Age of Wonders 4, constantly out of sync

[Flandersqq]

Required​

Summary​

Age of Wonders 4, constantly out of sync

Description​

Hi,

Me and my friend each own a copy of AOW4, me on Epic games and my friend on Steam. Since launch we have have both been unable to play the game multiplayer which was the sole reason for us to purchase this game, the issue is that we are receiving the "out of sync" pop up message for every game that we start, just after a couple of turns. The message occurs multiple times each turn which makes the game unplayable. I have been in contact with your support for almost three weeks now but they were unable to help.

What we have one to try and resolve the issue so far

1. Tried various workarounds we could find
Pressing the re-sync button multiple times
Trying out various game & server configurations
Verifying game files
Hosting from Steam
Hosting from Epic
Installing the Beta/Hotfix branch on steam (resulted in version mismatch since I am unable to install it on Epic as far as I know.)
2. Re-installed both games
3. Updated every driver we could think of (Windows, Nvidia, Chipset etc..)
4. Checked our internet connectivity (we have no issues in any other game)
5. Tried to host a new session around 10 times but the issue persist

Steps to reproduce​

1. Start the Epic version of the game on one computer
2. Start the Steam version of the game
3. Host a new multiplayer game on either game version (steam/epic)
4. Join that game session with the other game version (steam/epic)
5. Use the standard game settings (changes doesn't seem to matter)
6. Start the session
7. Play for a couple of rounds

Result: After a couple of rounds (or 2 - 4) the out of sync message starts to occur, if you re-sync it will pop up again during the same session and keep on doing so. If you exit the session, go to "Settings" and re-sync the entire session, the out of sync issue will still occur once you get back into the game, or after a single round. The out of sync message can occur either in combat or when you're on the world map.

Let me know if you need any further information.

Platform​

Epic

Game Version​

PC version Steam + Epic: 1.002.004.78464 (or earlier)

Optional​

Affected Feature​

• Multiplayer

Attachments​

 

[TriumphPaul2]

Most reliable desync happens for us when someone is in combat and someone else joins mid-combat.

This is in fact what we are currently looking into.

Also, we have a bunch of out of sync fixes for the Hotfix and for for the people playing on steam it might be worth a shot to try the open beta, since there are even more fixes in there.

Other then that we are continuously looking for and fixing out of syncs, so the more information of what happened before an out of sync you report to us, the higher is the chance for us being able to find and fix it for the next update.

 

[Tjallas]

Hi, I experience the same on my console edition. So I checked the issue online but there seems no solution at all. The game is not playable this way in MP. And correct me if I'm wrong but are we getting the silence treatment here? Like, this is it? It doesn't work and just deal with it? Or am I missing something? An update/fix? Please let me know. This issn't right. It simply doesn't work...

 

[Flandersqq]

Hi, I experience the same on my console edition. So I checked the issue online but there seems no solution at all. The game is not playable this way in MP. And correct me if I'm wrong but are we getting the silence treatment here? Like, this is it? It doesn't work and just deal with it? Or am I missing something? An update/fix? Please let me know. This issn't right. It simply doesn't work...

Agreed.. Almost three months has passed and the issue still persists with no solution in sight. Both the support and the developers avoid answering my request for a refund. You would think they would make things right after all this time, when such a core part of the game is broken for certain people.

 

[Flandersqq]

@TriumphPaul2
Hi, it has been over three months since I brought this issue to Paradox attention. Both through the support and this forum, and the game is still unplayable in multiplayer for me and my friend. Can we please have some compensation for this?

 

[Dragula]

Same issues even on latest patch except now it crashes on top of desync message. Multiplayer is unplayable. It is laughable at this point.

 

[Triumph Jordi]

@TriumphPaul2
Hi, it has been over three months since I brought this issue to Paradox attention. Both through the support and this forum, and the game is still unplayable in multiplayer for me and my friend. Can we please have some compensation for this?

Hey Flandersqq, the Watcher Update did a huge update to MP Stability and Out of Syncs. Do you have any specific situations that cause consistent Out of Sync that we could look into?

Same issues even on latest patch except now it crashes on top of desync message. Multiplayer is unplayable. It is laughable at this point.

Hey Dragula, if you're experiencing crashes then please provides us with the Crash Report name so we can have a look. If some data is incorrect there, resulting in a crash then a OoS makes sense. We would need the crash data to actually see what's incorrect there.

 

[Flandersqq]

Hey Flandersqq, the Watcher Update did a huge update to MP Stability and Out of Syncs. Do you have any specific situations that cause consistent Out of Sync that we could look into?


Hey Dragula, if you're experiencing crashes then please provides us with the Crash Report name so we can have a look. If some data is incorrect there, resulting in a crash then a OoS makes sense. We would need the crash data to actually see what's incorrect there.

Hi,
We tried again now with the latest versions and there is a difference, however the end result is the same.. the out of syncs are constant resulting in an unplayable multiplayer game.. I can see very few bad reviews on Steam regarding this issue. Wouldn’t it be possible for you to provide me with a free steam version of the game? It has been quite some time now with little to no progress with this issue.

 

[Triumph Jordi]

Hi,
We tried again now with the latest versions and there is a difference, however the end result is the same.. the out of syncs are constant resulting in an unplayable multiplayer game.. I can see very few bad reviews on Steam regarding this issue. Wouldn’t it be possible for you to provide me with a free steam version of the game? It has been quite some time now with little to no progress with this issue.

Hey Flanders,

My previous question still stands, are there any specific situations in which you observe these? A Out of Sync occurs when there's a difference in game data so getting you a Steam Version of the game isn't going to make a difference.

 

[Flandersqq]

Hey Flanders,

My previous question still stands, are there any specific situations in which you observe these? A Out of Sync occurs when there's a difference in game data so getting you a Steam Version of the game isn't going to make a difference.

Hi,
In this thread i have provided you with all the information needed to reproduce the issue (at least on our PCs) you would have to provide me with what further insights you may need in order to investigate this issue further.

getting you a Steam Version of the game isn't going to make a difference.

I believe you may be a little bit too hasty to rule this one out. Are you certain that there is no possibility that running the Epic and Steam version of the game could have something to do with this issue? We have checked for package loss during this time and our connection to the internet remains stable when we play the game. We play many games together and this is the first time we experience such issues.

 

[Triumph Jordi]

In this thread i have provided you with all the information needed to reproduce the issue (at least on our PCs) you would have to provide me with what further insights you may need in order to investigate this issue further.

In your most recent test, at what turn did you go Out of Sync? Was it during World Map or Combat, or during the AI Turn? Were both Players online at the time?

I believe you may be a little bit too hasty to rule this one out. Are you certain that there is no possibility that running the Epic and Steam version of the game could have something to do with this issue?

If you were playing with a Xbox or PlayStation user then possibly, since the way the game gets compiled differs but not for Steam, Epic, GoG. Like I said, a Out of Sync occurs when Game Data between the involved players is different, this means that one or more PC's ended up with a different results while processing the same actions. i.e. for Player A a ability does 11 Damage killing a unit while for Player B a ability ends up doing 10 Damage and does not kill the unit.

 

[Flandersqq]

"In your most recent test, at what turn did you go Out of Sync? Was it during World Map or Combat, or during the AI Turn? Were both Players online at the time?"

First of all, thank you Jordi for looking in to this issue, finally getting some tracktion here.
As I stated earlier it seems to happen no matter where you are in the game, whether both players are on the World map or in Combat view. In this particular session the first out of sync message occurred in the World map, the game refreshed automatically (two times in a row) then we played another couple of rounds without any issues. on the 19th turn we went into a Battle with both our characters vs an AI mob and in that combat we received multiple out of sync messages and we were unable to progress any further.

(Edit: We are two players vs AI, both players were online the entire session. My friend restarted the game after the game became unplayable but that dis not help)

In your most recent test, at what turn did you go Out of Sync? Was it during World Map or Combat, or during the AI Turn? Were both Players online at the time?

If you were playing with a Xbox or PlayStation user then possibly, since the way the game gets compiled differs but not for Steam, Epic, GoG. Like I said, a Out of Sync occurs when Game Data between the involved players is different, this means that one or more PC's ended up with a different results while processing the same actions. i.e. for Player A a ability does 11 Damage killing a unit while for Player B a ability ends up doing 10 Damage and does not kill the unit.

I see. I just want to make sure that we do not rule out any option, especially this one since it would be a rather simple test to conduct, since we only need a single Steam copy of the game to test it. If you have any other suggestions what should test for you to get to the bottom of this issue, please go ahead an provide us with that. We would like to have this issue resolved and be able to enjoy your game.

 

[Low]

"In your most recent test, at what turn did you go Out of Sync? Was it during World Map or Combat, or during the AI Turn? Were both Players online at the time?"

First of all, thank you Jordi for looking in to this issue, finally getting some tracktion here.
As I stated earlier it seems to happen no matter where you are in the game, whether both players are on the World map or in Combat view. In this particular session the first out of sync message occurred in the World map, the game refreshed automatically (two times in a row) then we played another couple of rounds without any issues. on the 19th turn we went into a Battle with both our characters vs an AI mob and in that combat we received multiple out of sync messages and we were unable to progress any further.

(Edit: We are two players vs AI, both players were online the entire session. My friend restarted the game after the game became unplayable but that dis not help)


I see. I just want to make sure that we do not rule out any option, especially this one since it would be a rather simple test to conduct, since we only need a single Steam copy of the game to test it. If you have any other suggestions what should test for you to get to the bottom of this issue, please go ahead an provide us with that. We would like to have this issue resolved and be able to enjoy your game.

Hi Flanders,

I doubt Triumph will give you a free copy. You could, however, purchase a copy on Steam. Test the multiplayer with your friend, and refund it if you stay under 2 hours. You would have evidence that it is cross-platform related and they might take action. Steam is very lenient on refunds under 2 hours.

Multiplayer was on a low priority from the start I feel, as there are no, and I mean NO Dev replies in the whole multiplayer section. I will test the multiplayer part again after Ashes releases, but they should really let go of the Amazon servers they use (or so I recall reading somewhere) and just give us private servers and/or direct link options.

 

[Triumph Jordi]

I see. I just want to make sure that we do not rule out any option, especially this one since it would be a rather simple test to conduct, since we only need a single Steam copy of the game to test it. If you have any other suggestions what should test for you to get to the bottom of this issue, please go ahead an provide us with that. We would like to have this issue resolved and be able to enjoy your game.

Did some Epic/Steam test but the frequency of Out of Syncs weren't statically higher then when testing just within Steam. Out of Sync's take a lot of time to track down and fix so there's not much more that you can do besides describing the situations and actions during which they occurred.

 

[Arcador_]

Reporting out of sync instances is tougher than regular bug report.

First, I am not sure if we can attach saves. I see log files, but not saves. I assume the logs contain some data but am not sure if it's useful.

Second, it's very difficult to pinpoint exact event which caused the out of sync since a lot of stuff happens in a cluster of events, especially mid game or later. At the start of a turn, we got events, player movement, spells cast, AI movement, or in combat the AI moves a bunch of units at once or in quick succession. The issues can be caused by a variety of factors which are difficult to see (a combination of buffs/debuffs, specific unit + specific action made in a specific situation).

Last time we had out of sync, the AI moved 3 stacks on the strategic map, but my friend intercepted one of the stacks. However, before combat was initiated, on my screen the 3rd stack was in another position. On his screen, the stack was left alone (thus why he attacked). We couldn't not detect if lag cause this discrepancy or if it was independent from connection speed. He won a on auto combat and I crashed. After I logged back, I still saw the 3rd stack existing there. On his screen there was only 2 stacks. We reverted the turn, and similar thing happened again. This time he went for manual combat and after the win, the 3rd stack mysteriously disappeared from my screen, even though it was half a screen away.

How do I report this in a useful way?

 

[Triumph Jordi]

How do I report this in a useful way?

Exactly the way you just did. These are the steps/situation descriptions that we need to try and reproduce these issues. Logs don't contain useful information when it comes to Out of Syncs and sessions are cloud based so you don't have any saves. These descriptions where you just detail what the situation was and what occurred leading up to the Out of Sync is the best way to report.

Last time we had out of sync, the AI moved 3 stacks on the strategic map, but my friend intercepted one of the stacks. However, before combat was initiated, on my screen the 3rd stack was in another position. On his screen, the stack was left alone (thus why he attacked). We couldn't not detect if lag cause this discrepancy or if it was independent from connection speed. He won a on auto combat and I crashed. After I logged back, I still saw the 3rd stack existing there. On his screen there was only 2 stacks. We reverted the turn, and similar thing happened again. This time he went for manual combat and after the win, the 3rd stack mysteriously disappeared from my screen, even though it was half a screen away.

 

[Arcador_]

All right, will start reporting then (and will use better format than my previous example).

 

[Dragula]

Hey Dragula, if you're experiencing crashes then please provides us with the Crash Report name so we can have a look. If some data is incorrect there, resulting in a crash then a OoS makes sense. We would need the crash data to actually see what's incorrect there.

I always submit my crash reports/dumps when it crashes. Is that not enough?

 

[Triumph Jordi]

I always submit my crash reports/dumps when it crashes. Is that not enough?

Submitting Crashes is sufficient for us to get an idea of how common/severe a crash is. Reporting it with the dump is a surefire way for us to retrieve it and look into fixing it. Otherwise crash reports in our aggregate get handled in order of frequency.

 

[Max-Turbator]

i had this issue with my brother too , we cannot play togheter but he can play with another friend whitout any problem. this game is basicly dead online because of this and the devs are working on more season passes before fixing it...