The Most Important Thing In Multiplayer

**ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88** · 09-06-2010, 15:28

I support this Tomisama. I usually hate it when I get drop, because of Steam or due to a bad connection because of a host.

**Magyar Khan** · 09-06-2010, 20:26

i smell a good idea for the wishlist....

**Tomisama** · 10-22-2010, 12:30

Wasted another 2 hours the day before yesterday with 3 false game starts.

Two because of unplayable lag, and one because of a single lame player who quit in the first 5 minutes, dumping on the other seven players in the game.

These two problems are now at epidemic proportions in our community.

Little can be done about the bad manors of a particular player, but a pregame lag detection monitor is something doable, and is still the most critical improvement needed.

Bump!

**Kocmoc** · 10-22-2010, 13:34

Well, how on earth we did play in STW with 56k modems? 4v4 was hard, but 3v3 was mostly good and smooth.
1v1 and 2v2 wasnt a problem at all.

Discs was very rare those times. Why there is such a big problem today? Im not a programmer, someone might explain this plz to me.

And yes, i agree with that point. But i would like to mention that, if the game is crap, you dont need a connection at all, since you wont play it anyway!
So in the first place, the game itself has to be good, to be of any interest to play it.

**Magyar Khan** · 10-22-2010, 19:22

smooth MPenvironment + flawless gameplay = best TW ever

**Sp00n** · 10-22-2010, 22:47

Basically Steam isn't great the random disconnects and general crap ability for it to have players linked in from different timezones is very annoying, I know its easy to look back with rose tinted spectacles but I agree with Kocmoc we did play games in Shogun on 56k (and 14-15inch crt monitors lol) but despite the judder lag midgame you would get on the larger games it still seemed more stable than the current setup.

I've yet to complete a 4v4 whenever I join Cancritters games as I get a steam disconnect each time, add that to the fact that some evenings you can spend hours disconnecting from steam and these days I'm on a 25mb line. Not sure if its steam or NTW thats to blame. I'd hope to see a huge improvement for Shogun 2 though please.

**Kas** · 10-23-2010, 00:23

I kinda like NTW, but no longer play it online, because of the (lack of) playability.
I've a nice pc and very good connection...still not good enough it seems.

I'm afraid STW2 online won't be much better...prolly even worse.

Of course I'll buy the game, but I fear TW online will be a big disappointment...graphics rule these days. Gameplay comes second (if at all). Fancy looks sell...the rest is of no importance it seems.

Is there a strong NTW community? nope! Why not? because the game isn't good enough.

CA should go back to what was good...and make it better. Instead they move on like a steam(argh!)roller...add more bells and whistles and all will be fine? No it won't...it will be worse.

graphics rule...graphics sell, so...expect another great looking fail game.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid I'm not

**Tempiic** · 10-25-2010, 11:20

Originally Posted by Kocmoc

Discs was very rare those times. Why there is such a big problem today? Im not a programmer, someone might explain this plz to me.

Something I have been noticing in my field of work. Nowadays very few programmers actually know much about how networks / internet connections (using simple terms) actually work. Dunno why, but this specific knowledge is slowly dissapearing. It is apparantly not taught at school anymore (based on interims(sp?) we get and such) for some reason. Maybe it is because everything is set automatically thanks to dhcp and people and teachers assume it works anyways. Same thing is happening with how pcs actually work. Haven't met an interrim yet who could explain that to me.

Now your average coder doesnt need to know that stuff, but if a good cisco programmar for example cannot get his stuff working because he doesn't understand the IP part very well, I am slightly worried. Then again, nowadays there is so many things to know, maybe it is simply not possible anymore to know everything about every aspect.

Anyways why there is less stability. One huge difference perhaps is that we as whole have started to use internet much more heavier with much more people compared to a decade ago.

**Tomisama** · 10-25-2010, 12:36

Originally Posted by Tempiic

Anyways why there is less stability. One huge difference perhaps is that we as whole have started to use internet much more heavier with much more people compared to a decade ago.

This is certainly one of the factors involved, also the overall complexity of the game it’s self has grown.

Another is the player base that both grown and changed over the years.

Just lately, presenting the game on Steam opened the community up to anyone with the price of admission, with no particular knowledge, specific interest, or commitment required.

They come, they drop (poorly equipped), or quit (poorly mannered), they leave to return to their RPGs and FPSs.

*****

Just checking the stats, and here is a surprise, at least to me.

Look at Empire vs. Napoleon

Current-Peak-Game Monday October 25th 11 am GMT

28,749 75,108 Counter-Strike: Source
25,662 72,212 Counter-Strike
25,556 69,021 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer
16,483 51,161 Fallout New Vegas
12,698 38,406 Sid Meier's Civilization V
11,195 25,486 Team Fortress 2
7,003 19,814 Left 4 Dead 2
6,535 15,659 Football Manager 2010
4,652 10,024 Football Manager 2011 Demo
3,224 8,565 Empire: Total War
3,045 7,646 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
3,041 7,417 Condition Zero
2,775 8,541 Garry's Mod
1,983 4,388 Fallout New Vegas
1,853 4,931 Napoleon: Total War
1,621 4,144 Mafia II
1,589 5,357 Day of Defeat: Source
1,527 5,164 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
1,469 3,420 Football Manager 2009
1,351 4,036 Left 4 Dead
1,173 3,458 Mount&Blade: Warband

**Magyar Khan** · 10-25-2010, 18:18

empire has a bigger and more attractive timespan.... and when ur totally new how would u know that older tw releases were better...

**AggonyKing** · 10-25-2010, 20:22

Originally Posted by Tempiic

Something I have been noticing in my field of work. Nowadays very few programmers actually know much about how networks / internet connections (using simple terms) actually work. Dunno why, but this specific knowledge is slowly dissapearing. It is apparantly not taught at school anymore (based on interims(sp?) we get and such) for some reason. Maybe it is because everything is set automatically thanks to dhcp and people and teachers assume it works anyways. Same thing is happening with how pcs actually work. Haven't met an interrim yet who could explain that to me.

Now your average coder doesnt need to know that stuff, but if a good cisco programmar for example cannot get his stuff working because he doesn't understand the IP part very well, I am slightly worried. Then again, nowadays there is so many things to know, maybe it is simply not possible anymore to know everything about every aspect.

Anyways why there is less stability. One huge difference perhaps is that we as whole have started to use internet much more heavier with much more people compared to a decade ago.

well there are 3rd party devs that handle online for a lot of games. Example, Demonware. They handle networking needs for a huge majority of console and PC games. Most of the dev code mp when it comes to gameplay and to make it compatible with Demonware type services.

but this is no surprise as CA has always had a 3rd party handle the complicated hosting services, gamespy and now steam.

They really need to mimic what Blizzard does and make the mp the important area. They are really missing out on all the potentials that come with a strong mp system and infrastructure. Although once in a while I enjoy a sp campaign, it is mp where the money is made the most on the long run (ads, dlc, etc) Honestly I think CA just doesn't know how to code for steam and hopefully their mp team for Shogun 2 can do something about it.

**ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88** · 10-25-2010, 22:17

Originally Posted by Magyar Khan

empire has a bigger and more attractive timespan.... and when ur totally new how would u know that older tw releases were better...

Look at some of the RTW players I play with that started on MP in 2007/2008. They think RTW is the best game MP wise and they get mad when a person like me who started during the pre-RTW era says that STW or my personal pick MTW 1 is better.

**TheDuck** · 08-08-2011, 18:15

Originally Posted by AggonyKing

well there are 3rd party devs that handle online for a lot of games. Example, Demonware. They handle networking needs for a huge majority of console and PC games. Most of the dev code mp when it comes to gameplay and to make it compatible with Demonware type services.

but this is no surprise as CA has always had a 3rd party handle the complicated hosting services, gamespy and now steam.

They really need to mimic what Blizzard does and make the mp the important area. They are really missing out on all the potentials that come with a strong mp system and infrastructure. Although once in a while I enjoy a sp campaign, it is mp where the money is made the most on the long run (ads, dlc, etc) Honestly I think CA just doesn't know how to code for steam and hopefully their mp team for Shogun 2 can do something about it.

I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect that most sales for TW games are for the single player portion, not the multiplayer. Only the last couple have had more than just simply battles online. Which tells me the large following is single-player oriented. I don't think this is the same as blizzard's games, which have been focused on MP competition (Starcraft) since basically inception (I know, I play SC2, and played SC1 to death).

I'll also be honest and say that I buy the TW games for singleplayer, not multiplayer (mostly due to maturity levels of a lot of the players in MP games in general). My brother and I play multiplayer MTW2, and played MTW1. But TW-MP has been more of a curiosity than something that would hold my interest..