v1.4 ALWAYS freezes when clicking on "Multiplayer"

[musicpete 0]

Hi!

In earlier versions OFP would occassionally freeze, when I clicked on "Multiplayer" on the main game screen. It never happened when entering a multiplayer game through Gamespy or the Eye. It generally never happened during singleplayer, only if I tried to enter multiplayer mode from the game menu. And even then only sometimes (but still quite often).

Now with v1.4 it happens EVERY SINGLE TIME! After clicking on the button I can see the main menu, with activated button (red), the game loads for a few seconds and then hangs. It didn't freeze the whole computer, just OFP! I know this 'cause I could still hear ICQ-messages arriving in the background. However the game wouldn't let me switch away, not even pressing CRTL-ALT-DEL worked. Only a complete reboot solves the problem.

After trying about everything (changing preferences, closing all unneccessary background-programs, increasing swap-size, new drivers for everything, reinstalling OFP from scratch, ...) and rebooting about 100 times in the process (*aaargh!*), I found out what could be the reason:

On my system I always have Zonealarm running in the background. While usually this is never a problem, with OFP it is. Why? Every single program up to now tried to acces the internet, Zonealarm asked me if I want this, I chose my option, then it worked flawlessly. Obviously OFP has some serious bug or is simply programmed in a bad manner that it tries to access the internet in some weird kind of way. It captures the mouse, keyboard and screen while doing so, waiting for a response of some kind.

And because it seems to use a non-standard conform method of doing it, Zonealarm doesn't ask me what to do, resulting in the neccessity to reboot.

Shutting down the program (ZA) is the only way to make it work. Now some of you may shout:"What the heck is this guy ranting about? Shut off the damn program if you want to play the game!". But shutting it off is not the way a firewall is supposed to work! I want to be protected AND play OFP online.

So my question to YOU is: Is there another workaround?

AND I'm VERY eager  to hear from a programmer: Why oh why did you make the game this way? Every single windows program handles internet connections and interaction with Zonealarm with ease, why not OFP?? Why cant I switch away from OFP while it tries to load Multiplayer? Why can't I press simply "ESC" while it waits for a connection? Why won't you let me access my Task-Manager, while waiting? Why?  

Sorry for the long posting! Greetings!

musicpete

[tlx 0]

Personal Firewalls like ZoneAlarm do checksums on the EXE files to identify them. Since you updated to 1.40 the program executable has changed and your settings need to be adjusted to the new file.

[musicpete 0]

No, that isn't the error..... ONE single time I've got a Zonealarm Box, asking for permissions after the update. But I couldn't move the mouse into it (in fact I coudn't move the mouse at all), not even the keyboard worked (ALT-Tab, etc.).

Then I figured that removing OFP from ZA (thus letting ZA recognize it completely for the first time) would help. Didn't..... Now it freezes and ZA doesn't even notice it (or maybe it's in the background and OFP grabs the screen, mouse and keyboard so I can't see it). If I turn ZA off everything works fine! I'm really puzzled.....

musicpete

[TheProdigy 0]

I got the same when I first run 1.30. I had to change the screen resolution in OFP a few times then eventually it didn't hang and I was able to then tell ZA to give it permissions.

Now I have upgraded to 1.40 that technique wont work. I have tried all sorts of things but still to no avail.

I have resorted to shutting down ZA when playing OFP - Kind of defeats the object of having really doesn't it?

(I bet I get hacked when I have finally managed to fly a bloody copter properly!)

[Mister Frag 0]

The first time any programs tries to access the Internet, ZA will ask whether this should be permitted, and it remembers your response. When you delete a program from the Programs list in ZA, or upgrade the program to a new version and thus change the signature of the program, ZA will ask again.

The problem is that the ZA dialog pops up under the full-screen OFP window. The easiest way to fix this is to run OFP in a window, so that you can still access the ZA dialog.

Start OFP with the following command-line parameters:

-window -x=640 -y=480

This will cause OFP to only occupy a portion of the display, and the ZA dialog should be visible at the bottom of the screen when you try to select a Multiplayer feature. You can now make the appropriate choice in ZA and have it remember the setting. Once ZA is configured in this way, you no longer have to run OFP in a window.

[mithrandir 0]

Firewalls and OFP isnt the best combinations.

I tried a bunch of firewalls to get to work with OFP. I tried Zone Alarm/Zone Alarm Pro/Sygate/Norman PFW/ Norton FW.

All of these causes OFP to charsh when a POP-UP arives from the FW.

Finally I come across a free Firewall, called Tiny Personal FW this wont crash OFP no matter how many POP-UPs that been generating.

Tiny FW can be downloaded at http://www.tinysoftware.com.

(for free).

This is also a good and rulebased firewall which takes none (little) system resources.

I think Tiny FW is programmed by people from Czeckoslovakia, (thats true)!!! If thats the reason it' s compatible with OFP?

[whisperFFW06 0]

Yep, TPF is really good, and works with OFP. A little bit more technical than ZA, it's more like a real FW, but tiny .

Funny that you said "it seems to use a non-standard conform method of doing it" . OFP is using the most "standard" method for network gaming under Windows, aka DirectPlay . And it has a non-conform behaviour. Really funny. I think we should thank M$ for that

Whis'

[Mister Frag 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (mithrandir @ Jan. 11 2002,13:50)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Firewalls and OFP isnt the best combinations.

I tried a bunch of firewalls to get to work with OFP. I tried Zone Alarm/Zone Alarm Pro/Sygate/Norman PFW/ Norton FW.

All of these causes OFP to charsh when a POP-UP arives from the FW.<span id='postcolor'>

OFP doesn't crash, it is being blocked by the firewall. The only firewall I have used with OFP is ZoneAlarm, and once ZoneAlarm is configured for OFP, the combination of the two works fine.

The problem with OFP and games in general is that they take over the entire screen, and thus cover up the firewall dialogs.

[tlx 0]

I can also confirm this for Norton Personal Firewall 2002.

[mithrandir 0]

Hi Mister Frag & TLX!

Yea I now for shure that OFP takes up the whole screen. Using the (ALT+TAB) will get me to the Firewall POP UP window. And the configuring the rule... The problem I had with OFP was even though If the rule was cleared/configureated by me. Then when I getting back To OFP I couldnt do anything with my OFP screen. This was at OFP version 1.00, dont know if it is the same in 1.40? (but many threads in this and other forums is about FW problems) so I guess that OFP and FW isnt the easiest (and best combinations), even in 1.40!

The Only Game I had this problem with is OFP. Dont know if it has something to do with MS direct play since many other games not using MS DP. However all problem was solwed when I started to use TINY FW (which I like more than any other FW, its so TINY ).

But I'm glad for you that you can use OFP togehter with whatever FW you are using!

[tlx 0]

Mithrandir,

i'm glad it works too. Community can take this thread as proof that firewalls in general work with OFP once setup. Confirmed for 3 products now ZA, TFW, NPFW

[Guest]

Zone Alarm isn't a particularly good firewall. I've read about many holes in it and I generally dont like the way it behaves, If I'm going to use a software firewall I use blackice defender. Really the only security solution is a well-configured linux router/firewall..Each to his own I guess

[Mister Frag 0]

ZoneAlarm is probably the easiest to use for novice and non-technical users. Its biggest shortcoming is that network access is pretty much an all-or-nothing deal, it does not let you configure specific ports.

ZoneAlarm Pro (which is not free for non-commercial use like the the regular ZoneAlarm) fixes many of those shortcomings.

[musicpete 0]

Thanks for you tips, people!

After starting OFP once in windowed mode I could easily access the ZA-dialog and set it up for OFP.

The real problem was: OFP grabs the screen and doesn't give it to other applications while waiting for response from the internet. It also blocks all keys, so that you can neither Alt-TAB away or call the task-manager with CTRL-ALT-DEL. I've NEVER seen a game or application before, that held the screen so tight for itself. Even all the games let ZA draw a window in actual screen resolution on top of them.

musicpete

[Mister Frag 0]

That's not entirely true. OFP does not hog the keyboard or the screen; after all, you can Alt-Tab from the game to the desktop or any other running application without any difficulty.

What is really going on is that ZoneAlarm displays a system-modal dialog (one which does not allow the focus to be shifted to another window), but it doesn't know how to draw it on a Direct3D surface. Thus, you get no screen output, and you also cannot get back to OFP or any other program.

The proper way to fix this would be for ZoneAlarm to support DirectDraw, Direct3D, and OpenGL output. Since there are lots of games that want to access the Internet, it would be a very useful enhancement.

And remember that you'll have to go through the run-OFP-in-a-window-and-configure-ZoneAlarm thing again the next time you apply a patch, since this will change the signature of the executable.

[musicpete 0]

OK, so my beloved ZA is the evil factor...

The strange thing is that EVERY other game worked with ZA in the way that it drew it's pop-up window into the game screen. That's why I supposed OFP did something wrong. Working examples are Half-Life and SWAT3. They both let ZA draw its box into them.

musicpete

[-=-DUNEE-=- 0]

I can second the ZA issue. I have the same problem, but as I don't play on LAN, that's not too bad, I just connect by the All Seeing Eye and disable ZA for Miller time.

I've taken to using two firewalls side by side. ZoneAlarm makes a very good job of keeping programs from going out on the net (like pesky little spywares) and BlackIce keeps 'em script kiddos out, as well as catching anything that slipped by ZA (not many things do).