Samurai Warlords - Multiplayer desync (possible reason)

[R'as al Ghul]

Dear Samurais,

last Sunday we had more desync problems than ever before in Samurai Warlords. I've never crashed or desynced in a game before but last Sunday I crashed every single game.
My apologies to those that might have dropped because of me. If one player drops the game often gets unstable and others drop, too.
Yesterday CBR and me did some tests and I got my version running again. I tried several changes to my system but the reason was obviously a damaged directx install. The file error.log in the main folder of the game (default: Programs/Total War/Medieval - Total War/) gave this error for all the crashed games:

\Source\VikingsPatch\Crusaders_TW\main3d_1.cpp(1929) : DirectX call : DDERR_SURFACELOST

After reinstalling directx 9.0c the problem went away immediately.
I'd suggest that those people who've dropped on Sunday check their error.log file and if they have the same error as quoted above reinstall directx.
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As a failsafe we've decided that it would be best to have a beta_5 install ready. In case we experience problems again we could then switch to beta_5 which has always been a stable version so far.

To install beta_5 you need a completely untouched vanilla MTW/VI 2.01 install. It will neither work to install over beta_8 nor over a different mod.
Download beta_5 here: (Changed this to CBR's installer like Yuuki pointed out.)http://www.mizus.com/files/files/MTW..._beta5_11b.exe
For beta_5 you also need the MP-Mappack 1-3. Download here: http://www.mizus.com/files/files/MTW...PackVol1-3.exe
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See you all on Sunday. Let's try beta_8 first before we decide to switch back to beta_5. Those that had problems in all or any game last Sunday should run test games before Sunday if possible.
Please give us feedback.



R'as

[R'as al Ghul]

I should add that the error didn't show in a 4v4 Custom battle. So, even if your 4v4 custom battle test runs smoothly, that's no guarantee that a 3v3 MP match will work, too.

R'as

[Togakure]

Thanks for the info R'as al Ghul, and for the stated plan for Sunday. Days like last Sunday happen in TW MP, so not a big deal in my book. I'm glad we're going to give Beta 8 another whirl, as the idea of going backwards to Beta 5 doesn't thrill me much, though I do want to be able to play consistently without the technical issues. In the interests of all as we have only a few regular players, I'll install a copy of Beta 5 to be ready, just in case we have issues with Beta 8 on Sunday.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Roger that. THanks Ras.

[Puzz3D]

For Samurai Wars beta5, I recommend using CBR's beta5 installer because it comes with the 11b stats and the correct deadpage file to show corpses. The older beta5 zip file doesn't include these, so you'll need the Samurai Wars 11b stats if you use the older beta5 zip. CBR's installer enables the Samurai Wars 11b stats by default. Don't use the stat swapper because you'll get the 10b stats by mistake.

[R'as al Ghul]

For Samurai Wars beta5, I recommend using CBR's beta5 installer because it comes with the 11b stats and the correct deadpage file to show corpses.

Ah yes, I didn't think of that. Thanks Yuuki.
I've changed the link and info.