In the past I've asked this group for suggestions on improving my dialup
connection for NASCAR Racing 2002 Season. I received good advice and many
links with information, but I still have not seen my particular problem
addressed.
I constantly read that turning of error correction and throttling back
connection speed to improve quality is the thing to do. My problem is that
as soon as I turn off error correction, I can't see any races listed no
matter what speed I connect at. Turn error correction back on, and the
races appear.
Background. On a good day my best connection is 31K. I am surrounded by
communities with high speed data access, but in my town there is no DSL,
cable modem or wireless access. There may be satellite access but my
research shows that has very high ping times and is not good for on line
gaming.
Thanks in advance,
Russell
What type of modem do you have, and more important what type of bus does it
use. If its on the PCI bus you will want to try something else. Having your
modem sharing the same bus as your video card and sound card is not a good
thing. Have more than once replaced a PCI modem for an external one and
"fixed" alot of problems.
MadDAWG
"MadDAWG" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> What type of modem do you have, and more important what type of bus doesit
> use. If its on the PCI bus you will want to try something else. Havingyour
> modem sharing the same bus as your video card and sound card is not a good
> thing. Have more than once replaced a PCI modem for an external one and
> "fixed" alot of problems.
>
> MadDAWG
>
Mr. Dawg is right. Until I got cable here a month ago, I was using dialup
and getting decent results on Sierra. Make SURE you don't have a winmodem.
They are terrible for online gaming! I used a Modem Blaster or something
from Creative and had decent results. I hit pings around 300 with 99-100
quality. (avgconnect like you, around 30k)
What kind of probs are you having? Your post didn't mention anything
specific. Or are you just trying to tweak?
Good Luck,
Jeff
The modem is a US Robotics 56k FAX EXT PnP (external) connected to the
serial port with the latest firmware and drivers installed.
I've been on this same phone line with a different modem and computer and
the results in connect speed were the same. I feel the best I can do is
select the best setting to deal with the garbage service that Ameritech has
given me (ya I know their story, they only support a line good enough for
voice.)
Russell
"MadDAWG" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> What type of modem do you have, and more important what type of bus doesit
> use. If its on the PCI bus you will want to try something else. Havingyour
Quoted text (7 lines)
> modem sharing the same bus as your video card and sound card is not a good > thing. Have more than once replaced a PCI modem for an external one and > "fixed" alot of problems. > > MadDAWG > >> Background. On a good day my best connection is 31K. I am surrounded by
> communities with high speed data access, but in my town there is no DSL,
> cable modem or wireless access. There may be satellite access but my
> research shows that has very high ping times and is not good for on line
> gaming.
I've also lucked-out in the (very divisive) broadband revolution. I'm about
1/2 a mile from the limit of DSL access in my town. For some reason I can't
get proper 56K access either. Like you, I get 31.2K on a good day but
usually get 28.8K When you're on a modem, ISP choice is critical. On my
current ISP, I get pings of around 130-140ms to local GPL servers which is
quite adequate. My old ISP had pings in excess of 200ms. Some people have
slightly dodgy phone lines and often throttling back the connection to as
low as 21K can also make a big improvement.
As for error correction, I'm guessing that you're using an internal
software-based modem. I switched to an external serial port modem a while
ago and found that online gaming improved considerably. They're a bit of a
pain though - more cables hanging out of the back of the PC and of course
they require another dreaded power pack. I'm not sure how good USB modems
are - haven't heard any reports.
I think I know the problem you describe;
Here is my exchanges with sierra on the matter;
===============================================================================
You have recently submitted a question regarding Nascar Racing 2002,
special boxing for retail only having a Network or Multiplayer
problem. The following is the solution to your issue.
If you have further issues regarding this product and issue, please
reply between the lines below. Any text outside of the below lines
will be discarded.
The response to your question:
----------------------------------------
Solution Added On 07/30/2002 10:16AM
No idea.
Your original question:
----------------------------------------
Customer Replied On: 07/27/2002 4:33AM
Its been another week, and no response from you.... Any Ideas?
Customer Submitted Question On: 07/19/2002 7:17PM
I have been sending this email to various addresses provided on YOUR
wesite for many months now. I have had absolutely ZERO response from
you. I have posted the query on your forum and also recieved ZERO
response.
So once again I try yet again!
=============================================
----- Original Message -----
From:
To: [email hidden] <mailto:[email hidden]>
<mailto:[email hidden]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 7:26 PM
Subject: Fw: Race List Problem & my observations
still no response from you guys.
----- Original Message -----
From:
To: [email hidden] <mailto:[email hidden]>
Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2002 2:56 PM
Subject: Race List Problem & my observations
I posted this in the Papy technical support forums over a week ago and
I got
no response what-so-ever, so you will have to forgive me for emailing
it to
you aswell.
I would also like to let you know that I have had several others from
my
league contact me to say they experience exactly the same events that
I
describe & think that I have hit the nail right on the head so to
speak.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
I think I have formulated a theory that may account for an ongoing
problem I
have with the race list not showing up.
I connect by DUN V34 33600 (No dsl/cable available where I am)
I sometimes would not get a race list in N4 and I now suffer from the
same
problem in NR2002!
I have notice that while there is no race list the modem appears to be
trying to grab it (it is continually downloading something). At the
same
time the refresh button (for the race list) flickers momentarily... I
have
timed this flicker and it happens every 30seconds.
I believe that N4 & now NR2002 re-requests the race list, if it hasn't
recieved the full race list within 30secs. And when the race list
reaches a
size that is greater than the amount of data I can download in any
given
30secs I will not ever get the race list until it reduces to size that
is
downloadable within 30secs.
For a while now N4 race list has had no problems at all (i believe
because
it is a much smaller list now).
NR2002 on the other hand has a much larger list and I find I am now
getting
this on going problem of no race list appearing (I beleived caused by
this
30 sec limit)
To further test this theory I re-connect, but this time V90 @ 49666,
the
race list appears ok (I believe because it finishes downloading it
before
the 30 sec limit)
As most are aware Quality of connection is the key to a GREAT online
racing
experience and that is why I choose V34 over V90......
So I guess after all that I am asking is there a way to extend (or
remove
totally) this 30 sec limit?
"R Keating" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<as3h3r$l57$[email hidden]>...
Quoted text (19 lines)
> In the past I've asked this group for suggestions on improving my dialup > connection for NASCAR Racing 2002 Season. I received good advice and many > links with information, but I still have not seen my particular problem > addressed. > > I constantly read that turning of error correction and throttling back > connection speed to improve quality is the thing to do. My problem is that > as soon as I turn off error correction, I can't see any races listed no > matter what speed I connect at. Turn error correction back on, and the > races appear. > > Background. On a good day my best connection is 31K. I am surrounded by > communities with high speed data access, but in my town there is no DSL, > cable modem or wireless access. There may be satellite access but my > research shows that has very high ping times and is not good for on line > gaming. > > Thanks in advance, > RussellAnd here is my final exchange with them on the matter (Not good news
I'm afraid)
====================================================================
The response to your question:
----------------------------------------
Solution Added On 09/04/2002 4:45PM
I've forwarded a copy of this E-mail to my supervisor asking him to
pass the information on.
Solution Added On 09/03/2002 4:08PM
Sorry that you haven't been contacted about this. The problem you're
having is based on your connection speed, your connection type, and
also the hardware and service you're using. It'd be almost impossible
for us to recreate this. You pretty much have it right, the server
list query times out after about 30 seconds. If the list isn't done
loading by then it re-queries the server to gather the information
again. There is nothing we can do about this, you can try calling your
ISP and see if they can do anything to help improve your connection.
Your original question:
----------------------------------------
Customer Replied On: 9/3/2002 at 4:27:24 PM
Ok then Thankyou.
May I suggest that this problem can be easily rectified by modifying
you
program to have a core.ini setting that alows us to change from 30
secs to
something higher.
You see I have monitored the data flow during the 30sec period & the
available bandwidth is utilised very efficiently. There is nothing
that can
be done to creat more without connecting at a higher speed....Which
means
V90 which in turn means much reduced quality.
I emplore you to add this feature to a patch or at the very least the
next
version of Nascar...Because you are about to disconnect 40-50% of my
clubs
member form racing Nascar online.
Please Please pass this incident on to the Nascar developers (I really
am
begging now)
Customer Submitted Question On: 08/29/2002 8:07PM
You have marked incident 100057836 as solved!
It is not solved at all! Please re mark it as unsolved.
More and more people are appoaching me with this exact same problem,
and from what I have been told it seems that you guys are trying your
hardest ignore the problem!
[===> Please enter your reply below this line <===]
[===> Please enter your reply above this line <===]
"R Keating" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<as3h3r$l57$[email hidden]>...
Quoted text (19 lines)
> In the past I've asked this group for suggestions on improving my dialup > connection for NASCAR Racing 2002 Season. I received good advice and many > links with information, but I still have not seen my particular problem > addressed. > > I constantly read that turning of error correction and throttling back > connection speed to improve quality is the thing to do. My problem is that > as soon as I turn off error correction, I can't see any races listed no > matter what speed I connect at. Turn error correction back on, and the > races appear. > > Background. On a good day my best connection is 31K. I am surrounded by > communities with high speed data access, but in my town there is no DSL, > cable modem or wireless access. There may be satellite access but my > research shows that has very high ping times and is not good for on line > gaming. > > Thanks in advance, > RussellI'd like to get my pings lower and I'd like to have the quality and the
pings more stable. The pings I get for the most part are somewhat
acceptable (under 300 for the majority of listed races), but they jump
around a fair amount (same for the quality rating). I thought this could be
helped by turning off error correction as it is the last thing that has been
suggested that I do, but as I posted I can't.
Could the quality of my line be so bad that with error correction off the
races don't show in the list? I can always see the people logged in, their
chat, and my rating but no races only if error correction is off. This
occurs no matter how long I wait for the list of races to appear. Strange
that listing the races is so sensitive (or appear to be so sensitive).
In a previous follow-up I mentioned I am using an external modem through a
serial port.
Russell
"Jeff Leonard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
<cut>...
Quoted text (9 lines)
> > What kind of probs are you having? Your post didn't mention anything > specific. Or are you just trying to tweak? > > Good Luck, > > Jeff > > Here is my two cent's worth .. you say yours is an external modem
connected through the serial port... what I ask is , does your pc have any
USB ports, because if it does I would think about doing away entirely with
the serial port and it's antique in - out buffers and get a serial to usb
converter ..... it is what I did back when .. it was me with an external
modem.
I also de-tuned my modem , I used a t - code to switch it from
V90 mode to the next one down .. v90 is great for browsing but way too much
stuff going on when you want the machine to be sending the smallest packet
size with the minimum of cpu 'fuss' .
Try here ( if you've not been before ) click the FAQ button on the left and
the blue hyperlink about DUN and Serial port settings ...
http://eaglewoman.simracing.dk/gpl/index.htm
Seriously though Belkin do a lovely little serial to usb
converter , it even has flashing lights on the front ! jv
"R Keating" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:as43tt$8mv$[email hidden]...
> I'd like to get my pings lower and I'd like to have the quality and the
> pings more stable. The pings I get for the most part are somewhat
> acceptable (under 300 for the majority of listed races), but they jump
> around a fair amount (same for the quality rating). I thought this couldbe
> helped by turning off error correction as it is the last thing that hasbeen
> suggested that I do, but as I posted I can't.
>
> Could the quality of my line be so bad that with error correction off the
> races don't show in the list? I can always see the people logged in,their
Quoted text (22 lines)
> chat, and my rating but no races only if error correction is off. This > occurs no matter how long I wait for the list of races to appear. Strange > that listing the races is so sensitive (or appear to be so sensitive). > > In a previous follow-up I mentioned I am using an external modem through a > serial port. > > Russell > > "Jeff Leonard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > <cut>... > > > > What kind of probs are you having? Your post didn't mention anything > > specific. Or are you just trying to tweak? > > > > Good Luck, > > > > Jeff > > > > > >Keep in mind the line speed doesn't really mean jack. Ping is even highly
over rated. The quality is what counts. Check to see if you can get a setup
string for your modem to disable the V90 stuff. The best results I have seen
have been with just a good old fashioned 28.8 modem, and believe me they are
on far from a "good" phone line.
Another thing to look into is your system itself. With alot of today's pre
packaged systems there is just to much crap installed, or misinstalled as
the case may be. Watch out for any TSR type programs and system utilities
that may be running in the back ground.
MadDAWG
