Multiplayer possible with the new patch 1.3?

[NativityInBlack]

Hiyas wondering if Multiplayer is possible (3+ players) with the patch 1.3?

After getting my copy I invited my friends over for a LAN in the weekend and we couldn't get past the Elven City, we either Warped to weird random spots or got stuck in the ceilings after leaving shops or had a nightmare lag. Not to talk about everone's class quest logs being godly bugged.

The patch notes has like 3 bug fixes, they are hiding the fix list or they aren't in?

:(

Was unplayable and quite a ruined weekend.

Thanks in advance for any answer.

[CraigBee]

http://dreamcatcherinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23959

Does this answer your question or are you looking for something different?

[NativityInBlack]

Guy only mentions the lag and also with only 2 players, the real problem was with 3+ players together, not to talk about the warping, getting stuck in the ceiling and the class quests being stuck.

[Toiletbeard]

Yes that was only with 2 people, and after playing a bit more it did start having some moments of lag. Bearable, but it makes me think that another player would certainly not be. I really dont understand why its like that. A 45 KB/s upload rate should be more than enough to host 6+ players and it always has been for any other game ive ever played. Just what the **** is this game trying to send that takes so much bandwidth?

[phalzyr]

with 1.0-1.1: Consindering I am connected directly to the other computer at 100Mbs I don't think it has anything to do with bandwidth issues but poor multiplayer coding. with all the bugs/crashes/reloads aside we are playing MP 50% of the time the other half is waiting fro her machine to get aclue about what is going on...She has a faster character than me and can outpace me easily when it runs smoothly but half the time I am running and her computer is acting like it has the slow time spell on....

I'll check it out in 1.3 and see if it is any better....

[chamr]

Yeah, I'd really doubt it has anything to do with bandwidth. More likely that the multi/syncing code is, um, amatuerish, to put it nicely.

I hope HP realizes that one of the best, if not the best shot they have at recovering from the release debacle and having a game with longevity that keeps selling a bit over time is to fix multiplayer. There is a big void right now for all those D2 gamers that love multi and being able to hop on to a game with other folks quickly and have a little action/RPG fun. A big void. If they could get the multi problems fixed, word of mouth could translate into a good bit of ongoing sales as this game obviously has the potential to be the best action/RPG multi quick fix out there. Three things:

1) Lag - duh
2) Bugs - the whole getting stuck in ceilings, whirling around the world, etc
3) Save game structure - this one really indicates to me that they just didn't have good vision when it came to designing and coding the multi-player. They really need to change this so that I can jump into any game going with any character I want. This whole having to have played with Joe Blow before and use that specific savegame just kills being able to hop on any time with strangers or at the very least not have to plan and coordinate schedules with other players. I just don't get this decision at all.

[Tenka]

There is a big void right now for all those D2 gamers that love multi and being able to hop on to a game with other folks quickly and have a little action/RPG fun. A big void.

Nono ... huge .. HUGE void, I bought this game for the multiplayer alone and none of my friends want to play it over lan, with Diablo 2's 1.10 patch ruining D2 for me I have nothing! GW comes close but doesnt cut it, WoW is just your every day MMORPG supersized, right now the only thing that comes close is DL and it doesnt work in multiplayer .. I badly seek a multiplayer twitch-based RPG of some kind to fill the void but to no-avail, I can only hope HellGate: London will fill the void but thats a ways off from now. :(

[Deme]

My brother and I play on lan and we see no performance change than when we play single player.

My computer:

Athlon XP 2800+ (Barton core)
A7n8x 2.0
512mb RAM PC2700
Radeon 9800 Pro


His computer:

Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton core)
ECS KT600
512mb RAM PC2700
Radeon 9800 Pro

[Toiletbeard]

I assumed it was bandwidth because I have played over LAN just fine with no lag at all. Several times.

[Deme]

It's most likely because they are playing on the internet.

[chamr]

I assumed it was bandwidth because I have played over LAN just fine with no lag at all. Several times.

While I'm no network coder and never was, I'd assume the communications, protocol and overall challenge in communicating over the Gamespy/Internet connection are different and more complicated than plain old LAN. Thus the "amatuerish" remark in my previous post.

[Toiletbeard]

Well Im not a network coder either but I do have a great deal of experience in application of networking. Whenever I host or go to LAN parties im always the one who runs around to every computer getting everything going. So although I dont speak from personal knowledge of how coding works, I do speak from personal experience of how games and other application usually act when communing between multiple computers. I may be wrong on this, but based on just what I have seen of the game it does seem to be a bandwidth issue - the game seems to be trying to send too much data. Feel free to correct me on this if you have played the game over the internet without lag on a standard broadband connection.

[LuvHandles]

Hmm, we I am a software engineer and I could make a few guesses but without seeing source code it's just conjecture.

One thing may be the protocol used. The two main protocols are TCP/IP and UDP. TCP/IP resends data until receipt is verified by the recipient, UDP sends out data and there is no handshake return signal. Most games based on UDP use prediction algorhythms smooth out errors due to lost packets. MMORPGS use a combination of TCP/IP and UDP protocols to achieve the best throughput. It is possible that DL uses purely TCP/IP which would get sticky as you added more players and could adversely affect a small pipe(slow connection).

Another thing may be gamespy. I haven't seen any comparisons of gamespy multiplayer games versus direct connect through IP over the net, but there may be some performance difference there as well.

[chamr]

Another thing may be gamespy. I haven't seen any comparisons of gamespy multiplayer games versus direct connect through IP over the net, but there may be some performance difference there as well.

I play Kohan 2 over gamespy quite a bit, and performance has never been an issue. Drops, sure, but performance no. Of course, they may have an entirely different setup for DL. Who the heck knows...

[Toiletbeard]

Well I havent tried it over gamespy, so im not sure if that causes extra lag for people or not. I have connected to my 2 brothers, all 3 of us being in different places and one even in another state, and since 1.3 its been running okay. Not great but ok. We get a little lag here and there but its at least playable. Whenever I have played over LAN there has been no performance issues beyond what you would get in single player so I dont know what to tell people who do get issues there. What was said about TCP/IP insisting on sending its information does seem to fit. It appears the game doesnt want to admit that its unsychronized and insists on continuing to send the data which is why the clients fall further and further behind. In most games I have seen the game periodically checks and updates the clients who warp up to where they are supposed to be when they get behind. Why Dungeon Lords doesnt do this, who knows. At any rate, just for the record, I have been able to play 3 people with cable connections for hours with just minor lag so those of you who are unable might consider that its something other than the game. (this doesnt mean that the netcode doesnt still need to be improved).

[Toiletbeard]

Then on the other hand, today I have been trying to play with just ONE of my brothers for about an hour and a half now and been unable to. We've hosted it both ways and whoever the client is 30 seconds behind. The last time we tried I ended up being stuck in place for 2 minutes, then teleported about 50 times and ended up stuck in a wall spinning endlessly. So, apparently theres no method to the madness. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. FIX IT ALREADY THIS IS REDICULOUS.

[phalzyr]

After 1.3 came out I brough home a 2.6GHZ 1GB machine and put my wife's video card in it. I was playing on a 1.8GHZ machine (what is the requirements?) this killed almost all LAG issues with MP I had, though I'm not sure if it was the upage in GHZ the faster hd(but probaly only slightly, the faster bus/memory etc, or the now 1GBs transfer rate.....It still will lag when going outside into the wildneress, but I'm beginning to think that is caused by her sub standard video card, it is only a GF2 MX400 afterall.... A heck of a lot more playable now but annoying in the long wilderness walks.

I am getting a new computer though with an X850 and she can have my video card, and hopefully that fix that issue...It seems to me to access the hard drive way too often while in the wilderness I have 1 GB use it errr....why have those long long load times fro nothing....

System Requirements:
Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, Intel Pentium III 800 Mhz, 256 Mb RAM, 1.6 GB Free HD, 3D Card, Geforce 2 or ATI 7500 32MB, DirectX 9 compatible; Direct X 9.0b; 12X CD-ROM Drive; DirectX 9 compatible Sound Card, Keyboard/Mouse

Well seem the processor power is good enough and video card is at minimum but meets requirement so you'd think it not lag horribly on my 1.8 but...

[Deme]

Hey there, you might want to try gettting an Nvidia 6600gt instead of that x850. x850's are expensive and arent really that wonderful for their price. Also they dont support pixel shader 3.0 while the 6600gt does. 6600gt only costs around 140-150 now!

[Deme]

Also, i dont know how anyone plays this game with only 256mb of ram. i was playing and i have 512 but the free memory dropped to 39mb while just in the first area. My video is 9800pro 128mb as well.

[chamr]

Minimum requirements for games are notoriously low. Rather than being minimum requirements to play the game smoothly, they always seem to be minimum requirements for the game to run without crashing non-stop or freezing. Being playable usually requires the recommended system specs.

As for DL, my box says minimum 384MB RAM, not 256.

[phalzyr]

I don't know why I got the x850 instead of the 6800 ( which was their two options) 300 more for....anyway I'll eventually be buying another video card for my wifes machine in due time. I always bought nvida before I don't know what I was thinking :). I wonder if I can change order now...the specs listed on dell's sight have the x850 alot better than the 6800 clock/core speed wise maybe that was why...

Still lagging anywhere I am outside...

[Toiletbeard]

Ok well the other day I was playing over the internet with 2 other people and was getting the usual 'client behind 30 seconds' lag for no apparent reason. It had been working just 2 days earlier with the same 2 people with no lag so I was trying to remember if I had changed anything. Then I remembered I had cancelled all my port forwarding the day before so I decided to change it back and see if that would help. After that we were able to play with no lag (well not no lag, but not too terrible). I have never before seen a game where the CLIENTS have to route the port but for whatever reason that seems to be the case here. Also its strange that should effect performance, port forwarding usually only matters wether you can connect or not. So anyone who is using a router and getting lag, try forwarding the port even if you are the client. Dunno if that'll work for you but it did for me (everything seems to be hit or miss with this game with no rhyme or reason).