Continuous Freezing in MP

[Medi3val]

Not that this part makes any difference, but my brother & I have been playing the Close Combat series since A Bridge Too Far back in '97 and absolutely LOVE the games, but recently, multiplayer has been giving us fits.

When we used to live together, connecting over a LAN, we never had problems, but now that we live on opposite sides of town, multiplayer is a nightmare.

Anyway, we just purchased Gateway to Caen through Steam, and while we can get connected and start our game with no problems, it decides to freeze after about 20-30 minutes of gameplay EVERY TIME. We haven't been able to get past the first map on the Grand Campaign.

We've both opened up the recommended 1944 port, but other than that, haven't really tried much. I know sometimes anti-viruses can cause issues, but I would assume if that is what was causing the issue, we would be having more trouble just getting connected.

We've let it go for a couple of minutes or so, hoping it would reconnect, but it just times out. It's doesn't seem to be either of us losing connection as we are still able to talk to each other through Steam as it's happening.

I'll do a deeper search on the forums, but figured I'd ask first if there's anything we can try to stop the game from freezing? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

[SteveMcClaire]

Hi Trudel79,

First off, make sure you both have the latest updates installed. It sounds like you're both using a Steam version of the game, so this should not be an issue (as it automatically updates you) but if one of you is using a disk/download version, you have to check yourself.

Having port 1944 open through your router and/or firewall should allow for a direct connect, which can help if latency is a problem. After you connect via the lobby screen, you should see "DIRECT CONNECTION" above the game settings on the right hand side. If you see "LOBBY CONNECTION" something is still blocking the client from making a direct connection to the host.

The 'freeze' issue some have reported seems to be related to losing connection in the middle of data exchange. I do have a test version of the game (which sends me debugging info) that I could send you to try, if you're willing. This version would run slightly slower but might help pinpoint the problem you're seeing.

Steve

[Medi3val]

Yeah, we're both connected through Steam, and port 1944 is open.

I'd absolutely be more than willing to try the 'test' version of the game you have. Just let me know if you need any other information from me to get it sent (I assume you can snag my email from my profile).

[SteveMcClaire]

Please see your PMs for details. Discussion of any ongoing problems can take place here, however.

Thanks,

Steve

[Medi3val]

Thanks Steve.

We actually kind of fixed our problem ourselves. As host, bypassing my router and connecting with just my modem seems to have fixed the issue.

It actually fixed our issue with all of our CC games, as the router was blocking us even though we opened up our ports.

If we run into any further trouble, we'll be sure to try out the test version.

Thanks again!

[SteveMcClaire]

Thanks for the update Trudel79. I'm glad you were able to find the source of the issue. Did you try the debug version at all?

Steve