Problems with freezing during 2 player mode in Transport Tyc

[Graeme Simms]

Hi,

I hope someone out there is able to assist me with this very annoying
problem. During 2 player mode, Transport Tycoon Deluxe seems to
freeze at various intervals, more frequently during the year 1980+
I'll try give as much detail to the problem as possible.

The two computers in question are :

1) A Intel Celeron 300 with 64MB RAM
Uses a Genius GE2500III PCI Ethernet Card (10Mbps)

2) A Intel 166 with 32 MD RAM
Uses a LAN Card LAN-2UCT+ ISA (10Mpbs)

Both machines have Windows 98 installed, with the latest version of
DirextX7, although I don't think that matters.

I run both games in DOS mode, linking them on an IPX connection.

Machine 1 has the following commands to process (the first three
enable DOS IPX support for the network card - taken from the driver
disk of the card itself) :

lsl
pciodi
ipxodi
mouse - The Microsoft based DOS mouse driver

Machine 2 uses the following commands

ipx - The only file required from the driver disk for IPX to work with
this card.
mouse - The same Microsoft based mouse driver

As mentioned, I'm setting up the connection via IPX, with machine 1
being the IPX Sender, and machine 2 being the IPX receiver. The
connection does work, and usually works very well until freezing at no
particular point of repition or in no particular order.

Both network cards are connected to a Soho Basic Hub216c 10Mpbs 16
port hub, of which only 2 ports are being used, so there are no
collisions. The cabling distance between the two machines is
approximately 20 metres.

During gameplay, the percentage of utilization on the hub doesn't
exceed 30%.

Initially, I suspected the hub to be the problem. I removed to hub
and made a cross-over connection between the machines, same result. I
suspected the distance between the machines next, so I moved the
machines next to each other using a 1 metre cross over connection with
the same result as well.

Machine 1 has a Creative PCI64 Sound card, while machine 2 has a
Creative SB16. I have disabled sound on both machines during gameplay
as well.

I've also made use of smartdrv on both machines to aid in disk
performance while saving games. I've also disabled it and it doesn't
seem to help.

I've also tried swapping machine 1 and machine 2 to being the IPX
sender and receiver respectively, without success. I've tried
different baud rate settings, although I don't think this affects IPX
connections.

I even went so far as to try a modem connection. Machine 1 has a
Duxbury 56K modem, machine 2 has a Zoltrix 33.6 voice modem.
Connecting the modems directly (ie, no telephone line) and forcing one
of them to answer, does result in a connection. The speed of the
connection is signifigantly slower, but I experience the same hanging
problem.

The version of the game reported by Transport Tycoon is v 2.01.119 -
the same version is being used on both machines.

I'd appreciate any help, as I am at a loss now.

Thanks,
Graeme Simms (gsi...@icon.co.za)

[N.L.Allan]

I have no idea what the problem is. This happened a lot (although not at
the years you specify, often it was earlier) when I played from my P3 500
384MB RAM to my P2 300 96MB RAM laptop. Yet playing games between my P3 500
384MB RAM and my P133 64MB RAM work fine. Incidentally I use a 100MBMS
Netgear NICs on all my machines with a four port Netgear Hub.

Have you tried playing single player recently on either of the machines? Do
they hang in the same manner in single player? Is it just one machine?

Hopefully someone knows what's going on.

Many thanks,

Nick Allan
========
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change

[Trikky]

Graeme Simms <gsi...@icon.co.za> wrote in message
news:cXlTOF=Cz2z=E5e97tmb2F47AixE@4ax.com...

Hi,

I hope someone out there is able to assist me with this very annoying
problem. During 2 player mode, Transport Tycoon Deluxe seems to
freeze at various intervals, more frequently during the year 1980+
I'll try give as much detail to the problem as possible.

The two computers in question are :

1) A Intel Celeron 300 with 64MB RAM
Uses a Genius GE2500III PCI Ethernet Card (10Mbps)

2) A Intel 166 with 32 MD RAM
Uses a LAN Card LAN-2UCT+ ISA (10Mpbs)

OK......Stop there...(I've read the rest of the post)
If you play the game NORMALLY on machine 1 do you get the problem?

I have the same system....Except for the graphics card (I have a VooDoo 2)
I have a system hang for about 5 seconds then it carries on as normal.....

Try playing in windows (Or whatever) and see if you have the same problem.

--
Rick McGreal
ICQ - 51210676
Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.
tri...@bigfoot.com
http://www.transport-tycoon.co.uk

[Graeme Simms]

Hi,

Nope, the problem only occurs during 2 player mode. 1 player mode
works fine on both machines.

On Sun, 12 Dec 1999 15:38:53 -0000, "Trikky" <tri...@bigfoot.com>
wrote:

Graeme Simms <gsi...@icon.co.za> wrote in message
news:cXlTOF=Cz2z=E5e97tmb2F47AixE@4ax.com...
Hi,

I hope someone out there is able to assist me with this very annoying
problem. During 2 player mode, Transport Tycoon Deluxe seems to
freeze at various intervals, more frequently during the year 1980+
I'll try give as much detail to the problem as possible.

The two computers in question are :

1) A Intel Celeron 300 with 64MB RAM
Uses a Genius GE2500III PCI Ethernet Card (10Mbps)

2) A Intel 166 with 32 MD RAM
Uses a LAN Card LAN-2UCT+ ISA (10Mpbs)

OK......Stop there...(I've read the rest of the post)
If you play the game NORMALLY on machine 1 do you get the problem?

I have the same system....Except for the graphics card (I have a VooDoo 2)
I have a system hang for about 5 seconds then it carries on as normal.....

Try playing in windows (Or whatever) and see if you have the same problem.

[Sean]

How do you get the first one to call, doesn't it need a dial tone?

I even went so far as to try a modem connection. Machine 1 has a
Duxbury 56K modem, machine 2 has a Zoltrix 33.6 voice modem.
Connecting the modems directly (ie, no telephone line) and forcing one
of them to answer, does result in a connection. The speed of the
connection is signifigantly slower, but I experience the same hanging
problem.

[Graeme Simms]

Hi,

Single player on either machine works without any problems.

Of course, in 2 player mode when the hang does occur, both machines
hang at the same time.

On Sun, 12 Dec 1999 17:34:42 -0000, "N.L.Allan"
<n_l_al...@BLOODYSPAMaltavista.net> wrote:

Have you tried playing single player recently on either of the machines? Do
they hang in the same manner in single player? Is it just one machine?

Hopefully someone knows what's going on.

Many thanks,

Nick Allan
========
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change

[Graeme Simms]

Hi,

There's the other twist to the tale..

Machine 1 will run TTDX in windows 98, machine 2 will not, it just
freezes with a black screen (no ctrl+alt+del response either), but it
works fine in DOS.

The other thing I tried was to use Machine 1 in Windows 98 with
IPX/SPX installed, and use Machine 2 in DOS with Netware IPX drivers
as supplied by the manufacturer, but the games won't link at all.

I'm sure there's something to do with the 32-bit driver code for that
explanation.

On Sun, 12 Dec 1999 15:38:53 -0000, "Trikky" <tri...@bigfoot.com>
wrote:

The two computers in question are :

1) A Intel Celeron 300 with 64MB RAM
Uses a Genius GE2500III PCI Ethernet Card (10Mbps)

2) A Intel 166 with 32 MD RAM
Uses a LAN Card LAN-2UCT+ ISA (10Mpbs)

Try playing in windows (Or whatever) and see if you have the same problem.

[Graeme Simms]

Hi,

Set the one modem up normally, as if you were going to dial out, with
a bogus number, eg, 555, as the sender. You may need to add "X3" or
similar to the initialisation string to tell the modem to ignore the
dialtone.

Then, set the initialisation string for the other modem (receiver) to
"ATA" and link the two modems with a standard telephone extension.
ATA stands for auto-answer.

Attempt the connection on the first machine, and when you hear it
dial, attempt the connection on the second machine (receiver).

When the receiver modem gets the ATA signal, it answers the call and
tries to negotiate. Because the other modem is also trying to
negotiate because it has just dialled, they start negotiating
correctly and you get the connection.

On Sun, 12 Dec 1999 20:05:23 -0000, "Sean"
<G...@gcasey.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

How do you get the first one to call, doesn't it need a dial tone?

I even went so far as to try a modem connection. Machine 1 has a
Duxbury 56K modem, machine 2 has a Zoltrix 33.6 voice modem.
Connecting the modems directly (ie, no telephone line) and forcing one
of them to answer, does result in a connection. The speed of the
connection is signifigantly slower, but I experience the same hanging
problem.

[Mike Wagstaff]

Machine 1 will run TTDX in windows 98, machine 2 will not, it just
freezes with a black screen (no ctrl+alt+del response either), but it
works fine in DOS.

This might not help at all, but have you tried running the
install program and changing your sound options? See if the
game will run with "No sound effects" and "No music". That
worked for me one time.

-Mike [http://games.hplx.net]

[Bill Hayles]

On Sun, 12 Dec 1999 12:56:24 +0200, Graeme Simms <gsi...@icon.co.za>
wrote:

Hi,

I hope someone out there is able to assist me with this very annoying
problem. During 2 player mode, Transport Tycoon Deluxe seems to
freeze at various intervals, more frequently during the year 1980+
I'll try give as much detail to the problem as possible.

This is what I call an OOTT (One Of Those Things). The 2 player
implementation in TTDLX is left than perfect, and many people have
reported periodic freezing. I'm sure it's nothing to do with your
hardware.

Ironically, the game works fine for me over a very basic thin Ethernet
peer to peer with 3COM 3C509 cards.

I'd appreciate any help, as I am at a loss now.

I don't think there's much help that can be given, merely confirmation
that it isn't just you, it's a known problem.



El inglés loco
The mad Englishman of Benitachell
Bill Hayles
bill...@ctv.es

[Graeme Simms]

Hi,

I've already tried disabling both sound and music on both machines.
Didn't help I'm afraid.

On Sun, 12 Dec 1999 22:18:05 +0000, Mike Wagstaff
<a...@dial.pipex.com> wrote:

Machine 1 will run TTDX in windows 98, machine 2 will not, it just
freezes with a black screen (no ctrl+alt+del response either), but it
works fine in DOS.

This might not help at all, but have you tried running the
install program and changing your sound options? See if the
game will run with "No sound effects" and "No music". That
worked for me one time.

-Mike [http://games.hplx.net]