RFC Multiplayer Sign Up Here

I will see if I can do that now.
 
Well, it looks like I'm hosting it in the lobby now...
 
I still can't see your game in the lobby Psy, I think I'm going to give up now. Nice playing with you guys!
 
Sorry, I don't have enough time to play anymore. Let me know if you can do it another time, I've got to go. Bye!
 
If the scenario works, I'm willing to host a game for those of us who missed it.
 
Okay, so I guess we'll call it a day and try at another time. Here's my personal summary:

- Playing with up to 4 players went well.
- However, any player with a slow connection slows down gameplay for all others
- Playing with more than 4 players led to a lot of lag, but it's unclear whether this is due to the number of players alone, or due to the fact that one of those players was had a very slow connection.
- Some players had different files from the others (e.g., Bhruic's patch installed). It is unclear whether this played a role in bringing us out of sync.
- We had one player who couldn't connect over Gamespy, and who couldn't have others connect to him over direct IP, although his firewalls were switched off and/or properly configured to his best knowledge.

I suggest to retry the experiment in a more controlled setting, to make it easier to find what's causing problems. For example: Host a game with only people who have a good connection (to rule out one slow player as the source of problems), and who have identical files (to rule out modded files as a possible source of problems), then start with 4 players, and add others as long as speed seems decent. Then report up to how many players you could go.

Another thing that might be worth trying is to play the game for a number of turns with some players, and then restart and play the same game with the same number of players, but all Independents and AIs removed. This could be a way to test whether RFC simply has to much going on to make it viable for more players at once.

I also asked in the Gamespy lobby which experiences people had with huge maps in multiplayer. I was told that one shouldn't try with more than 7 players because of the expected lag.

Alternatives to play with more players might be PbeM or LAN play, but this (again) would have to be tested.
 
According to several posts in the multiplayer forum, I am not alone with my problem of "connecting to peer..." forever.
It seems to be a general civ4 problem, apparently worsened by the last patch, and it has nothing to do with firewall configuration. Or, to be more exact, if the firewall is configured correctly, the problem still exists for quite a lot of users.

At least it doesn't seem like it's a RFC-related problem.

edit: Also, fyi, it seems that the problem rarely is on the side of the user encountering those problems, but rather caused by incorret firewall/router configuration of other users (port 2056 MUST be forwarded/opened for every player in order to cause no problems for other users). Unfortunately, I can't give you any guarantee on that due to lack of testing :(
 
double post
 
Good summary. Another remark: at my computer, even with 4 players the lag was somewhat difficult to play with, and that was in the medieval era with few units and no war. I suspect it would be more difficult in later eras, unfortunately.
 
Is it possible for anyone else to get a copy of the MP? I just want to play with my roommate and judging from your description, a two player game wouldn't be too hard to manage.
 
sorry guys couldn be there, started the thread and dont participated xD , work its work ^^ well anyway, anyone want mark a new date for the game?
 
- We had one player who couldn't connect over Gamespy, and who couldn't have others connect to him over direct IP, although his firewalls were switched off and/or properly configured to his best knowledge.

There is a huge amount of factors that involve internet connections, it's not just the two endpoints to take into consideration.

I also asked in the Gamespy lobby which experiences people had with huge maps in multiplayer. I was told that one shouldn't try with more than 7 players because of the expected lag.

I would also take into consideration the physical location of players.

Alternatives to play with more players might be PbeM or LAN play, but this (again) would have to be tested.

Well, LAN is no different from DirectIP... the main difference though is that you can indeed look at the end points here, unless some unlikely problems with cabling and switches.

According to several posts in the multiplayer forum, I am not alone with my problem of "connecting to peer..." forever.
It seems to be a general civ4 problem, apparently worsened by the last patch, and it has nothing to do with firewall configuration. Or, to be more exact, if the firewall is configured correctly, the problem still exists for quite a lot of users.

At least it doesn't seem like it's a RFC-related problem.

edit: Also, fyi, it seems that the problem rarely is on the side of the user encountering those problems, but rather caused by incorret firewall/router configuration of other users (port 2056 MUST be forwarded/opened for every player in order to cause no problems for other users). Unfortunately, I can't give you any guarantee on that due to lack of testing :(

2056 is a port that must be opened on the host end, but where are its replies sent ? Are we sure this port is used for both the source and destination address ? For example when you contact a web site you call the server on port 80 but as a source port on which the webserver will answer you, you send a random port number of the highest range. I could connect to Psyringe and since he doesn't know my IP he did not do anything to allow me rather than you, so the problem must indeed be on your side, and not necessarily your router, it could be the routing between your 2 ISPs.
 
I have forwarded the request to open a new subforum for MP.
In there you will have freedom to arrange any game you want (you're free here as well, for now!)

For now, this is the most recent version.
Every time I post one, you should delete the old (MP!) one you've gt already installed
http://rhye.civfanatics.net/civ4/files/RFCMP_101.zip

Make sure you all read the readme, it's important
 
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