Online game Delay

NEB · Guest

Hi, Fantastic mod. I can't praise it enough.

I've run into a small issue on-line however. For some reason there is a delay in sidebar actions and building placements when I play on-line with a friend. The movement of the troops and orders are only slightly affected so it doesn't feel like lag as such, the game is still playable. This is on a slow speed as were both getting on a bit now Smile

In single player games we don't have the same issue, so I'm assuming its network related. Firewalls have been checked and we play other C&C games on CNC-net regularly without any issues.

Is there anything you can suggest? I've read the network tips post.

Again Thank-you for all your hard work, This is my ideal C&C game.

Bittah Commander · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 3:00 am Post subject:

Like I said on Mod DB, this is normal behavior online in all Westwood C&C games.
A while ago Iran provided a hack to remove this delay, but after it had been used for a while, it became clear that this greatly increased the chance of players desynchronizing.

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Neb · Guest

Sry for the double post, feel free to delete.

its not the same behaviour I experience when playing other c&c titles on c&c net. The others have no noticeable delay, including Tiberium sun without any mods.

It's far too pronounced to be a feature. I have been playing c&c games since the first Tiberium dawn was released and never had this issue online.

i will try and time the delay so you get a better idea of the issue and how it hinders the gameplay.

Lin Kuei Ominae · Seth **Joined**: 16 Aug 2006 **Location**: Germany

How long is your delay? can you measure it in seconds?
When one player has a slow connection, a delay of 1 second can occur, but this is already quite high.
Usually i experience no delay or far less than 1 second so it's not a big deal.

Open a console and send a Ping to your friends IP-Address. Then check the time it takes for the ping to get answered by your friend.
example:

You can find out your IP here.

When you're for example in america and your friend is in russia, the huge distance can also add a delay, which you can't prevent.

Also try playing with someone else online (both of you) to check if it's only one of your connections and which one.

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Neb · Guest

The delay is only in this mod, playing with the same person in other c&c games presents no problem. Even in normal Tiberium sun there is no delay. I play with this person regularly so connection distance is not the issue.

Game speed seems to directly affect the delay time. I wonder if the mod has changed thr functioning of 'game speed' related to online play?

If most people play on fast speeds then it wouldn't be much of an issue however we play on slow where the delay is agrivating.

I will do done more testing to get more info for you..

Lin Kuei Ominae · Seth **Joined**: 16 Aug 2006 **Location**: Germany

Do you play 1v1 or against AIs?
Is the delay present in both?

DTA has a much stronger AI than TS, thus there are a lot more units which the computer controls (in TS the AI almost builds nothing and does nothing).
So if you have a delay only in games against AIs, then this would explain why DTA has a stronger delay than TS for you.
A small bandwidth of your connection (or something else limiting the games bandwidth) could then lead to delays since the game has trouble to send and synchronize all the data.

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X-Mech Calendar (28 Mechs for GDI and Nod)
5 GDI, 5 Nod, 1 Mutant, 1 Scrin unit, 1 GDI building

Tools
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Bittah Commander · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 2:30 pm Post subject:

The only thing I can think of that's different between DTA and TS is that DTA still has a hack applied from Iran to remove "lag" from the start of matches.

Try replacing the game.dat file with the one from the zip file included in the attachment of my post (both you and your friend need to do this) and then play a match with just him to see if the delay is still there.
Note: You'll get a version mismatch notification when you start the game after having replaced game.dat; just click "No" when it asks to repair the installation (clicking "Yes" will make it replace the game.dat file with the original one again).

Please report back on whether it has made a difference once you've tried this.

game.zip

Description:

Download

Filename:

game.zip

Filesize:

1.57 MB

Downloaded:

11 Time(s)

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NEB · Guest

Thankyou but I tried the game.dat with no luck. the delay is still there.

The problem is definitely related to game speed. I had a game on-line with someone else on fastest and the delay was not noticeable. This probably explains why most people don't see a problem.

However, I like to play on the slower speeds where the delay is coming up to a second on menu clicks and movement commands.

I'm lost, i think it must be inherent in Tiberium suns online code as you mentioned before. Otherwise single player would have the same issue.

Guest · Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 11:44 pm Post subject:

Would anyone be interested in trying a game on slow 15fps to see if we can replicate the issue? Most people want to play on crazy speeds so wouldnt notice it anyway.

If not perhaps the devs could test it out? just incase you havent tested a slow game in a while.

Bittah Commander · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:18 am Post subject:

I find playing on Slow crazier than playing on Fastest online Razz

I indeed never play on slow, but I could try it some time when another staff member is available to see if we can reproduce the delay you're mentioning.

That said however, if the game.dat file I uploaded really doesn't make a difference and you're sure that both you and your friend were using it (both your friend's and your game versions should have shown up as "N/A" if you were using it), then there's really nothing else I can think of that could cause this (and if it was caused by the AI like LKO suggested, it'd be noticeable on higher game speeds too).

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NEB · Guest

ha, yeah i am in the minority. I think it comes from playing the first C&C on a rubbish computer in dos, so it was always slow.

Definitely not an AI issue as this would be present in Single player.

Yes Please. try it just so you witness the issue. I do hope its something that can be fixed even if its way down the line as most people play on fast.

Thanks for helping. Looks like my friend and I are back to the originals on CNC net. such a shame as this mod is so brilliant.