"Lobby" is HORRIBLE!

[Ozymandias2]

Both Malwarebytes and MSC are anti-virus programs and are unlikely to interfere. Do you have any software firewalls running (e.g. Windows Firewall, Zonealarm, Norton Internet Security, etc).

Cheers

Pip

No.

[PipFromSlitherine]

ORIGINAL: Ozymandias2

My ISP is Time Warner Cable. D/L speed 12-13 Mbps; upload 5-6 Mbps.

Ubee router; Netgear wifi.

And we've been playing H2H since 1999.

As an aside, as an ex-programmer, I'd be curious to know how the Lobby "hands off" a handshake it's controlling (seriously: just curiosity.)


-Oz

There are two separate TCP routing servers. One handles letting people in the lobby talk to one another, the other is used for games where the players are not directly connected. There is an HTTP lobby system which is responsible for tracking logins and IP addresses for the players.

Would it be possible for you to try out a game with a direct (wired) connection to your router. The 5 min download for the forum list is the most obvious symptom of whatever is going wrong.

Cheers

Pip

[rmdesantis]

The port settings for prior CC's are completely different - we've played head-to-head since CC first came out in the late 90s, without these frustrating issues. Port 1944 is open to my gaming laptop.

I'm on Comcast, and have a Netgear WNDR 4300. I have no issues with transmission speed, btw - I run a business out of my home without a problem. So, by process of elimination I keep coming back to CC being the issue.

Like you, I have no idea why we can't get Direct Connection to work reliably or regularly.

Mike

[SteveMcClaire]

Mike,

There is a certain time window the host will wait after trying a direct connection before it decides that it is not possible and it should fall back on the lobby. The default timeout is 5 seconds. Based on what Ozymandias2 described, it sounds like it is taking longer than that for him to get lobby information in many cases.

If you're comfortable using RegEdit, go into your registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Matrix Games\Close Combat Panthers in the Fog\ and change the key for ConnectionTimeout to some very high value (say 30 75 00 00 = 30 seconds) and see if that helps. If you're not confident about doing this I can email you a registry file that will set it automatically.

Steve

[rmdesantis]

Okay, I made that change. We'll see how it works.

Mike

[PipFromSlitherine]

ORIGINAL: Ozymandias2

My ISP is Time Warner Cable. D/L speed 12-13 Mbps; upload 5-6 Mbps.

Ubee router; Netgear wifi.

And we've been playing H2H since 1999.

As an aside, as an ex-programmer, I'd be curious to know how the Lobby "hands off" a handshake it's controlling (seriously: just curiosity.)


-Oz

Is it possible that your install of Internet Explorer is not set up to match your current configuration? Some of the HTTP subsystems use IE components, and if you use a different browser and have changed things in your config it might be possible that IE is having trouble with speed.

Just trying to think through the forum list delays you are seeing.

Cheers

Pip

[Ozymandias2]

Standard IE 11 on Windows 7; auto-updates for both enabled.

[PipFromSlitherine]

ORIGINAL: Ozymandias2

Standard IE 11 on Windows 7; auto-updates for both enabled.

Is it your day-to-day browser and operates without issue?

Cheers

Pip

[Ozymandias2]

ORIGINAL: PipFromSlitherine

ORIGINAL: Ozymandias2

Standard IE 11 on Windows 7; auto-updates for both enabled.

Is it your day-to-day browser and operates without issue?

Cheers

Pip

Weirdly, it's mildly incompatible with two sites I frequent: Quora and CivFanatics. On Quora, text formatting is impossible; on Civ, the slider bar has to be "grabbed" and moved.

Neither of these issues is unique to me: they are site specific; I can tolerate the CivFanatics issue, but use Firefox for Quora (being mildly paranoid, I also have Chrome and Opera lurking on my PC somewhere, but I never use them.)


Best,

Oz

[rmdesantis]

In an effort to move things forward, I just volunteered to be a beta tester for Gateway to Caen

[Ozymandias2]

ORIGINAL: rmdesantis

In an effort to move things forward, I just volunteered to be a beta tester for Gateway to Caen

Ditto that.

[rmdesantis]

After making the change, we played last night. The first time we tried to connect, we got the Lobby connection (after waiting for about a minute). We played several episodes and then the game froze (not unusual). Starting the software again, we connected a second time and then we had a Direct Connection (in less than 10 seconds).

Nothing changed in our systems during that time - so we have no idea why we get Lobby connection most of the time, and Direct Connection occasionally (but rarely).

Mike

ORIGINAL: Steve McClaire

Mike,

There is a certain time window the host will wait after trying a direct connection before it decides that it is not possible and it should fall back on the lobby. The default timeout is 5 seconds. Based on what Ozymandias2 described, it sounds like it is taking longer than that for him to get lobby information in many cases.

If you're comfortable using RegEdit, go into your registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Matrix Games\Close Combat Panthers in the Fog\ and change the key for ConnectionTimeout to some very high value (say 30 75 00 00 = 30 seconds) and see if that helps. If you're not confident about doing this I can email you a registry file that will set it automatically.

Steve

[PipFromSlitherine]

Did the startup times match up with the time it took for the data to come down to Ozy's machine when we went into the lobby? What value had you set the direct connect timeout to?

Cheers

Pip

[SteveMcClaire]

Thanks for the update. Everything so far still points to the joining player's machine not receiving data from the lobby in a timely manner.

Did you wait for the forums to load on Ozymandias2's machine before trying to connect?

Will keep you posted as we continue to look into this.

Steve

[rmdesantis]

I used the suggestion from Steve in post #43 above, so I presume 30 seconds.

ORIGINAL: PipFromSlitherine

Did the startup times match up with the time it took for the data to come down to Ozy's machine when we went into the lobby? What value had you set the direct connect timeout to?

Cheers

Pip

[rmdesantis]

I think so, but I don't recall. In the future, we'll wait to be sure that the forum loads before trying to host or join.

Mike

ORIGINAL: Steve McClaire

Thanks for the update. Everything so far still points to the joining player's machine not receiving data from the lobby in a timely manner.

Did you wait for the forums to load on Ozymandias2's machine before trying to connect?

Will keep you posted as we continue to look into this.

Steve

[Tejszd]

Another example where depending on a company to be able to multiplayer hurts gamers in the long run; Sony Shutting Down Resistance Trilogy Servers April 8th

http://www.gamrreview.com/news/91254/so ... april-8th/

[Ozymandias2]

Update from Dell: IE11 is "incompatible" with Windows 7; I've rolled back to IE10 & disabled auto-updates; I'll see if this has any effect this coming Sunday.

[PipFromSlitherine]

Well, that's patently untrue, but perhaps it's true on Dell machines?? [:)] Let us know if it changes anything.

Cheers

Pip

[Ozymandias2]

I wouldn't go with "patently untrue." [:-] Two websites - one of which I've been frequenting for a decade - (CivFanatics; the other is Quora) were not functioning properly under IE11 (I had to use Firefox for those sites) and, with the roll-back to IE10, every problem I had been encountering was resolved.

-Oz