Been attempting online stuff

I've had no luck doing any online racing. I've tweaked my settings and have gone from nothing-below-480 to as-low-as-350 ping times, but it still doesn't seem to be enough to connect for more than 10 seconds to a GPL host. Phooey. I know my modem is a cheapo no-name ISA 56K internal. I heard from someone that he got lower ping times with an external Hayes modem, and of course there are those talking about the better frame rates with a USB modem. Would a USB modem also result in lower ping times? There needs to be a VROC sort of thing for Viper Racing! Is there any IRC group or anything where people arrange to have Viper races, outside of formal leagues? Talked to an Accolade programmer in the store where I work today. A few interesting things said. "I must admit, Test Drive Off-Road 2 isn't so great. But if you like racing games, Test Drive 5 is really good." Also asked if we sell more sims or arcade racers such as TD5. Frankly, we sell far more sims, apart from NFS3. We've had Speed Busters for a few weeks and I still haven't seen anyone buy it. But GPL and Nascar 1999 still go out the door steadily. That may have something to do with the Sierra trade-up-and-it's-free rebate offer, though! -- http://www2.cruzio.com/~keeper/toons.html - Animaniacs, P&TB, F!, etc. files http://www.armory.com/~keeper/midi.html - My own MIDI files - Updated 5 Dec.

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>I've had no luck doing any online racing. I've tweaked my settings >and have gone from nothing-below-480 to as-low-as-350 ping times, but >it still doesn't seem to be enough to connect for more than 10 seconds >to a GPL host. Phooey. I know my modem is a cheapo no-name ISA 56K >internal. I heard from someone that he got lower ping times with an >external Hayes modem, and of course there are those talking about the >better frame rates with a USB modem. Would a USB modem also result >in lower ping times?

Is your modem a "Winmodem"? For Windows use only? Those use the CPU for some processes and are pretty poor for GPL usage. Replace it. Also, for joining races as a client, a V.34 modem (28.8 - 33.6 kbps) is really sufficient. I find that if I use optimal settings (such as error correction off) I can only connect to my ISP at V.34 anyways. Good luck! "But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark

I don't understand the technical issues here so no use trying to pretend. But FWIW ... I had a high quality 28k serial modem and got pings the same-ish as you cite. I also had the same problems of falling out of a session after only a short time. I replaced the serial modem with a USB modem following Alison Hine's recommandations. I now get slightly better pings, nothing great mind you, but now I hardly ever get dropped from a server. I don't understand the reasons but FWIW that's my experience. The USB modem is worth it in my case IMHO. Regards Phillip McNelley

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> I've had no luck doing any online racing. I've tweaked my settings > and have gone from nothing-below-480 to as-low-as-350 ping times, > but > it still doesn't seem to be enough to connect for more than 10 > seconds > to a GPL host. Phooey. I know my modem is a cheapo no-name ISA 56K > internal. I heard from someone that he got lower ping times with an > external Hayes modem, and of course there are those talking about > the > better frame rates with a USB modem. Would a USB modem also result > in lower ping times?

As I understand things, an internal modem is better than an external one cos it uses its own serial port and not one of the pc's, thus reducing cpu cycles (slightly?). Please correct me if I'm wrong here? If you are having problems connecting to VROC, may I suggest a couple of things.... 1) You are using netscape (v4.5 is recommended) aren't you? 2) You have d/l'd the core.ini files from the VROC (or Alison's) website, and placed the file in your GPL directory haven't you? 3) You have read the GPL & DUN FAQ on the two above sites and carried out all the recommendations haven't you? 8-) *Peter* #:-)

>1) You are using netscape (v4.5 is recommended) aren't you? >2) You have d/l'd the core.ini files from the VROC (or Alison's) >website, and placed the file in your GPL directory haven't you? >3) You have read the GPL & DUN FAQ on the two above sites and >carried out all the recommendations haven't you? Yep yep yep. And I have two ISPs. I have just improved my connection speeds, at least, by moving my modem farther away from the other cards (now that I replaced the ISA sound card with a PCI one, the modem has the whole ISA area of my board to itself, so I stuck it way on the end). -- http://www2.cruzio.com/~keeper/toons.html - Animaniacs, P&TB, F!, etc. files http://www.armory.com/~keeper/midi.html - My own MIDI files - Updated 5 Dec.