Demigod Update on 6-10-2009

By CariElf on June 10, 2009 6:43:15 PM from

This was mainly a connectivity update, only ImpulseReactor.dll was replaced.

+ Made data packet size smaller which should help people whose routers don’t allow such large packets. The
symptoms of this are losing connection to the NAT facilitator or the connection dialog showing that you are
connected to someone but they are not connected to you (or vice versa)

+ Changed the channels some of the messages were being sent on to try to prevent one channel from getting
too backed up

+ Added location awareness to the UDP proxy coordinator so that it can try and pick the best server to use as a
proxy

+ Fixed crash bug when players quit at the same time in the lobby

+ Fixed bug where Demigod would occasionally report that an update was available when it wasn’t

+ Added code to bind on a local IP address to prevent bugs caused by having multiple network connections (i.e.
a wireless and Ethernet connection)

You may want to try without the /serverproxy only parameter with this update to see if you can connect without the proxies now that the packet size is smaller. This was a particularly devious bug to figure out because we could see in the packet logs that packets were being received, but the packets were never being processed because they were missing data.

We also increased the proxy timeout time, which should help with the bug where you're stuck at the map loading screen with the message "Waiting for other players". This screen stays up until all players have loaded the map, so if a player lost their proxy connection because it didn't receive any data while the map was loading, it never got any further. Players with slower machines will still take a long time to load the map, so you may want to give it some time before you quit out.

As far as the connection drops that occur once the game has started, there are two possibilities:

1) If the connection to the proxy server was timing out too early, this may have caused the problem and you may see a decrease

2) It may be something in the Demigod multiplayer code, which is different than the code that ImpulseReactor uses to make the connections. Even if it's the first possibility, if data is not being sent often enough to keep the proxy connection alive, it could still be something in the Demigod code.

If you are still getting connection drops once the game has started, please send in your DemigodLog.txt and ImpulseReactor.log and .csv files to [email protected] to help GPG and Stardock figure out this problem. You'll need to send in the files immediately after the drop occurs to make sure that the files are not overwritten by subsequent games.

Thanks!

+52 Karma | 57 Replies

Always good to see a new update

Nice

Cari,

The new patch disconnects all players when someone rage quits.
I was not able to finish any of the game i played since I updated, not cool...

The new patch disconnects all players when someone rage quits.

D'oh. Let the flames begin. Or better yet, let's find some decent players to fight.

Doesn't the QA check users' workflow? Rage quitting is a part of the game and should've been checked. Doh...

Quoting iamKira,

reply 3

Cari,

The new patch disconnects all players when someone rage quits.
I was not able to finish any of the game i played since I updated, not cool...

You only played 2 games. We need more than that.

Today's update with a CVP change not a Demigod change. It won't affect, one way or the other, what rage quitting does. When you're in the game, that's all Demigod not CVP.

I should also point out that I've been in multiple games today and people quit and there was no negative side effect.

any update is a good update

Thx Cari, new update works great so far . I can finally join games and I am not losing the connection to the NAT faciliatator anymore. And getting into the lobby is super fast now!

Any chance we can change the timer back to 30 secs???

Now with the option of endgame, people typically use this to quit a game in progress (instead of the exit to windows). I haven't seen a single disconnect timer. However the cable in my area has an issue where at unknown random intervals, I will disconnect for approximately 21 secs. It happens once every 10 games, sometimes 3 games in a row and then never for 20 odd games, but before I would be fine because I would reconnect. Now with the timer at 8 secs I am screwed.

P.S. Before anyone asks, I can't switch providers and I have spent our with tech support. They have swapped modems, sent out techs, no one knows what the probem is.

I'll ask.

Quoting Frogboy,

reply 11

I'll ask.

Thanks frog would really help a lot.

Today's update with a CVP change not a Demigod change. It won't affect, one way or the other, what rage quitting does. When you're in the game, that's all Demigod not CVP.

Got a crash in my last game when someone disconnected. Hard to say if this is caused by the last update or if it simply triggers it and it now happens more frequently.

Log (but no dump ) sent to the right people.

You guys are great. 2 dev journals and a patch that appears to have helped alot of people with the game. Woot for you!

Yea. I've been able to get into a lot of games tonight.

Sadly, it took this long to get to where the game SHOULD have been on release date in terms of connectivity.

For more info on how they fixed things:

1. The Raknet MTU value was too high which caused some routers to not be able to receive from certain users. Thanks to some users who worked with us, this was identified and changed.

2. There is no IP binding so people with multiple nics (like me) can play reliably.

3. The European and Australia proxy servers are now used so people who do use proxy end up with better connections than before.

Now that the connectivity part is about as good as it is going to get (we're still going to refine it but there's no major changes likely in that area) we'll work with GPG to figure out why people get disconnected in-game occasionally.

Sigh, this patch has caused me a new major problem, I randomly get disconnected during games. Usually I'll see the disconnect dialogue showing someone else lagging, then I'll get booted. I am not natted to anyone (only using proxies). Other players are still actively talking to me via PM and the in game chat feature, so I did not in any physical way disconnect. I just get booted. Any solutions? (This only started after the patch today).

Quoting Frogboy,

reply 7

I should also point out that I've been in multiple games today and people quit and there was no negative side effect.

Except that your glory was ruined...

...someone had to say it

wow, thank you for the great work!

The European and Australia proxy servers are now used so people who do use proxy end up with better connections than before.

HOLY CRAP! I love you guys!

I randomly get disconnected during games

That has nothing to do with this patch. As soon as the match has started it is in GPG hands.

And if the amount of disconnect increases it could be of users who are now able of connecting, but still have a troubling connection? Let's say people who now can connect but some problems are causing disconnects...

'The European and Australia proxy servers are now used'

Will there be a Proxy server for South-Africa?

I will shamelessly thank myself for my work with Jeffy in solving the curse of my no connectivity problem

Does this affect pantheon (and skirmish) too, does it solve (some) causes for the 2v1 and dropped during load problems?

Quoting Frogboy,

reply 7

Today's update with a CVP change not a Demigod change. It won't affect, one way or the other, what rage quitting does. When you're in the game, that's all Demigod not CVP.

I should also point out that I've been in multiple games today and people quit and there was no negative side effect.

I'll try again. Maybe it was just bad luck... What I meant by rage quitting is really just people quitting. Good thing if i was wrong about the side effect

Quoting Misfortune,

reply 23

Does this affect pantheon (and skirmish) too, does it solve (some) causes for the 2v1 and dropped during load problems?

No that 2v1 problem still occurs, at least it happened to me after update.

Great patch though.

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Demigod Update on 6-10-2009