Multiplayer in the beta
JuliusBorisov
Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,725
So, @Tresset and me have tried the MP in the BG2EE beta (we knew that a 2-person MP should work).
I'm using Windows XP, and have to say that in the 1.3 version the Multiplayer has been working excellent - we're even on a no-reload run for several month already.
Tresset was a host and I connected to him. And all was very slow for me, like waiting for 5 seconds to see an effect of my click, or to see what I have typed. It was very, very slow. Then I crashed 2 times while chatting.
After that it was I who became a host. Tresset joined and immediately crashed 2 times in a row. And then I crashed while being the only one in the lobby while choosing a portrait for my character.
We tried again, with Tresset as a host. I was trying to click "Import" while creating a character for about 2 minutes and then when trying to type about that in the chat I crashed again.
It looks like the current Multiplayer is unplayable, at least for me.
What are suggestions on why that was so slow for me?
I'm using Windows XP, and have to say that in the 1.3 version the Multiplayer has been working excellent - we're even on a no-reload run for several month already.
Tresset was a host and I connected to him. And all was very slow for me, like waiting for 5 seconds to see an effect of my click, or to see what I have typed. It was very, very slow. Then I crashed 2 times while chatting.
After that it was I who became a host. Tresset joined and immediately crashed 2 times in a row. And then I crashed while being the only one in the lobby while choosing a portrait for my character.
We tried again, with Tresset as a host. I was trying to click "Import" while creating a character for about 2 minutes and then when trying to type about that in the chat I crashed again.
It looks like the current Multiplayer is unplayable, at least for me.
What are suggestions on why that was so slow for me?
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Comments
The Multiplayer is a very important feature of BG games. I remember there was a big boom when it didn't work good when the EEs were first released.
I hope that situation won't be repeated again, after it actually worked fine for quite a period of time already.
BTW, my Internet wasn't bad. When I was a host (and Tresset tried to connect) I didn't have that slow problem.
Oh, and I popped in to Tresset's game for a minute and the lobby/character creation was all-around stuttering. Never had that problem in multiplayer before.
In this thread I would be happy to read about others' attempts on the MP in the beta and some insights onto how/when it could be improved.
Note: same MP game hosted by my friend on a 10.0 Mbps net connection.
But in my case, I was playing at home with a 2.0 Mbps connection: got no issues.
When I went to my bf's place, his connection was throttled to 0.2 Mbps due to some router issue: I got crashes and somehow I could not connect to my friend's game (it was showing me as the host - probably an error) before I crashed.
Now the MP finally works!
We have had some bugs, and are in the process of reporting them, but the improvements in the MP are huge (if compared to the previous build). A huge thank you to the developers!
Now, we'll test and help to make it even better, to make it the best MP in the history of BG!
Could there be some magic wizardry to fix this gamebreaker? It really ruins everything. My friend lives very far away and we just end up pausing/depausing at the same time making it a big confusing loop because there's a big delay and the other thinks he already unpaused and so on.
For example - going upstairs to get the Celestial Fury, I'll pause like crazy as we zone - then my friend who plays our thief will (WHILE IT IS PAUSED) disarm the traps and move around behind the mage before the pause "catches up to him". The interaction doesn't ruin the game for us but it takes a bit of self policing on our parts to not abuse it - however the other player sometimes doesn't know when I've paused and they are unable to pause the game during that time too.
Anyways just contributing this - even though it is only a 1.3 observation for multiplayer - which otherwise has been pretty good except for random crashes about every hour or so. Luckily we can all quit the game and remake it and get everyone back in within 30 seconds so its not a huge inconvenience.
Basically the game treats the end of a dialogue as if you just had paused and locks out your ability to pause for 1 second similar to if you and your friend tried to pause at the same time, his pause won't undo yours.
I admit it shouldn't function that way at the end of dialogue but at least it is consistent. Those situations happen a few dozen times and NORMALLY it isn't the end of the world to just micro for that second even though a pause would be more convenient.
The easiest one to reproduce that comes to mind is after Amellysan talks to you in Saradush when you first arrive and then the guards attack. Right after that dialogue you really want to pause but the game won't let you for a second or two.
1) disabling pause for the client player
and/or 2) using hard pause (you have to assign a hot key for this in options/Gameplay/Assign Keys/Misc)
@Tresset please raise a ticket for the post-dialog pause if it is reproducible.