Has anyone gotten multi-player racing via modem working in Need for Speed?
A friend and I have been banging our heads against a wall on this one for
a week with no success, and EA tech support has been, ah, shall we say,
"less than clue^H^H^H^Hhelpful".
Situation: Modems establish connection fine, selection of cars, track,
and mode works fine.
Problem: Selecting "Drive" and going to the actual race causes the modems
to disconnect as soon as the track is loaded and the race is ready to
begin. The screen comes up with the camera looking over the cars about to
swoop down into the drivers' seats.
Environment:
Mine His
486DX2/66 486DX2/66
20 MB RAM 16 MB RAM
ET4000/W32p video #9 GXE (S3) video
USR Sportster USR Sportster
(28.8k internal) (14.4k external)
AWE32 SB16
Using init strings supplied by the game for the USR Sportster line.
EA tech support's only suggestion to date: Make sure the modems are using
the same COM ports. EXCUSE ME? I understand that working tech support for
a game company isn't going to attract the highest level of technical
skill, but c'mon, that's just plain STUPID (upon expressing this opinion
to the droid on the phone, he became defensive, acting as if I should be
grateful to have even gotten THIS much "help").
Other multiplayer games work fine, both with this friend and with others,
including Command & Conquer, Doom/Doom2, Descent, Werewolf vs. Comanche,
and any others I may have left out for whatever reason.
I am, at this point, pretty disgusted at EA's tech support line (thanks
for nothing), and so turn to the seemingly inexhaustable resources of the
net (home of "Sure, we've got an answer! One of 'em might even be right!").
Anyone got any ideas?
-LjM
--
James | Social Engineer | 93 Kaw ZX-6E | means never having | E O E
Mackey | BitterCynicalSOB | DoD #587 | to say "Thank you, | E U A
v1.0 | Beer Snob | "Pinky" | drive through." | D R D
Found the answer. See below.
...and the one thing that mattered: CD-ROMs. I have the old Creative Labs
Omni CD (Panasonic 563, doublespin). He has a Mitsumi "doublespin". Upon
running a speed check on his CD-ROM, it turns out it was only
transferring about 160-175k per second!
We replaced it with a new "Creative 2X" (69 bucks, kinda makes you
ill...), and presto, everything works fine.
My vehement digust with EA's tech support, however, remains. After having
spent well over an hour and a half on the line with them (a good majority
of that being spent on hold, on a toll call) and being told I would be
called back, I have yet to hear a response. It's been a week since my
first call. HELLO?
A big PFFFFFT! to EA for their incompetent and inconsiderate tech support
staffers.
-LjM
--
James | Social Engineer | 93 Kaw ZX-6E | means never having | E O E
Mackey | BitterCynicalSOB | DoD #587 | to say "Thank you, | E U A
v1.0 | Beer Snob | "Pinky" | drive through." | D R D
