This bad peer problem is driving me mad. I love civ, and I want to play real people. Opening UDP 2056 does seem to help- also make sure the firewall is open both for internet and server permissions on civ4. The problem seems to be if any one single user is not set up properly, the game can't populate the remaining open slots.
I have followed their instructions but still have to spend hours just trying to find a connectable game, and once I do, there's no gaurantee everyone will even make it inside so the game can actually start.
To top it off: When I finally begin playing, 9 out of 10 times the game crashes my video card (to visual garbage, requires hard reboot) after less than 1 hour of play time. For the record I am using a p4 3.2C, 1 gig ram, 10000 rpm serial ATA HDD, ASUS mobo, and a Geforce4 6800GT 256Mb vid card. All current drivers for everything in my box. My system rocks battlefield 2 at 1280 x 1024 using maximum graphics settings (and 4x AA) with no lag....1600x1200 w/ no AA is just as good. Dont tell me it's my box, other games work great.
I would be happy to volunteer time for testing purposes. Email me, I will make time for it. I'm also a developer, your guys and I should get along just fine :0)
Here's what I know:
1. I am using ZoneAlarm v6.1.737.000, civ4 is on exceptions list as "access" and "server".
2. Before opening UDP port 2056 on my router, others were not able to connect to games I was connected to (i.e., I could only join already in progress games).
3. Now that UDP port is forwarded and open, I can connect to about 90% of new games where no peers have joined yet (only 1 user, the host, is present). The other 10% constitutes bad host games, which I will assume will be simple to undestand and fix once we diagnose the more common bad peer problem.
4. New games with > 1 connected users are a hit-or-miss for connection, with mostly misses :0) Bad peer games sometimes become connectable if the host boots the correct user from the connected-but-waiting game.
It seems plausable that the bad peer is caused by a single bad user connected to the game, and that they may be 'bad' because they are not pingable or connectable on UDP 2056.
A set of test-users who are in verbal communicaion (and spacially seperated hence on different gamespy servers), one could test this theory quite easily by having one person at a time vary their router settings and connect, etc..., but why is this even necessary? Other online games work fine without having to create holes in my router.
If the problem is improperly set up peers are making it impossible for me to join, then I suggest a proper fix would be to make the host/server verify the proper configuration of an attempting-to-join peer before allowing the connection to be estabilshed. That would allow properly set up users to play without problems, while forcing improperly configured users to fix their settings.
Let's hope it is not a fundamental flaw in the peer to peer design, something requiring a complete reengineering of the network portion of the product. I doubt we will get a fix if that's the case, the development costs may be more than Fraxis management want's to spend... business is business no matter where you are.
Firaxis, if you care about producing a quality product, please handle this situation quickly and completely. Earn that coveted consumer loyalty. The best case solution should come in the form of an in-game available patch that does not introduce third party software, and a public announcement that a fix is available.
You have an excellent game here, and I want to play it. It would also be nice if you were more 'visible' in the handling of this matter.
Da_FunkyB
But... still can't play online
. All worked fine but since one week or so we can't do that anymore.
