Lan game runs very poorly.

[keller 0]

Hey guys, I'm new here and I hope you can help me out.  I've searched the forums but couldn't find a fix to my problem.

I have been trying to play a LAN game but it runs so poorly that it is basically unplayable.  The 2 computers I've been trying to play on run the single player game quite well, but there are 3-5 second lags when we try to play a LAN game.  What I mean by this is that I will be driving a vehicle and my friend will get into it on his computer but on my computer he's 100 ft away.

Here are the specs of the computers.

*Computer 1 - Used as the Server.

P3 933

512 Megs RAM

ASUS Geforce 3 V8200T2 PURE 64 Megs DDR RAM

Windows ME

*Computer 2

P3 800

512 Megs RAM

Hurcules 3D Prophet 4500 64 Meg

Windows XP

My friend is an IT Professional but he's not much of a gamer, he's updated all possible drivers including those for the network cards but still no fix.  I am wondering if there is a conflict between the two versions of Windows since I have heard that XP can be a gamer's nightmare.

During play the second computers ping to the server fluctuated from 8ms to over 200ms at times, I found this to be very strange since we were running on a LAN.  Should we maybe try using the computer with the slower video card as the server?

Anyways, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[keller 0]

Bump.

Anybody?

[Sweeper 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Keller @ Mar. 05 2002,09:23)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Bump.

Anybody?<span id='postcolor'>

BUMP sucks!!!! so ANTI-BUMP.

Well what resolution are you dudes running in??? try taking it down on the server.

Also try 100 mbit LAN to see if it's running good there.

If you are connected by a 2 way cable (standard cable used to connect two pc's without a hub)

I ran SOF on LAN and it was laggy.

Tried it later on 100 mbit and the lag was gone. Some games can't operate on slow connections OPF is unforunatly one of them.

Try shouting for the developer. like this:

DEVELOPER GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE... Just an example

[keller 0]

Computer 1 is running 1280 X 960 and Computer 2 is running 1024 x 768.

[suma 8]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Should we maybe try using the computer with the slower video card as the server?

<span id='postcolor'>

Usually faster computer should be selected as server, as it will be more loaded during the game.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">During play the second computers ping to the server fluctuated from 8ms to over 200ms at times, I found this to be very strange since we were running on a LAN. <span id='postcolor'>

What mission were you playing? If it was custom-made, how many units was present in the mission?

[keller 0]

We were using custom and official MP maps.  Could there be a compatibility issue with Win ME and XP?

I'll make a custom MP map with minimal units just to see if it's any better. If the amount of units used is high will lowering some variables in display options help?

[keller 0]

Man this really sucks, there is no reason that this shouldn't work.  I set up a map with 2 players and 1 tank, and still I can't get the 2 computers to synch.  On the server player 2 doesn't move from his starting position but on player 2's screen he is at the tank.  When player 2 selects get in as gunner the turret starts to move but the player just bounced out of the tank like it was destroyed.  

Can anyone please offer me some help?

I'm trying to run this over a fast lan and it just wont work.  It's not so much of a lag issue it's that the 2 computers are losing info sent and recieved.

Please, I made my friend go buy this game so we could play MP on my lan and it is turning out to be a waste of money.

What's the chance that this is a sound card problem? Because one of the computers has an older SoundBlaster card in it.

[keller 0]

After updating the soundcard to a SoundBlaster Live Value, I still have no improvement. This is getting to be a really expensive project to get this damn game to work over a LAN.

[troop 0]

I just want to add some suggestions, maybe you will see an improvement then.

1. Which version of OFP do you run? If it's not patched on both machines to the highest level, chances are big causing various trouble. (First version numbers of OFP were really bad, even on LAN)

2. Do you run identical networkcards and if so, are they both

set to run with identical settings? If possible, do not let them run on 'Hardware default' or 'autodetect' but rather check

their properties for '100 M/bit, Full Duplex' or, if that doesn't

help further, '100 M/bit, Half Duplex'

Here' s room for MANY packet losses...

3. As far as I know, WinME and XP use different packetsizes

for the TCP/IP protokol;...another main reason for major lag

and packet loss while gaming. You need to set identical

packetsizes for your LAN, if you use different OS's.

I would suggest rather using smaller packetsizes for gaming, especially OFP. (Many updates in shorter time)

Edit: Read some here and especially last paragraph:

http://www.speedguide.net/editorials/packet_size.shtml

2nd Edit: For 2K/XP, additional values need to be adjusted to _force_ an certain packetsize:

http://www.speedguide.net/Cable_modems/cable_reg_win2k.shtml

(Scroll down to 'Additional TCP/IP Related Parameters' and follow instructions for 'MTU'

Please keep in mind, that all those tweaks on that page are primarily meant for tweaking your internet connection;...

but to experiment with equal 'MTU' values for _LAN_ with

priority on optimizing gaming, the infos on above pages come in quite handy.

4. Are you using an Hub inbetween your 2 machines? If so,

check if there is an 'packet-collision' LED;...if you got constant

collision detects (hefty flicker on said LED) while playing OFP (or in general use) most certainly Point 1,2 or 3 got different and/or mixed values on both machines (hard-or software settings).

5. Please come back after checking/adjusting above things,

and also lookup 'MTU' values in registry;..if you are comfortable enough on editing registry, change the values on both machines to '500' and playtest again.