I am hosting a dedicated server on a 500 Mhz with 128 MB RAM machine.

After people join the server they are disconnected. This doesn't happen all the time, but enough to the point that it is annoying and people will stop visiting the server.

I have been told that the message users see when disconnected are: "race col set" and "graphic mesh triangulation". I don't see anything that would be much help on the server console itself.

Can someone suggest what the issue maybe that is causing the disconnects?

Thanks in advance.

I hate to see an appeal for help go unanswered. Let's bump it.

Can you test the server on a different machine, to see if the problem persists? Spend a few hours hosting on your monster of a gaming machine.

Also, what internet connection do you have, upload speed and download speed, and how many users connecting?

Additionally, where are you situated in relation to the folks joining? You may well not know this, but if you do and can share, it might help narrow down the different possibilities.

Lastly, but not least, are you using a router, modem, or ICS/proxy for your gameserver?

SamH thanks for the reply.

I was thinking of trying to host a server from my super duper gaming machine, but have not done so yet.

My upload speed is 689 kbs, download is 1400 kbs. But I have seen the upload speed as low as 280 kbs.

The users that I know of who have had disconnect problems are from the US and Canada. I am in the US as well.

My internet connection is a cable modem with router.

Your upload speed should be sufficient, by the looks of things, even at 280kbs at least for 10 or more connections. I'm assuming you've forwarded the port (63393 by default, I think) to your hosting machine in router config, or you wouldn't have any connections at all. Make sure this port forwarding includes both TCP and UDP. If you have one but not the other, this could cause unstable connections.

If that doesn't crack the back of the problem, then definitely try hosting on your gaming machine and see if we can isolate the 500MHz as the culprit.

Port 63392 is forwarded.

I forgot to mention that the server is setup for 12 connections and 12 cars in total.

Thanks for your help.

I just tried out the server myself. This time I connection via the internet instead of via the LAN. I got disconnected myself.

The message were:

OOS - RACE PLY
Lost Synchronisation with Host

I'd try to connect if I knew what the name of the host was .

I knew somebody would ask this sooner or later.

[LOTF] Practice

Let me know wold it goes for you NightHawk.

Well, for what it's worth, i spent 10 minutes on your server racing. Alone though. No problems.

Well, you know me. Good ole 56k dialup NightHawk .

Anyways, the ping was good for my 56k at 187 ms, and I've been roaming around the city for about 10 minutes as well. Now I'm just sitting on the side of the track while I surf around the forum here and reply to this. No problems there for me by myself.

Is the disconnects happening when you are also connected to the server? Or has someone told you it happens while you were not there? Perhaps it was just something going on that day to the connection. I know some days my connection is horrible, and others it is flawless.

Wish I could help you, but, there I sit for 15 minutes now without a problem or a disconnect on the dialup .

*Edit just to say, it's now been 20 minutes. And not only am I browsing the forum here while connected with my dialup to the server, but the 5 yr old is also connected to my dialup on another networked computer loading up Flashmedia games to play.

Thanks NightHawk.

I have both been on the server and told (I was not there) when disconnects happen.

Onetime the the whole machine crashed, another the server reset, but mostly it is just a dropped connection here and there.

Thanks to everyone who came to the server lastnight. Sorry it wasn't that much fun, though.

It appeared that whenever a new guest joined the session they were disconnected with a "OOS - RACE PLY COL SET" message. What I could not tell was if all guests were disconnected or just the guest who was joining the session.

I was not disconnected at all however. I believe I connected via the internet and not the LAN.

I also ran a server from my gaming machine for awhile, but nothing usual happened on that machine.

just a quick question - have you tried simply reunzipping the dedicated host on your 500mhz machine? It _sounds_ like some file of your dedi has changed or has been damaged. That's usually what OOS means (Out Of Sync) - something on the host-side and client-side doesn't match. This can be a (corrupted or just changed) file or in the worst case (but not very common at all) connection problems. I'd try the first though - reunzip the latest dedi zipfile to a new folder and see if the same problem occurs.

Thanks for the reply Victor. I'll give it a try. I had previously unzipped the files, but not to a new directory.

I don't know if this helps or not, the only thing I can add here is that the disconnects almost always happen when a user is connecting to the server.

Indeed, the error is...
OOS - RACE PLY
Lost Synchronisation with Host

In my opinion about 50% of the time if there are 4 or more users on the server, one or more of them will get dc'd along with the one connecting. Sometimes the one connecting doesn't get booted but a user that has been on for some time will.

Is/are there file(s) on the server side that are time sensitive when they update? Could it be some kind of timing issue?

B, is the server keeping correct time?