OOS, how to end the pain?

[Fuzzlewups]

I'm aware of other threads and posts about the abismal Out of Sync errors,
however i'm getting tired of all tips&tricks i can find failing, so here goes;

I got Civ4complete, meaning Civ4 vanilla, Warlords and BtS in 1 package, as do the peeps i play with. Clean, legit, no nonsense with no-cd patches etc.

We patched up to the latest versions of vanilla, Warlords and BtS, by connecting to the multiplayer lobby, and auto-update from there, all without any problems.
So as far as the possibility of peeps using different update files from different places, that is erased.

Both vanilla and Warlords play like a charm, no crashes, no sudden disconnects, and no OoS error to be found from turn 1 to the very end of a game. However, BtS is a different story;
After about, generally speaking, up and around someone building the Great Library, the dreaded blinking message pops up telling the game went out of sync. So i'm able to play for a while, but just when things start to get good ..
No matter if i play with 1 other human player or more, it's a facto, and even loading a savegame a few turns before just leads to the same inevitable conclusion;
Quit, cause it's not going anywhere from there

Thusfar i tried the following;
- Prevent any of the participating folks to use a non-cd patch of sorts
- Patch up the very same manner
- Disable random events
- Use the Civplayers OOS patch
- Everyone clearing the cache-files before starting up Civ
- Play the game in a LAN, as in really be in the same room, cables and all

I can't think of much else then try older patches, beyond that i'm running out of ideas

Anyone with a bright suggestion or ingenious way to stop this from happening?
I love the game, and don't want to be forced to play Warlords to 'just be able to play'. I'm quite certain it should be possible somehow ..

 

[Speaker]

There were plenty of OOS errors with Vanilla and Warlords. There is no good way to stop them from happening really.

 

[Phaedris]

Have you tried turning off simultaneous turns?
Whenever I play multiplayer with simultaneous turns I get OOS errors but since I've started playing in turn based mode i haven't had any.
Hope this helps.

 

[Fuzzlewups]

Yup, kinda always do turn that off,
hate the 'click like mad' factor when in war with simul. turns.

So far tried another game, went well for a while, but ended up the same as ever.
Anyone per chance has experience of older versions (pre-3.13) that seem more stable?

 

[Speaker]

Anyone per chance has experience of older versions (pre-3.13) that seem more stable?

No. And the game will prompt you to install the latest patch, whenever you join the MP lobby.

 

[VladimirAbbadon]

My buddy and I have all but given up hope on stopping the OOS...

It seems as though it will be an eternal flaw in BtS.

 

[Bunnyh]

Have you tried turning off simultaneous turns?
Whenever I play multiplayer with simultaneous turns I get OOS errors but since I've started playing in turn based mode i haven't had any.
Hope this helps.

My experience with simultaneous turns and OOS was exactly the reverse. I always play cooperative team games with my friend, and thus for quite a long time we always had the simultaneous turns option checked OFF (to avoid clickfests). Our games were plagued by OOS errors, and we couldn't consider playing larger than standard maps because of the increasingly long loading times on large and huge maps. We also tried the tricks mentioned in this topic and others, with no luck.

Eventually we discovered by accident, that keeping the simultaneous turns option ON resolved the situation completely! We haven't had a single OOS error with simultaneous turns ON. I can see that this is not a universal solution, though, since we once had another friend play with us (we always play on a real LAN at my home), and that time we were getting the OOS errors whether simultaneous turns were ON or OFF. The second friend didn't really enjoy Civ, so OOS errors are history for our LAN games anyway.

The simultaneous turns option actually doesn't even alter the experience of a cooperative game in any bad way. With the option turned ON, you can do things after ending your turn, given that your teammate doesn't rush to end his. All the AI players move lightning fast at the start of a turn, so the game doesn't degrade to a rushed clickfest. Sometimes it might seem that the AI attacks at a slight delay at the beginning of a turn, but I've never managed to really do anything before that. The game is unresponsive when the AI is moving/"thinking". You just basically give them a head start of one turn, compared to the case with simultaneous turns OFF.

Reading about a completely reverse experience regarding the simultaneous turns options and OOS errors doesn't exactly clarify the real problem, of course. Hopefully this helps someone playing cooperative games and suffering from OOS errors. Our discovery was really pure accident, and we might as well still be reloading all games many times over while cursing the errors. Players of non-cooperative games most likely already have simultaneous turns kept ON. I guess the common tips&tricks are the only hope in that case, or a load of patience.

(I actually couldn't convince my friend that the OOS errors were anything bad when we first ran into them. He insisted that we just keep on playing and ignore the text, disregarding all warnings. What fun it was to notice, that on his end of the game I hadn't explored or colonized a whole continent, which I certainly did that on my end. He was convinced only after that totally ruined game.)

 

[Speaker]

You can clear the OOS by having all the players who do not have sync numbers that match the majority rejoin. If there are only 2 of you in a game with some AI, just have the player who isn't the game's host rejoin.