Multiplayer Questions and Problems (Players crash in host lobby and then cannot reconnect)
liminalblink
Member Posts: 2
Hello everyone. So I had just purchased BG:EE yesterday with a friend with the intention of playing multiplayer, but we've been encountering problems. When we try to set up a game using the default "create game" option for a non-LAN, password protected game (no direct connection), she is able to join, but within a few minutes the game freezes and she is kicked from the lobby. After that, she can try to reconnect but is unable to. It has been frustrating trying to get the multiplayer to work and we've been thinking about getting a refund at this point since the only reason we purchased the game was the with the intent of playing multiplayer, but I decided to ask a few questions first since it seems many others have been able to get it working just fine. For reference, we both bought the game on Steam, we are both running on Windows 10, and we both should be on the same update/version number.
My first and most important question is whether playing with either the default "create game" option to host a game without a direct connection, or using a direct connection would count as being a P2P connection. Unfortunately my friend and I both have ISP's that have blanket banned the usage of file-sharing software and will fine people for using anything P2P, even legitimate uses of it...so if actually running the game with a direct IP connection or even with the normal multiplayer "create game" option would count as that, it would be nice to know so we don't do that.
Next, does the default online lobby option work, and have people had success using that? I've been combing forums for a while now from various places, and it seems that most people had extreme problems with the multiplayer and only have been able to get it work with direct connections after portforwarding and hosting as a local game. Is that the only way people have been able to get it to work with the default system? Wondering since given our ISP and the nature of the way our internet is provided to us, it might be really annoying figuring out a way to portforward as a solution, so if there is a solution that doesn't involve port-forwarding that would be ideal.
My final question is just simply do people recommend trying to play this game multiplayer? It looks really fun, but also it seems that this game has a long history of bugs that make multiplayer a pain at best and completely non-functional at worst for many people. I'm not sure whether that's selection bias from only seeing forum threads based off of multiplayer crashes though, and wanted to see if many people were actually getting it to work just fine, or if it really is better to just refund the game at this point and try something else at this point. It's been incredibly frustrating to learn how difficult and problematic the multiplayer has been for this game throughout all the years of it's released, especially when the store page suggested that it had improved multiplayer support that was even cross-platform. Given all of our issues and what we have heard from others, it kind of feels disappointing and almost like false advertising and our irritation levels have been growing. If there is indeed a way to make it work, please let us know!
Thanks!
My first and most important question is whether playing with either the default "create game" option to host a game without a direct connection, or using a direct connection would count as being a P2P connection. Unfortunately my friend and I both have ISP's that have blanket banned the usage of file-sharing software and will fine people for using anything P2P, even legitimate uses of it...so if actually running the game with a direct IP connection or even with the normal multiplayer "create game" option would count as that, it would be nice to know so we don't do that.
Next, does the default online lobby option work, and have people had success using that? I've been combing forums for a while now from various places, and it seems that most people had extreme problems with the multiplayer and only have been able to get it work with direct connections after portforwarding and hosting as a local game. Is that the only way people have been able to get it to work with the default system? Wondering since given our ISP and the nature of the way our internet is provided to us, it might be really annoying figuring out a way to portforward as a solution, so if there is a solution that doesn't involve port-forwarding that would be ideal.
My final question is just simply do people recommend trying to play this game multiplayer? It looks really fun, but also it seems that this game has a long history of bugs that make multiplayer a pain at best and completely non-functional at worst for many people. I'm not sure whether that's selection bias from only seeing forum threads based off of multiplayer crashes though, and wanted to see if many people were actually getting it to work just fine, or if it really is better to just refund the game at this point and try something else at this point. It's been incredibly frustrating to learn how difficult and problematic the multiplayer has been for this game throughout all the years of it's released, especially when the store page suggested that it had improved multiplayer support that was even cross-platform. Given all of our issues and what we have heard from others, it kind of feels disappointing and almost like false advertising and our irritation levels have been growing. If there is indeed a way to make it work, please let us know!
Thanks!
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Comments
@liminalblink Personally, I've never had major problems with MP, and I have been playing it for the last 3-4 years. The game version can play a big part in this issue, with the current 2.5 beta aiming to provide the best experience. No additional action is required - just click Multiplayer - and then either connect to a game or start a new one.
We've had reports where Antivirus or UAC blocked access to your Documents folder with BG/IWD and thus led to crashes. Adding the folder and the game into exclusions helped in such cases.
I would say the ease of connection is normally much better with the EE and if you want to play MP you're likely to be better off sticking to that. I would certainly recommend using the lobby as that should sort out many of the problems you would expect to get with a direct connection - there should be no need to muck about with port forwarding etc.
Personally I think MP is perfectly playable and worth doing as it gives a rather different feel to the game than SP. There certainly are peculiarities / bugs that are specific to MP and I guess some people get annoyed by the occasional thing like mis-placed characters or enemies that are only visible to one of the people playing and not the other. However, my experience would suggest that after playing a few sessions you'd get used to the differences and not really notice them any more. The game is also slightly less stable in MP than SP and you'd need to be lucky to get through a 2 hour session without one of you crashing.
If one of you also has a slow internet connection you would be likely to find a lot of lag in playing the game - and when that gets really bad it does rather spoil the fun. That could be a possible cause of the freezing problem you referred to. If you try again you might want to make sure that nothing else is using the connection (not downloading films, no-one else in the house playing an internet game, not in the middle of a Windows update etc). While mentioning Windows updates by the way, they are still a frequent cause of MP problems. If you've just finished downloading an update then make sure you restart your computer to finish properly installing the update - otherwise you're highly likely to find oddities about the way your computer is working.
We have tried changing who hosts, disabling all firewall and antivirus, UAC doesn't seem to be interfering at all, and have never managed to get everyone in the same game. We can't work out why the connection won't hold. Any thoughts?