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MP Game Crash on Planet


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I'm having trouble running a UCAWA LAN game. Whenever a client computer enters a planet mission zone with characters (such as Marines, or AE), the server crashes.

For example, when running a LAN server, a player started using the MP default settings, starting in the Procon region. They then Hyperspaced to Procon (w/o entering Planetfall), loaded up SC1 with two marines, and sent it to Procon06/MP_SCENE_CITY02. Three waypoints were set: 1) about 3.5 km SE of the city, 2) just south of the barracks with the deploy team command, and 3) about 2.5 km SE of the city with the land command. The server crash occurred as soon as the marine team was deployed.

During another session, the server crashed anytime the AE was sent to the planet in a shuttle. In particular, as soon as the AE's shuttle entered the Procon atmosphere (and the planetfall sequence started) the server crashed. (AE was sent to the same mission zone as above)

These crashes were repeatable (at least on our LAN).

I've read the forums, and thus realize that planetside operations are taxing on the server during MP sessions. We probably should just stay in space!

BTW, the server is the one shown in my profile. We got these errors when testing the server for a LAN get together. In addition, although I know it is not officially supported, these same crashes also occurred when using the server and client on the same machine.

Thanks, in advance, for any help you can give. Even if it's to say the error is not repeatable and it is our own fault!

P.S. - just got UCAWA, are we supposed to update our profile to show the new game and new CD-Key?

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Thanks for responding so fast DennyMala!

Ok, just tried it again. Every time the AE is sent to SC1 and sent to Procon (regardless of mission zone), the server crashes. However, the client computer still runs the program for a while before receiving a message that the server is no longer connected. Are you running a LAN with separate server and client computers, wherein you can monitor the server when the AE shuttle enters the planet?

I mention this because when we first got our copies of UCAWA we immediately logged onto the 3000AD servers. Every time we landed on a planet, we suddenly could not see each other. We knew where each other was located because we were on the phone together the whole time. We would then logout, and notice that the server we were just on was no longer listed. After awhile it would reappear. We thought at the time that 3000AD was turning on and off their servers, perhaps for maintenance.

Anyway, we decided to try a LAN after that, which is when we had the problems discussed above.

Hence, if this was tested in an environment where the server is not being monitored at the same time as the action is taking place, the client may not realize something happened to the server.

We are both running version 1.00.08, which incidentally, was the version we downloaded from the e-commerce website. That is, we did not have to patch (however we ran the updater anyway). In addition, the UCAWA license for the server was purchased from Direct2Drive, while the client was purchased from Regnow.

Anyway, thanks again for replying and helping out!

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I experienced the same problem late Saturday night while playing online with Casey and Firestar (believe it was Firestar). All three of us would be in orbit. One of us would then go down to a mission zone on the planet, and as soon as that happened we would lose connection with each other. It would look like we were still playing on the server, but sending messages didn't work, we couldn't see any movement updates. If one of us got out and refreshed the server list, it wouldn't show anybody on it. We also experienced it if one of us left our CC while in space.

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In response to Cmdr. Matchoo's difficulties on the servers, it should also be noted that Ensign Casey and I, have tested all the servers by reenacting the planetside scenario. We concluded together, that no servers were working properly except Fleet Server 3000AD 1 (G). What we noticed is that the server did not recognize the players moving from Procon_Z to Procon. If the server did not respond showing clearly our change from Procon_Z to Procon, it was fully evident that we would not recognize each other after planetfall.

I also might add that we tested these servers repeatedly with the same responses. Cmdr. Matchoo as well as Stategic Cmdr. Ben Zwycky, also experienced the same troubles. We all were on the servers together at certain times.

What could be the cause of these problems? I realize that it is best for us to be using the Fleet servers but at this particular time, the Fleet servers were all down. As a result, we were forced to use the other servers.

Hopefully, an answer to the problem will be imminent.

PS...We enjoy going planetside...

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Firestar. Thats rubbish.

First of all, anyone wanting to run around on the planet, needs to ensure that they are on a broadband connection. The planetary aspect of the game is the most bandwidth intensive, due to the massive amount of data that needs to be sent to EACH client. I was planning on tweaking this at some point, buy never got around to it yet.

So, I'm not surprised that clients will lose packets.

As far as OUR servers crashing (because of planetary actions). Thats rubbish. I just checked the logs - including the WIN2K logs - and see no evidence of that. If anything, its the client thats crashing if they can't handle the [client side] processing. The performance of the planetary aspect of the game is the same in sp and mp. So if you get crappy performance in the sp game, you'll get the same in an mp game - which is further compounded by the network processing.

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Sir with all due respect,

I do have broadband and i have no problems at all with the SP of the game and the server 1 (G) has no problems even on planetside..except for a bit of lag which i recognize as a part of being on multiplayer. If i hadnt checked this with other players as well I would never have even been concerned with it.. Anyway, I love the game and my hat goes off to your hard work for the past 20+ years. Oh, and i dont mind being whacked by the SC..In fact, i feel that i am greatly honored for a good whacking sir!

Firestar out.

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Although SC's last comment appears to be final, I hope this thread is not yet closed. After logging into the 3000AD servers last night, we saw significant improvements on our end. It appears that when the servers are set to graphics, the planetside operations work very well. Although, when Matchoo and I logged onto Server 2, we both got kicked when he attempted planetfall while my AE was on the surface of the same planet (Procon). Thereafter, we did not see the server again on our server browser, so we logged onto Server 3.

After seeing this, my friend and I attempted another LAN using the graphics server instead of the console server. There were no problems. However, every time we tried using the console server (doing the same operations as listed in the first post) the console server crashes.

So, since the console server doesn't seem to work for us, I guess we'll just not play it, as suggested above. However, the graphics server requires more system resources from the server computer. But then again, the game is so much fun single player, who am I to complain.

Thank you all for all your help. I've never seen this much response from any other company, especially from the game designer himself. Thanks again!

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If this problem is with the console server, then it needs to be investigated. I'll run it through the debugger tomorrow to see if its the client or the server thats causing the crash. If the server disappears for a bit; then it is the server that has crashed. Which is why it won't show up until it has restarted and is back online and reporting to the master server.

btw, the GameCQ browser is more accurate and responsive than the ASE powered in-game browser.

Also, please note that the console server is not supported for UCAWA because of the shader requirements. When we hacked that version (read the VCF), it was just that: a hack.

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