Hello,

I am playing IWD: HoW 1.42 over LAN at home. Have 10/100 Mbit Ethernet and game is laging. Specificaly, all moving object are laging (it blinks and sudenly appears in other location that they actualy are) like monsters and characters.
It is very uncomfortable, mainly for mage, because he cannot target monsters with area spells (like sleep), because monsters are drawn at wrong locations.
Also thief has a problem to backstab foes.
It looks like all clients expect the server have this problem.

Is there anything to do? Can help installing of GameSpy?

Thanks

Hey galdur, [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img] welcome to IW!

I may have bad news for you; I don't play multiplayer, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that HoW and ToLM have unresolved multiplayer issues (ie. lag) that the original did not have.

I'm not sure if there's a solution for you.

Edit: just ran a forum search, and here is something that may give you some ideas on how to solve it. Also try here, paying specific attention to Micah Foehammer's post. Apparently multiplayer is possible, it just requires some fiddling. This also has some detailed info.

[ 09-23-2004, 04:06 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

Thanks Aerich. I will try to reduce the amount of detail to minimum, and look, if the game stops laging. It is pitty, that Trial of Luremaster cause lags. If reducing detail will dont solve problem, I will try uninstall whole game, and install only Heart of Winter (v 1.41) and see, if the lags are gone.

But I fear it doesn't help. My configuration of computers are Athlon XP 2500+ and Athlon 1,33 Ghz, which seems is enough to play IWD:HoW.
And 10/100 MBit Ethernet also.

Just a shot in the dark, but is the framerate set the same on both machines? I don't recall if multiplayer checks this.

It could also be a problem with DirectPlay since this game is quite old. You might want to try moving the server to your other computer to try to determine the nature of the problem.

If you mean AI updates, it is set to same value. The multiplayer game check it out and doesn't allow you to have different AI update values.

It could be directplay problem. But how to solve it? Other games (even older) seems to run smoothly without lags.

Not entirely, many older games have issues with newer DirectX/NT OS. However, I wouldn't count on this being the case. Like I said, try hosting the server on another machine. Does this problem attribute to the server or clients? Both?

edit: Is this associated with the Voodoo issue you posted earlier?
edit2: I shouldn't be typing in the morning ...

[ 09-24-2004, 09:40 AM: Message edited by: silencer ]

The problem seems to attribute only client. You know, server is who count, where monsters will move, so on the server, they are draw correctly. Only client have problems with lags. Monsters are often drawn at wrong locations, where they actualy are.

My voodoo problem is not associated. You know, I have 3 computers at home. I am playing IWD multiplayer at 2 of them, and this is third computer. When I solve this voodoo graphic problem, hoping I will be play IWD multiplayer in three.

Sorry, I was simply trying to come to some other conclusion. If it truly is lag (and not a game bug), that would be odd, unless the LAN connection is very unstable/packet loss.

I think you're going to have to largely figure out this one on your own. A few suggestions:
1. Switch hosts, connect to eachother. Does any machine now experience the "lagging?" If the original machine does it's obviously not a lag-issue. If the other does (the current client), well, I really don't know what to say in that case.
2. As previously suggested try simply dropping both configurations to the bare minimal.
3. Have you tried SP on the machine with this problem (falls in accordance with #1)?

Good luck.

[ 09-24-2004, 04:47 PM: Message edited by: silencer ]

Sorry again (I'm really not in it today, I got a whole total of 2 hours of sleep lastnight, hence constant typos), I missed the post saying you have ToTLM installed. AFAIK the expansion doesn't induce lag, it's a problem in specific areas caused by bad scripting (you can even tell playing SP on a slower machine). If you are in a ToTLM area try moving to an IWD area.

[ 09-24-2004, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: silencer ]

Galdur,

I got your message but it was a little lite on details. Aside from turning down the feedback, there is little that you can do. Turn off virtually ALL of the feedback. I also suggest pausing the game frequently - especially during combat, to allow the client machines to catch up to the host. You might even try the autopause at the end of each round! The only things that you could try is to make sure that you have a full installation and defrag your HD.

If you are having problems during HOW, I would suspect that the first problem area you encountered was on Burial Isle. Even if the undead are NOT visible, the lag is due to the fact that once you are spotted, undead that are off screen are attempting to path to you. That creates TREMENDOUS lag.

Just so you know, the folks at Interplay and Black Isle have stated repeatedly that Heart of Winter WAS NEVER DESIGNED FOR MULTIPLAYER PLAY!!!

Thanks for your replies friends...

You wanted to know more detailed configuration:

First computer (host)
Athlon 1,33 Ghz
512MB SD RAM
GeForce4 MX 440 64MB
10/100 MBit Realtec Ethernet card
Operating system: Windows 98 SE
DirectX 9.0b

Second computer (client)
Athlon XP 2500+
512MB DDR RAM
GeForce FX 5600
10/100 MBit mainboard-integrated card (i cannot remeber exact name)
Operating system: Windows XP servis pack 1
DirectX 9.0b

Can be these lags caused by windows XP and windows 98 LAN? I think that it shouldn't be problem, but maybe I am wrong...

Single player works perfectly, without any lags. Only multiplayer experience this problem.

The problem isn't only in HoW and ToTLM areas. I am playing it with friend from whole beginning (Eastheaven) with 1-level characters. In present, we are actualy in 5th level of Dragon's Eye. Game was experienced this problem IN ALL areas, from first battle with goblins in Eastheaven (where we lost this battle due to this lags, I have casted sleep at wrong location, so no goblin fall asleep [img]smile.gif[/img] ) to Dragon's Eye. So I think it is not script related problem.

I didn't have tried HoW and ToTLM areas yet, but I am almost sure, that problem will occurs also.

OK... I will try to switch host and client, reduce details to minimum and turn off the sounds, and see, if the lags still occur.

Micah... you said, that HoW wasn't designated for multiplayer play. I know, but it is very good RPG game to play with friend. Even better that Diablo, where you just click and click. Here you must create a strategy before battle, and the sneaky thief, which reveals enemy positions and disable all traps in level is very welcomed.
So that's why I want play IWD over LAN instead of for example Diablo.

edit1: Do you think, that IWD without HoW can run without lag in multiplayer?

edit2: Now, when I solved voodoo problem at third computer, I am thinking about playin IWD in three.

Yes, It IS a great game and a blast in multiplayer. From my experience, IWD ran GREAT in multiplayer - even with a group of 5! Things got progressively worse as you added HOW and TolM. If you stick with IWD only, you should be able to have a great time in multiplayer. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I have reduced graphic detail to minimum, turned off sounds and switch host and client and...

...nothing changed :(
Still same problem, server - all good, client - creatures and other characters was lagging and teleporting around.

So it seems, that performance of computers is not cause of this lags.

Any other idea? Still using 1.42 version of the game.

Sorry but the problem is still likely game lag. Changing the graphic detail settings, among other things, is not guaranteed to solve the problem. Try turning off ALL of the in-game feedback and see if that helps. It still may not solve the problem though.