Tips to keep multiplayer desync from happening?

[xor1337]

Right now, I'm trying to play multiplayer on just TWO computers over a LAN. We are using an exact copy of the folder between the two machines, and were are using the version 0.0.5.0-develop-cbd64af-windows-x64.

Even with these ideal conditions, we get multiplayer desync constantly.  Sometimes immediately after joining server, sometimes up to maybe 5 min of game play.

What is the most stable version of ORCT2 for multiplayer desync?

Are there some tricks to make it more stable? Maybe some graphics settings or other settings to change?  I think I noticed that if you uncap FPS it gets way worse.

Please help, This project is amazing and multiplayer is a lot of fun, if it works.

Thank you.

 

*edit, I'm not being disconnected, but weird things happen after desync. Rides show up broken on one computer but not the other.  Changes made don't show up in both computers (ride names/ people's names/ new construction).  If desync is un-fixable, can there at least be a "resync" button, rather than going back to main menu?

Edited December 6, 2016 by xor1337

[imlegos]

Desync's just a fact of life.

If you're being disconnected because of it uncheck "Disconnect after desync"

[YoloSweggLord]

Desync is way less serious that many people seem to think. All it means that the park between the affected client and the server isn't exactly the same, and this is usually due to minor randomized factors such as coaster speed loss and peep positioning. Theoretically, the randomization systems should give the same output for being under the exact same conditions, but this is not always the case in practice. Just ignore the desync message and keep playing.

[jensj12]

The RNG (random number generator) is synced across the network, so everything should be exactly the same. As long as the RNG remains in a synced state, the game remains synced (if not, the RNG will go out of sync soon). If it's out of sync, the guests walk in different positions and money can be slightly off. Anything built by players will remain synced.

[PukeManagement]

Unfortunately, desyncs are more serious than that.  I'm playing with my daughter over the local network, and she gets desync messages often, usually within a few minutes.  When they occur, litter and puke shows up everywhere (who knows what the handymen are doing over there), benches get broken, and the park rating plummets.  Mind you, this is only on her computer; everything looks peachy on mine.  It happens within ten minutes of play.

DON'T get me wrong, folks: this project is great.  I just want to make sure it's understood that desynchronization is 1) common and 2) a fairly big pain in the butt.

Edited February 10, 2017 by PukeManagement
clarification of local computer impact.

[cascadia]

4 hours ago, PukeManagement said:

Unfortunately, desyncs are more serious than that.  I'm playing with my daughter over the local network, and she gets desync messages often, usually within a few minutes.  When they occur, litter and puke shows up everywhere (who knows what the handymen are doing over there), benches get broken, and the park rating plummets.  Mind you, this is only on her computer; everything looks peachy on mine.  It happens within ten minutes of play.

DON'T get me wrong, folks: this project is great.  I just want to make sure it's understood that desynchronization is 1) common and 2) a fairly big pain in the butt.

I'm guessing this is happening because you're hiring staff after you start the network game.  Staff hiring after starting the game over the network doesn't work well, so I suggest hiring all the staff you need on the game on just your computer first, then load the saved game as a multiplayer game. 

[janisozaur]

I thought we have fixed the staff desync?

There are surely other sources, which we try to track down and fix, there are also, unfortunately, false positives sometimes.

Desyncs as general class of bugs are hard to get figured out and fixed and they are by no means equal. Some may initially be tiny, others may be much more telling. Eventually, the small differences will snowball into big changes in all cases.

[PukeManagement]

On 2/10/2017 at 01:33, cascadia said:

I'm guessing this is happening because you're hiring staff after you start the network game.  Staff hiring after starting the game over the network doesn't work well, so I suggest hiring all the staff you need on the game on just your computer first, then load the saved game as a multiplayer game. 

Oh.  Well... hiring a bunch of staff right up front is problematic for scenarios with limited cash (which is the majority of them), as well as requiring that you've got pretty much everything, everywhere planned out from rides to paths right from the get-go... and boy, that's just not realistic for a player of my class.    Organic growth guided by is the name of the game

You know, when a desync is detected, how hard would making a 'reconnect' button available on that dialog be?  Since figuring out how to fix the problem entirely seems to be quite a ways away, maybe making recovery from it easier is a quick win.

[cascadia]

45 minutes ago, PukeManagement said:

Oh.  Well... hiring a bunch of staff right up front is problematic for scenarios with limited cash (which is the majority of them), as well as requiring that you've got pretty much everything, everywhere planned out from rides to paths right from the get-go... and boy, that's just not realistic for a player of my class.    Organic growth guided by is the name of the game

You know, when a desync is detected, how hard would making a 'reconnect' button available on that dialog be?  Since figuring out how to fix the problem entirely seems to be quite a ways away, maybe making recovery from it easier is a quick win.

 

Typically most multiplayer servers use custom sandboxes that either have cash turned off or have cheated to have tons of cash; hence my suggested solution.  Servers typically don't use scenarios. 

[Hayertjez]

I experience desyncs even within the new updates. Is there a possibility to help fix these problems? I find it quite annoying when me and my girlfriend are playing a scenario. 

[Daimyo21]

On 11/3/2017 at 13:00, Hayertjez said:

I experience desyncs even within the new updates. Is there a possibility to help fix these problems? I find it quite annoying when me and my girlfriend are playing a scenario. 

I recently experimented with different methods of hosting etc. and came up with this solution I outlined in this post:

 

Let me know if you find the same success