BTS, TCP/IP issue, please respond.

[007 Commander]

I have done my share of reading on this issue.

And here is what i have gathered in summary from the threads.

Madcat has mentioned that he was unable to recreate this issue at all.

Another forum member made comments that this most likely will not be solved since BTS made a statement that no more pathes will be worked on for CMBO. This could be due to the fact that of CMBB close to being completed.

The problem I have is here, if the well known TCP/IP issue is being put on back burner cause of the next installment, then what can I do to obtain a refund?

I fully intend on purchising CMBB (after TCP issue does not resurface) when it is released. But I only bought CMBO for the TCP/IP ability. However I have yet to finish one game without this crash occuring. The workarounds posted do not work. I have had this TCP/IP issue happen on 3 machines, both with TCP/IP thru a HUB, or over the internet.

So bottom line.

Is this TCP issue being worked on for CMBO? If not, then how can I obtain a refund or I will accept credit towards CMBB. I just dont want to spend 100.00 for one game works as advertised.

If you are working on this TCP issue, can you share some of the results. Since the post by Madcat stated that no one in his dev or testers has had this issue? Can you let us know what were the testing conditions? In other words, if there is someone that has never had this issue? Information on systems or games that have never had this issue can help.

I have spent the past 5 hours with 2 systems on my LAN and have had no success either establishing a CONSISTANT situation where the error occurs nor a workaround either.

Thanks for your time.

007

[aka_tom_w]

he has read and posted to this thread:

http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=001495;p=6

I have found one serious issue while playing TCP/IP is that there is a possibility of file corruption when reinforcements arrive, I have found one example of file corruption where my reinforcements arrived in (I was the ALlies) First Clash at Cambes as duplicates, I got twice as many arty spotters as was intended.

In this case the game had to be played in PBEM, but we NEVER went back to TCP/IP because it would crash EVERY time BUT the game did manage to play on with the allies having TWICE as many arty spotters in PBEM.

I think there is a real issue here but mostly I guess we have for the most part iggnored it and tried to work around it and play the game.

TCP/IP is STILL problematic and I think 007 has a good point

BUT I do not know how or when any attention from BTS will be paid to this issue as I know they are VERY busy with CMBB??

:confused:

oh well :confused: :confused:

-tom w

[ February 10, 2002, 08:25 PM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

[007 Commander]

Well, with continued testing i was able to come to one consistancy.

After getting the error... I exited the game on both machines.

My laptop was the machine that received the error, and always has, cause my main PC desktop is always the host.

So, after getting the error for the umteenth time today, i loaded up the Laptop as the host and used its own autosave. It loaded up the sides in the correct order. Then I joined with the desktop and continued to play the game with both machines being on their orginal side and gameplay continued without any errors.

I then quit both games... loaded up the game using the latest autosave on the desktop (orginal host), joined with my laptop and was able to also continue for about 4 more turns befor the laptop reported the error again.

I loaded up the laptop again as the host using its own latest autosave and joined with the desktop and was able to continue for 10 more turns and the error never reocurred.

So it seems that the host is causing the corruption and the client is just the unit reporting the error. However the when switching rolls of the host / client PC then this error did not occure.

So its very possible it could be something in the system that can cause this corruption.

Will continue testing.. but this was a workaround that did work since i did confirm it to work twice.

007

[ February 10, 2002, 10:30 PM: Message edited by: 007 Commander ]

[Madmatt]

First off, this should be posted in the Tech Support forum but here is the offical word on this matter. Also, 007, the order pages explicity state that NO REFUNDS are given, when you posted your order you agreed to that policy.

Okay, here is the very latest from us on this matter.

1. We do know there is a problem with TCP/IP and captured crews which can sometimes cause the game to become corrupted. There are work arounds

for this, although admittedly not optimal ones (See below).

2. We have not specifically identified where the problem lies, but we do know (generally) what is causing the problem. Unfortunately, knowing where the problem might be does not necessarily mean it can be fixed or at least fixed easily.

3. Currently, the only known fix is not simple nor is it a viable one. It would require an entire rewrite of the game file format which would make every single scenario ever made over the last 1.5 years incompatible with the patched version. Obviously such a fix is out of the question because it would be like killing a fly inside your house with an 8" Howitzer. The TCP/IP problem, while very real and very annoying, is not serious enough to kill compatibility with the thousands of hours of

scenario work which has been done since CMBO's initial release in June of 2000. Anybody who thinks that the problem is worth sacrificing this

amount of work is, plainly stated, nuts

4. The file format has already been completely rewritten for CMBB so this TCP/IP problem has been incidentally fixed. CMBO can not benefit

from this work directly since the two code bases are no longer similar enough to transfer fundamental changes from one to the other.

5. We have not written off the possibility of finding a different fix for the problem, or what we call in programming terms a "bloody hack".

Such hacks can be highly problematic in their own right, but can sometimes work if the God of Code is smiling upon the programmer. However, a possible fix of this nature will have to wait until CMBB is released. It could take a significant length of time to address this

issue and it is simply not in the best interests of the CM community as a whole to enter into a CMBO related coding Black Hole at this point in

CMBB's development. There are work arounds for this problem now, but there are no work arounds to Charles stopping work on CMBB and futzing

around with CMBO for an undetermined length of time.

6. Charles has already spent enough time looking into this issue to be sure that there is no quick fix possible and therefore feels comfortable stating that only viable option is to deal with this issue in a couple of

months.

7. As stated above, the proscribed workaround when this issue occurs is to have the host player reload the resulting autosave file that is created when the lockup occurs and load the game as a PBEM (Play By Email). Proceed with the game like a normal PBEM turn and send the resulting file to your opponent. Once one full PBEM turn has been carried out ( in effect passing the event which triggered the crash) you should be able to resume the next turn as a TCP/IP game per normal.

Madmatt