Arma2 and Windows 7 Multiplayer problems can anyone help?

[mithandra 10]

Hi Guys,

Just come back from town with ARMA2 in hand whoopeeee.

Installed the game perfectly on Windows 7 RC1.

Setup all my opions and entered the list of Multiplayer servers.

I am able to join the game (ir run about with a weapon) but only for a few seconds / (sometimes minutes) I then get a red chain on the screen and a counter in the middle of the screen saying nothing recieved for x time.

ALT Tabbing back to the desktop I can see my network Icon in the lower right system tray now has a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it.

Only way I can get my network back is to disable and then re-enable my interface.

I have played DnD Online successfully for hours but for some reason this game is doing something that its not supposed to.

Anyone help / suggest anything with this please?

Thanks Mithandra

[Alienfreak 0]

I doubt it has anything to do with ArmA 2.

I never heard of any problems with disconnecting networks due to it on W7 (I even use W7 myself).

Plus ArmA2 would only use a network access 'API' as any other program.

Have you double checked whether it happens when you dont play ArmA 2?

Updated the drivers of your network card (just in case?)

[Nemesis_wales 0]

never used windows 7, im on vista64. but when i first tried playing online it froze, i alt tabbed out an seen that windows firewall had blocked arma 2, so a quick click on unblock solved it, rebooted game and way to go. check firewalls ati virus etc

[nedley 10]

Sounds like typical ''Limited Connectivity'' alert.

It doesn't sound Arma or OS related.

Could be a lot of things though, something as simple as someone logging into your network with the same manually assigned IP, or another WIFI network using your network channel. Lets try to narrow it down.

Give us some more info on your connection;

Wifi/Ethernet?

Wifi Channel?

Router?

IP Setup? How many connections to router?

Router Firmware updated?

[sickboy 13]

You could try disabling some of the network performance features (Vista/7):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951037

[bushlurker 46]

I'm runing Arma2 on win 7 - no such issues with MP play (and I'm literally stretching things a bit with 2 G cards and 3 x monitors) - no real Arma2/win 7 probs at all.....

However - I HAVE had this issue with Win 7 - non game-related....

Occasionally when I boot up, or reboot my network connection is OK, but my external/internet connection just doesnt seem to kick in... Yellow triangle... rebooting fixes it....

Very occasionally, it does it during standard internet surfing...

I also don't think its Arma2-related... gotta be either a hardware/win7 minor glitch or my router is hiccuping or something.....

B

[nedley 10]

Manually assign yourself an IP address to fix this.

[Lanthan 10]

Hey guys....

well I have the same problem like mithandra although I´m using vista and it doesn´t appear all the time. I have to reboot my pc and then it can work for ours but sometimes not. If I´m not in arma my connection is fine and working for the whole day without problems.

Ususally it starts with a scrappy sound and then I recieve the same signs like mithandra.

This is really weird. I have even tried to uninstall my firewall but it was not the problem. I´m also using static IPs in my network... really weird. I have no clue what is triggering that.

[MrUnSavory 10]

I have the demo installed in Windows 7 and XP. The thing I noticed is that in Windows 7 I have a much smaller list of available servers. Also only a few of them actually show a ping. Under XP I dont have this problem. Many servers and all show a Ping. So there is something funky going on with Windows 7 and ArmA.

[Snail123 10]

Also having this problem.

win7, 2500 pings on most servers, and 500+ on the rest.

Using windows firewall, arma2 enabled there.

Tried with and without virus scanner running. Tried reinstalls. Tried running as admin, with firewall off, with uac off...etc etc.

Nothing seems to be fixing this.

Connected to cable moden through a hub. Also connected to the internet through that hub is a 2nd computer running win xp...sitting on the desk next to the windows 7 computer with 2500 pings....the xp computer has normal pings in the 40 range and up and has always run fine.

So...the problem would seem to be something to do with the windows 7 box in particular.

I know of at least one other person, besides those posting here...who's had this problem...yet there seems to be a surprising lack of posts/info concerning it...and certainly no response from the BI devs.

Any ideas?

[Yoma 0]

and certainly no response from the BI devs.

Any ideas?

Maybe it's not their problem?

I'd say follow Sickboys' advice, Win7, Vista, WinServer2008 all have these "network optimisations" that actually slow down or screw over performance under a lot of circumstances.

First thing you can try is disable the IPV6 stack (older networking hardware doesn't seem to like it), then check stuff like TCP chimney and the likes. Google is your friend.

[343rdBadger 0]

I'll weigh in here as well,...I've been freezing ALOT in arma II,but at random times.Sometimes I can play as long as an hour or sometimes as short as 2 minutes.When I reboot the internet conection has been knocked out.I haven't had this problem in Arma I,just Arma II.I'm using win 7 ultimate.My OS install simply doesn't like Arma II.I have no idea what causes it.

[Snail123 10]

Thank you Mr. Fanboi.

But see...it is thier problem.

If you make a game and the people who buy it can't make it work...then supporting it (ya know...helping folks make it work) kind of goes with the whole business.

That is, unless you don't mind just taking thier money and forgetting the hell about them...which may be the course you're suggesting...but one which I doubt most would agree is good business.

Regardless if it's your coding, or how your coding interacts with your customer's computers.

See...it's not like I'm not trying here. But saying stupid sh*t like "google is your friend" and "it's not their problem" is neither helpful, nor much of anything beyond trolling.

So...take your fanboi trolling arse out of my thread and go be useless elsewhere, thanks.

Jerk.

[BCA Cat Toaster 10]

It´s not the problem of a developer to make their products endlessly compatible with future operating systems. It´s a pain in the ass to develop for three available Microsoft Operating Systems at a time that are currently used, named XP, Vista and Seven, not to mention all the 64-Bit counterparts. Not to mention Driver-Issues, Overclocking-Issues and all these great "MessUp-Utilities" called "TuneThis, CleanThat". Do people still wonder why developing for consoles is so much more attractive?

Do you know what UBISoft says about their Blockbuster Far Cry2 if you ask for support on 64-Bit OS in general? "Not supported!"

Do you know what UBISoft says about their Blockbuster Far Cry2 if you ask for support for Windows 7 in general? "Not supported!"

Just one example how major labels act like, but UBISoft never said that this product works under 64-OS and 7. People who try it, do it on their own risk.

BI actually fixes problems that occur on Vista and Seven with their latest patch. But no one can test all possible combinations of hard- and software.

BTW: I´ve not discovered a single problem running ArmA2 under Win7x64 at all, not with 1.04 and not with 1.05 so far.

So it seems you have to look at driver and router-issues and background programs YOU installed also. Update all Drivers, Update your OS, Update you Router-Firmware, Update your Motherboard-BIOS and terminate all running background programs that might conflict and Undo any "Tuning-Changes" you made to your OS like disabled pagefile, switch it all back to default. Disabling IPv6 might also help. Yeah, that´s a lot of work, but if one who plays on a PC don´t want to do it, he should go for a PS3, XBox or whatever instead of blaming the developers and people that try to help you out with that little peace of information you provided. Does gameplay actually feel like having 500-2500ms pings? Did you ping other websites from you PC or tried another game? Do they act the same or different?

Edited December 27, 2009 by BCA Cat Toaster

[Rough Knight 9]

I have the same issue. Playing MP games between two LAN computers both runing Win7 Enterprise edition, I get massive desync even when the PC's are like litterally connected by 5 metres of cable and a switch (no router).

I origionally had the same issue when playing via my router as I thought it was a router config so I switched to my above configuration. I followed Sickboys advice and disabled TCP/IPv6, turned off windows firewall and disabled TCP Chimney offload. No change, I still get desync.

Now heres the thing, I can host from any of my Win7 machines online, and have people join and play with no desync (with WinXP Pro) but Win7 to win7 seems to conflict.

Please you gurus out there...help me with some advice.....I am not sure What to try next!!

Thanks

Rough KNight.

[76 0]

I doubt any of these issues are related to ArmA2 or that can't be fixed via some OS/firewall/network setting.

Like Yoma and others have said... google is your friend :)

Good luck.

[Rough Knight 9]

Yeah you are correct..I dont know if it is an ARMA2 specific thing, but what do I google?. I have looked but have not found the answer. I am also not sure what to look for, I do know that my computer lan connects to a switch via some square plugs with a latch. When you do this some lights turn on on the motherboard.

I arn't a PC guru, and I also realise that no-one on the forum is pshycic and wold be able to diagnose my problem off the cuff. Just lookin for ideas is all.

Thanks

Frosty.

Edited January 17, 2010 by Rough Knight

[1LT.Wolf.F 10]

I'm no expert just a power user, but It seems that Sickboy and Yoma are pointing us right. I heard some Win7 to Win7 issues, that's likely new IPv6 stuff. The Chimney Offloads, I have briefly tested in the past and lost the data, but there was something in or around that. I've always had network problems in ArmA2 (My ISP is WiMAX 3Mb/s down 384Kb/s up, "above perfect signal").

I've fixed my "local" ArmA2 microstutters and texture loads, still jobless, so I'll focus now on network connectivity

Before I Gooooooooogle away myself, try these age old network tricks:

Network Cable

-Check the network cable (unplug Both ends and reconnect, in Canada chip-creep is real)

-Swap the Cable, it's cheap and if it's the problem you'll be thankful you checked now!!!

Router

-Remove, insofar as possible, the Routers - simplifying the network until you have narrowed the problem is Very helpful.

-I've heard (unconfirmed) reports of older routers not working so well with Win7, my ancient Linksys worked up until Win7 64 RC build 7100 (my first foray in win7) it still works, but it's no good!! (my assumption again points to IPv6 or the other added network features new to vista/win7)

-If your ISP Modem doubles as a router (Do not, until you know where your network problem is, even try to add a router, unless you know what you are doing.)

Network Interface Card (NIC)

-Frequent or random disconnects? try telling your NIC to go 10Mb/s half duplex, whichever is required, just NOT Autosense...

-NIC drivers are often overlooked, some of my more tweak-happy friends had not even considered it,

-and if you already got new drivers, you may as well open up Device Manager and remove the Network card there and reboot and try that.

***WARNING*** BE SURE you have drivers that will work, or another computer to get them from NO guarantees... …but you already got the drivers unboard in windows, hush hush… should work, or it'll keep you busy for a while and buy me research time…

Windows7 64bit OE

-Automatic Updates, ALL installed programs, turn them off,

-Firewall Settings

-Windows Defender Ad and Spy ware settings

-Avast Antivirus (what I use), I've found excluding the "...\arma 2\*" folders helps a little... was planning an IO test here soon...

If your starting with Google, and have win7 probably best to search within last year and try perhaps these ideas off the top of my head:

-IPv6 in games

-WOW64 or VirtualMachine whichever and Networking (win7)

-32bit online gaming in Win7 64bit

-TCP stack offloads and games

-RSS *Shrugs, but a follow up on Sickboy's link

-Network Services, which are needed (if any)

-How ArmA networks

-NetDMA state

-Direct Cache Access?

It's very likely that due to Win7's age 3rd party Network tweaks'll be rare.

ok I lied, bed first then research Good Luck,

FedaykinWolf

[Alex72 1]

Never had such issues. Win7 32bit here.

[Rough Knight 9]

Hi guys, Google really IS my friend, what do you know.

These two links below fixed my issue of bad desync in arma2 multiplayer (my win7 machine hosting either dedicated server or as a client\host). I could join and play any server no problems as purely a client. As a background I was trying to run a dedicated server (testing my mission) but clients were getting terrible desync in game. Also as a client\host, I had the same issue between windows7 machines but..... win7 host to WinXP clients seemed OK (actually this wasnt the case when I hosted a win7 dedicated server..even xp clients had bad desync).

As suggested I did the following:

disabled TCP/IPv6 ---->no fix

turned off windows firewall ---->no fix

disabled TCP Chimney offload---->no fix

The two things that worked where found in the links below. (maybe one fixes it, but I did both with excellent results thank goodness). As a note, I am a computer noob so I can't explain what these fixes do...but they did fix my problem.

NOTE: both fixes involve registry modification...so play with care.

The first fix:

involves disabling Nagle’s algorithm, also commonly known as TCP no delay, which is basically an optimization of network traffic that tries to reduce overall packet volume but can cause extra latency in Windows 7 or Vista

http://lifeandcode.net/2009/05/reduce-game-network-latency-in-windows-7-or-vista/

the second fix involves:

disabling the network throttling component of the MMCS service (multimedia class scheduler service).

http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/31980-lag-online-games-windows-7-a-2.html

Hope this helps...I spent hours scratching my head over this one. Thanks to all those who helped me

Rough_Knight

Edited January 18, 2010 by Rough Knight

[1LT.Wolf.F 10]

NICE find, I was just at that forum,

Copy that, Google is good for both BS and noBS

The second option was of interest to me, partially because of an echo of the Sound / network problems I had in the past… Sweet find!!! I'm going to test!

MultiMedia Class Scheduler Service (MMCSS) and throttling

http://www.tomstricks.com/how-to-improve-windows-vista-network-performance-while-running-multimedia-programs/

With a follow-up note: in it they say 50-70 instead of 10, I wonder if its worth trying, 4billion sounds like the a better number...

Quick question j_frost, Do you have a Creative X-Fi, 2nd Sound card, or a ATIHD4000 series, or better yet what sound systems do you have?

Thanks for the update

FedaykinWolf

[Rough Knight 9]

Hey mate,

I have faitly antiquiated sound cards. I have two windows7 machines, one has an X-Fi extreme Audio PCI card, and the other has an Audigy 2ZS.

I am not sure if the problem was apparent only on the X-Fi machine as I only ever tried hosting from that one, but I made the mods on both machines and all desync has disappeared (apart from the usual desync you have at mission start)

[1LT.Wolf.F 10]

Well I have tested a little the two options given by J_frost, as their improvement was very nice...

I Was Very skeptical about disabling the "Nagle's Algorithms" used in TCP/IP, but it seems to work. My Desyncs are less frequent and my pings are lower (save initial ping of server list-Gamespy, a refresh fixes imediately)

(however more test should be done, as this is from two good night on an ISP who is normally very bad... AKA ISP was lower than normal traffic)

Next I tried the MMCSS fix, Which I figured was the problem, and it definately helps, it's not Fiber Optics or DSL-like but an improvement.

I tried only the value FFFFFFFF 2^32)

Later I will try Tomstips and change 10 to between 50 and 70, I can't see this helping, but I'm very blind at times... :P

Continuing to test,

Anyone else find anything??

FW