Originally posted by Eradius
Do you have direct x 9.0 installed? That is the problem. EU doesn't support direct x 9.0.
Problem for LG, when he tried to find DirX8.1 on the windows site, it gave him the 9.0 instead. So we had to do a work around and I forced LG to reinstall EU2. The reinstall would of given him the 8.0 which should of still worked, but LG was having problems connecting and downloading from me.
After that I told him to ignore the download problem and let me send the ICQ file to him. This worked fine and he could join us and play. Also do any of you have Win XP? LG has it and that is causing alot of problems with EU2. For some reason even if LG doesn't have direct X 9.0 installed, he can't connect and download the file from me. Sending the file through ICQ was the only way he can join the game.
Duma
I don't think so....
Let me give you the chronology again, and some things I
know:
1. When I was running WinXP with DirectX 8.1 and 1.05 patch I had no trouble linking under direct IP MP to anyone else local (i.e. people in the Toronto area that I know). I have played many games. I could not, however, connect to Norgesvenn who was running the Scandinavian version. The only problems I had was a persistent crash when I allowed the binkply clips to play at the begining...easily solved by renaming the avi folder...and also I was forced to reduce hardware acceleration to have clean sound. We were able to play with no problems via vNet.
2. Next, I upgraded to WinXP SP1 and added the
Q327979-related fix and this completely cured the binkplay issue and I was able to return to full hardware acceleration. I still had no trouble connecting Direct IP to local players but could not connect to Norgesvenn's Scandinavian version (nor he to mine). Again, we had no problems playing through vNet.
3. Next I upgraded last week to DirectX 9.0 because I am responsible for the EU2 Support forum and I thought that I had better find out what bugs I was going to run into before too many people began reporting them. I immediately crashed after the binkplay had finished so I was forced to disable it. I've played about 40 hours now with it and have had no problems (vieo or audio) whatsoever.
4. I also played multiplayer for a number of hours with a vNet connection...again, no problem. I was also able to make a direct IP connection with a local player (SF 1.05NA). Files were sent via ICQ, via e-mail and via the in-game link...again, all with no problems.
5. Then vNet went down on Saturday and I wanted to play an MP game with Rictus and Norgesvenn. Rictus (who I
think has an SF version) had no problem connecting. Norgesvenn couldn't, however so we scrapped the arranged game.
6. Yesterday Norgesvenn and spent some 3 or four hours comparing files and ensuring that all apparent running files (Db folder, config folder, etc) were identical. Still no connection, so we contacted Peter to see if he could come up with any idea. Since Peter's running the SF 1.05NA version, we tried connecting....but no dice.
7. Peter has since informed me that he was running a modded version of EU2
prior to our attempt. When we tried to connect, he had launched EU2 again with the "clean" install he keeps for MP games. Leter, when he tried to connect for the MGC4, he also couldn't connect. After rebooting his computer he was able to connect, though. I think it's quite possible that if he had done so earlier when we were testing the connection, we would probably have been able to do so...but we didn't think of it at the time.
8. I have no trouble "seeing" Norgesvenn's computer...it quite happily responds when I ping it. I also know that initial connections protocols of some sort are happening because I'm not getting a "game not found at that address" message.
What I'm describing as a failure to connect is a problem that occurs when you first try to link to play...immediately after one person selects Multiplayer->Internet->Host and the other player(s) selects Multiplayer->Internet->Join (with the correct IP provided). Our standard practice is to wait until all players have joined before the host selects the scenario or save game...and this doesn't happen because when the players try to connect to the host they get the "Incompatible version" dialogue box. As a result, the in-game download of a save game issue never cropped up because one was never selected. As it happens, when Norg and I have tried to connect he
has had a save game copy on his hard drive that I e-mailed to him and he unpacked to his save game folder.
This leads me to think that there may be some unusual things happening here, to draw some preliminary conclusions, and to ask a few questions that I don't yet know the answers to...
- Something appears to be acting almost as a TSR to cause the problem Peter had. What is it?
- There is some file that is unique to certain distribution versions of the game that causes a mismatch error. What is it?
- EU2 obiously runs a compatibility check to confirm versions (we know this happens...and should happen). What files does it check to establish compatibility?
- I do not believe that XP is at fault here...I have been playing with XP for at least 6 months with no problems other than being unable to connect to Norgesvenn via direct IP.
- I am not convinced that it is a DirectX 9.0 issue either since I have been able to direct IP connect with another player who has a different OS (Win2k) and is still on DirectX 8.1, and I also experienced the problems prior to implementing the upgrade.
If there's anyone who happens to know the answers to any of the above or who can add to the "database" of what we know and don't know, please post here.
Other thoughts:
From the DirectX developer documentation:
- A limitation of the Windows2000 Kernel can result in some resources being freed while the resource is locked and being accessed by the application. This results in the app writing to freed memory, causing an exception.
The problem only occurs with D3DPOOL_DEFAULT resources that the display driver chooses to place in system memory. When the device is put into a lost state (due to a mode change or ALT+TAB), all D3DPOOL_DEFAULT resources are freed. Direct3D has code to alias video memory resource pointers and redirect them to a dummy page, but D3DPOOL_DEFAULT system memory resources are not protected. The most common D3DPOOL_DEFAULT resources that get placed in system memory are Index Buffers, but some drivers may choose to place other resources in system memory as well. Apps can protect themselves by wrapping all resource accesses inside try…catch blocks.
I'm wondering if this could be linked to some of the problems we've seen that require reduced acceleration and/or binkplay errors?
Mowers: were you able to come up with any "cause" clues when you have had problems with any of your MP games?
Eradius: I read LG's report on the MP issue in the HoI support forum. I would really like more details on his issue before drawing any conclusions about DirectX 9.0. Most importantly, I would like to know
how DirectX 9.0 could be involved in the problem...unless the above buffer issue is somehow responsible?
