LAN muliplay - bug in original game

[Tom Davies]

For those of you who like me like to play LAN based multiplay games I just got a message from Activision. The LAN based multiplay that required only one disc to play was apparently a bug and has been corrected in the patch so that you now need a disk per machine (Apparently the book is incorrect when it says you only need one disc!) Has anyone tried playing LAN based multiplayer gams with a disc in each machine to prove this works?

[Mongoose]

Ba#%*rds!

[This message has been edited by Mongoose (edited June 04, 1999).]

[kmj]

That f***ing sucks!!!!!

[Robm]

Just goes to prove we need a CD crack!

[Tom Davies]

I received a further Email on this from Activision saying that this would be looked at again.

Apparently soemone else contacted Activision and faxed them page 61 which states you only need the single copy for LAN play.

Unfortunately, the message said all the programmers were on holiday for 3 weeks so I hope to hear from them after that.

Although - if everyone is on holiday who is bringing out the multilanguage patches which have come out over the last week or so?

[zodiac]

I can confirm that it is possible to play multi-player on the LAN with only one CD-Rom.

You can play this way with the original game, with the 1.1 patch and with CD's mod 4.

I have had problems with some player profiles which prevented LAN games all together. Deleting and re-creating the profiles fixed this problem.

The routine used to locate the CD-Rom is pitiful beyond words. It can take A LOT OF ATTEMPTS recognise the CD and get the game to start. This is infuriating on the LAN, but would make multi-player mpossible on the Internet.

Finally there is a file MSVCRT.DLL (or similair) If you are using an older version you get weird results. Definitiely update this file on ALL MACHINES THAT ARE PLAYING ON THE LAN. (Full instructions are available from the Activision FAQ).

Regards,

[Tom Davies]

Zodiac - so how do you get past the request to put a CD in the other LAN connected machine?

I know you can start the LAN game with the version 1.1 patch and it happily saves it (haven't tried CD's patch). The problem though occurs when you go to continue a saved game. At this point both machines ask for the CTP CD to continue.

If there is a way around - even after startign I will try it but at the moment we have gone back to the original game - no patch.

[zodiac]

Tom,

I know the problem you mean, the host loads the saved game, the players join everybody launches and then all the non-host PCs ask for the CD-Rom.

I only experience this problem occassionally.
When it happens I take the CD-Rom out of the host and insert it into each of the other LAN machines one at a time until everyone has started and then re-insert the CD in the hosting PC.

It's a real drag that it is necessary. The problems with CD-Rom detection are apalling and reflect very poorly on Activision.

It is also important to note that all players must be using the same version of the game (same mods and patches applied).
Also if you are loading a saved game you must be using the same patches and mods that were used to create the saved game otherwise you get stuck in a load the CD-Rom loop.

I really encourage you to persevere as it is a very good game multi-player.

Regards,

[Tom Davies]

Zodiac
Tried it last night. Moved to 1.1 and loaded our version 1.0 game we were playing. Yes, taking the CD out and placing in the non host PC worked fine. No problems - Thanks.

One problem we have had - its the subject of another posting - is our destroyer bug (other sprites may also cause this but Destroyer is the earliest one I know). When bombarding the game used to go do down and we hadn't a clue why. We've now sussed out that its tied in to the zoom in and zoom out. We normally play on the 1024x768 setting. Stay at normal zoom no problem. If someone zooms out and the destroyer bombards - their machine crashes. If both macines are zoomed out both crash. Have you encountered this - if not and you crash in the LAN game watch out it may be this.

[zodiac]

Tom,

I have not experienced this problem.

I did used to have crashes intermittently when laying tile improvements, setting up
trade routes and occassionally for no apparent reason at all.

I found that all these problems went away when I updated the MSCVRT.DLL file on ALL
of the LAN machines. I have had a crash for at least 40 hours of LAN playtime now.

Regards,

[JimMac]

I hope to try a LAN game in about three weeks time: three human and about 5 AI Civs.

I would be grateful for any advice reguarding the settings I should use for the game, especially reguarding setting time limits to each player to carry out their movements. All machines will have CDs mod 4.2 and dominiques build mod.

Also 2 questions-
-How does the speed of gameplay compare with Civ2 MGE??
-What can the players who are waiting for their movement turn actually do? Can they alter movement paths, build orders etc/ (O.K... 3 questions)

Any advice to improve play in a multiplayer LAN game gratefully received.

JimMac

[This message has been edited by JimMac (edited June 28, 1999).]