Similar from Oiken's problem, I have not been able to keep a connection to any LFS server for more than 10 minutes. For the last week, this problem has occured. A little info on my system:

Running on a college LAN 100.0Mbps wired connection.

LFS S2 Alpha Q - No LFSTweak, no modifications other than some downloaded skins, added [LOTF] to racer name.

I race fine for about 4-10 minutes, then all cars around me go blank, lag 1,2,3... Lost connection to host. If I try to restart immediately on the same server I get "user name in use". A refresh of the server list lets me back in, but only for 4-10 more minutes.

I believe our computer services here recently updated the network such that now it performs "address translations"? which might be the cause of the problem. I believe they can bypass this for the game if that is the cause.

I don't know what udp packets are, but might this be the cause as well?

This problem only occurs on lfs, not cs:s, or any other online work I do. I will be calling our computer services, but I'd like to know if any of you think that this is the problem... Thanks,

Stu

P.S. from the university FAQ:

"The recent network upgrade now performs address translation; this may be interfering with network games. Please call the helpdesk"

I hate to say it but some professor had to wait 5 mili-seconds longer than he thought he should so they did that to slow down online BF2 players.

Seriously, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about but a friendly bump of the post so someone might help you.

Since they've just introduced NAT, pretty good bet that's the problem. Only thing i can think of since you can connect and play for a while would be your NAT session somehow timing out, seeing how it's not random you should probably call the helpdesk.

Thats what it looks like. I fill out a request service ticket online on the 21st, it says the estimated start date was TODAY.... Bummer, until...


I see the estimated Completion Date is APRIL SEVENTH!!!!!!! S.O.B... hopefully this is a pessimestic timeline, because thats STILL almost TWO FULL WEEKS away... This NAT bites the big one folks. Stay away from it.

The problem is deeper than just LFS too, about every 10 mins or so on CS:S, I get about 5-10 seconds of complete lag. I don't get disconnected like in LFS, but its pretty much a guaranteed death. Bummer. All this right after I finally get my LFS ram and graphics card upgrades...

Worst still, I have a sr design project, microcontroller project, manufacturing report, fundamentals of engineering exam, and finals all kicking into full gear once april starts. AND I still have to find an internship for the summer... Did i mention this is a bummer?

I dont think this is casused by NAT, if the other games are working, NAT should be OK... I've set a simple NAT at my friends home network and it works great.... No matter if he plays CS, MMORPGs or LFS... There are some strange issues reported with Q LFS version, so try to get older P or P2 version.... mail me if you cant get it, I'll try to send P version to you....

Quote from MadCatX :

I've set a simple NAT at my friends home network and it works great

I'd bet not all routers behave alike, especially not a home router compared to a university network system, i also use NAT and it works fantastic for 4 pc's.
srdsprinter, have you tried requesting TCP for position updates? (CTRL-T i think, it's around the forum somewhere).

Quote from MadCatX :

I dont think this is casused by NAT, if the other games are working, NAT should be OK... I've set a simple NAT at my friends home network and it works great.... No matter if he plays CS, MMORPGs or LFS... There are some strange issues reported with Q LFS version, so try to get older P or P2 version.... mail me if you cant get it, I'll try to send P version to you....

from what i understood from reading the wilikipedia thing, NAT, basically changes your network connection from time to time at the server's whims... Apparently our network servers now do a poor job of this, as it take 5 or more seconds to perform this change, which results in the large lag and resulting dropped host, lost connection.... afaik.. .

Quote from filur :

I'd bet not all routers behave alike, especially not a home router compared to a university network system, i also use NAT and it works fantastic for 4 pc's.
srdsprinter, have you tried requesting TCP for position updates? (CTRL-T i think, it's around the forum somewhere).

I'll have to look into that, I really don't know anything about TCP.... Any brief explanations of what it is?

TCP is another standard of sending packets of data back n forth, difference from LFS's standard UDP being that TCP has a massive overhead from in-protocol reliability checks, which is all good until you need performance in terms of latency. With UDP you manage your reliability yourself, meaning you can set your own standard of reliability, a lost packet now and then might be okay.

UDP is like calling your mate, telling him which train you'll be on, and hanging up. TCP is like doing that, and then having a discussion about if he understood what you said.

Quote from MadCatX :

I dont think this is casused by NAT, if the other games are working, NAT should be OK... I've set a simple NAT at my friends home network and it works great.... No matter if he plays CS, MMORPGs or LFS... There are some strange issues reported with Q LFS version, so try to get older P or P2 version.... mail me if you cant get it, I'll try to send P version to you....

thanks for the info filur. il c if that can lead anywhere...

madcatx... i've got the ALPHA_P version with the latest Q patch...

Quote from srdsprinter :

madcatx... i've got the ALPHA_P version with the latest Q patch...

Of course you have, but did you try to not install the Q patch and play just the P version?

That idea of using TCP instead UDP packets is good(point for filur ), just press CTRL+T when you join a race session, you should see message saying something like "Force TCP packet position update"

okay, news in brief:

pressing Ctrl+T in game says something to the extent of "srdsprinter REQUESTS TCP updates" It seems to have no effect as i get disconnected regularly still. Maybe if it is a host server option than i can stay?

I am on the LOTF practice server alone right now. I haven't been disconnected and i've been on for quite some time. Perhaps when i'm alone on a server i don't get disconnected?

In the options I was looking, under misc, my UPDATE PATH: was listed to ALL Cars, with the other options being off, or user car. What should this be set to? has this anything to do with multiplayer, as with many cars i get disconnected under NAT? What is YOUR update path?

Thanks for the help,

Stu

So now it's all the more complicated then. University firewall limits number of packets for a NAT session, so you're fine when there's very little traffic? (random guess). TCP position update thingie isn't a host option, it's a feature available in the network model.

Quote :

lfswiki.net
Update path: 3 options – Off, User car or All cars - This determines which cars update the rubber mark on the track - the racing line rubber.

Mine is "Off", but i still get alot of "racing line rubber".

The plot thickens... I didn't get disconnected when I was the only one racing on a server, with one spectator. I moved to a populated server, changed my update path to off, and got disconnected.
I retryed the server with update path off, and ctrl-T, and got disconnected once again... bummer

This was happening to me when I was Demo racer and I had a dial-up connection. Maybe there is something like antilag feature in LFS network code that kicks player who has unsuitably slow connection... This is just my guess, but when I have changed to ADSL, this problem disappeared....

Also the filurs idea isnt bad, I dont think there is a packet limit, but there can be some router/switch/server that whatches the band usage and when some station uses "too much" of bandwidth, it cuts the connection......, also a guess. Talk to the network admin, he could know...

Well the problem is bizarre. When I am on a server alone or with one to two other racers there is no problem. The connection problem is gone and I can race without disruption. Whenever there are multiple racers on the server I will lose connection within minutes. I cannot even watch from the spectators without losing connection. Bummer

Quote from filur :

Mine is "Off", but i still get alot of "racing line rubber".

This refers to the racing line the AI cars take, ie not the actual visible marks on the road, just the path the AI uses to get around the track. If you set it to OFF, the AI will have to learn the track themselves, if you set either of the other two options then the AI will learn from your driving line around the track.

Relating to disconnections, this will not affect anything.

I myself have problems with disconnections. I can stay connected to some servers without any problems at all for ages, with or without other people connected. But then on other servers, I disconnect. Sometimes after 5 minutes and sometimes after nearly 2 hours!

My belief is that the problem lies with internet routing somewhere between myself and the server, and this depends upon where in the world it is. I have been playing BF2 online quite a bit lately and I have not been disconnected once, however the net code here is obviously massively different.

At the moment, whenever I play online now, I am keeping two pings going in the background, one to the server I am on and one to www.google.co.uk - as yet I have not been disconnected while doing this, but I have only been online once!

Unfortunately, the only thing this will prove is that my connection to the internet does not go down - just the connection to the server I am playing on. If this is the case - I have no idea what I can do about it - if at all anything!!!

I am using a 512K ADSL connection with a Netgear DG834G router.

Tim

Quote from t1ger :

This refers to the racing line the AI cars take, ie not the actual visible marks on the road, just the path the AI uses to get around the track. If you set it to OFF, the AI will have to learn the track themselves, if you set either of the other two options then the AI will learn from your driving line around the track.

Relating to disconnections, this will not affect anything.

I myself have problems with disconnections. I can stay connected to some servers without any problems at all for ages, with or without other people connected. But then on other servers, I disconnect. Sometimes after 5 minutes and sometimes after nearly 2 hours!

My belief is that the problem lies with internet routing somewhere between myself and the server, and this depends upon where in the world it is. I have been playing BF2 online quite a bit lately and I have not been disconnected once, however the net code here is obviously massively different.

At the moment, whenever I play online now, I am keeping two pings going in the background, one to the server I am on and one to www.google.co.uk - as yet I have not been disconnected while doing this, but I have only been online once!

Unfortunately, the only thing this will prove is that my connection to the internet does not go down - just the connection to the server I am playing on. If this is the case - I have no idea what I can do about it - if at all anything!!!

I am using a 512K ADSL connection with a Netgear DG834G router.

Tim

How do you detemine the IP of the LFS server for the ping? I'm having disconnection issues but I'm on a residencial broadband conenction.