their specific folders.

 

[lindsay40k]

We just spent a couple hours trying to get a game running, with poor results. I made notes:

Amy set up a game without simultaneous turns.

Amy went first. Set up city. Passed turn over.

I moved Scout. Settler grabbed hut. Built city. OOS error; numbers remained constant.

I returned to lobby; bug prevented me entering games. Quit Civ.

Both uninstalled and reinstalled HR.

Loaded a duel map, continents. Explore for a few turns. No issues. Amy settles, autowin conquest.

Back to lobby. Cannot join games. Quit Civ, reload.

Pangaea duel. 1v1. Met one another. Amy settled. Conquest win.

Back to lobby. Cannot join games. Can host a game. Amy joins.

Pangaea duel, 1v1, Conquest off. Amy accidentally autosettled. OOS. Left before I could see if numbers changing every blink. Rejoined. I settle. OOS. Numbers changing every blink.

Carried on anyway. Turn 11: OOS stops blinking but persists. Amy notices that her city keeps automating. Turn 41: Amy asks how I'm still ingame as I'm dead on her screen.

 

[Xyth]

Thanks for the details, I'll see what I can do. OOS errors are notoriously difficult to track down unfortunately so I can't promise a fix any time soon I'm afraid. I also don't have access to a Windows computer to test cross-platform but I'd be surprised if the problem wasn't a more general multiplayer issue.

Something you could help me with in the meantime is to edit the CivilizationIV.ini file on both your computers (located in /Documents or \MyDocuments) and changes entries (near the bottom):

; Enable the logging system
LoggingEnabled = 0

; Enable synchronization logging
SynchLog = 0

Change them to:

; Enable the logging system
LoggingEnabled = 1

; Enable synchronization logging
SynchLog = 1

Set up a multiplayer game and as soon as you get an OOS error, quit BTS. Locate the file /Documents/Civilization IV Beyond the Sword/Logs/MPLog.txt on both computers and send them to me.

 

[lindsay40k]

Righto, we'll get you some data in due course

 

[lindsay40k]

Okaaaay...

Amy hosting. I choose Ragnar. In her lobby, I'm Amanirena. Switch to Dido; now, I'm Shehe Mvita. Switching around, we find that the Leader I choose always corresponds to a particular wrong leader on her end; Ezana always becomes Stalin, Kublai Khan is always Napoleon, etc.

We only noticed this because we switched off Anonymous - we like that setting for RP value.

Ashurbinapal is at the top of my leader list; Washington at the top of hers. If she selects Washington, I see her as Ashurbinapal; likewise if I select Ashur.

Immediate OOS error on game start. No MPLog.txt file is generated, nor is it in a second attempt.

So, ah, not the data we were hoping for. But data nonetheless... I guess it's shown that the lobby leaders problem isn't quite the non-issue we thought.

 

[Xyth]

Okaaaay...

Amy hosting. I choose Ragnar. In her lobby, I'm Amanirena. Switch to Dido; now, I'm Shehe Mvita. Switching around, we find that the Leader I choose always corresponds to a particular wrong leader on her end; Ezana always becomes Stalin, Kublai Khan is always Napoleon, etc.

We only noticed this because we switched off Anonymous - we like that setting for RP value.

Ashurbinapal is at the top of my leader list; Washington at the top of hers. If she selects Washington, I see her as Ashurbinapal; likewise if I select Ashur.

Immediate OOS error on game start. No MPLog.txt file is generated, nor is it in a second attempt.

So, ah, not the data we were hoping for. But data nonetheless... I guess it's shown that the lobby leaders problem isn't quite the non-issue we thought.

Okay, this implies a much deeper problem. In HR, the leaders are implemented 'modularly', one effect of which being that they are not necessarily loaded in the same order each game. This is not meant to affect multiplayer at all, and indeed it's never been a problem in previous versions as far as I'm aware.

Firstly I suggest that you both reinstall HR completely, to be sure that we aren't dealing with corrupted or mismatched versions somehow. Also doublecheck that you both have BTS 3.19 and both have modular loading switched on (in the Civilization IV.ini file mentioned earlier).

At the moment I'm unable to do multiplayer tests myself but I'll try and get something setup to see if I can replicate and isolate this problem. May take a while I'm afraid



EDIT: I set up a few games via GameSpy and wasn't able to reproduce the problem. These games were Mac to Mac though, so it implies that the problem is with your installations or with Mac to PC. I don't currently have access to an actual PC to test on but when I get a chance I'll see what happens with one Mac running Windows BTS via virtualization.

 

[lindsay40k]

Wee update: we enabled modular loading and tried again. In lobby, the leaders were still mismatched, but we started the game and we both had the leader we selected for ourselves. We moved all our units and ended turn 1; no problems. Amy settled on turn 2; no problems. I settled; OOS, flickering numbers changing every flicker. Still no MPLog file being generated where you say there should be one.

 

[Xyth]

In lobby, the leaders were still mismatched

So long as this is happening you'll get OOS errors no matter what settings you try. As I can't reproduce this, the next step is for you both to delete History Rewritten completely and reinstall. In case one of your installations is corrupted or mismatched somehow.

 

[lindsay40k]

I'm afraid we're still getting this problem as of 1.18. Our leader names are not in the same order, and we get the changing numbers OOS error.

We even tried me setting up a game and starting it, then Amy joining in. As soon as I placed my first city, the bug happened.

We're downloading from the same file.

Attached are screen grabs of the tops of our leader lists.

 

[Xyth]

It seems that Windows and Mac BTS handle modular loading differently. This bug won't be restricted to History Rewritten; it will happen for any mod that uses modular loading, even ones shipped by Firaxis. The only solution is to not use modular loading which, while doable, is not a small task as it means reworking a lot of the file structure I'm using. Thus I cannot fix this for 1.18, it will have to be done for 1.19.

Before I do though, can you please confirm that standard BTS works without issue for you both in multiplayer? And that you're both running 3.19? I don't want to undertake this without being sure its the most likely cause of the problem (even then I can't guarantee it will fix it).

 

[lindsay40k]

Yep, we're both on BTS 3.19 and regularly play MP matches. We very rarely get 'normal' (no rapid number changing) OOS errors once several civs are in the Renaissance, which are easily resolved by leaving and rejoining the game.

No worries on not being fixable in this release, just makes us anticipate 1.19 even more hungrily