Disconnection using IP

[Hans]

I have an IBM using netscape that continually disconnects while using the IP mode in CM. Doesn't matter if I host or not. About 1 in 8 attempts work.

Any ideas as to what might be causing this?

[Schrullenhaft]

So you can usually hook up (either as host or client), but during the game you get a disconnect at some point ? When you say 1 in 8 attempts are you talking that 1 in 8 turns where you click GO you actually get a response back ?

This may be your ISP timing out (as a possibility). How long between turns until you click GO ? During busy hours of the day/night some dial-up ISPs have disconnect timeouts setup in their system. If they don't see any IP activity for a set period of time they'll disconnect you. These timeouts are usually enforced only during high traffic times for most dial-up ISPs. If you can try a game with someone very late at night (past midnight on a weekday) or in the morning it would interesting to see if you have the disconnect problem during those hours.

Another alternative is a "pinger" program that pings the ISP every so many minutes/seconds to prevent a disconnect. You'll have to search around the net for a shareware program to do this.

If you're not hooked up via a dial-up modem (Cable, DSL, etc.), then you're having another problem. You may want to gather more details about your Internet connection and the timing of your successful/unsuccessful connects in CM.

[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 03-30-2001).]

[Hans]

Thanks for the response

So you can usually hook up (either as host or client), but during the game you get a

disconnect at some point ?

We can hook up but then within 20-30 seconds the network connection is lost and I the non host must try again

When you say 1 in 8 attempts are you talking that 1 in 8 turns where you click GO you actually get a response back ?

Sorry no, 1 out 8 connections get past the intial set up-even if we hit the go buttons as fast as possible and don't position or move the troops

This may be your ISP timing out (as a possibility). How long between turns until you click GO ? During busy hours of the day/night some dial-up ISPs have disconnect timeouts setup in their system. If they don't see any IP activity for a set period of time they'll disconnect you. These timeouts are usually enforced only during high traffic times for most dial-up ISPs. If you can try a game with someone very late at

night (past midnight on a weekday) or in the morning it would interesting to see if you have the disconnect problem during those hours.

Another alternative is a "pinger" program that pings the ISP every so many

minutes/seconds to prevent a disconnect. You'll have to search around the net for a

shareware program to do this.

I'll look into that, thanks

If you're not hooked up via a dial-up modem (Cable, DSL, etc.), then you're having

another problem. You may want to gather more details about your Internet connection and the timing of your successful/unsuccessful connects in CM.

[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 03-30-2001).]

[Schrullenhaft]

Is this a dial up connection or are you and your opponent playing over a LAN ? If you feel like experimenting, you can try CM 1.1 to see if it disconnects less often (you'll both need to be on the same version).

Battlefront FTP (CM110.EXE for PCs):

ftp://ftp.battlefront.com/pub/patches/

If you're playing over a LAN what are your TCP/IP settings (IP address, subnet mask, any other protocols loaded) and what OS are you both using ?

If there is a dialup connection between you and your opponent, try loading up your browswer as if you were going to surf the net and then load up CM. I can't imagine that this would make a difference, but it may be worth a try.

[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 04-03-2001).]

[Hans]

I've tried various combinations of browser on and off. No not on a land just IP network

Earlier you suggested a pinger, could you give me a bit more info on that.

Like what kind should i try, etc

Thanks

[Schrullenhaft]

A pinger would only be necessary for a dial-up TCP/IP game where the turns are long and there is no other network activity. The lack of activity on your connection (because you're possibly plotting a turn) may cause some dial-up internet providers to drop your connection. A pinger can be set to maintain a certain amount of network activity to keep the connection alive.

RascalPro is a shareware program (trial version only works for 30 days) that acts as a pinger:

http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10062-100-917404.html

To be honest, by the description of your problem a pinger probably won't fix this issue. You may want to try the v. 1.1 patch instead of the current 1.12 patch to see if this helps or not (some users on this forum claim that they had less disconnects with 1.1 or the earlier TCP/IP Betas).

[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 04-05-2001).]