Teach me!

[vondrack]

Originally posted by alexman
The lag is a combination of factors. Radek's slow machine, his slow connection, as well as the server being on a slow machine.

Only actions that need to be communicated to all other computers so that things remain in sync cause "lag". Reassigning citizens is one of them.

You know, I'm still a bit reluctant to buy this... if others move units around, there does not seem to be any lag worth mentioning - yet it is undoubtedly something that must be synced. If I exchange world maps with Gloria, the update takes about as long as moving a citizen off a tile. Shuffling city workforce is simply like hundred times worse than anything else... destroying improvements and cutting rail/roads is the only thing that comes close to it.

BTW... what is the principal reason for syncing city tile assignments all the time? I'd think it would be enough to do that just when the turn rolls over (or, for Pitboss, when people log in/out or something)... because the actual tile assignment does not affect anything (or, does not have any tangible result) instantly - certainly not "within" one turn.

[snoopy369]

I would assume it's more efficient overall, because you're just sending the change; so if you change 20 tile assignments (out of 300, say) you only send 20 assignments, not 300; and you don't have a hideously long EOT. Also, it's only one thing out of many, and almost everything else MUST be sent instantly; for that matter, if they rush something and kill off a WF, how would you handle that?

Most MP games of Civ do not have this problem, that I've been in anyway, so I presume it's a computer-computer or connection issue, not that the programming is inefficient.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by vondrack
As for people failing to join while I'm logged in - this is an arbitrary thing and happens even to me (when other players are in). Andy has that kind of a problem with me sometimes, too (however, he can join just fine at other times, with me still in). Must be a GameSpy thing, as I'm running the same firewall/router config all the time, with the CIV port open.

I would expect it to happen to you just as to others. The issue is that the game times out when connecting between you and another player; doesn't matter if it is before or after you join. I think it's a matter of pings, not gamespy; some days you'll have a better ping than others depending on traffic and routing differences (these change all the time). If you're close to the timeout (what, 30 seconds?) then sometimes you'll go over it and sometimes not ...

[vondrack]

Originally posted by snoopy369
I would expect it to happen to you just as to others. The issue is that the game times out when connecting between you and another player; doesn't matter if it is before or after you join. I think it's a matter of pings, not gamespy; some days you'll have a better ping than others depending on traffic and routing differences (these change all the time). If you're close to the timeout (what, 30 seconds?) then sometimes you'll go over it and sometimes not ...

While my connection is far from the 6Mbit cable I enjoyed back when living downtown (we're now living in a new suburb where there's no cable available - not even metallic phone lines...), it's not exactly a "crappy" connection. I've got pings under 200ms for most US servers. For example, www.firaxis.com is about 200ms (www.civ4.com is almost 600ms, though, dunno why).

I can enable ping on my FortiNet router, if anyone wants to check every now and then what my average ping is... plus, I've got two paralell connections actually, so we might check if one of them is better than the other.

You know, this has been a problem for me ever since I joined the playsession (and that was back when I had that cable connection). We had a number of bughunts organized to pinpoint the cause down, but it has never worked out and was eventually blamed on GameSpy, IIRC.

When I try to join this game, I seldom get in on the first try. I usually have to back out and try 2-3 times before I finally get in ("connect to host"). I am, however, not the only player in this game having this problem - at least Beta has it, too. But unlike him, I have always had this problem with other CIV MP games, too. And there were players I was simply unable to be in the same game with, ever... (aka "vondrack's syndrome").

[condor223]

I cant connect tonight to finish my turn.. sorry guys.. Ive tried three times.. also the stats page is down again.


I time out.

[Blake]

Originally posted by vondrack



You are misunderstanding - by destroying the facility, we are letting the poor woolies free!

But seriously - it's not the sheep we are after. If you rebuild just the pasture, but no railroad, we promise to let your woolies be.

Celtic Workers Party Spokesman: It looks like a trap to us! They'll slay us the second we step outside the gates of the Bastion!
Celtic President: Vonolan are indeed tricksy. They never said they wouldn't harm our workers.
Celtic Punman: Hey I just had a great idea! Try this on for size "Vonolandy".
Celtic President: I like it. I like it a lot. But what if someone else turns up? We can only keep concatenating their names together for so long before the whole thing breaks down into an unpronounceable mess.
Celtic Punman: Maybe if we insert Alexman in the middle and reverse toxii, it could be "Vonolalexotandy".
Celtic President: ... that sounds like a disease. Lets stick with Vonolandy. We can rename our eastern enemies to Toxman, get PR to design a nice propaganda poster, include some baby vikings crying.
Celtic Military Adviser: What the hell are you morons talking about?! I say we just nuke them all!
Celtic President: I tend to agree on principle but we're trying to keep things civilized.
Celtic Military Adviser: Lets nuke them anyway! They deserve it!
Celtic President: I have a better idea. Lets engage in some brinkmanship. We send our woollybacks forth, and if Vonolandy dare touch a hair on their heads, we unleash a nuclear hell upon the world.
Celtic Workers Party Spokesman: We'll do it. The sheep need us. But we're not happy.

[condor223]

LOL!

Japanese minister to the Shogun:
"Kiwi Leg of lamb sire?"

"I know where we can get more if you like it, or we can send it to Egypt?"



It took me over 15 tries to get through and log into the game and end the turn. Sorry about that. Hope everyone is enjoying the roast.

I'm off to pick up my finally repaired computer. (the one that lost the bios every 40 starts) It has been in the shop for 3 months. Asus rebuilt the motherboard and lost it in their shop.

I should be back to do my turn in about 6 hours, possibly less.

Nolz

[proviisori]

New turn is up!

[vondrack]

BTW... yesterday, someone failed to join the game while I was logged in - I assume it was proviisori. If that happens again, try giving me just a minute to finish a move - if this happens, I usually back off the game as fast as possible, letting you in (rejoining myself then, as I usually join with no problems).

I did that yesterday, too, but there was nobody I could recognize in the lobby...

[proviisori]

ok, thanks

it was me

[proviisori]

New turn is up!

[vondrack]

Neither me nor Nolan are able to log in today. The game appears to be up (it's listed in the lobby), but every single attempt to join it will time out for us. I myself have tried like 30 times... as the CivStats uploader is currently disconnected as well, I suspect there may be a problem with the server...?

Alex, can you check everything is all right with the server?

Thanks!

[Blake]

Germs! Germs everywhere! Ayeeeee!

Celtia now offers fast Secure Data Network. Upload your valuable files like MP3's, Research Data, and Pr0n. Your files will be very safe on our servers. We make very good backups!

Celtic Technician 1: Damn. I can't believe that actually worked. How could anyone be stupid enough to actually upload their research data?
Celtic Technician 2: They're the enemies of Celtia, remember. Stupid is their defining quality.

If you wonder how Celtia managed to lay the fibre optic cables into enemy territory, that's an easy one! It's using a variant of the Google TiSP technology.





My turn is going to be a long one (you might imagine, with getting a bunch of new tech to integrate, and of course having to prepare for whatever tricksyness Alexman might try with his new toys).

I'm too tired to play now (it's my evening). As such I've paused the game and plan to play it in my morning, reseting the schedule to what it's been lately. Hopefully no-one has a problem with that .

[Wittlich]

EDIT: Double Post

[Wittlich]

I was able to login to the game but the game showed this:

*Game Has Been Paused By Grater*

So...oops, nevermind - just reread Blake's last post.