Smaller Armys

[Tomisama]

Interesting stuff!

Chicago and New York (I am near Chicago) were about the same with a 10 Meg download. San Francisco and L.A. were respectively 8 and 7 Meg down, and uploads were the same everywhere, at close around 950k.

I am sure everyone with DSL or cable is fine, though it is interesting to study the numbers

Another thought or two.

If you are sharing a connection with other active computers, or sharing operations with other active programs (downloading anything), virtually any programs running that might interfere with game data transfers, please shut them down (most communication programs should be ok for mid and higher end users ).

And please everyone “always” re-log between battles, and reboot the game if the last battle did not complete properly. I believe these are just good habits that most players practice. So common to everyone that we think they do not need to be mentioned. But people forget, and if no one tells the new players, how will they ever know.

[Togakure]

2v2 has always been my favorite game, so playing smaller battles in that respect would be fine with me.

I'm not very enthusiastic about regularly taking less than 16 units per player. That changes the dynamic of play a bit too much for me. I don't mind doing it once in a while to balance out an odd number of players though.

My test results using the LA, SF, and NYC servers were pretty much the same: 28.7 mbps download and 7.3 mbps upload. I use Verizon DSL service, and connect directly atm, not via wireless.

I play on a 1.8 Duo laptop with 2GB memory, 256MB video card (Nvidia GO 7300), and a 7200 RPM HD. It can run Oblivion, so I don't think I should be having any issues with MTW1.

[Tomisama]

You can check your connection speed with the speed tests at speakeasy. You have to choose a server for the test. The closest one will probably give the highest speed, but it's my understanding that GameSpy server is on the USA west coast.

Follow up:

GameSpy seems to be in Santa Clara California, USA. These signals do not go direct however. The path from my home computer went to Chicago first, then Denver, San Francisco, then to Santa Clara. Even with all that, the ping was under 200ms.

You can check yours using www.pingplotter.com free software download.

Now, GameSpy “does not” handle the game it’s self, to my best knowledge they are only responsible for the lobby. When the game starts, the host’s computer becomes the server for the duration of the battle, passing everyone back to GameSpy when it’s over.

So if you have login problems or get dropped out side of the game, it’s GameSpy. But if you are having difficulty in a game, that is between your computer and the game host’s computer, directly!

Therefore, game hosts should have the very best in equipment and connection whenever possible. And don’t forget the insertion of “ –strictserver” in your desktop shortcut to the game exec file (only hosts need this). This makes sure all players in a particular battle are playing the same game (very very important)

P.S. Vista users may not be able to add strictserver, at least I can not so far

[R'as al Ghul]

I've been thinking about the connection issues we had and came across this:
WinXP SP2 reduces the number of half-open TCP connections your PC can establish to 10 or lower (XP Home=5, XP Prof.=10). Info here (English) and here (German). For info on Vista.

These are Gamespy ports:

6667 (IRC)
3783 (Voice Chat Port)
27900 (Master Server UDP Heartbeat)
28900 (Master Server List Request)
29900 (GP Connection Manager)
29901 (GP Search Manager)
13139 (Custom UDP Pings)
6515 (Dplay UDP)
6500 (Query Port)

Medieval VI uses port 18322 on TCP and UDP.

When we play 4v4 battles, each machine keeps the connection to Gamespy and the other players, that's 1 server and 7 player-machines that you connect to. That means that your machine needs alone 7 TCP-connections to keep in touch with the players and at least 5 more to keep in touch with gamespy (rest seems to be UDP). This may exceed the number of allowed connections for your machine. Additionally you have to calculate MSN or Teamspeak connections into this.

You can change the max number of connections by manually editing the registry, by using the latest XP-AntiSpy or perhaps TCP/IP-Optimizer.
We should discuss this and I'll try to find out more about it.
This may well be totally irrelevant since there are different kinds of TCP/IP connections and I don't know enough about the topic.

There is a way to tell whether your daily networking activities are being affected by the patch. Each time your computer tries to establish more than 10 half-open connections, a system event will be logged in Windows.

EventID 4226: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts

Access the event viewer by Start / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Event Viewer / System. Sort by Event and scroll down to 4226.
Those who dropped yesterday, could you check this, please?

Opinions?

R'as

[TosaInu]

Hello R'as al Ghul,

Not yesterday, but it has happened and I should certainly edit this.

There is a whole cascade of errors: ranging from sound to network.

[Tomisama]

Great work Lord Ras

I'm on Vista, and looking at 4226, I have zero entries.

But I did not get droped yesterday, I was forced to quit. My game stoped working twice, with no chat comunication, had a cursor movement but no field position marker, and loosing music playing in the back ground. Although I was still looking at the battlefield, my game was over before it had even begun

This happend with the first 2 team games. I then played two 1v1 games with Lord Tosa, and the rest of the day with various teams with no problems.

[R'as al Ghul]

Hello R'as al Ghul,

Not yesterday, but it has happened and I should certainly edit this.

There is a whole cascade of errors: ranging from sound to network.

Great work Lord Ras

I'm on Vista, and looking at 4226, I have zero entries.

But I did not get droped yesterday, I was forced to quit.

If we can rule this out in the end that's good, too.
My main theory is that GS is up.

But we did have some fun with your army after you quit Tomi. They joined me on the hill and covered my flank. Then Yuuki routed them while I attacked CBR and when they routed through me all units ran off the field.

Good to hear that it worked for you in the end but for me it was a bit frustrating, I only managed to get into one game that played okay till the end.

R'as

[Togakure]

Hi there. Nice research, R'as--so thorough and well-communicated. I use WinXp Media Center w/SP2, which is essentially Home with bells and whistles. I'm at the office, but will look into this when I'm home.

I'm also going to bite the bullet and set myself up to host. Yuuki has advised me and pointed me at information (some of which you have included here as well), so I think I have enough to get started.

Despite the technical issues and drubbings, I had a good time yesterday. Thanks all.

***

EDIT: Home now. No such errors in my Event Log for yesterday. There are two 4226 events logged since I've had this computer, neither occurring on a Samurai Warlords Sunday.

Based on what I've read, it's "...the number of concurrent, incomplete outbound TCP connection attempts ..." that are limited, not your total connections.

Here's an excerpt from the Windows Help and Support Center:

Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 4226
Source: Tcpip
Version: 5.2
Symbolic Name: EVENT_TCPIP_TCP_CONNECT_LIMIT_REACHED
Message: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent (incomplete) TCP connect attempts.

Explanation
The TCP/IP stack in Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed limits the number of concurrent, incomplete outbound TCP connection attempts. When the limit is reached, subsequent connection attempts are put in a queue and resolved at a fixed rate so that there are only a limited number of connections in the incomplete state. During normal operation, when programs are connecting to available hosts at valid IP addresses, no limit is imposed on the number of connections in the incomplete state. When the number of incomplete connections exceeds the limit, for example, as a result of programs connecting to IP addresses that are not valid, connection-rate limitations are invoked, and this event is logged.

Establishing connection–rate limitations helps to limit the speed at which malicious programs, such as viruses and worms, spread to uninfected computers. Malicious programs often attempt to reach uninfected computers by opening simultaneous connections to random IP addresses. Most of these random addresses result in failed connections, so a burst of such activity on a computer is a signal that it may have been infected by a malicious program.

Connection-rate limitations may cause certain security tools, such as port scanners, to run more slowly.

...

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I like 3v3's more. you got one in the middle, one on your right, one on your left, and that's it :-).

[Noir]

Originally posted by Tosainu
Hello,

It isn't easy, but you can do a few things to make it easier for yourself. And yes, less units can mean less headache *.

Make groups and supgroups, learn a system, so you can do something even in the most chaotic heat of battle.

My defensive infantry (ys, ya and ni), is 'always' CONTROL SHIFT 1. The gunners are always group 0, a second and third infantry missile group are group 9 and 8. The left wing shock units are group 3, the right wing are group 4.
The whole infantry stack is group 2, so I can move them all at the same time, that sometimes includes the taisho.
Cavalry is group 5. It's possible to modify a bit when using special armies, but best is to keep it the same and get used to it.

May i ask further in detail about the control+shift+number for controlling a group selection? How such a grouping is made? It wastes me considerable time in the heat of the battle to ungroup the main infantry line (so itmoves at individual unit speeds) and after having moved it to take up its units one by one with clicks in the control panel in order to move them again. Such a thing would allow for much improved infantry maneuvers.

Can such subgroups coexist mixed? ie make a group say of 4 of your infantrywith another with 3 of your infantry that contains two of the first one.

Thanks in advance

Noir

[Puzz3D]

May i ask further in detail about the control+shift+number for controlling a group selection? How such a grouping is made?

The group is made with control+shift+number and recalled with control+number.

Can such subgroups coexist mixed? ie make a group say of 4 of your infantry and another with 3 of your infantry that contains two of the first one.

Yes.