the complexity of playing online...

[qUiLL 0]

ok call me an idiot but ive downloaded about 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 addons and tried playing on tons of servers and i STILL cant seem to play online successfully. i stopped playing OPF a while ago because of this and came back because i wanted to try to play again but god still hates me. it seems like every server i join, there is a list longer than schindler's of addons i need and despite all the addons ive downloaded, i still dont have them. i remember last time i tried playing i spent more time trying to get all the addons i need than actually playing and im finding im faring no better this time around. it is very VERY FRUSTRATING. i remember back in the day before people started making addons for every new day on the calendar that i could join every game i pleased, with little to no trouble, and had an awesome time. even MFCTI i dont believe required addons to start out with (or am i thinking RTS?) anyway i swear i am ready to shove my fist into the computer screen thinking about all of this and i would do it too if it werent for the fact that id end up having to clean up the mess afterwards.

somebody please ship me some firearms or explosives so i can put myself out of this misery in a quick (hopefully) painless way

[Silent N Deadly 0]

I seem to be able to play fine. Try looking for servers that require less addons. I am 100% sure you can find servers that require NO addons. If you do play in some servers that do, just download the addons you need.

[qUiLL 0]

for servers that require addons, ive already tried getting them and either A) i dont know where and there are too many to locate them all, plus there is no way to access their webpage even if it is in their server name because it doesnt fit on the screen and icant pull it up when i join or B) i go to download them only to find out i already have them installed in which case i think "wtf" and call it a day

[svendejong 0]

try :zeus

as for the explosives:get OfpWatch, this should get you out of your misery.

[x582gr51 0]

You are not an idiot but you just need directions. I'm gonna give you directions.

http://www.binarybone.com/ofpwatch/

It's an aplication that allows you to have a look at addons that are used on a specific server and then  download all you need to play. There is a condition wich is that the server run ofpwatch as well. included there is a gamespy like that reveal all ofp servers that are runnin ofpwatch. Also you can bind addons folders and activate or desactivate a *pbo (useful for servers that kick players using ECP).

Second,

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=44343

using these all should be just fine!!!

[Odin -AEF-Kampa- 0]

Basic Addons:

mfcti1.16.pbo

Editorup"date" or "grade"

Or ? Any more ?

[RN Malboeuf 12]

i have one for you

say a server sends 3kbs of data per player, and you want your server to have 200 ppl on it

how much kbs upload does she need to avoid lag?

now look at CTI lol

(18x12UNITS)+250RES

the server maxes 1500 kbs average for 18 players (CTI)

83kbs per player, thats insane

56k players can handle 4.7 kbs average and they wonder why we kick em

(this post follows the tittle of this thread)

average power servers now are 3.0 Ghz

in a full load of CTI there can be 455+ AI players, in some games i have purposly lagged lower end servers in full games buy building MAX AI for 1 side so thats 349+ plus what the other team may have

so if we include Civies, we have about 460 AI on the server if by some means no one dies by the time the AI is maxed out, that is 6.65 hz for each AI on the server, 8.7 for our server

but in reality AI die and spawn as fast as they die so we kill off the RES and that leaves 198+ AI on ther server

now if you want to gauge your server divide its mhz by say 200 AI for a good average, for a 3.0 thats 15mhz

and strangely enough thats the average your 3.0 should have for FPS

As for your addons problem i feel for you, we only really run mfcti1.16, and MODs for league matches or practices, so our server is fairly safe, but i tried to load a few BAS maps the other night from various sites and found they all failed...

Mission makers simply dont understand what they add to their maps, they think they do, but they dont, i know because as a server admin maps fail left and right, even after you load in what they list for addons

you have to rip the maps apart and look into the mission.sqs to really get any where, for some reason the majority for get to do this

and you drop

sucks i know

[benu 1]

I think getting the editorupdate102.pbo and maybe the mfcti addons will let you play most missions on most servers, especially if you look for servers without addons. You could try to filter out all servers that use modfolders.

If you want to play addon servers you have to stick to a few of them. My first choice would be servers using OFP Watch (and AAS, the OFP Watch server component). You may have to download a fair amount of addons, but you can be sure that you have all addons in the right version and can play all missions on that/those server(s). You will also notified about addon updates/changes and OFP Watch can automatically start the required modfolders if the server is running with different modfolders at different times (like our server does).

Second choice would be servers with good websites, detailing what addons they used, what addons were changed in the last time and providing direct download links. You have to browse those sites regularly, downloading and updating your addons manually, but at least you have the addons and can play.

Besides those servers... well, the crowd on the server and the missions would have to be exceptionally good to be worth the addon hassle for me to play on those servers.

Use OFP Watch. I can't tell you how good it is. I remember with horror the days when we had no webserver to mirror addons and told new players on icq what addons they needed in which version, searched for new d/l links when fileservers went off the net and babysat the installation of those addons. Now i just update AAS, put new addons in and put old ones on deactivate and everyone always has the correct addons and connects with the right modfolders, regardless of what the server is running atm (finmod, wgl, or just plain 3rd party addons). OFP Watch is the most useful multiplayer tool for OFP.

[qUiLL 0]

anyone have any idea when i try to play CTI i get a message saying im missing rucksack addon despite the fact that i downloaded all those stupid addons off their website? btw this happens on multiple servers

[killswitch 19]

Mission makers simply dont understand what they add to their maps, they think they do, but they dont, i know because as a server admin maps fail left and right, even after you load in what they list for addons

you have to rip the maps apart and look into the mission.sqs to really get any where, for some reason the majority for get to do this

And the root of that problem isn't the mission makers - it's the addon makers. It's now 2005 and they still haven't gotten their act together with regards to the One Bane of Addons in MP, old man Addon Dependencies. Of course, actually making working addons seems second to making them glitzy so they can get all those nice "OMFGz0rz I wanna have your babies!" accolades. Fanboi beta testing failing as usual.

As a server admin I know this first-hand since 90% of everything that's released it useless in MP without first doing time-consuming fixes. And what are those "fixes", pray tell?

Why, making sure the addons have a proper <span style='color:red'>requiredAddons</span> declaration. "Proper" here means "complete", not "yeah, I have one in there".

By now, one would have thought the community would have picked up a clue or two, but that seems to remain the last frontier.

MP would be so much more seamless and easy if that one small thing would be done properly and always. Want to know why poor qUill gets messages about a missing rucksack addon? Yep, you guessed it... most likely a botched dependency declaration somewhere.

Good luck qUiLL and don't give up just yet!

[benu 1]

Although from a players point of view those error messages are mostly harmless. But as Killswitch says, normally each and every addon appearing in one of those messages is broken.

[qUiLL 0]

they should make an update where if the server turns it on it can send the addons to you...obviously for megasuper big addons like those BAS packs it wouldnt be useful but for the servers that require one or two addons <MFCTI for example, though i know there are many others> it would be a great help.

also i want to just wipe all my addons out and start from scratch but now i dont know what is BIS's addons and what are user addons...bah

[benu 1]

Addons Folder

Res\Addons Folder

[DFP-Tim 0]

just delete all your addons in res addons and addons folder, then copy them again from your installation cd's. and next time use mod folders so you can easy turn on or turn off addons. you can also use an addon manager, but i prefer mod folders.

greetz tim

[qUiLL 0]

thanks for the list benu!

...mod folders?

[benu 1]

just delete all your addons in res addons and addons folder, then copy them again from your installation cd's.

This only works for the GOTY edition (v1.85) as the addons changed between 1.75 and 1.85 and you would get the old addons if you copied them over from a resistance (v1.75) cd.

Quote[/b] ]and next time use mod folders so you can easy turn on or turn off addons. you can also use an addon manager, but i prefer mod folders.

Modfolders are the right way to do it

[qUiLL 0]

modfolders = ??

also now i am able to play since i removed all my stupid addons but the one i needed, but i find i have a different problem

i get tend to get disconnected alot for no reason. i have no firewalls, and i am the DMZ host on my network so i have all ports forwarded to me so i dont see what the problem could be? also my internet is running smooth 100% of the time, its just with OFP.

[RN Malboeuf 12]

Addons Folder

the addons folder i disagree with

we play RES now and not one of those addons are needed, in fact on our server and my machine those have all been removed

those are 1.46 addons and are simply not required

it is true that some addons need them, but that's the addon makers fault and we try and avoid such badly made addons

we have gotten by for 2 years now with that folder empty except for some minor needed addons, we sort of use it like a MOD folder now, we place things like editorupdate and MFCTI in there and a few well used KEG addons like AK107 ect, many use them now, so we place them in there, unless its a total MOD then they may get removed if we see them loaded twice

[jfri 0]

I think getting the editorupdate102.pbo and maybe the mfcti

Where can this editorupdate102.pbo file be found?

[killswitch 19]

I think getting the editorupdate102.pbo and maybe the mfcti

Where can this editorupdate102.pbo file be found?

Get it from OFPEC

There are actually three entries there that will give you a file named "editorupdate102.pbo". Gunslinger's is the original, but noone should use that one anymore. Choose one of these two, in order of preference:

1 - "Editor Upgrade (Editors Edition" by General Barron, v 2.2)

2 - "Kegetys Editor Addon" (Kegetys, 1.11)

The second one is the most common one, but the first one is a reconfigured version that organises things a lot better in the mission editor. Again, they are all named "editorupdate102.pbo" and are cross-compatible with eachother. GenB's is the latest and most pleasant to use when mission editing, so I prefer it to the older ones.

Actually, the only reason to use Keg's one would be that there might be MP servers out there that run filechecks on the editor update and assume it's Keg's version (the most spread one) that's used. If you show up with GenB's, you might experience an unpleasant line of verbal garbage from whatever snotty-nosed Sherlock Holmses that are logged onto the server at that time and think they've caught a "ch34tz0r" red-handed.

If that happens, don't be angry at them. Just revert to Keg's variant and be happeh!

[Jinef 2]

***

[[aps]gnat 28]

Or maybe use an Addon Manager program to take addon(files) in and out of service easily. That way they dont have to be in separate Mod folders.

Gnats PBOManager

DKM AddonManager

.

[jfri 0]

I think getting the editorupdate102.pbo and maybe the mfcti

Where can this editorupdate102.pbo file be found?

Get it from OFPEC

!

Got it: Now I get a crash to desktop when I try to load the mission.

[benu 1]

Addons Folder

the addons folder i disagree with

we play RES now and not one of those addons are needed, in fact on our server and my machine those have all been removed

those are 1.46 addons and are simply not required

it is true that some addons need them, but that's the addon makers fault and we try and avoid such badly made addons

we have gotten by for 2 years now with that folder empty except for some minor needed addons, we sort of use it like a MOD folder now, we place things like editorupdate and MFCTI in there and a few well used KEG addons like AK107 ect, many use them now, so we place them in there, unless its a total MOD then they may get removed if we see them loaded twice

I don't use that folder either. That does not make this list false. This list is for identifying inofficial addons in that folder, eg for removing them. Not everyone wants to delete all the old cwc addons.

Either way, i don't even understand what you are complaining about...

[LtUlrich 0]

Some advice for Quill:

Join a clan, squad, or any group of players who are up on the popular missions, addons, and servers. They will help you one on one to get you straightened out. Also, get and use MSN Messenger and Teamspeak.

Using 'Mod Folders' is an excellent strategy. I have folders for 'Editor Flashpoint', 'Custom Flashpoint', 'TWL Flashpoint', and so on. It does require you to have copies of pbos in each folder though. If someone knows a way to call on two or more mod folders, that would be excellent. One thing I didn't understand at first. The folder OFP/Res/AddOns is for addons that run every time, no matter what. The addons you put in OFP/YourAddonFolder/Addons only run if you call on the folder using the -mod="YourAddonFolder". Be aware that folders must not contain spaces.

While you're at it, add this to the properties for the shortcut:

-nosplash

Your shortcut line will look like this:

"C:\Program Files\Codemasters\Operation Flashpoint\FLASHPOINTRESISTANCE.EXE" -nosplash -mod=YourAddonFolder

Finally, you can fight back against the addon mess by boycotting addons that suck! If it doesn't do anything, or if it's stupid, then get rid of it. If a server happens to be running a mission that uses it, then too bad for the server. That mission will have a short life.

Noobs are welcome to contact me @ ltulrich@hotmail.com or on Teamspeak at 24.21.233.169:8767 if they need further guidance. I'm only a step or two above noob, and I still remember all the problems I've overcome. For some reason people seem to forget and they say things like 'it's simple', and 'you just have to figure it out'.