Dev introduction (looking for lobby/loading bug reports, contacts)

Homeworld Remastered Collection Homeworld Remastered Multiplayer
#1

Greetings Dear Spacemen! :rocket:

I am one of guys behind the game code. I have joined the forums as active user because I think getting in touch with you guys could help nailing some bugs that somehow hide from our QA teams and testers. It seems those annoying bugs that pretend to not exist here are simply sneaking behind our backs and are still undermining efforts of our space conquerors out there in the wide universe. :bug:

Currently I am working on handling player disconnections to prevent dreaded “cascade drops” (situations where losing one of the players for any reason automatically leads to dropping more players in sequence), but now I would like to ask for assistance with something else.

OK. First I would like to ask about multiplayer lobbies and multiplayer loading issues. Do you have any problems with launching game from the game lobby? Losing players in lobbies or when launching/loading game? I am also interested in problems in “Content downloading” loading phase - custom maps, custom badges, slow custom content transmissions, anything. Let me know what bothers you and we will try to make game start and loading as painless as it should be.

EDIT: It was unfortunate, but I have used word “lobby” in Steam context that is different from what you can see in the UI screen naming. The lobby I am asking about is the screen where you can see connected players list, setup races, slots, map and other game parameters. I am interested in problems on this screen and further when “START GAME” button is clicked.

EDIT: PLEASE LIMIT BUG REPORTS IN THIS THREAD TO LOBBY AND LOADING ISSUES.
All reports are very important, but I am afraid of getting 100 different interleaving reports here that nobody will be able to get through. Let’s keep this thread focused on lobby/game loading problems.

EDIT (05/29)

Custom content loading should be fixed now. If there are people who would like to test custom build, details are in this post.

With space salutations,
Cefasm :moon: Chris

6 Likes
Custom Maps in MUTULTI Player
#2

To clarify, this is a legit, direct pathway to tracking down multiplayer issues so if you have a reproducible multiplayer crash or think you can help, post in this thread.

2 Likes
#3

Are y’all gonna add him to your inside the box group for the dev tracker?

Howdy cefasm! Thank you for your efforts!! I have experienced games dumping out everybody to the main lobby/server browser repeatedly. I believe @ratamaq was hosting those particular games, so perhaps he can specify the map he was using and other relevant info.

#4

PLEASE ping this fellow if you’re one of the people with easy to repro MP stability/connectivity issues. If you are running and crash mid-MP - this may not be for you (turn down your texture detail first!) - but if you’re starting a new game and exiting to the lobby at level load or funny stuff like that, here’s where you need to start talking. The goal is to get very detailed with people who can bring us these issues - and hopefully put them to bed once and for all.

2 Likes
#5

@Cefasm

i have been getting access violation crashes in MP, most of us in our MP group are from time to time after the patch.
not sure if they are getting the exact same error, but are getting a AccessViolation crash none the less.

here is the error from the log.
“Read from location c2bfb2b6 caused an access violation.”
another one is
“Read from location bf800014 caused an access violation.”
those are the 2 ive seen. not sure whats causing them though. maybe you will know what that means.

another easy to reproduce crash is, telling a ship to enter hyperspace, then clicking scuttle as its entering. that will crash everyone… i was trying to blow up someones fighters with the damage from the scuttle blast wave, but instead it crashed the game.

i have a few other issues (obvious gameplay bugs) non-crash related to talk about, but idk if you want them.

PS idk who did it, BUT THANK YOU FOR FIXING THAT HYPERSPACE BUG… that was so gamebreaking…

1 Like
#6

Btw thanks guys fro that last patch. The hyperspace bug was killing it for me.

I have a friend that can’t access anything in the multiplayer windows though. Cant change filters, cant make games, cant join them. Everything works fine on SP tho. We’re honestly clueless as to what could be causing this since it seems specific to multiplayer.

#7

Thanks for the report, 178th. Though at this point (thread) I would like to focus on bugs that happen before actual game starts. We were sure quite sure this part was already rock solid (tested big maps, big badges, network connection problems, etc.), but it seems that there are still some situations when loading does not work as excepted. So first I would like to properly close this early part of the game for good and then move to other (yes, I agree, very important) issues within the game itself.

P.S. Sorry for not being clear in the thread title, I have re-specified bug types.

1 Like
#8

I’ve noticed something specific to the ‘loading in’ part of the game. When I play a multiplayer game or a skirmish game against CPU, the first time it load into a map after launching the game itself, it takes a long time and has the ‘downloading content’ message. Now so long as I don’t exit out of HW and I play another multiplayer map or skirmish game it loads in very fast and I tend to have far fewer issues with multiplayer games. I think I’ll do some more testing around this.

Maybe a suggestion to anyone that has a lot of crashes often in multiplayer; Maybe launch and quit out of a CPU match before starting a multiplayer match and see what effect that has on the stability of the multiplayer?

2 Likes
#9

Well if you’re looking for reports on this bug, I’m the person to come to.

70-80% of my attempts to run games end with that sort of error.

shrug I hate crimson bond.

Let me start up asking you a few questions. Most people making maps are using the directory structure from HW2 for their map placements. In HW1 and HW2 every time you ran a map you didn’t have, a permanent file was generated in a certain folder, specifically data/leveldata/multiplayer/deathmatch for HW2 that saved the map for later use on or offline. This is where, to my knowledge, 90% of HWR mappers have been putting their maps.

I’m wondering myself. I’ve heard when you run a custom map it shows up in some location under the bin directory. Makes me question things because even when everyone has a copy of the map in the hwr deathmatch directory if someone runs it, the thumbnail doesn’t show up for the other players, only the one running it. Are those links set up right to allow maps to be played from that folder?

Or is it that we have to put new maps in that bin directory?

Or is it that everyone needs a data/leveldata/multiplayer/deathmatch directory if they want to play custom maps?

Grasping at straws a little. It seems a miracle when one of my maps that isn’t 1v1 gets past downloading content. I was assuming you thought just dumping us out to the menu instead of everyone locking up on the load meant you “fixed” the problem.

Hope it helps, and you can help.

SRO

1 Like
#10

Hello SirRunOn,

  1. Yes, you are right - custom maps should go to “data/leveldata/multiplayer/deathmatch”.

  2. Yes, custom maps that you do not have are downloaded from the host during content download phase and then stored locally in subfolder “bin\profiles\levels[lengthy_hash_here]\map_filename.level” (with filename changed to lowercase).

  3. I am not really sure if HW2 used “data/leveldata/multiplayer/deathmatch” for storing custom maps downloaded automatically during the game start. At least, even very early, first version of the content downloader code that I can see clearly refers to map file’s GUID as a part of the save path (see 2. above). Actually, I think saving file directly to your custom map folder under host’s filename would be risky as filenames could clash with your local maps and overwrite your own content.

  4. No, you should not have to put custom map on every machine, only host. Other players fetch the map file from the host.

Makes me question things because even when everyone has a copy of the map in the hwr deathmatch directory if someone runs it, the thumbnail doesn’t show up for the other players, only the one running it.

This was interesting, so I run quick test. That’s how it worked for me:

Machine 1 & 2 (M1 has custom map file, M2 does not)

  1. M1 starts lobby with custom map
  2. M2 joins M1’s lobby and gets “Unknown level” plus generic map thumbnail
  3. Map file is copied on M2 into custom map folder
  4. Game is restarted on M2 (this is important) and M2 joins M1’s lobby. You may also use “Join Game” function from friends list in Steam overlay - it will restart and automatically jump back to the same game lobby
  5. Player on M2 sees proper map name and color thumbnail

Regarding last point - no, dropping to menu was never considered. Fix for the endless content download loop did not include anything like that, it was entirely made around change in packet communication. Additional confirmation packet was added to prevent possible race condition between host and client machines when passing from lobby to loading screen and that’s it.

Salut,
Cefasm

1 Like
#11

Bugs before connecting to “lobby”:

Sometimes games I know are up (by talking with host on friends list or another friend who sees the game) are not visible to me. The filter is set to worldwide. Refreshing, changing the filter and/or relogging does not cause the game to show. It appears the game list does not list every game - which may, in part, explain mostly empty game lists.

Game Info:

Game info is incomplete and does not show all the game settings.

In hosted game “lobby” waiting for players:

  1. After some time of chatting with people in game, the message box window starts scrolling up. Moving the scroll bar down does not show the last message however. To show the last message, which we know is there because the scroll bar handle moves, we have to scroll all the way to beginning, then all the way to bottom. This show the last message but the moment another message comes in the same process must be repeated. I don’t know how many lines it took, we were chatting/waiting on last player for a while.

  2. Sometimes players are shown as Open, Kushan, 0.000 ping and their messages show as “Unknown”. Relogging into the hosted game clears the problem. On a related note somethimes a chat message appears from “unknown” even tho I see nobody besides host and myself.

Content downloading bug:

Used to hang in there with progress bar not moving - I have not seen this in a very long time. Now it seems to just drop players to main menu. I have noticed the drop to menu seems to rear its head when a few settings are changed after people are already ticked in and ready to go (i.e. turn off bounties, change host race a few times or map) so it may be unrelated and a problem with updating what everyone’s game thinks are the settings.

Drop to main menu if steam overlay is up.

Whenever I was in game but browing through steam overlay and game starts - I was kicked to main menu. What should happen is - game should load behind the overlay as normal.

Custom maps

Used to load fine despite not being hostable unless explicitly moved to data/leveldata/multiplayer/deathmatch from HomeworldRM\Bin\Profiles\levels\ 6e89b2db29f148a1f8f823a0da7acb9d.

Now they just don’t start at all when online. Offline (vs cpu) they load fine. The number/has above is just an example from one of the downloaded maps. As for map tga’s - they have never downloaded with map, so even if we must move the level, the tga is missing.

Out of sync:

Kushan double build menus:

Carrier que: 30 interceptors, 10 scouts, 30 bombers
MS que: similar to carrier

Situation:

Fighter population full and I wan’t to double pump frigates and something else. Since I can shift-que 5 at a time and they don’t automatically go up the que I have to either move them manualy or cancel the stuck fighter que. Opting for cancelling and clicking 30+ times on any one of the quesd fighters in rapid succession drops me with “out of sync” message.

That’s it for now.

PS - Did anyone look at Vaygr interceptors often doing a pirouette in place - I am pretty sure they should be flyng, not rotating. I’ll post a video if I ever get around to fraps since I am seeing it quite often.

2 Likes
#12

Thanks @antibitx, great list. :icecream: for you!

#13

More items:

Diplomacy menu:

Dead people who have left the game sometimes stay on the list and/or get duplicated (diplomacy list lists them 2 or 3 times). On a rear occasion this happens with players who are still alive and kicking.

Gameplay problem:

Docking is bugged. See attached screenies with time stamp. The docking procedure continued once I moved the two squads that docked and came out already. Apparently game was still waiting on them to dock. Notice the time - they were sitting there for a while. Also notice the two vettes already docked and out to the left (relative to your view)

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/38624115545405613/ABC45FFA88143D2B2010D1C256E677D285AB850D/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/38624115545405893/46F22BE0C9690239E1FB5202A74986E42076F1BA/

After I moved the two parked vettes (to dock with ms) docking continued but the dock order included squads not part of the group - the selection is all weird. Also the destroyer info box that popped up has no relation to selection, build or a selected item in build menu (which was on carrier anyway - so destroyers?)

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/38624115545406247/591A8616AB1BDDECFD14F92A179E378EB633D555/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|2048:1280&composite-to=,|2048:1280&background-color=black.

Capture problems - they just dance in that position - it takes a few tries to get the capture process going

#14

Hi antibitx,

Thanks for the diplomacy menu report. :bug: That is also a bit in my circle of interest. If you have more bugs (not related to lobbies and game loading) let’s create new thread. Especially if you have something about space unit in-game behavior. I do not work on that part and I am afraid we could lose your reports in a flow of different issues in this thread. I am simply not sure if this “lobby/loading” thread would be visited by programmers working on unit management and looking for that kind of stuff.

And thanks for your help,
Cefasm :moon:

#15

No problem.

#16

Race selection doesn’t stick:

From game to game sometimes the race I played last is the race displayed when I join a game. More often however, it switches to any other race. Sometimes it switches me to kushan, sometimes to vaygr. Interestingly I don’t think it has ever switched me to Taidan.

1 Like
#17

Top left, next to multiplayer used to display the game name, it doesn’t anymore. Just says Join Game:

1 Like
#18

Custom maps don’t work at all now - this is what happens on trying to join one:

There should not be a need for -mod command at all when joining a map which used to download fine.

#19

Cefasm, thanks for looking into this! Most players seem to have issues with custom maps. Cant wait till they’re fixed.

Are there any log files we can provide you? I can do process monitor and wireshark if those are useful. Also might be easiest to just add some of us on steam (Im cloaked2222) so you can see the crashes yourself first hand.

1 Like
#20

Wasn’t there a crash dump/error log in HW/HW2 at the HW root folder? What happened to that?

Would -luatrace command line work?