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Thread: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

  
  1. #1
    Imp
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    Default KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    Just wanted to say well done on your nightly builds and bug fixing for single player and multiplayer and much more.

    I tested a 4 player game without any crashes or desyncs, that lasted over an hour till the end on exiting the game.


    I used the KeeperFX complete v0.40 (381MB) with the nightly (KeeperFX r453 patch, dated 2012.03.08 02:42:01).

    The files I used as below,

    • keeperfx_ccp_0_40_complete.7z

    CRC32: 1FD25523
    MD5: BEE3ECA86D87B7CBDE468A0AB53A9DC8
    SHA-1: D0B0F57210EDE7491D916742D04121BBA00797C4

    • keeperfx_ccp-0_4_0_453-patch.7z

    CRC32: 3606101F
    MD5: FA188005B76826D4347D090F4BF5DE00
    SHA-1: A9052A2A492FEF8FECA8ED3799FA2A913B59806F

    Did it over TCP/IP, 2 players and 2 AI = 4 keepers, and allied with Player 2.

    Multiplayer map level 145 DD Multi 11, Keeper 3 and Keeper 4 both got 18 creatures and soon had a war between them.

    Saw no issues. Then I wiped out Keeper 3 and 4.

    Then I tried to chat using ENTER key which worked fine. Also then killed Player 2 as a test.

    Took over the whole map tiles and rooms that where left.

    Game over !


    The multiplayer game was stable.

    I have not tried other maps yet.


    Well done . I will let you know if I ever run into a problem if I play it again with my friend over the net, or when running it on some tests.

    I recently popped it up on Oracle again to try it between two virtual computers and found it was working perfectly.

  2. #2
    Imp
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    Default Re: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    A minor thing I noticed when destroying player 2's heart, he could not wander in the land as a lost spirit. However he could still move around as normal and see the map and everything as normal. Anyone else notice that?

    The button is maybe disabled unless I used it wrong.

  3. #3
    Dragon DragonsLover's Avatar
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    Default Re: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    Nobody here really tried KeeperFX multiplayer (unless someone post their experience here). I once did a game with a friend through Internet and it was really laggy and crashed after a little while. Here, did you try a game "online" or through LAN?
    I like dragons! They're the center of my life! I'll never forget them...



  4. #4
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    Default Re: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    Hi DragonsLover,

    Well I have done lots of games online with the original DK and KeeperFX.

    Works fine over the internet for me for KeeperFX, if the other player has a reasonable ping with me. I can even play someone in the USA with around 130ms ping with KeeperFX by TCP/IP but being a little bit slower but playable.

    But most people would get the best gameplay speed with a very low ping of like below 100ms for this game, especially around 50ms or lower being mostly in the same country, & as long as they don't have an unknown FPS issue. Those players also would have to be using a stable version in netplay mode of KeeperFX to avoid crashes completely, and one can only know that by testing like the ways I have done. I will report any crashes when playing the game online with the latest nightly's if I have time, this way people will have a much more stable KeeperFX when playing multiplayer.

    I got the coder of KeeperFX to fix a few issues before for online play, such as one that exists in the original with the allie option before the game starts.

    Well the multiplayer is pretty decent online if all players have a good ping. Dungeon Keeper 2 though is much faster online than the DK 1, it has better netcode and was meant for be played over the internet for that reason, but I still prefer DK 1.

    But I am sure KeeperFX is still good to play online, even better than the original infact, due to bug fixes, and with a good ping it is very fast!.

    I have seen a strange issue where one player has no slowness, but the other player does. Some kind of major drop in fps for an unknown reason, also existing in the original, and unsure if exists in KeeperFX, where one player gets a very low fps but the others are all moving very fast in an online game, i think it may just of been his computer and directx or so.

    Of course more bugs may get introduced later on in updates that might start new crashes.

    There are clearly very stable versions of KeeperFX for online play.

    I really also like what Mefistotelis has done in getting it to work on Win 7, and also adding stuff like recording packet files I think it was called, where you can play back them like a demo file, of gameplay being played back.

    It may not work perfectly at times the packet file recording. Even FRAPS works with KeeperFX to capture videos for places like YouTube.

    There are many great things about KeeperFX.

    I have not really been able to reproduce that since it never has happened with me in a very low fps problem.

    I test it on LAN since it's a fast way to test quickly, and virtual so that I don't need two computers, any bugs in the tests would happen exactly like in an internet game anyway, and then I can record a log of the player that crashes.

    And by doing that it makes online play much more stable if fixed in a nightly.

    Also single player is very important to test also.

    If Mefistotelis knows of a way to make multiplayer faster with higher latency's that would be pretty awesome. Although it sounds a hard thing to do?

    But online play can be super fast with KeeperFX. I have surely experienced it, & with a good version, avoids crashes completely

    Also it's allot faster than the original over DosBox when playing online..., unsure why it's so much slower using DosBox for online play.

    However it's about the same speed as the Windows version of the original game for online play. But easier to connect for an online game since it has the new TCP/IP option.
    Last edited by Replica; March 14th, 2012 at 18:43.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    Oh dear , so I haven't had a crash yet on netplay using map 145 DD Multi 11 yet.

    But today I have tried it on the map Level 71 Multiplayer 12, and it crashes allot.

    So it seems it's possibly only stable on some maps with this latest nightly. I have attached a log file of the crash that player 2 had here keeperfxlog2012.zip.
    Last edited by Replica; March 14th, 2012 at 22:10.

  6. #6
    Dragon DragonsLover's Avatar
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    Default Re: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    Well, I played with a friend in the same province. Maybe he was on a laptop so, perhaps it is the reason why it crashed. I don't remember the ping however.

    DK2 multiplayer... sucks. Perhaps it was written for that, but I don't like the bugs and glitches that ruin the gameplay.

    And it's not Mefisto that did the multipalyer TCP/IP part, but Hansson.

    And when I got the crash, I was also on a Dungeon Keeper multiplayer map. What's causing this? I don't know.
    I like dragons! They're the center of my life! I'll never forget them...



  7. #7
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    Default Re: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    Have you both tried with the complete Version v0.40 with the nightly patch r453 and on the map level 145 DD Multi 11?

    It seems to be very stable on this exact installation of KeeperFX with nightly and the same map at least.

    What I will probably try and do is create crash logs on each of the multiplayer maps one by one online, then hopefully someone would be kind enough to fix them in the nightlys :-).

    They are probably linked to a certain crash and some maybe different.
    Last edited by Replica; March 15th, 2012 at 08:55.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    Today I did more tests and found out that when ever I run into heroes (white) player on netplay, player 2 crashes.

    Here are the crash logs, and I think all of them show the same type of crash.

    Level 150 DD Multi 15 - Level 150 DD Multi 15.zip

    Level 70 Multiplayer 11 - Level 70 Multiplayer 11.zip

    Level 149 DD Multi 14 - Level 149 DD Multi 14.zip

    Level 145 DD Multi 11 - Level 145 DD Multi 11.zip - This crashed also, but before it was stable, because I didn't run into white player it seems.


    All that looks as if it is exactly the same type of crash from reading the logs.

    I don't think I ran into white player on some of them, but possibly the same type of crash still.

    So I won't go through every level just now, since it's the same crash most likely, when running into white player and such.


    I hope that helps.

    If it's fixed in the next nightly when available, then I can let you know how stable it is again if fixed in the next nightly version. Then I can look for any other type of crash that might exist in multiplayer.

    Those tests are 2 player games only, and with AI turned on, and it seems to be player 2 that's always crashing.

    Those logs are from player 2, and using KeeperFX v0.40 with nightly r453.


    Although I also now want to try a level where there are no heroes on it in netplay.

    EDIT: It also doesn't always crash, only sometimes.
    Last edited by Replica; March 16th, 2012 at 10:09.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    Quote Originally Posted by DragonsLover View Post
    Nobody here really tried KeeperFX multiplayer (unless someone post their experience here)
    I played KeeperFX in a LAN, installed and managed by me with 4 human players (we were 4 friends). Multiplayer KeeperFX with 2 human players goes well, problem is more than 2 human players ---> MAKES IT TOTALLY UNPLAYABLE. Mouse cursor goes crazy and game crashes, it was impossible to play. KeeperFX need more network code improvements from P. Hansson (KeeperFX network code programmer) for more than 2 human players... That KeeperFX LAN multiplayer experience was posted by me months ago...

  10. #10
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    Default Re: KeeperFX Multiplayer Is Stable Again

    Even though I played an older version of KeeperFX one day, maybe it was also an SVN, I was able to play with no crash with 2 Human players and with AI turned on 2 humans and 2 AI, but have not really been able to track that down anymore.

    But most of the KeeperFX versions don't seem to be stable with AI on it seems when testing.

    So with this latest nightly mentioned above, I can confirm after testing with 2 human players and with the AI turned off, it seemed stable and I didn't have any crashing with the version I mentioned above, which just now is the latest nightly after testing it once on Level 150 DD Multi 15.

    I think that means the AI is buggy and unstable in an online game, causing KeeperFX for player 2 to crash, which can be fixed if people log the crashes I reckon, and then in a new version of KeeperFX, players can enjoy online games with AI turned on, unsure what happens if it's more than 2 human players as not tried.

    Playing with 3 Human players or 4 Human players with AI turned off, I have not tried yet. Just two players.

    So it looks like what Jomalin has said is correct so far, 2 Human players it's stable, and of course with AI turned off.
    Last edited by Replica; March 18th, 2012 at 00:29.

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