Online games - newbie questions

[worldphoenix]

Hey guys

Can anyone tell me what a minimum broadband speed is required for
playing TW online without lots of latency ?

Also if I want to play my friend at TW - is it possible for us to connect our 2 PC's together via broadband (we're located in different places) - or would we have to play at some sort of hosted gamezone ?

And lastly - if we can play together and\or in some sort of gamezone is
it possible to save the games ?


Thanks


Rob

[Avicenna]

I can ansewr the first question. The minimum speed is less if the person is closer, so if you're in say India and playing with somebody from America it would be very slow anyway. The closer the better.

I think the best is playing LAN, but I don't know how to set it up. It has no lag, as it's not playing on the internet.

By the way, welcome to the .org! ~:wave:

[Bombasticus Maximus]

LAN has to be in the same house or a maxiumlength of next door as your PC's will be connected togther by a wire. You could use wireless networking then get your friend onto the same network and that'd work as a LAN. It set it up best bet is to look on google. Hope I helped.

[Dutch_guy]

And lastly - if we can play together and\or in some sort of gamezone is
it possible to save the games ?


Thanks


Rob

I don't really know what you mean by ''gamezone'' but what I can tell you is that you're not able to save in a MP battle, you can save the replay's though. But I don't think that's what you mean.

And welcome to the Org phoenix.

:balloon2:

[LadyAnn]

Let me try:


Hey guys

Can anyone tell me what a minimum broadband speed is required for
playing TW online without lots of latency ?


DSL or cable modem with basic speed (128k upload/download) is enough to play the game online. I have a clan mate who plays from Tasmania on a dial-up (hi Jack :)) and others are in Europe, Taiwan, North America, and we played together. No problem whatsoever.

A few parameters to consider:
- If you are on a slow connection with limited upload bandwidth, it is harder for you to host;
- A good computer (has a lot of memory, for instance 1GB or 2 GB), fast processor, fast graphics would be a good host, because the host computer would have to keep the game's master database and periodically send out to the other players.
- A slow but stable connection is better than a fast but unpredictable connection. Some ISP quote you a fast connection, but there are a lot of traffic on their network and your connection happens to be the lowest priority.
- Avoid wireless broadband (Sprint for example): we need a connection that can guarantee that packets is not loss. Wireless broadband may drop packets.
- When you join a game, the latency number is displayed. That's the latency between your computer and the host's computer. Generally, if that number stay stable and not going up and down a lot, that's a good connection. The number below 300 is good, 300-600 is passable.
- Keep your computer out of virus, spyware, etc. Close unnecessary programs. No downloading of illicite meterials during game :P





Also if I want to play my friend at TW - is it possible for us to connect our 2 PC's together via broadband (we're located in different places) - or would we have to play at some sort of hosted gamezone ?


The easiest is to play it via the normal game's host (which is on gamespy). Just click on mutiplayer (from the game's start menu). You need to register an account on gamespy, and chose a name. That also allowed you to see other players as well.

If you want only your friend to join your games, there is an option of passwording the game.



And lastly - if we can play together and\or in some sort of gamezone is
it possible to save the games ?


It is always possible to save the game for replay. You would have to enable it in the Options. Even if you forgot to enable the option, a copy of the last game played is stored on your harddisk inside the game installation directory. (forgot what exactly is that file name, but I usually call it a "tmp" file, so search for a file with these 3 letters). Just copy or rename the file and move it to another place.
[/QUOTE]




Thanks
Rob

You are welcome :)

Annie

[LadyAnn]

I think I was incorrect by saying "enable saving" of game. There is no save game options. At the end of a game, you have a statistics of your unit. On the same screen, there is a "Save Game" button and you click on it. It will ask you where to store the game.

In case you forgot to save the game, search for the tmp file and rename it to something else.

Annie

[BHCWarman88]

don't need Borabnad, I use 56K

[Bombasticus Maximus]

It all depends on the amount of RAM inside you PC.

[BHCWarman88]

I got 512 RAm,2.8 GHz,FYI..

[Bombasticus Maximus]

I have:
https://img477.imageshack.us/img477/298/specs4ks.png

[AwesomeArcher]

I have got 1.5mbs DSL. Works just fine for RTW, Call of Duty, and Age of Empires.

[Krauser]

You can play with 56k no problem.

LAN has lag like everything else, it's just so low you won't recognize it.

LAN can be in a pretty large area. My college has a fiber optic cable connecting one of it's satellite campuses on the other side of the city. Connecting there is a direct connection to the college LAN.