Lags in multiplayer

[galdur]

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

[Aerich]

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 ]

[galdur]

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.

[silencer]

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.

[galdur]

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.

[silencer]

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 ]

[galdur]

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.

[silencer]

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 ]

[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 ]

[Micah Foehammer]

Originally posted by galdur: 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.

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!!!