Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Close Combat - Panthers in the Fog: Tech Support

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davebrowett
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Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Hi,

Recently (I think since November 2013) my PC has started to use 100% CPU when playing CC Panthers in the Fog in multiplayer mode. This makes it slow and unplayable. looking back at previous forum posts I see that a few people had a similar problem about a year ago and your advice was to use v1.0.1. I am using this latest version so what is your advice now?

Thanks,
Dave B
SteveMcClaire
Matrix
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by SteveMcClaire »

Hi Dave,

Did you change anything else about your computer during that time? If you have not made a change to the game but it's behavior has changed I suspect the cause may be elsewhere. About the only time a high CPU usage should occur is when the game is transferring game files between the host and client. And this should end as soon as the transfer is complete. So we'll probably need to do some troubleshooting to try and locate the source of the problem.

When do you see the 100% CPU usage? As soon as you join the lobby? At other game screens such as the Strategic map or Battle group screens? Only during battles?

Are you hosting or joining the multi-player game? You might try switching with your opponent to see if this has any bearing on the CPU usage.

Do you have any other network-related programs running at the same time (streaming video, chat programs like Skype, etc)? If so please try turning these off and see if it makes a difference.

Thanks,

Steve
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Thanks Steve - some useful things to check. I think the CPU goes 100% as soon as we've selected a battle but I'll check. I am joining a game so I could try hosting to see if that helps. My friend and I switched back to Last Stand Arnhem and that works fine. we do use Skype at the same time but only have recently encountered issues with Panthers in the Fog. I've tried it on both a desktop PC with 4 Gig RAM running Win 7 and a laptop with 2 Gig RAM running Win 8 and they both had CPU at 100% so it's not a particular machine/config.

Thanks,
Dave B
SteveMcClaire
Matrix
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by SteveMcClaire »

Thanks Dave,

If you can give me a more specific point at which the CPU maxes out I can look into it further. As I said, there are some big chunks of data being exchanged, but this should 'calm down' after the data has been transferred. So if you see a CPU spike as soon as the host selects the game and you both transition off the multi-player lobby to the next screen, it is probably related to the initial data transfer. This is odd as the game can't continue if this transfer doesn't complete, and once this transfer is complete the CPU usages should normally go back to idle.

Are you and your opponent using the 'direct connection' method from the lobby (this should display above the game info on the multi-player screen once you're both connected)?

Steve
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Hi Steve,

The problem happens the moment a connection is made in the Lobby, it's continuous, not a spike and my CPU is maxed from there on. Even just sitting in the lobby takes up about 70% CPU - I can't understand why. Can you provide more guidance as to how the direct connection works - do we need to open any ports beforehand? The problem occurs whether I or my opponent host the game.

Thanks,
Dave
SteveMcClaire
Matrix
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by SteveMcClaire »

Dave,

Yes, the hosting player must allow incoming TCP connections on port 1944, and the joining player has to allow outgoing connections on the same port (not usually an issue). The game automatically tries to connect this way and falls back on the lobby connection if this fails. If the direct connection works you should see the text "Direct Connection" above the game parameters on the multi-player screen.

Steve
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Thanks Steve - we'll try getting the direct connection to work

Dave
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Steve - we've tried configuring as you suggested but we got various errors or it resorted to the Lobby connection.

Sometimes a message "user has disconnected" appeared - even though neither of us had

Once I saw the following error

"Close Combat encountered an internal error at address 0x479702 and will now exit
Game Version: 2013.3.12.1"

The whole thing seems very flakey - I'm not sure how many other gamers have got this to work and what has happened to the Lobby Connection to force us to perform these connectivity experiments but I wouldn't be able to recommend this release as being "reliable" - btw my day job is an IT Project Manager so I'm not afraid of getting into the technical details, but this seems just too unreliable to continue to experiment with.

Regards,
Dave
SteveMcClaire
Matrix
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by SteveMcClaire »

Hi Dave,

That sounds frustrating to be sure. I am happy to keep working with you to try and resolve the issue. False disconnect messages are not something that's been reported by other users, and using the direct connection method should just be a matter of opening the game port for incoming connections on the host. At a guess it sounds like some data might be getting lost in transit between you and your opponent, but that's just my guess based on what you're seeing (unpredictable behavior).

Steve
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Steve - yesterday evening we played Last Stand Arnhem with no problems at all so I don't think it is a network/connection issue. Looking in my email I can see that I bought Panthers in the Fog back in March last year and for several months the game played fine but for some reason whenever I try multiplayer now my CPU goes to 100%. Its a pity - Panthers has got a lot of good improvements but playing it is not an option since whatever change happened so reverting back to playing Last Stand Arnhem seems the best way to use our precious gaming time!

Feel free to let me know if you find anything else to try

Thanks,
Dave
SteveMcClaire
Matrix
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by SteveMcClaire »

The odd part about this issue is that you saw a change in behavior with the game when the game itself did not change. Which is why I suspect something external (network, operating system, hardware, etc) is related to the problem. The CPU usage during multi-player will typically be quite high, but this is really the first case I've heard of where it was making the game unplayable.

Also, the way networking is done in Last Stand Arnhem and Panthers in the Fog (using the direct connection open) is very close to identical. You should be seeing largely the same behavior if you can get a direct connection with your opponent using Panthers in the Fog.

I will look into it and see if I can see anything has been done on the lobby side that might be effecting it and let you know. That's about the only other thing that could have been changed, though to my knowledge it has not been.

Steve
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Thanks Steve - we have no problem getting a lobby connection so if that didn't send my CPU to 100% we would be fine using this, let me know if you find any change that could account for this.

Dave
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Steve - we've tried everything and still no success

Our gaming sessions have been reduced to trial-and-error "can you connect if I open up all ports" - a ridiculous thing to do for more than a test - and still it ends up with a Lobby connection.

Looking on the net for clues I see that there was a similar post on the Matrix Games site http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3555369
It looks like they sorted out their problem - whereas we've not been able to.

So this has defied all of our attempts to use Panthers - I hope the next release doesn't use this annoying Lobby system - I certainly won't buy it if it does

Dave
SteveMcClaire
Matrix
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by SteveMcClaire »

Hi Dave,

We are continuing to look into this, but I wanted to give you something to try that might help, or at least help shed light on the problem.

Another user has reported problems similar to what you describe, but only if he does not let the forum information load completely before he connects to his opponent. Normally this only takes a second but for this user it was taking substantially longer and seemed related to slower data transfers later on.

We have pruned the match-making forums and made some other tweaks as a temporary measure, but if you're still willing to work with this, please check and let me know if waiting for the forum to load completely on both player's multi-player screen has any bearing on what you're seeing.

Thanks,

Steve
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

OK Steve - thanks for the suggestion, we'll try it and let you know how it goes

Thanks,
Dave
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Steve - no luck, we tried your suggestion and it took longer to connect but after 1-2 mins we still have a Lobby Connection. We used to use the Lobby connection last year and it worked fine until about November but now it hammers the CPU for some reason - either at your end or ours. Thankfully there is a mod for LSA so we'll play that instead.

I hope you allow direct connections with Gateway to Caen - it would be a real pity if that game suffers the same H2H problems as Panthers...

Cheers,
Dave
SteveMcClaire
Matrix
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by SteveMcClaire »

Thank you for testing that for me. I will keep you posted as we continue to investigate the issue.

Steve
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Hi Steve,

Hope you're well. It's a year on since I reported this issue - I was wondering whether you were any the wiser as to lobby problems and whether there will be a patch for PitF anytime soon? I saw other posts about Lobby problems with both PitF and GtC so I'm hoping you have a good idea of the problems now.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3424347 (Lobby is HORRIBLE!)
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3424347 (Investigating Multi-player Issues)

My friend and I never got PitF to work after the problem I reported so we ended up playing the GJS mod for LSA which has been very reliable, connecting quickly and with not many crashes. So I feel like I've got my moneys worth from LSA and it would be great now if we could use PiTF.

Cheers,
Dave B
SteveMcClaire
Matrix
Matrix
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by SteveMcClaire »

Dave,

A number of issues have been addressed in Gateway to Caen, and at some point these updates will also be carried back to Panthers in the Fog. I was never able to reproduce the 100% CPU usage you were seeing, however, so I cannot say if this will address the problem you were seeing. Do you happen to have Gateway to Caen?

Thanks,

Steve
davebrowett
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Re: Multiplayer issues - 100% CPU using latest version 1.0.1

Post by davebrowett »

Hi Steve, I didn’t buy Gateway to Caen as it uses the lobby system and I’m not going to buy any game that has this. We tried Panthers again and my CPU went to 100% so this issue still occurs (and likely would happen with Gateway to Caen).

So we’ll stick with Last Stand Arnhem (which works with a reliable direct connection).

Thanks,
Dave
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