topics in this post, but there are a lot of new on-line drivers out
there who might find something of interest here.
There has been a lot of blame placed on GPL SpyBoy for poor connection
problems, loss of connection, high pings etc. etc.
These problems are NOT generated by SpyBoy or by VROC for that matter,
but are simply becoming more wide spread now that SpyBoy has made
on-line racing through VROC a much more common pastime.
The number of new on-line racers has trebled in the last couple of
weeks with the introduction of SpyBoy and this has caused a few
overloading problems to VROC and the on-line *** community as a
whole. Not through faulty software as some of you would like to
believe, but simply through added popularity
I am always seeing someone blame SpyBoy for their poor on-line ***
connection and to be totally frank, you don't know what you are talking
about.
Sure, connections have not been as good lately as they have been in the
past, but that is due mainly to Internet problems.
The release of IE5 put a large load on the internet, with people world
wide downloading it, and recently with all the hullaboo about the new
Star Wars, (no pun intended to you Ymenard) :) , the Internet has
simply been run raggard, then to top it all off, Larry Holbert goes and
releases a brilliant little program called SpyBoy which has added to
the already overtaxed Internet and lo and behold we wonder why we
slowed down a bit. sheesh !!!
Both VROC and SpyBoy are simply victims of excessive use.
There are a lot of new names appearing on VROC and also on RAS that
have not been here before and a lot of the problems that are being
generated now are simply USER based, and are NOT in any way
VROC/SPYBOY/GPL related, unless you class popularity as a major bug
bear..
There are numerous FAQ's available for the new on-line sim racer to
peruse over, but i will go through a few of the simple things to try on
your own computer, before you decide to blame the software that brings
on-line racing to us all.
Alison, Nate and John brought us VROC to start with and we owe them a
huge favour for the time and effort they have put into it. Recently
Larry Holbert has given us SpyBoy, which simply speaking, is a user
friendly front end to access the VROC data base, with added chat
support, amongst other things. All these people have given their time
and effort for FREE, just so we can enjoy the on-line racing
experiences we now do, and what's more all this software is FREE.!!
So let's try to sort out our own systems first for OPTIMAL on-line
play.
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
yours... and i mean brief. This is simply to give you some idea of
where to begin and what to play with to try to improve your on-line
*** connections.
Firstly, the DUN you use for the Internet is NOT suitable for on-line
***. 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 ***.
You should make up another DUN for on-line ***, with Data
Compression and Error Correction turned OFF. Also if you don't intend
hosting, and let's face it, it is hardly worth it with a dial-up
connection anyway, 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.
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 set up, you will actually find
disconnections and high latency's will be greatly reduced.
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 off Error Correction, also turn off the Data
Compression and select Hardware Flow Control in you modem's properties
tab for the On-Line *** 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 *** anyway..
I have included the following line for my US Robotics 33.6k in my
On-Line *** 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.
Get out and save it all... and go and have a beer, or a diet coke.
Finally, why do people insist on having to run at 1024x768 with all the
eye candy on for on-line racing. Frame rates DO matter as far as
warping and good on-line play go.
If you are not seeing 36fps in on-line play, then your CPU is being
taxed. Give your CPU a rest and turn down the resolution a bit, turn
off some eye candy untill you are seeing 36 fps or as close to it as
you can. You might be surprised at the difference it makes.
Amother thing to keep in mind as well is to not have back ground
programs running when you intend to play on-line.
Just to finish this novel off, Windows 98 is superior to Windows 95
when it comes to Networking, Serial Control, Internet functionability
DUN protocols and on-line ***, so if all else fails, consider that
much dreaded upgrade. It may just make that final difference to having
a good connection or a so so connection..
If all of the above fails, i don't want to know about it. :)
I'm going to bed, goodnight. <G>
Cheers,
Ron