Flying Sunday July 9

[B16Enk]

I am sure Rog or I could walk Animal through Port Forwarding for his router on TS or even better MSN.

Indeed

MSN is my preferred help comms as both Jim and Dennis know.

Greater clarity, hands free and it also has the added bonus of remote control of the others desktop via the 'Remote Assistance' button. This will enable one to actually take control of a remote PC and operate it as though sitting in front of it

Perhaps the next hosting announcement email can have, as it's start, a section stating what connection speed we should configure to. Not everyone reads these posts!!

[Blairgowrie]

The more live players the better, to my way of thinking.

That said, I ended up sightseeing for the most part last evening as the lag was really bad for me. Every time I patiently set up a shot I would get warp. Even trying to stay in formation became frustrating. My network settings were at cable/xDSL so that may have been the problem. I have now changed to 56k.

As for comms, I noticed not everyone uses the Push-to-Talk option. It can be a little distracting hearing every burp, fart and phone call when there is such an easy fix.

As nice as it is to admire each others skins, it does use a lot of bandwidth to have them on. And with icons enabled there is no real need.

I also think that, as it is the exception rather that the rule to see that many players on, there is no need for a drastic knee-jerk solution. There is plenty of time to get these little wrinkles worked out before 20 player evenings become the norm.

And I look forward to the time when 20 player nights are standard.

Cheers,

Freelancer

I have to agree with all your points Freelancer particularily the push to talk feature on TS and the skin download. We had several people using voice activated on Sunday and it was not good. The Joint Ops guys forbid the use of voice activated because of the distraction.

[delta7]

here is a copy of an post by sparx on internet connections. Hw runs warclouds one of the longerst running and most sucessful dogfight servers with 44 on at a time with little lag

"As far as gameplay goes, there are a few issues that are top on the list. One of them is lag, and more to the point, having as little lag as possible. Some issues only I can fix. And, due to issues with FB, there are a few things you can do to help also:

1. Do not use custom skins - there are no externals, so it's not like you can show them off anyway. Also, these files can be quite large, and is an unnecessary usage of the bandwidth.

2. Disable custom skin downloads - The is easily done by going to Start -> Programs -> Ubi Soft -> Forgotten Battles -> Setup ... Open setup, then go to the Network tab, and uncheck Skin Downloads.

3. Pick the right network connection for YOU - From that same tab in setup, set your Network Connection to something reasonable. If your on a Cable connection, try using ISDN instead, as it will require less bandwidth.

4. Be aware of your connection - If your lagging out, or people are telling you your lagging out, on a consistent basis, try pinging the server, and check for any packet loss. Also, call your ISP and ask them if anything is wrong (they will say no), then ask them to look at it in more detail, or have them come out and check to make sure everything is ok. Unfortunately, these issues usually occur outside of your ISP's control, but it can't hurt to check. Bottom line here, if you warp too much, then you should logoff and fix the issue, or wait till it clears up. It's unfair to others, and kills the gameplay.

As long as i have been running WarClouds, I have got nothing but complaints on just about every il2 forum on the net. Every time I post on what you need to do to make your client run smoothly on the server, but no one every seems to pay me any attention. I do not make this stuff up, when I make suggestions they are tested to make sure that work as intended. The most IMPORTANT thing that people can do to help the server or ANY server for that matter run smoothly is to set your Network settings correctly. I have asked many times for people to do this but no one ever seems to pay me any mind. I have made at least 10 posts on this and I spam the in game chat with a message every 2 minutes asking people to make this adjustment, but no one ever does this. You cannot expect a server with a large amount of players on it to run smoothly when you connect to the sever with a 28.8 connection. It will just not work. I just checked the server at this very moment, and of the 50 players on the server, only 5 of them are running at the correct network setting. This is a simple thing for you to setup. So AGAIN, I will post what you need to do:

1. Goto your Hyperlobby dir and find the file called hlpro.ini. Open this file and scroll to the bottom and find the following section and make the following changes:

[Forgotten Battles]

joinDelay=20

clientRate=8000

;Determine the client source port. Useful when is more that one user behind the NAT router.

;Must be diferent for each user behind the same NAT router

localPort=21000

;This detecting right IP address for systems with more that one network adapters

;Default is 1 (on)

DetectLocalIP = 1

Order=20

2. Next you need to change your game settings incase you join thru direct ip or ASE. This can be done 3 ways.

A: Run il2setup.exe and goto the network tab and change your speed to ISDN.

B: Launch the game, goto Hardware/Network and change your speed to ISDN.

C: Open your conf.ini file and goto the following section and make the following changes:

[NET]

speed=8000

Yes i understand that some of you are on 56k connections, So in your case set this to 56k or 5000.

I am sorry if I am coming across a little on the angry side, but honestly I am tired of people saying I do not know how to run my server and set it up to run properly. Especially when these same people cannot set their own game to run correctly. You lag/stutters are GREATLY influenced by others in the current game version. If one person is laggin badly, it will cause lag/stutters for anyone that can see this person in their view.

Many people have insisted that i lower the player count. Well i am sorry fellows, this is not going to happen. When EVERYONE on the server has the correct settings and has their system running smoothly, the server runs as smooth as glass. I have tested this and i know it for a FACT! I have the ability to change everyone's netspeed thru the server console. And EVERY time i do this, the server runs Great. So its in the hands of the players. You need to make these changes and make sure that you have your game setup properly. I have said this a thousand times and I will stand by this statement:

"If the SERVER is causing the lag/stutters, then EVERYONE on the server will experience the lag/stutters."

Another thing that people also need to understand, its not possible for a server to run good for EVERYONE in the world. Some people just do not have a good enough connection to the server to play on it. Some people that are in Europe, Australia, Germany, and countless other countries on the other side of the pond just will not have a good enough connection to play on the server. I have NO control over this. It would not matter if the server has 20 players or 60 players, these peoples ability to play on the server will not change. Ping means nothing. Packet loss mean everything. I have one guy that lives in AU and gets a 270ms ping to the server. His connection to the server is ROCK SOLID. He plays on the server everyday and has no lag/stutter issues. I have not once seen his name kick up in my "lag has been detected" message. But i know some players with less then 100 pings that cannot play on the server and not lag. It all comes down to the quality of your connection to the server.

Again, I am sorry if I am coming across a little on the rash side, but I honestly am at the end of my rope with this one. Please make these simple changes and lets move on from that. Tell your squad members, your flying buddies, your wingman, he11 SHOUT it from atop your house. EVERYONE PLEASE ADJUST YOUR NETWORK SETTINGS!!!!!!!!!!!

S~ and happy flying "

I propose we switch to his recommendations and try them

Dave

[Arsenal]

I propose we switch to his recommendations and try them

Dave

I concur. I wasn't having much of a problem the other night, other than a couple of warps, but this should help things.

[B16Enk]

There is a formula of sorts:

Divide your speed by number of clients you wish to host, then set for the closest setting under that:

this is where mis-understanding starts

YOUR OWN internet speed is NOT important

the HOSTS internet speed is ALL IMPORTANT

the host has to divide his bandwidth up among however many he is hosting

the CLIENT obligation is to MATCH that speed

WHY ?

because FB works best that way is why (that was the short answer)

IN OTHER WORDS . . . . . whatever Coop or DF room you join , you want to set your NETSPEED setting in FB to the SAME as the HOST

then the Host will be sending you an X size packet of Data , & you will be sending the same X size packet back to the Host

plz understand this . . . .

ITS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PING OR INTERNET SPEED OF THE CLIENT

if the Host has his bandwidth divided correct , then he's running his bandwidth as best possible

say its ISDN setting in FB if you are trying to send the next biggest size pzcket back to the Host , YOUR MAKING THINGS WORSE

cause his option is set to handel ISDN size packets & YOUR OVERLOADING the Host with Packets TOO BIG in Size

THIS IS WHERE DROPPED PACKETS CAN COME FROM

considering how long this info has been available for , there is NO EXCUSE for the old hand FB players to be so ignorant about this

ANYONE who tries to host a lot comes to trying to make it run as good as possible

PLEASE READ & FOLLOW THIS

its FB Gospel for minimising lag , warp , & packet loss

ignore at your own gameplays expense

But hosts must also remember that Co-Ops do tax their system much more than normal, after all it has to 'control' the AI planes and moving targets too