Multiplayer campaign (bugs)

[nominesine 0]

The MP Campaign seems to be full of locality errors. i.e What happens on the hosting computer does not necessarily happen on the client computers. Here's a few examples from my last three sessions with a friend. He is playing as the server, I joined him as a client.

1) Cutscenes and sounds only play on host computer.

2) Shots fired by by hosting player cannot be heard nor seen bly client player. The effects (dying and explosions) are shown on all clients however.

3) Client and host can be at the same location, but still unable to see eachother in game. Mostly happens when both players dismounts from a vehicle.

Problem #1 is most likely a script that only runs on one computer. A classic noob mistake. #2 and #3 are clearly not scripting bugs. I've managed to reproduce some of them after extensive testing. They seem to be connected to the MP campaign mode only. It is impossible to create these errors in a normal MP mission. But if you create a user made campaign with the same (fully working) MP-mission included the errors will show up.

Two things seems to trigger these MP/Campaign bugs. Either when the players step out of a vehicle, after travelling cross country; or when a saved game is loaded and a client player joins the campaign.

Anyone else got similar experiences? Please share your thoughts.

[koke 10]

After loading a savegame in the mission "bittere kälte" (bitter chill) the daytime on the client didn´t match with the host.

It was 4pm on the client and 7pm on host. So you didn´t need nightvision as client.

Edited August 7, 2009 by koke

[nominesine 0]

Thanks. That sounds like a classical scripting error to me. Most likely a saved variable (+3 hours) carried over from an earlier mission, but only loaded on the host for some reason. I'm more interested in locality errors comming from the game engine itself. i.e players doing one thing on the host computer, but another on the clients et cetera. I really enjoy the MP campaign, despite the bugs. I wan't to find a working workaround that makes it playable. Not boarding any vehicle and avoiding loaded save games seems to work pretty OK. But in Manhattan it's almost impossible due to the sheer scale of the mission.

P.S My german is a wee bit rusty. But Bitter Kälte sounds like Bitter Chill to me

[koke 10]

Oh yeah, you are right ;) it´s bitter chill

[nominesine 0]

I just recalled that I've seen the same locality bugs before (type #2 and #3 in the first post). They also appeared in two mods for Operation Flashpoint. Namely the American Civil War Mod and Liberation '41 Mod.

Both the aforementioned mods tampered with the damage system in OFP, much like the First Aid module does in ArmA2 today. Is it possible that the First Aid Mod causes these problems in the MP campaign?

[laggy 0]

I just recalled that I've seen the same locality bugs before (type #2 and #3 in the first post). They also appeared in two mods for Operation Flashpoint. Namely the American Civil War Mod and Liberation '41 Mod.

Both the aforementioned mods tampered with the damage system in OFP, much like the First Aid module does in ArmA2 today. Is it possible that the First Aid Mod causes these problems in the MP campaign?

Yes, I remember those mods, while being very serious modifications, they were unfortunately not MP compatible.

Your theory about the First Aid Module causing similar problems, seems like a plausible one.

I have never used that module in MP myself, as it seems to be not working properly yet.

I hope we can get some input from a developer on this.

Laggy

[nominesine 0]

bumping

[Vazz 10]

i am getting the same locality issues as well. The only thing i've done to fix them is to disconnect and reconnect, but thats more like a band-aid than anything else.

[Yapab 10]

I too have the exact same problems, the game in COOP runs out of sync.

Check your watch against your hosts watch... ours is usually 20 minutes out of sync!

The loudspeaker sounds do not play on the client in the mission Manhattan, yet the Host can hear them!

The host appears to be "jumping" from place to place... looks like lag but its NOT lag because our connections are less than 40ms and there is no packet loss. We are just 7 hops away from each other via tracert.

The problem can also be fixed by disconnecting back to the hosts lobby and then joining the game back again (NOT fully disconnecting from the host however). This seems to swap and receive data again which fixes it until the next RESUME!

It seems resuming is the main cause that causes this "desync".

Here is my video which I posted a few weeks ago...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEW4UuIlJnE

Thats me as the client sitting on the gun in the Hummer... my friend the host is driving. He is driving in a STRAIGHT line down the road... our pings are low yet this is happening... the game is badly out of sync! (im not rotating the gun either!, not even touching the mouse!)

I also have started a thread about it here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=84106

It seems that the latest beta patch has "somewhat" helped with the desync issue in manhattan, before in 1.03 it was UNPLAYABLE... not its playable but still jumps and I miss out on a lot of the action.

Yapa

[nominesine 0]

Yes, the above videos show exactly the same problem as the one I was refering too. It usually starts like that, and then it gets even worse. I've also noticed that disconneting helps temporarily. But sometimes the desynch returns after a few minutes of play. I havent checked if it's resume related or not though. It ruined the campaign totally for me. Not much point in replaying it in SP either. The missions are too cinematic for replayability in my opinion. Bugger. I was looking forward to the campaign a lot when I bought the game.

[laggy 0]

I really hope a developer sees this.

The MP campaign mode is by far the most revolutionary aspect of ArmAII.

To make it work properly, would be a high priorety on my list...

Laggy

Edited August 29, 2009 by laggy