Joining any multiplayer game starts fast, then stops...

[helgihg]

Hi, all.

Version: Has happened to me on every version from 0.5.2 to 0.6.3.
OS: Ubuntu (Linux)

I've already searched the wiki and forum for this one, but nobody seems to be having this problem.

Singleplayer and everything relevant works fine, but the problem comes in when joining a multiplayer game. No matter which server I connect to, and no matter which version I'm using, it starts downloading the map, but at around 110-120kB (of say, 400-500kB or so) it slows down continuously until it gets to a virtual stop at around maybe 140kB, and while it *extremely* slowly keeps on downloading after that, it's slow enough for one to seriously wonder if it has stopped completely. While writing this I've been connecting to a game for about 12 minutes and it's at 243kB/392kB. Now I get a kilobyte every minute or so.

What's particularly weird is that nobody else seems to be having the problem on the forums or in the wiki, but it always happens to me, no matter which computer or network I'm using. I'm starting to think my entire country is the problem (Iceland), or that this is actually normal but nobody talks about it. I used to play multiplayer when I lived in Finland all the time, and this was never a problem, even though I had a much worse internet connection.

Any ideas? Or is this perhaps normal?

Peace.

[PhilSophus]

It might be worth trying to connect two computers directly via Ethernet and start a multiplayer game with these two (one the server, one the client). If this works flawless your problem has probably to do with the Internet connection. Are you connected to the Internet (directly or indirectly) via satellite? The long latencies of satellite links could cause strange effects also on bandwidth. Some providers also sometimes play dirty tricks on connections from/to certain ports they think are used by file sharing (i.e. they might deliberately slow down the connections).

[dihedral]

do you see this behavior with other downloads, or with other games? do you have other download / file sharing app's running? does this happen on another computer / os? does your firewall / ISP use traffic shaping

[Sand3r]

Hi

Ive same problem, almost always when i join a game, at first time its ok.. after about 5 mts i get mass DC's and ... lets say on 3rd retry transfer is about 1b/s Nightmare..

Any ideas?

[Yexo]

Any ideas?

Check your internet connection.

[Sand3r]

Any ideas?

Check your internet connection.

Yea but problem is here in other games WC3 for example dont have any lags also when i host ppls got pings around 20ms so like in Warcraft its very n1...


anyway to be clear, in other games collating to other co-players my ping its very impressive... dunno mb thats port trigger issue? Coz im using router...

[dihedral]

you have some wee spelling issues (i know the abbreviations, but please to spell out the words!)

most other games don't use tcp but udp for the client - server communication, also some routers and/or wireless access points are known to even stall/crash when OpenTTD is used. so you should check that when things slow down, that nothing else is slowing down.
else it could be a various amount of stuff neither you nor OpenTTD control (e.g. ISP's QoS?).

[Sand3r]

I had a small break from OTTD and before... like half year ago was ok.. Anyway mb some1 could gimme a ports tcp/udp? I ll try open it in router coz before if i good remember i was connected direcly ... Anyway thnx for help


dihedral

[dihedral]

you have some wee spelling issues (i know the abbreviations, but please to spell out the words!)

it's "maybe" and "someone"

ports are dependent on the server you want to join! and being a client, you should not have an issue with needing to open ports, usually outgoing traffic is allowed, incoming (i.e. for hosting a server) is what needs opening ports!

[Sand3r]

A-ha. Now i check out one thing, i usually play on polish "prochy" server... i tried to join to other servers , and altogether can easy say... in half i got that issue.. and on that 2nd no... dunno like for me its weird (checked port after ip in almost all servers and its usually same (with problem and without it))


p.s and dont reply like so play on that good one half coz its almost so pathetic like responses on IT forums , "format c:" for all probs

[dihedral]

then see if you can get your hands on a decent router - because as many have said here - it's not a prob of OpenTTD nor anything people here can solve for you!

[helgihg]

Hi, all. Original author here.

Finally, I see someone with the same problem. I've done a bit more research though.

I've tried another router at my house. I've tried multiple setups. Nothing has any effect, it still does the same thing.

Someone asked if this happened to other games or apps and the answer is quite simple no. There is nothing that I do on the internet that is a problem in any way. The one thing I don't know about is file sharing. Playing any other game, including some 3D shoot-em-ups like UrbanTerror, works fine. Downloads never break, etcetera. In general it's a nice internet connection and frankly it's the last thing I suspect when something goes wrong, but like I said, I tried another router and it's the same issue.

HOWEVER! Over the Christmas I went to my grandfather's house in another part in the country and I figured since I was there I'd check it out, and lo and behold, everything works fine there. So at least my entire country isn't effected by this, although I'm starting to suspect that it's my neighborhood or something.

Despite all that, the fact that everything else works fine at my place makes me want to understand what's causing this anyway. Also, it still doesn't work but it's obvious that it has something to do with the connection at my house, whether at my end, the neighborhood switch, the ISP or whatever.

After all, it's pretty weird behavior, even with an internet connection problem. Starting up quickly, then continuously slowing down to a halt, I've never seen any other app behave this way, so I'm curious to know what could possibly cause this. Also, no doubt, the OpenTTD dev team would probably like to know so that they can account for it. It might be a combination of some faulty OpenTTD code and some weird connection circumstance, I suppose.

I'll give you more when I've learned more. I'm gonna try some of my friends' places as well and see if I can find a pattern.

EDIT: Someone asked if there were firewalls or traffic shaping, the answer is no. No traffic shaping at all, everything is open out and the OpenTTD server ports are open in (shouldn't be necessary but I opened them anyway). I also tried disabling all firewalls altogether, in which case my internet connection directs everything to my specific computer, it changes nothing. This also happens regardless of OS, I've tried it on two installations of Linux (Debian & Ubuntu) and Windows XP.

Peace.

[dihedral]

It might be a combination of some faulty OpenTTD code and some weird connection circumstance

i really doubt that!

No traffic shaping at all, everything is open out

i doubt you can check the setup your isp has configured it's routers with, that the routers of the isp's uplink, and the uplink they use....

best hint: contact your isp, let them know what isp your grandfather has and get their opinion/feedback on it. all assumptions you make and other effort you invest is probably just gonna be a waste!

[helgihg]

Doubt all you want. Doubt is healthy. But keep in mind that OpenTTD is the only piece of software that has ever behaved this way on my connection, ever. I'm not just saying that because I think so, I say that because I've had it for years and I run just about any conceivable standard protocol on my connection all the time. This is the first and only network problem I've had on this connection that only affects one application, and for over a year.

I know for a fact my ISP doesn't traffic shape unless you're downloading over 80GB a month, roughly 78GB more than I ever do. I am absolutely, positively, 100% certain that my connection is neither traffic shaped nor firewalled. I know some people out there don't know what kind of connection they have or what their ISP's policy is, but I do. Also, my connection is such that it isn't filtered in any way in either direction except through my router. I wouldn't settle for any other kind of connection.

I appreciate the suggestions, but firewalls and traffic shaping have been mentioned quite a few times now, and it's not that. I know that it might be if I weren't a professional programmer for 9 years who has made about a dozen independent network/system administration applications, but I am, and it isn't that. I know this for a certainty of 100%, I'll bet a year's salary on it. I don't mean to be rude, but it seems that people will just keep suggesting because it's the first thing that comes to their mind. It's the first thing that came to my mind as well which is exactly why I made sure it wasn't that before I even posted the original post. I appreciate the attempts and I know that you're only trying to help, but I am a professional, and I know for a fact that it's neither traffic shaping nor a firewall. That's not to say it can't possibly be my ISP's fault, that's exactly why I need to do a few more experiments to try and isolate the problem.

Again, with all due respect. I'll let you know what I find out, when I find it out.

[Sand3r]

Again, with all due respect. I'll let you know what I find out, when I find it out.

I will cross fingers for that... Personaly i bet we are not the only two guys with those issue... But probably only enough addicted to OTTD to dont lie down this s*** (soz) and want/try to fix issue however i mean others i bet are to lazy to write/search for any help good luck dude

[dihedral]

if I weren't a professional programmer for 9 years who has made about a dozen independent network/system administration applications, but I am

if you are, as you claim, a professional developer, feel free to check out the source of OpenTTD and judge on the network code for yourself! after all - it is open source!
if you are as familiar with networks as you say you are, then you yourself should know possible causes of your issues, and know that OpenTTD nor the dev's are responsible for it, nor can they fix it.

furthermore, if you are as professional as you mention (9 years of experience) you really think, asking a bunch of OpenTTD playing forum members will give you answers or ideas you have not had yourself?

[DaleStan]

if I weren't a professional programmer for 9 years who has made about a dozen independent network/system administration applications, but I am

if you are, as you claim, a professional developer,

Yes, I know this doesn't prove anything at all.

(EDIT: Especially since I typoed the link. Fixed now.)

[Conditional Zenith]

PhilSophus suggested trying a game on your LAN. Is this not possible? Cause if that works fine, it casts doubt on the application being the problem, and suggests the network (in this case the internet/your ISP) is the issue. If it doesn't work fine, then it will make it much easier to debug, as you have total control over the endpoints and the network. If it is not possible to do this, then please at least mention that it isn't possible.

Another thing you may like to try is running the server and the client on the same machine (and connecting the client to localhost). If the problem shows up there, it says without a doubt that the problem is with OTTD (or your OS' network stack, but that's very unlikely, especially as you have said it shows up on various OSes).

The other thing is that just because OTTD is the only app showing the issue doesn't necessarily mean that it's OTTD's fault. Still, it would be good to track down the cause.


Sand3r, you mentioned trying various servers. Did you happen to see if it happened with certain server versions, or with servers in a certain geographical area (or maybe servers with a certain number of players connected)? Also, did you try the servers a few times to see if they were consistently bad or randomly bad?

[Sand3r]

Sand3r, you mentioned trying various servers. Did you happen to see if it happened with certain server versions, or with servers in a certain geographical area (or maybe servers with a certain number of players connected)? Also, did you try the servers a few times to see if they were consistently bad or randomly bad?

Well it was randomly selected servers, and everyones was on 0.6.3.. Generaly all was on standard landscape (temperate) , only one on which i wasnt was candyland (couldnt find ). And srsly i was randomly, once i had perfect connection on desert with 11 players @ , or i couldnt even join to empty ice'y-land. Also i tried to various countried (or i think so - mean flag near name) And like i said - to polish server, which administrator i know and i know that server is about 200km from me however i had better playable if can say so when i joined to CHINA server ! Dunno mb that was such a joke from the host and just give language china but couldnt read anything coz coding. Alltogether counting, its srsly randomly, each time is ok, otherwise is bad... Before i couldnt play on Bartz called sever (much of DCs etc) now its perfect... Otherwise was on this polish, before was brilliant, now its nightmare. K enough from me ^^ im affraid of flame coz my english ^^

Thnx for interesting of this topic

[dihedral]

you have some wee spelling issues (i know the abbreviations, but please to spell out the words!)

it's "maybe" and "someone"

and now there are a few more words you should learn to spell out