Strange MP

[unmerged(362)]

Hello

I tried my first MP game of EU yesterday. For convinience (comfy chairs, free soda and beer) we played at my work, using the 100MB switched LAN, machines were PIII with 196MB RAM and W2000. DHCP, native W2000 LAN. EU v1.09 and IGC 2.3

To my frustration we couldn´t start the game via the LAN option. You could see the game in the "choose game" meny. but you could not select it. The game was grayed out.

We then tried to connect via the Internet option. Connecting to the host via IP-number. It worked. Connection could be established and country chosen. But it was so unstable we couldn't even start the game most times. One of us or both were immediately returned to Windows.

Now we were getting rather desperate( if you have kids you know the amount of negotiation it takes to get a whole day of for yourself). We tried to let the host choose "LAN game" and the other selecting play by Internet connecting to host via IP-number ( after a tip from this forum). And suddenly, presto, it worked and we could finally start a MP game.

We started the game and managed to play 1-2 minutes before the game crashed. About 6 months gametime.
We tried this about 15 times with the same lousy result everytime. We discovered that you can save the game even after your opponent has left the game. We thought we would have to contend to playing a game that would need reloading every 6 month. A rather humdrum proposition.

I saved the game after my opponent was kicked out and reloaded it. After reload it worked without further problems!! The game ran completely uniterrupted after that.

(We tried it a couple of times more. Everytime time the connecting player would get kicked out within 2 minutes. After reloading it always worked without further difficulties.

 

[Janster]

Some tips

We had a game set up with IGC 2.3 and Europa 1.09
We used a good server machine and a 10 mbit hub

First
Reinstall EU on all machines no matter what.
Reinstall IGC if you use it...same version on both..dont put
for example IGC 2.2 in and then add 2.3 on top..it ruins play
The game runs now very stable at 1 month = 1 minute or 1 month = 2 minutes..everything else will ruin play

No historic or random events ..
and in the game..save ofen..and ofen the game will crash on
certain peace offerings..particularly turk-oman peace crashed ours.
Just restart and try again..

I saw the greyed out part myself on the join game..it means your versions are incompatible...
Secondly it searches for internet on join local game which is annoying and makes the game hang..
flip out to windows and close the call up internet window.

Oh and one last thing..
both IGC setups must be identical..or else..bust.
Usually when the game quits to windows on server..its due to diplomatic problems..
but sometimes one of the players lags behind in date..
1 month or worse..and the game hangs up..pause to make him catch up..but restart to fix it ..

But you will still with this get..
Loans...yay
Morale that doenst replenish...horray
Graphics bugs .....ohwell..
and if you annex a nation..you pay for ALL their merchants..
have money in treasury....lots of it.
thank you.

 

[unmerged(362)]

We did just that. Complete reinstall on both machines. _Identical_ machines, Identical versions, we even updated to 1.09 and igc2.3 from the same patchfile. Versions can´t be incompatible.

Anyway. I didn't check the registry and installation information though if old info hadn't been removed. Could be something like that.
We ran the game on 2 months/minute. Running on faster settings are not recommended.

One thing though. The game invariably crashes if someone tries to pause the game. Is that so for you too?

 

[Janster]

Aye

Usually someone crashes atleast...we try to not stay paused too long...
I would say the game crashes if someone in pause does a lot of things..
really messes up for everybody else ..
Well I did a registry check on my computer atleast and wiped all the references(and there were some) but I only did this on mine..and I think on the computer wiht the trouble..but I can't remember..
after some tinkering..we could continue

 

[AndrewT]

I played on a friend's home Lan for several years with no game crashes , and was able to pause and unpause many many times. It did eventually CTD after may 100 years' play, but we had to quit and go home then anyway.