Firaxis: you need to deal with the MP problems

[Chinetter]

As a gamer who's only interested in multiplayer, I think that Civ5 has a lot of promise. But I can only guess on that right now because the online lag is so ridiculous that actually completing a game is a long ugly slog.

It's often flat-out unplayable, and it ain't at my end: my broadband is excellent and I play lots of other games online. Others in my Civ5 games online are having the same issues and they're all over the place as far as location, type of Internet connection, etc. It's only been a few days but patience is already wearing thin, I predict that those nice high Civ5 player stats on Steam will start dropping very fast very soon unless the lag issue is successfully addressed.


P.S. Also you need to publicly explain that "Powered by Gamespy" splash screen. Seriously -- I'm seeing a lot of comment on that from the many Civ4 regulars now trying Civ5 online. Gamespy sucked so bad in so many ways as Civ4's MP platform that this is a seriously unsettling piece of news. EXACTLY what is the nature of Gamespy's involvement with Civ5, and for the love of ghod WHY???

 

[Biz_]

yeah

they need to get their act together

shipping a game with both terrible AI and terrible multiplayer is really sad

 

[Cashew]

I'm sure they'll get right on this just as soon as they're done counting our money.

 

[Slecht]

Somehow they ain't that interested in multiplayer. Civ IV was also pretty bad, for a big reason because they used gamespy (out of sync, hard to join games etc).
Almost no game (at least big names) is using gamespy today, it was my biggest complain about CiV IV (I posted a few threads back then (other username about how bad gamespy is for hoping they wouldnt use it in CiV 5!!!!)
I was shocked seeing that 'powered by gamespy' logo when starting CiV V


edit; seems TS mentioned this basicly in the p.s. part himself


And you'r right they shouldn't even offer multiplayer in the current state, creating so much annoyance for those trying.

 

[bossconian]

They don't need anything - they haven't felt responsible for last 5 years about broken multiplayer mode in CIV IV which hasn't been fixed by present day so I just assume this is what you get for you money and don't expect anything more.

 

[Slecht]

They don't need anything - they haven't felt responsible for last 5 years about broken multiplayer mode in CIV IV which hasn't been fixed by present day so I just assume this is what you get for you money and don't expect anything more.

Money whores?

 

[Asthix]

Ooh a thread about more mp options /speed? Yes please!

 

[Baylor]

When I play MP Civ games, it's exclusively LAN connections and it's unplayable due to dropped players during turn processing. Usually starts around turn 150 or so when the activity increases from playes and the AI movements/decisions.

 

[Foro]

Same here, playing LAN games with my wife, we start getting disconnects at around turn 450 on a large (not giant) pangean map. I admit there are a lot of city states in game, but i really dont understand that the connection is lost and both have the other one replaced with a K.I . The game should simply wait a bit longer bevore it thinks that the other one is no longer there.
That said, i find it unbelievably that the game it so damn slow. Both my wife and me have the same computer and really not a bad one. We were only able to play the game when we changed to direct X 9 start and the settings down to medium to low, and changing the settings to the lowest possible setup didnt change anything at all in our multiplayer game.

I dont get it, that a strategy game is so hardware hungry and in my opinion so badly programmed/tested that you need a highend comp with the best possible hardware to even dare to play a big map with high grafic settings.

 

[WaKKO151]

As a gamer who's only interested in multiplayer, I think that Civ5 has a lot of promise. But I can only guess on that right now because the online lag is so ridiculous that actually completing a game is a long ugly slog.

It's often flat-out unplayable, and it ain't at my end: my broadband is excellent and I play lots of other games online. Others in my Civ5 games online are having the same issues and they're all over the place as far as location, type of Internet connection, etc. It's only been a few days but patience is already wearing thin, I predict that those nice high Civ5 player stats on Steam will start dropping very fast very soon unless the lag issue is successfully addressed.


P.S. Also you need to publicly explain that "Powered by Gamespy" splash screen. Seriously -- I'm seeing a lot of comment on that from the many Civ4 regulars now trying Civ5 online. Gamespy sucked so bad in so many ways as Civ4's MP platform that this is a seriously unsettling piece of news. EXACTLY what is the nature of Gamespy's involvement with Civ5, and for the love of ghod WHY???

You do realize that this is a fan website and you might want to post soemthing like this on there actual forums.

 

[Chinetter]

I did post it there as well, yea.

 

[Chinetter]

And I found this link there which may be relevant to the state of Civ5:
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/14323-civilization-v-developer-firaxis-loses-20-staff/

 

[Tremonti]

There's only one Multiplayer Programmer listed in the game credits. I doubt they'll assign more employees now just to speed up free patches. Hold your thumbs for a better multiplayer experience in the expansions and/or a mod-based fix.