Connection lost...

[munger 25]

I've just started having the same problem. I recently upgraded to 512k ADSL from 64k ISDN and ever since then I've been having the exact same random loss of connection as the rest of you guys. The ISDN was fine with any OFP version but ADSL seems to have triggered the problem. The occurrences seem to happen at around the same time in each game. I usually get through one and then get disconnected about ten minutes into the next. I am using a Netgear LAN card attached to a switch, an ADSL modem and a hardware firewall, but the problem is still there without the firewall in place.

I haven't tried the 'activate internet' trick yet so hopefully that will work for me. Otherwise I'm screwed as BIS have publicly stated that they aren't supporting the game anymore, which incidentally seems ridiculous when such a big multiplayer problem exists.

[gigglebok 1]

I play co-op LAN games from time to time with a friend. Never had a problem with 1.85 - but after upgrading to either 1.90 or 1.91 we always get the dreaded "connection lost" syndrome. Re-installed OFP back to 1.85 by wiping clean OFP (pain in the backside - three CDs and getting all the addons back in) and guess what - everythings OK again. And it's nothing to do with any of the addons - even a plain vanilla resistance upgraded to 1.90/1 dies a horrible death on our LAN. 1.85 is fine. You tell me. I'm sticking with 1.85 until OFP2 come out - if it's true that 1.91 is as far as BIS go with OFP1!

Both machines are running win98SE - could this be the common demoninator? (it certainly can't be a router issue - the packets aren't going anywhere except across the carpet!

[pynaple 0]

fully reinstalled from cwc to 1.91 minus red hammer caus of patching errors

minus all campaign updates caus of patching errors,

minus non official addons.

same connecion lost problems mid game M/P only solution Alt+Tab open a browser window before you get dropped from the game.

Tried leaving a browser window open, this seemed to work, not sure though out of 6 games 5 were ruined caus of this problem the final one I kept a browser window open and got a full game out of her without Alt+Tab work around. 1.85 didn't cause this problem.

[nyles 11]

I just got a timeout again. A teammate reported over voice that 2 more guys timed out from the servers with me. Still I remained online in IRC and GameVoice.

BIS I demand a fix! Don't let us down here!

[Waterman 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Munger @ 20 April 2003,01:30)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I've just started having the same problem. I recently upgraded to 512k ADSL from 64k ISDN and ever since then I've been having the exact same random loss of connection as the rest of you guys. The ISDN was fine with any OFP version but ADSL seems to have triggered the problem. The occurrences seem to happen at around the same time in each game. I usually get through one and then get disconnected about ten minutes into the next. I am using a Netgear LAN card attached to a switch, an ADSL modem and a hardware firewall, but the problem is still there without the firewall in place.

I haven't tried the 'activate internet' trick yet so hopefully that will work for me. Otherwise I'm screwed as BIS have publicly stated that they aren't supporting the game anymore, which incidentally seems ridiculous when such a big multiplayer problem exists.    <span id='postcolor'>

Same as me Munger, except mine is probably more serious...

I get random lost connection in the middle of mp matches,

sometimes, freezing the computer or I get an error message like:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

                           WINDOWS

A fatal exception OE has occurred at 0028:17CF5322.

The current application will be terminated.

*Press any key to terminate the current application.

*Press CTRL+ALT+DEL again to restart your computer. You

will loose any unsaved information in all applications.

             Press any key to continue_

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes after the "OE" bit it will have "in VxD ---"

I searched my computer and VxD turned out to be an audio driver.  

I've also had a "Kernel32" error aswell as the sound in OFP going completly haywire or no sound at all!

What I am thinking is that this VxD thingy is responsible for the sound in OFP going mad...

I dont suppose even Avon could help me on this one without recommending to re-format the hard-drive.  Which looks like what Im going to have to do...

My Spec:

AMD Athalon XP 2000+

64MB Hercules Graphics Card

60GB HD

A reasonably good Asus motherboard

Im also running my sound of the motherboard, which maybe something to do with the errors?

ADSL Speedway in USB2 socket, ISP is bt broadband themselves.

Waterman...  

[Mister Frag 0]

IRC uses datagrams, I believe, and GameVoice will automatically reconnect a broken TCP connection.

I think all of the data exchange during the game in OFP is done using TCP sessions, and it probably doesn't reestablish them once they are broken, so you get dropped from the game.

BIS would have to add code to reestablish broken connections, as well as synch up the game state. Since disconnected players revert to the AI, that would have to be undone, too.

Finally, there's got to be an opportunity for cheating when broken connections are allowed to be restored. I'm sure that's one more reason why this feature doesn't exist today.

[Lobanak 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Mister Frag @ 20 May 2003,00:03)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I think all of the data exchange during the game in OFP is done using TCP sessions, and it probably doesn't reestablish them once they are broken, so you get dropped from the game.<span id='postcolor'>

As I only have opened udp ports in my iptables firewall and the game runs without problems, there can be no transfer over tcp. The only tcp transfer which is done is the query of the squad.xml over port 80 (standard http request to the web server). I also looked with tcpdump at udp port 2302 and saw the packets flowing from and to the server.

Gaming with tcp packets will produce lag like hell cause of the header of tcp packets. No game uses tcp packets for net code (as I know, cause too slow).

Greets

[CiA]Lobanak

[Mister Frag 0]

I double-checked, and it looks like between DirectPlay7 and DirectPlay8, Microsoft eliminated the use of TCP ports -- the only ports now being used appear to be UDP ports.

Here is the list of ports used by DirectPlay.

Of course, none of this is terribly relevant if you don't use DirectPlay.

[//relic// 0]

It happens to me all the time, and I do what most of you do - alt-tab and IE to get the OFP connection flowing again.

[Mister Frag 0]

For those who are experiencing connection problems, have you checked to make sure that the MTU size doesn't cause packet fragmentation? If OFP (or any other application, for that matter) attempts to send a packet that exceeds the MTU size, it gets fragmented and may need to be resent. However, if the ICMP packet that is used to request a retransmission doesn't make it back (because ICMP packets are also used for PINGs and are often blocked), the transmission will stall.

MTU size problems most commonly occur with PPPoE connections, because PPPoE wraps the data to be sent inside another protocol frame that has an additional 20 bytes of overhead.

If you aren't sure about the MTU size used by your connection, go to the DSL Reports Tools Page and run the Tweak Test applet. It's a very good tool for diagnosing Internet connections.

[RED 0]

I am having huge problems with losing connection to the server, I usually get dropped from the server about 5 minutes into the game.

I have made the changes to my max MTU size but I am not sure if it has fixed the problem as it only occurs intermittently.

RED

[nyles 11]

There seem to be different reasons for that disconnect thingie. I mostly have the problem that my time outs happen at the same time, 1-3 others time out, as well. Therefore it for sure has something to do with OFP...

[Wgates 0]

Just purchased OFP-GOTY so my kid could join me (& my older OFP/OFP-RES retail install) for WAN play from our LAN (behind LinkSYS BEFSR41 v. 2 cable/DSL router).  Typically, about 20 min into gameplay, we both get dropped due to the disconnection "issue."  We both play using >1.8 GHz P4, 1 GB RAM, Win XP SP1, xlnt vid cards PC's (OFP ver. 1.91) sharing a cable connection (note, no problems doing MP over 'net with Q2, Q3, MOH's, BF1942, RTCW, SWJK2, MCM2...)

Didn't read all of the posts (thanks to all anyway), but here's what we've tried w/o success:

1) alt-tab, IE (&/or leave open IE) 'tricks'

2) playing stock maps (no addons); but didn't bother trying removing unofficial addons in codemasters/OFP/addons beforehand

3) setting CPU pref. to Background Services

4) forwarding OFP/RES ports (for both PC's) &/or opening DMZ (for 1 PC) of router

5) praying profusely to our Voodoo dolls

Note: except for the infrequent disconnection (which occured more during the laggy days of ver. 1.85 or so), there's no routine disconnection problems playing MP using only 1 PC; also, playing MP with our 2 PC's over our LAN works fine...

Like others, hoping that this is something that BIS will address in patch 1.92.

[suma 8]

We are investingation this issue again (like we did many times already), but unfortuntelly we are not able to find any clear information of what really happens and in what OFP versions. Some users tell no such problem was see in 1.85, other seem to suggest otherwise.

Also information on what is the network configuration when the problem happens is very partial. We need to know at least:

- what is connection type on client and server side (DialUp, ISDN, ADSL, ...)

- firewall type (in any)

If anyone is able to reproduce this problem, or to provide any accurate info on it, we might be able to fix it. Otherwise I am afraid it will stay the way it is.

[hoz 0]

I'm experience a similar issue where internet players drop after a few mins of play with the loosing connection. For me this is a new problem since the beta.

Problem is intermintent. But happens under these conditions...

1 user playing from the internet from the same cable network. player receives yellow box, then server sees loosing connection, and he drops.

My server is running on 3mb down 312k up cable.

XP with 1 gig of ram and 1.7 p4

I use a password on the server (if that makes a diff)

I'm natting the server port behind my firewall.

All ofp versions are GOTY.

Don't have any problems from the local lan.

Hoz

[suma 8]

Is anyone able to tell when did this problem start? Was it already present in version 1.85? Some posts seems to suggest that it was, other say it was not. Knowing this would greatly help us identified what the problem can be.

[Sh@d0w_Killer 1]

I had a simuliar problem since 1.85 ... yellow box,random disconnects,crashes to desktop. I'm running XP, 400k DSL,top of the line puter 10-12 ms pings to our game server....this is what fixed my problem...when I reinstalled XP it automatically set my RWIN(recieve window) to 65000, I ran a dsl report and it said it should of been set to 10650 max. I reset it to that setting and have not had a single issue since then..weird huh...

you can test you dsl settings here >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

dslreports.com

go to our tools...... ..click on the TWEAK button

[suma 8]

this is what fixed my problem...when I reinstalled XP it automatically set my RWIN(recieve window) to 65000, I ran a dsl report and it said it should of been set to 10650 max. I reset it to that setting and have not had a single issue since then..weird huh...

This is an interesting hint.

If this is really related, following settings could help when added into Flashpoint.cfg (you can copy and paste it there):

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

class Sockets

{

rcvBufSize = 10000;

maxPacketSize = 1490;

};

or

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

class Sockets

{

rcvBufSize = 10000;

maxPacketSize = 512;

};

If it helps, and if anyone here is "experimenting type", you can try adjusting both values to find out what maximum values will work ok.

If anyone tries this, please, let us know whether it helped or not.

[killswitch 19]

A few questions on the maxPacketSize property:

Is this the maximum number of bytes that OFP tries to put as data payload into a UDP packet? If so, one may have the following numbers as reference for tweaks:

With a "normal" Ethernet connection that has a MTU of 1500 bytes, the maximum data size for a non-fragmented UDP packet would have to be (UDP header size = 28 bytes) 1500-28 = 1472. For people that, like me, connect to the net over an ADSL modem (possibly via a router), using the PPPoE protocol, the MTU is 1492 bytes due to the extra PPP header. That gives you 1492-28=1464 bytes of UDP payload.

So, my theory is that

<ul>

[*]Ethernet: (MTU=1500):  maxPacketSize = 1472;

[*]xDSL/PPPoE:   (MTU=1492): maxPacketSize = 1464;

[*]56k modems: (MTU=576): maxPacketSize = 548;

if I have done my math right, would be some kind of optimum?

Also, Suma, the two numbers 1490 and 512 given in your example, are they the practical min and max numbers?

[suma 8]

A few questions on the maxPacketSize property:

Is this the maximum number of bytes that OFP tries to put as data payload into a UDP packet?

No, this is a max. size of UDP packet (including UDP/IP headers).

Default value 1490 should work well for all configurations.

[killswitch 19]

Ah...I see. Thanks for the clarification.

[Mister Frag 0]

The other thing to keep in mind is that most socket implementation have send coalescing (the Nagle algorithm) turned on by default, so they will try to combine multiple smaller packets into one larger one up to, but not exceeding the MTU size.

I would thus expect a smaller packet size as configured in the Flashpoint.cfg file to have little or no impact, as least when using the Sockets implementation. This also assumes that OFP doesn't change the send coalescing option on the socket connection.

[VASF_Killa_B 0]

Just purchased OFP-GOTY so my kid could join me (& my older OFP/OFP-RES retail install) for WAN play from our LAN (behind LinkSYS BEFSR41 v. 2 cable/DSL router).  Typically, about 20 min into gameplay, we both get dropped due to the disconnection "issue."  We both play using >1.8 GHz P4, 1 GB RAM, Win XP SP1, xlnt vid cards PC's (OFP ver. 1.91) sharing a cable connection (note, no problems doing MP over 'net with Q2, Q3, MOH's, BF1942, RTCW, SWJK2, MCM2...)

Didn't read all of the posts (thanks to all anyway), but here's what we've tried w/o success:

1) alt-tab, IE (&/or leave open IE) 'tricks'

2) playing stock maps (no addons); but didn't bother trying removing unofficial addons in codemasters/OFP/addons beforehand

3) setting CPU pref. to Background Services

4) forwarding OFP/RES ports (for both PC's) &/or opening DMZ (for 1 PC) of router

5) praying profusely to our Voodoo dolls

Note: except for the infrequent disconnection (which occured more during the laggy days of ver. 1.85 or so), there's no routine disconnection problems playing MP using only 1 PC; also, playing MP with our 2 PC's over our LAN works fine...

Like others, hoping that this is something that BIS will address in patch 1.92.

I get the exact same problem when playing with my buddy on the internet together (Yes, we each have seperately purchased OFP discs) on the SAME server using a router, and I have the exact same router that you do, the Linksys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router, Model BEFSR41.  I am on a Cable connection.

Like I said, this always happens when playing on the SAME server, if we play on DIFFERENT servers at the same time, the issue doesn't seem to come up as much, and it never happens while playing on LAN.

Also, as you stated, we are able to play any other games that we have (Vietcong, Tiger Woods 2003, Wolfenstein, MOH, Half-Life, Diablo II, etc., and YES, we have purchaed seperate copies of each game) together in the same servers, and we experience NO problems whatsoever.

We have also tried all the methods suggested on this board, and none seem to work.  Maybe the router is the source of the problem?  But at the same time, as I remember, we were both able to play on the same server when we had version 1.85 of OFP loaded on each machine, but I might be mistaken.

We are both running Windows XP, my version is XP home, his is XP Pro.

Any looking into of this problem by BIS would be much appreciated   .

[Sh@d0w_Killer 1]

It's been a week of hard playing since i've changed my RWIN settings and haven't lost connection or crashed to the desktop!

[nyles 11]

Well I have added the code to the flashpoint.cfg and am still loosing connection.