Connection lost...

[Wgates 0]

Hay Killa_B, not sure if you're one of the Killa's that sometimes plays on KaRRiLLioN's Boot Camp OFP server (209.193.133.66), but I play there almost exclusively under the alias "PsychoDad."  Sure does sound like we have the same issue... you don't happen to use a certain Win XP only registry entry (2KTCP32K.REG) cable tweek that "Allows receipt of larger packets of info., may not work with all 'Net protocols..."  Anyway, I read, but don't recall where, in OFP forums that router's don't appear to be responsible for this disconnect issue (also know a player with same issue using a Netgear router)...  Note: funny, my kid & I have not observed what happens if we simultaneously play on different servers (will have to check that some day very soon).

*******************************

Suma: it's an honor to hear from you!, I've been video gaming since Pong and can honestly say OFP is the absolute best all around experience that I could of ever hoped for in a video game!  (First time I've had excess space on my hard drive since I don't take the time to load anything else... Bless you!, & my wife for her "understanding"...  Here's my feeble attempt to answer your questions:

1) We play from our LAN to WAN using a cable connection (ISP is Comcast.net) to KaRRiLLioN's T-1 server.

2) Our firewall(s)-the BEFSR41 v2 router built-in (note, forwarding RES port 2302 &/or 2234 for both PC's didn't help disconnect problem; nor did opening DMZ host for 1 PC); built-in Win XP firewall on both PC's? (I don't recall ever changing the default setting for this); also Zone Alarm on my kid's PC (regardless, we had disconnect issues a long time ago with different PC's, with same router but back then, I ran Win Me & kid ran Win '98 SE... neither had Zone Alarm at the time)

KaRR's T-1 server firewall is a Cisco Pix (model #?), however, disconnect problems occurred before that firewall was in place

Other questions: I am pretty sure this disconnect issue occurred all they back to Cold War Crisis, ver. 1.46 and possibly before.  (I know this since I didn't have RES for my kid until just recently when I got him GOTY...); I will see if I can get this connection loss crash to be more reproducible, for now, it is typically about 20 min into a multiplay match (where one drops and then the other), but sometimes, we make it through a 30-60 min map to then crash in the next, other times, only 1 drops out; we have applied 1.92 beta, and still experience crashing, but I was able to restore my addons & the original O.PBO ; rarely, one of us gets the red square and when it disappears, either one or both of us are still in the game (as ghosts...).

Recently tried testing:

1) I modified flashpoint.cfg on both PC's as you suggested, latter code looks like:

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

Light_Static=1;

Frame_Rate_Pref=500;

Quality_Pref=500;

refresh=75;

class Sockets

{

rcvBufSize=10000;

maxPacketSize=1490;

};

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

2) On 1st night, I played on KaRR's server with other PC also connected to game (but no one actively playing on that PC),worked great, no disconnects for the 4-5+ maps played,

3) Unfortunately, last 2 nights, both of us connected to KaRR's server has resulted in crashing typically 12-20 min into 1st map (even the stock map, "Paintball") played after rejoining; also seems to be a 50% higher incidence of ghosting,

4) KaRR informs that he forwards ports 2302-2304 for RES on his firewall, I have left those ports forwarded for both PC's during all these latter trials

I will work at making the crash as predictable as possible and be grateful to try anything else that you suggest!

BTW, Silvia Saint forever!...

[nyles 11]

Is there any progress? Do the sent context.bin and flashpoint.rpt files gave you any hint on what might trigger those time outs and crashes to desktop?

[pynaple 0]

Suma,

The problem for me seemed to creep in firstly with 1.91 as a Beta, two other p.c's on a Lan 3 in total.

2 patched to 1.90

1 patched to 1.91 beta. Very soon after release within

1 month from memory.

After reinstall of OFP to 1.90, the same connection lost problem remained so it seemed that 1.85, for me, didn't cause the problem.

All c.d's  were purchased 1985 and Res.

One p.c. had RedHammer campaign. (*gold upgrade).

I will get Lan details and the other system specs, this I'll post soon.

[Sh@d0w_Killer 1]

Going on two weeks now since I changed back my RWIN settings to 10220 and no lost connection problems.....will keep you posted............

[pynaple 0]

Suma,

The problem for me seemed to creep in firstly with 1.91 as a Beta, two other p.c's on a Lan 3 in total.

2 patched to 1.90

1 patched to 1.91 beta. Very soon after release within

1 month from memory.

After reinstall of OFP to 1.90, the same connection lost problem remained so it seemed that 1.85, for me, didn't cause the problem.

All c.d's  were purchased 1985 and Res.

One p.c. had RedHammer campaign. (*gold upgrade).

I will get Lan details and the other system specs, this I'll post soon.

Here's the setup we had for the LAN:

P2-350, 256MB ram. Linux firewall/router/DHCP server. Firewall distro is IPcop  (www.ipcop.org).

All pc's connected to 8 port 10/100 switch

P4-1.6, Radeon 9500 Pro, 768MB Ram, Windows XP Pro.

P4-2.53, GF4 Ti 4600, 512MB Ram, Windows XP Pro.

P3-800, GFgts2, 256MB Ram, Windows 2000, Zone Alarm Pro,

disabled Zone Alarm Pro then Uninstalled in an attempt to resolve loosing connection.

[suma 8]

Is there any progress? Do the sent context.bin and flashpoint.rpt files gave you any hint on what might trigger those time outs and crashes to desktop?

We have several reports that puzzled me quite well:

I was told that OFP in this situation often left to desktop without updating context.bin or Flashpoint.rpt. We fixed some crash opportunities based on the reports we received so far, but none of this seems to be network related.

We will probably create a version with some extended logging and send to to a few people who experince the disconnects a lot. If anyone is experiencing Time outs (with "No message received message") and wants to help us testing, please contact me via PM.

[Wgates 0]

Shadow Killer, thanks for the suggestion.  I 1st checked with a networking buddy & he wrote:

"I dont think that will fix it.  The TCP recieve window is how many TCP packets will get set before an ACK.  This is good for fitting more data packets in the pipe, for downloads, (which use TCP).  But wont help us on these games that use UDP as the transport.  They even say it on the page at www.dslreports.com"

Of course I tried it anyway (used DSL Report suggested, 20440, & 10220 as separate settings for TCP receive window for both PC's on my LAN)... no luck...

I plan to participate in net logging tests as offered by BIS; more later?

-PsychoDad

[Sh@d0w_Killer 1]

Strange, i'm not a network guru either, but since I have set that to 10200 I haven't lost connection once. Maybe just luck!

Will keep you posted.....................

[TDAPaiNx 0]

I would just like to add that. My friend and I have been having trouble with Res:1.91. We used to be able to play with 1.91 with no troubles at all, and now all of the sudden it doesn't work. I have the same setup as I had in the past. Last night we decided to give the Classic Flashpoint a try. Everything worked flawlessly.

I am not sure if BIS had updated the 1.91 patch for some reason without notice, because I did a fresh Windows install and re-downloaded the 1.91 patch for GOTY Edition. This seems to be when all the connection problems occured. I will have to do a search through my back-up disk to see if I could find and older dl version of 1.91. If this happens to work then there is something with the current DL of 1.91 on the sites.

My Specs:

Windows XP Pro with all updates

AthlonXP 2000+

ATI 9500 Pro 128mb (3.7 Cat. drivers)

Asus A7N8X Deluxe PCB v2.0 (1.04 BIOS)

512mb Geil Dragon (Dual-Channel)

SB Audigy 2 (latest drivers)

Network

Cable

NVIDIA nForce MCP network card (latest drivers)

Netgear FA311 (latest drivers)

Netgear Router(RP614) using the latest firmware, running also through a D-Link Switch

I hope this will get resovled soon, as I like to play OFP all the time. I guess for now we will have to use Classic OFP. All in all this game still rocks...

[-Ash- 0]

Guys.. Since visiting www.dslreports.com and downloading drtcp then setting the RWIN to 20000 I have not had a single yellow box or disconnect since!

You might want to try it out

*fingers crossed!*

[suma 8]

@ Sep. 11 2003,14:21)]and downloading drtcp then setting the RWIN to 20000 I have not had a single yellow box or disconnect since!

Yes, this really seems to work. However it is still unclear why this should help, and it is possible it does not really solve the problem, only hides it.

[Penfolde 1]

I've been getting the same problem with OFP but its a little different.  I have two machine working on a ADSL connection. The main machine is connected too the net by a USB modem and the second machine is connecting too the net by LAN through the main machine.  The main machine has ALL copys of OFP + the 1.91 patch and the second has the GOTY edition + patch.

The problem of timming-out only happens after 20 mins and only when both machine are connected to the same server and we are both on the same team, any other combination is fine.  I have tryed the fix mention above with no luck, i have tryed two different ADSL modems and HUBs and i have tryed moving the connection to the second machine but the same results happen.

I'm very willing too help in fixing this problem so someone contact me.

Penfold  

[Wgates 0]

Has anyone with the newer DOCSIS 2.0 modems experienced "losing connection," esp. when playing with 2 or more players on a LAN to a WAN server?  (Upgrading modem has been a suggested fix for this issue...)

Note: I've changed my RWIN value to several settings (as suggested by DSL Reports...) on both LAN PC's and have not noticed any improvement.

[superskunk 0]

I still experience "loosing connection" sometimes...

- first it happends to say 10-20 % of the MP games i play.

- sometimes when i get message "loosing connection" and see the timer count, i return to the game...the time various to:

10, 20, 30 40 or 60 seconds.

- when i doesn't return to the game, i disconnect after 90 seconds...

Strange thing is, when i get disconnected after loosing connection, my pc is offline for 3-5 minutes. So i cannot go on internet.

I use cable, and any other pc on my home-network CAN go on the i nternet. So it must be a local problem.

I tried RWin setting but it didn't fix the problem, only made it less often.

We are using a Router with NAT-firewall, together with ZoneAlarm firewall. I didn't set any port for OFP.

Further specs:

Win XP Pro.

AMD athlon 2000+

1024 Mb DDR ram

Asus mainboard (A7V333) wwith VIA KT333 chipset

Asus Geforce FX 5900 128 Mb using latest drivers 55.03 i believe.

Soundblaster Audigy 2

3Com 10/100 PCI 3C905C-TX

OFP: 1.91 1.94 1.95 1.96 all get loosing connection.

Does anyone has a solution for this, or can explain why this happends. I sure many online gamers have the same problem. And noone has a solution!!

Thx!