I have updated this article i posted a while back, regarding connection
issues with GPL, to include a few thoughts and help notes for GPL 1.1,
which seems to be causing a few headaches for a few people.
The following is mainly for those new-comers to GPL on-line, who are
having trouble with poor connections and disconnection problems etc.
Hope it helps out a bit...
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A few ideas and thoughts on how to improve on-line connections
Most of us are not blessed with Cable etc. so we have to make the most
of dial-up modem connections, so this is a brief idea on how to
improve your analogue, dial-up modem connections....
This is simply to give you some idea of where to begin and what to play
with to try to improve your on-line gaming connections, using an
analogue modem.
Firstly, the DUN you use for the Internet is NOT suitable for on-line
gaming. It most likely would be using Data Compression, Error
Correction, Maximum FIFO Buffers and probably going as hard as your
poor little modem can peddle, or harder if i believe half of the tales
i hear about....
All of the above is VERY bad news for on-line gaming.
You should make up another DUN for on-line gaming, with Data
Compression and Error Correction turned OFF. Also, turn down the
maximum connect speed of your modem to 24000, 26400 or 28800 at a
maximum.
The quality of the lines in your area, will dictate the best speed for
you.
This can be done in the Modem Properties tab of your DUN for the
designated Modem. Read the booklet that comes with your modem for the
initialization strings you need.
NOTE:
Some people are under the mistaken belief that a slower connect speed
will take longer to get to the host, resulting in higher latencys
(pings) etc. This is totally false.!!!
The connection speed of your modem, is a false analogy, as the
connection speed only refers to how much bandwidth the modem is capable
of sending at any given time, NOT how fast it can send it.
Hence, the ammount of data that a GPL host requires from a client will
get to the host at exactly the same time, whether the client is using
26400 baud or 56000 baud, and 99.9% of the time, the 26400 baud rate
from the client will have a lot less errors and be more stable than
the 56000 baud's best effort, unless you are lucky enough to live in a
area where optical fibre abounds, all the way from you to the host,
which is very unlikely. :)
I only ever use a maximum of 26400 on-line with GPL, as the lines in my
area, leave a bit to be desired, but with my normal internet dun, i use
33 to 56k baud, and let the error correction fix any problems i
encounter, which is fine for surfing and general internet use etc.
(error correction is a definite no-no for gPL)
To make more than one DUN with different modem initialization strings,
you will need to go to the MODEMS in the control panel and ADD another
modem. This will not overwrite your present modem settings, but will
add another modem to the modems you have listed in the modem list. As
you add more modems to the list, Windows will simply add a #2 #3 #4
etc etc to the end of the modem name. That way you can set up as many
DUN's as you have modem names, each one with different initialization
strings.
Once you have your on-line DUNS and modem set up correctly, you will
actually find that disco's, error filled connections and high latency's
will simply become a bad memory...
NOTE:
The FIFO buffers should be set no higher than the 2nd mark from
the left, unfortunately these are global settings, so if you set them
at the 2nd setting from the left, that is where they will remain
regardless of which DUN you are using. I have not noticed any lesser
performance in surfing or downloading with the buffers set there
anyway, so i just leave them there all the time.
Make sure you turn Error Correction off, also turn off the Data
Compression and select Hardware Flow Control in you modem's properties
tab for the On-Line gaming DUN. If you are a paranoid type, as i am,
you could also add those commands to the extra settings in the modem
initialization string, just in case you don't trust windows to carry
out your wishes and let's face it, who trusts windows to do anything
right when it comes to gaming anyway..
I have included the following line for my US Robotics modem in my
On-Line Gaming DUN..
&F1&K0&M0&U10&N13
&F1 Resets modem to standard, in case windows messed it up.
&K0 Disables Data Compression, in case windows forgot.
&M0 Disables Error Correction, as per above scenario..
&U10 Sets the floor connect speed to 19200.
&N13 Sets the ceiling connect speed to 26400.
The above is an example for the US Robotics modem, different modems
will vary slightly in the initialization strings, so read your manual
for further details to achieve similiar results.
Secondly.. Windows in it's infinite wisdom sets up the Port settings
on the extra conservative side by default.
This needs to be changed manually.
To do this:
Go to the Control Panel, go to System, go to Device Manager, go to
Ports (com & lpt).
Select Com1 , go to Port Settings, and adjust the following to read as
follows:
Bits per second 115200
Data 8
Parity none
Stop Bits 1
Flow Control Hardware
Go to Advanced and adjust the FIFO Buffers so they are 1 mark from
the left side.
Do the same for Com Port 2.
The following topics, are relevant to the new CORE.INI file, that ships
with GPL 1.1
NOTE:
This file is called: COREINI.SAMPLE and must be re-named to: CORE.INI
before GPL 1.1 can make use of it.
It is located in the: SIERRA\GPL\ folder, after the GPL 1.1 patch has
been installed...
A couple of slight adjustments are needed to get the best out of the
new CORE.INI file.
Following, is a brief example of a couple of changes i made to my
CORE.INI file, to suit on-line play on VROC.
The parts you need to alter from the CORE.INI that ships with GPL1.1
are the two lines concerned with band width:
net_mdm_client_send =2 & net_mdm_server_send_every =2
Change both of those to 3, like below in the pasted example.
net_mdm_client_send_every = 3 ; Client packet freq on dialup
net_mdm_client_send_size = 84 ; Client packet size on dialup
net_mdm_server_send_every = 3 ; Server packet freq on dialup
net_mdm_server_send_size = 84 ; Server packet size on dialup
That is the standardized band settings that VROC uses, for clients
and hosts, and everyone running on VROC, should alter the relevant
lines to match the above criteria.
Also, for me, the new Synch method does not work well...
The best way to tell if the new synch method is working for you, is to
race on-line, and if you are noticing a lot of slow motion & speed-up
effects, then the new synch method is not working well for you.
The new synch method does not use the: clock_adj_delay = 4
line either, as that is disabled when the synch_method is set to 1.
I have changed the line:
synch_method =1 to synch_method = 0
(which re-enables the old version of synchronization)
By altering that line back to 0, GPL 1.1, uses the following line:
clock_adj_delay = 4 ; How often may client adjust clock?
The number of 4, did not work for me at all, so after much
experimenting with different values, both locally here in Australia,
and to overseas hosts, i settled for a value of: 16
eg: clock_adj_delay = 16 ; How often may client adjust clock?
That cured all my slow-mo problems, and 99 % of my warping problems.
Anything under 14, began to give me frame stuttering, so i left it at
16, which seems strange, as before with version 1.000 of GPL, the
default delay setting of 12, and even 10 seemd to work best.
However, with the new GPL 1.1, a clock setting of 16 seems to be much
more stable and stutter/warp free.
You may need to experiment with this line, to suit your own local and
overseas conditions, but generally, if you have good low pings to your
regular hosts, a value of 8 to 10, seems to work well.
If latency is an issue, then a higher value of 12 14 or 16, seems to do
a better job of keeping the client's computer in synchronization with
the hosting computer.
NOTE:
This line does not affect the hosting computer, or the other clients,
it is simply a localized client based instruction set.
The only way this line could affect the other clients and host, is if
you alter this value to some ridiculous ammount, which causes your own
computer to fall out of synchronization with the hosting computer at a
much larger rate, and then, the other clients would notice your car
disappearing (warping) around more than usual, however, this does not
affect the other clients in any other way.
NOTE:
Things may change for the better, when the patch for the patch is
released, in regards to what synch method we will end up using, but for
the moment, the older (original) version of: snych_method = 0 seems to
work best for the majority of us.
Hopefully when the patch for the patch is released, we can go back to
the new method: synch_method = 1 which should allow for a more
seamless adjustment of the timing, between the hosting and client's
computer.
NOTE:
GSB2 & VROC2, allows the setting up and use of the old synchronization
method in the joining screen, if you would rather do it from there,
than make the designated changes in your CORE.INI file...
Another line you may want to change is the line that says:
disable_modem = 0 ; Don't look for/use modems
If you change that line to:
disable_modem = 1 ; Don't look for/use modems
By disabling modem lookup, GPL 1.1, will start up a lot quicker..
This only affects the modem to modem dial-up playing between two
players, and will not affect GPL's Internet play....
The only other line you might need to alter, is the line:
alternate_ip_addr_lookup = 0 ; Find IP addresses another way
If GPL cannot find your ip address, to enable you to join on-line
races, change that
...
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