Post your Patch-2 problems and issues here!

[STING]

It might be good to have a central topic about "issues-since-Patch-2"

Since patch 2 I have the problem, which occurs almost every time.

When I join a game at Gamepspy, I get the message "Attempting a connection" and after that nothing happens.

When I then create a session, it says:

Failed to create a DirectPlay session. Please check your network connection and try again.

* No firewall
* DXDIAG reports DirectPlay is in order and the DirectPlay test succeeds

I then quitted Gamespy and tried again. Now I can host a game..... but still not join a game. Weird.

[Sosoaha]

Nothing changed. Still get an expection error when attempting CTW. Rondom freezes persist.
So, Good Bye RON!

[Caesar Saladus]

I'm having the same problem with you Sosoaha; nothing got fixed (or at least the worst problems didn't get fixed, which they told us would be).

I personally am getting a bit fed up. I paid $80 for this game, and haven't been able to play it because it is defective. I didn't complain because I thought they were doing everything they could and that a patch was in the works, but this is ridiculous.

[STING]

Well the following explains why you still have crashes:

Information, already posted by jcoleman of BHG some weeks ago:

PATCH2
Address our current inability to accurately test patches for all languages before going live. This patch will likely go up in the next few days and will be extremely limited in scope.

PATCH3
Address issues that are keeping some people from enjoying the game at all. The timetable is ASAP but, with all the testing involved, is likely to take 1-3 weeks. These issues include:
* Consistent CTW crashes on some systems. Some people seem to have solved the problem by upgrading their motherboard bios. We hope to either address the problems within the game itself or have a clear understanding of the problem so we can more effectively help people solve it.
* Severe MP lag for some, regardless of bandwidth or machine specs. Since we were unable to repro the problem on site, someone is graciously sending us his system which exhibits the problem. Thanks for the many offers.
* Inability to host behind a NAT via GameSpy even when the appropriate ports are opened.
* Poorly behaving MP rating system.

PATCH4
Hopefully, by this point, we can begin real improvements and start incorporating the many wonderful suggestions for improving online matchmaking and the overall game experience. We should have details at a later date.

I just recommend you guys, to wait a bit longer. I think many games nowadays are being rushed by the publisher, before the developers say it's ready. The developers are now finishing the loose ends, but it takes some time unfortunately :/

[skystreak]

I buy 7-8 games a year. With the "brilliance" that is windows, I rarely have problems with capability, primarily b/c I always check to make sure my system meets/exceeds the requirements and I always buy my computers with name brand parts (ie I have my computers put together by experts who use the best parts). I dont fool with my computer much, other than to upgrade that drivers (which I do consistently). And I have NEVER had a problem like the one I've had with RoN. ANd I dont mean that I couldnt play it when I first got it- I mean, its been 2 1/2 weeks and I can't play it.

*I just recommend you guys, to wait a bit longer. I think many games nowadays are being rushed by the publisher, before the developers say it's ready. The developers are now finishing the loose ends, but it takes some time unfortunately :/*

You know what ? We dont have any choice but to wait longer. Because many of us lost the choice to take it back to the store a week ago. I've yet to see an apology, an explanation, anything from the devs, the publisher, anybody. I've seen excuses and alot of "well we never had this problem when it was released". Microsoft has possibly the worst gaming support in existance. If it was rushed out the door, thats NOT my fault, as the consumer. And as the consumer, I have a right to have these problems fixed so I can use the product I purchased in a timely fashion. Would you put up with this if you bought a car that didnt work ? How bout a cellular phone ? Of course you wouldnt. Game developers should and must be held to the same level of conduct that any other merchant, who sells a product, is held to. Right now, they can shrug their shoulders and say "we'll get it fixed eventually".

BHG lost it chance for more business from me. That may not matter to them but when enough consumers get pissed off and say "this sucks, we're not buying another game from this developer", its going to hit them in their wallet. And maybe this wasn't the fault of the developer - one of them actually said the game was rushed out the door. Well then next time, maybe don't take all the money t hat was thrown at you by Microsoft and go with a publisher that will actually let you finish the game and properly bug test it before release.

Two and half weeks and my game still wont work. Two and half weeks and many people's games wont work,. THere is no excuse for that.

[Spectrex]

Honestly I think you're being too hard on them. The number of possible system configurations is nearly infinite, and it's physically impossible to test every single configuration. Look at the CTW crash - they think it's caused by an out-of-date BIOS version for certain motherboards. As if they could have predicted this.

Furthermore it is often the case that the dozens (or hundreds) of third-party applications and devices that must all work properly to make a game function are the source of the problem, not the game code itself.

In some cases, it's just inexcusable (MOO3 comes to mind...) but imho BHG have made a spectactular game. Also IMHO, if you can't play CTW, no big loss - go play some humans on Gamespy.

[skystreak]

No you misunderstand. I can't play ANY of the games. I have the infamous 5-35 min freeze/lockup bug that so many people experience. Understand, its not ONE feature its ALL of the features. And hell, there are people who can't even get the game to load.

I have a p4 2.6, 1.5 gig kingston ram, radeon 9700 Pro, sound blaster audigy, Sony DVD. I have name brands parts, all of which are extremely common. I have updated drivers. NO GAME should force me to flash my bios, screw with my bios, disable my sound or any of the other "solutions" being tried by people to make one game work.

Explain to me how I'm being too hard on a company that can't even figure out what the problem is after two weeks. A product is supposed to work. We give game companies allowances b/c they're "artists" - but PC game companies like BHG fail to release bug free games and then make excuses. The game should work for most people out of the box. THIS game does not work for many people out of the box (though ironically, the demo works fine). It is not my fault the game does not work - it is not my system's fault the game does not work (b/c I have numerous other games and NONE of them have EVER had this kind of problem). Its the fault of Microsofts pathetic customer support and BHG complete inability to solve this grevious error.

All I can say is they are damn lucky that none of the reviewers for one of the major gaming sites had this kind of problem before doing a review or you'd have bad press up the yinyang. What do I want ? I want a website where we can get return authorization codes so I can get my 50 bucks back. Until I get that, my only recourse is *****ing on this forum.

[STING]

My god... Gamespy matchmaking is now more bugged than ever!

[Vonbaron]

First MP game since the patch had 2 out of four players drop. Seems more unstable now then before. But unlike some who have had real problems with the game, I have had relatively few. I do understand the iritation as I felt the same way for 3.5 months waiting for the MOO3 patch (and at this point I don't care to ever play MOO3 or any Atari/QS game). At least BHG is getting updates out and has not been dipslaying the arrogance of the MOO3 experience.

[Vonbaron]

3 Tries at MP using patch 2. The group of four of us which never had a serious MP problem on direct IP now can't get far into a game without a drop or sync problem. We are re-installing patch 1.

[cupfinder]

Answer to Attempting a connection in Rise Of Nations

I fought this problem for several days before figuring it out. I'm on an XP P4 2.6 GHZ machine. The problem turned out to be the Mcafee Security Center Software loaded on my machine when I received it from Dell. I would disable the firewall and still have the problem. I couldn't host or connect in a multiplayer game. I had to go in and deinstall the software, remove all references in the registry for Mcafee and reboot. This fixed my problem. I need to get another firewall put in place. Try this, it should fix your problem if your running Mcafee on Windows XP. Sorry, I don't remember the version number.