Topic: AOTK troubles (Read 5050 times)

marstone · « **on:** June 22, 2007, 05:45:49 pm »

I have an odd problem with AOTK (add as in I haven't seen it listed, but might have missed it).

Everytime I play, I can log in, do everything in the game as normal including getting into a match. But when I come out of a match, I always loose contact with the server.

Thanks
Marstone /|\

Hexx · « **Reply #1 on:** June 22, 2007, 05:54:33 pm »

Are you running a firewall by chance?

(I have no idea- but honestly you'll have 10 people jumping in here telling you about them, they're evil or something, and I just like to be first)

marstone · « **Reply #2 on:** June 22, 2007, 09:44:27 pm »

no firewall, they are all turned off, have all the port forwarding that was mentioned on others areas on here. I can play the game on one of the other servers (can't remember the name, not the at war one, it sometimes looses connection returning from a fight also tho).

I haven't gotten to see if I am drafted into a fight if I would lose the server on return to the game.

I have done a clean reinstall, and rechecked firewall and router info.

FCM_SFHQ_XC · « **Reply #3 on:** June 22, 2007, 09:52:43 pm »

Do you have any other internet related applications open while you are playing? If there is any bandwidth hogging process/service running while you play AOTK3, it could explain why your losing connection..

marstone · « **Reply #4 on:** June 22, 2007, 10:02:16 pm »

Nothing else running that I know of (of course it is windows who knows what all might be going on). Tho my ping on some other games sometimes is a bit high, any way to check my ping for sfc:op?

FCM_SFHQ_XC · « **Reply #5 on:** June 22, 2007, 10:09:57 pm »

I'm pretty sure its being hosted on THOR (please do correct me if Im wrong) so... ping thor.xenocorp.net

marstone · « **Reply #6 on:** June 22, 2007, 10:12:39 pm »

hmm, ping of 135 how bad is that guys?? got cable modem, 2+gigahertz amd

FCM_SFHQ_XC · « **Reply #7 on:** June 22, 2007, 10:19:10 pm »

135 isnt TOO bad..isnt the best either as DSL is within the range of <70 usually.. Cable could be the prob though..not 100% certain to tell you the truth though.. I did fine on dial up for the longest time and that was with approx a 500 ping or so

(spiking up to 1000 at times).. it could be your ISP having trouble in your area, or perhaps a bad physical connection that drops you occasionally.. sorry I couldnt be of more help

marstone · « **Reply #8 on:** June 22, 2007, 10:26:29 pm »

Well, it would be nice to fix, but if nothing comes up, I shall live with it. I use to play it all the time years ago on dsl and I believe even dial-up. (was part of GFL before SFCIII came out.) It is sad tho, have played 20 or so combats and none have counted for anything. ('tis nice when the ship gets beaten up bad to come back with a freash one tho).

But will keep reading to see if anyone has a suggestion that can get me back into playing again.

el-Karnak · « **Reply #9 on:** June 22, 2007, 10:31:51 pm »

One item to check out is your running services on your windows OS. Make sure that any network related service is not jamming things up.

OP is a finnicky game with regards to firewalls and net svcs. You can have firewalls up and intrusion scan services working with newer games, but they will cause connection problems with OP.

FCM_SFHQ_XC · « **Reply #10 on:** June 22, 2007, 10:39:09 pm »

Quote from: marstone on June 22, 2007, 10:26:29 pm

Well, it would be nice to fix, but if nothing comes up, I shall live with it. I use to play it all the time years ago on dsl and I believe even dial-up. (was part of GFL before SFCIII came out.) It is sad tho, have played 20 or so combats and none have counted for anything. ('tis nice when the ship gets beaten up bad to come back with a freash one tho).

But will keep reading to see if anyone has a suggestion that can get me back into playing again.

You can always try calling your ISP and see if it might be anything wrong with there side.. Ask for a level 2 tech or higher though as those that first take your call are reading basically from a script. They might be at least able to check their side of things, and you *might* get a answer from them if it is on their side. Elsewise if it truely isnt then I can only think its some security setting or protocol running that shouldnt be.. interfering with your connection. Its of course not fully disrupting your connection as otherwise you wouldnt be able to log in. None of that Windows internet security center stuff should be up. It could also be possible spyware/virus stuff, so be sure to check for spyware as well.

marstone · « **Reply #11 on:** June 22, 2007, 10:42:25 pm »

daily spyware/virus checking being done. I shall check my services to see how much maybe hogging speed. (have to look and see what is the bare minimum I need to run my machine)

FCM_SFHQ_XC · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2007, 10:48:42 pm »

Windows only requires 11 processes to be running (12 if you got ATI graphics card) - 10 SYSTEM, 1 NETWORK SERVICE, 1 Your username- when there is nothing else running. So if you have more then that and you find the process .exe name to be unfamiliar then be sure to check and make sure its something you want running

marstone · « **Reply #13 on:** June 23, 2007, 01:36:20 am »

Well, just got back from the AOTK game. I can get drafted, play the game out, but lose server coming back to the game. Once I started a game, self-distructed and got back to the server. ( I blew myself up as I lost a fight, but didn't lose my ship because of the server dropping)

So it looks like the problem is when I have to reconnect with the server and doesn't matter if I draft a game or enter a draft.

FCM_SFHQ_XC · « **Reply #14 on:** June 23, 2007, 11:40:01 am »

Quote from: marstone on June 23, 2007, 01:36:20 am

Well, just got back from the AOTK game. I can get drafted, play the game out, but lose server coming back to the game. Once I started a game, self-distructed and got back to the server. ( I blew myself up as I lost a fight, but didn't lose my ship because of the server dropping)

So it looks like the problem is when I have to reconnect with the server and doesn't matter if I draft a game or enter a draft.

If you just say wonder around the hexes for say 15 mins or so.. (just moving from hex to hex without running any missions), do you lose connectivity at all?

marstone · « **Reply #15 on:** June 23, 2007, 11:51:54 am »

Nope, I can cruise around, sit and watch the movement, go to a base, refit, check out the other ships in the dock. Do anything really and it plays fine. Go to a fight, I can play it out, but when the fight is over. I sometimes have a few seconds that I can text chat, but I 99.9% lose the server (only once I didn't, it was the one I SD in to get a smaller ship since I was defeated in a fight but didn't lose my ship)

Odd part is I can play a different server and it doesn't happen (at least not much, only in awhile)

Slider · « **Reply #16 on:** June 23, 2007, 01:19:46 pm »

Typical connections are:

isp----Modem---Router-----PC

or

isp---Modem---PC

Just in general you should look for anything on the router, modem and PC that can time out. Look for anything that says On-Demand or Always on at both units.

Insure you have the latest firmware on your devices ie Router if you have one and the modem.

At the PC level make sure your power save features are set to always on, additional check your network drivers to make sure your at the latest, revision.

Check your event viewer for Errors.

I can probalby sugget more based on your feedback.

marstone · « **Reply #17 on:** June 23, 2007, 03:41:06 pm »

my system runs isp--cable modem--router--PC. None of them time out. (I can play all night on other online games without a glitch). I can play on another server on the Dynaverse with narry a problem, even in AOTK I can play forever as long as I don't do a combat.

FCM_SFHQ_XC · « **Reply #18 on:** June 23, 2007, 04:02:21 pm »

Quote from: marstone on June 23, 2007, 03:41:06 pm

my system runs isp--cable modem--router--PC. None of them time out. (I can play all night on other online games without a glitch). I can play on another server on the Dynaverse with narry a problem, even in AOTK I can play forever as long as I don't do a combat.

As Slider said above, Any odd errors showing up in your event viewer around the times that you entered/left a mission?

marstone · « **Reply #19 on:** June 23, 2007, 04:04:36 pm »

no, haven't seen anything.

Slider · « **Reply #20 on:** June 23, 2007, 05:08:23 pm »

Mars,

Consider this...when you go into mission against the AI your doing it alone on your machine. So if the modem is sent to On Demand as i have seen many, it will dissconect from the ISP. This is normal and will not affect games like CS where there is alot of traffic.

Again check the firmware and settings for each device and the network card driver of your machine.

marstone · « **Reply #21 on:** June 23, 2007, 06:23:15 pm »

checked, they should stay connected. It is a good thing to consider, but when I play while drafted so it is played on someone elses machine, I still get the lost server coming back out of the game (so shouldn't be my modem shutting down). But it does look like it will stay connected, from what I could see on the settings. I find it odd that it does it on one server (AOTK) and not the other one I have tried to play (Strays or something like that). If it was the setting on my machine's modem or such, it should do it on both. I can't figure out what would be different between the two ('cept where the servers maybe run on)

Slider · « **Reply #22 on:** June 23, 2007, 09:44:54 pm »

Ok, there are several paths to take with not much to go on.

A. Update the firmware on your router and modem, provided they are not already at the latest level. (however i dont believe this is the cause entirely.)

B. More likely, you need to remove and reinstall the game...all of it.

C. We can to a tracert to DH's IP and see the return times.....doubtful we will see anything new, however I have seen that people in remote locations have their traffic sent through busy routers where it can bottleneck. Again Im not laying to much foundation on this as you say you can play other games, however this is a near 10 year old game that is sensitive to latency. There is one of the patches by the Dyna guys that improved some files to improve connectivity.

D. Run the Tweak test at dslreports.com....use the RWin tool to improve your over all connection.

E. go to GRC.com and use the Shileds up too to determine if something between you and the server is being blocked.

marstone · « **Reply #23 on:** June 24, 2007, 12:21:43 am »

alright, let see.

a: routers are updated
b: have reinstalled the game twice now (three if you count the first install when I found out the error, I just dug the game out of the dusty corner to play again)
c: working on the trace to see if I have busy routers (preliminary checks show I have some problems with that, I ping the server at 135. I get a good ping going to NY on one test I tried, but the rest are 135 or higher)
d: did the tweak test, showed I was fine (it did state on the main page that the tweak wouldn't help Multi-player games over UDP or ping times)
e: shields up showed my system is fully secure (this might be a problem, but it should effect both the games on the dynaverse not just one)

my thoughts, it's my high ping. When I drop of the server to enter a game, then the reconnect is slow so it is dropped (not sure how that works for sure. I remember reading that the server only does the map and movement stuff, then drops the players off to one of the players computers to run the combat. They then come back and reconnect with the server, the server is updated on the results of the combat and play continues)

FCM_SFHQ_XC · « **Reply #24 on:** June 24, 2007, 12:46:24 am »

135 isnt a high ping. So I doubt its that is it. Ive played D3 and D2 campaigns in the past on dialup with around a 600 ping.

Capt Jeff · « **Reply #25 on:** June 24, 2007, 06:11:06 am »

Father Ted had these exact problems when playing. We never could figure them out and that's the main reason he is not around anymore.

Best of luck trying to figure this out !!

marstone · « **Reply #26 on:** June 24, 2007, 10:10:32 am »

Well, I shall keep at it (at least for awhile). I can play on Strayys (however it is spelled), but I am looking forward to more PvP and that server is alittle empty each time I play. Does anyone know, is Strayys hosted on a different computer or the same as AOTK?

I haven't been able to get the total war one running yet. I use the installer but it still says I am missing a few filess. (going to have to look alittle harder to see what is missing, it might be my ownly hope). $:-\$

Slider · « **Reply #27 on:** June 24, 2007, 10:34:58 am »

Mars,

Yes the problem is odd, given that everyone is staying connecte is why im focused on your machine and connection.

A. Do you have another Network card you can install and use...

B. Tell me more about GRC findings.... have you tried connecting strait to the cable modem?

C. At my companuy site you can connect to a remote support icon that will connect you to me. We can review the settings on both routers and get you going. Chances are you have maybe just one thing causing this issue.

marstone · « **Reply #28 on:** June 24, 2007, 10:48:45 am »

no, no other network card to try right now.

The part that gets me wondering is that I can play on one server but not the other. This makes me think it wouldn't be my machine but somewhere inbetween the two. (routing going through a node that lags out sometimes, but routing shouldn't really be the same each time I relog on, the dynamics of the net and all)

as for the grc, the only thing I could find on the shields up part was tests on my ports to make sure they were shut down to spyware (or did I miss a section in there) It showed that only one port (113 or such) replied to tests, which came up as a failure. Since it was looking that my machine shouldn't respond to any of its probes.

(sucks to be an oldtimer programmer, out of touch and pratice with the new stuff. I have a grasp of this stuff, but it just keeps alittle out in front of me.)

Oh, yes, tried connecting straight to the cable modem. haven't found out how to set the ports on it so it is an anigma at the moment. I'm digging for the docks on it (they are buried here somewhere)

Slider · « **Reply #29 on:** June 24, 2007, 11:39:29 am »

You should be able to get to it from your browser, the IP should be the default gateway my guess its 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254.

The image im starting to get is that your router is configued correctly but your modem is perhaps shutting the port after a time. Yes i completly understand the bahaviour is not consistent but what else do we have to go on.

My guess about the difference is that AOTK is on someones home system and may be on say cable vs the other might be on DSL or T1, who knows. All I know is we cant change the server so we can only try and tweak what we do have.

I have time now to do a remote session to you, I can call you and we can go through your settings.

marstone · « **Reply #30 on:** June 24, 2007, 11:47:12 am »

thanks for the offer, but I am heading out the door. Going to take the kids out to a friends to ride a few horses. I'll check on a few things more here. Will take a raincheck.

Thanks again.

FCM_SFHQ_XC · « **Reply #31 on:** June 24, 2007, 12:46:23 pm »

When you exit the mission, does the light on your cable modem light up(or blink.. whichever indicates the transfer of data)
You'll have to look carefully though since OP doesnt transmit too much data back and forth unless its PvP.

marstone · « **Reply #32 on:** June 25, 2007, 08:16:17 am »

In a strange turn of events, I logged into AOTK today, have been playing it for hour and a half so far, numerous battles. No loss of server.

I didn't do anything. It just ran now.

Thanks for the help everyone

marstone · « **Reply #33 on:** June 25, 2007, 09:21:44 am »

Well, after playing into my second hour. I started to get some drop of servers. Not everytime, but it was picking up.

But on a bright note, I have TS set-up now. (need to find my mic tho)

marstone · « **Reply #34 on:** June 30, 2007, 02:53:41 pm »

I can play for hours now, as long as it is very early or very late. I am thinking it must be something with my isp (when they get busy I get the drops). Going to pack up computer and try a different connection and see if it works better. Maybe then I can join a game and be a good player. (was killed in a game, and couldn;t sd my ship until morning).

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el-Karnak

Topic: AOTK troubles (Read 5050 times)