[2.2.0] Can't Play multiplayer with more than 3 players

[Macil]

In my case (that I originally posted at drdteam forums, and put a link to in an above post - also right here), multiplayer with more than 2 players does not work at all. Not a clue what the original poster meant as he seemed to drop off the face of the earth, so I guess my case is taking over the topic.

[edward850]

I don't see why it wouldn't be working. Did you setup a proper game using -netmode 1 or did you use your unstable method of using 3 clients on one pc?

[Macil]

Adding "-netmode 1" on the host command line fixed it. (Cool, I can run any number of gzdoom instances on the same computer in the same netgame. Ok, only 8 really but I could up that number in the source.)

I assumed using -host and -join forced the game to user master/client model. Does it switch to peer-to-peer mode by default? I didn't even tell it how to contact the other clients (does the server try to tell each client the IPs of the other clients in netmode 0?).

Guess this is user error then.

[edward850]

Allow me to explain fully zdooms networking method for those who don't understand.

When zdoom starts, it waits for its set amount of players (lets say 3 players). At this point, the host is the master, and the 2 clients are the slaves. Zdoom sets up the game, and launches it. At this point it checks for -netmode.

If -netmode is 0 (or not set), it defults to peer to peer. Each player is the host, which means each player needs a port open depending. Player 1 already has an open port (or the game wouldn't have started), but player 2 or 3 must have an open port as well. In zdoom (while it peer to peer), the rules stands that only one player can have a closed port. If player 2 and 3 both have closed ports, they can't talk to eachother, and the game just dies. In short, peer to peer requires everybody to be talking to everybody.

If -netmode is 1, it defults to master / slave. In this case, only player 1 needs an open port. Although player 2 and 3 exist in the game, they don't need to talk to eachother, but rather, talk to eachother though player 1.

[DMPhobos]

And I am confused by this bug report. Is the problem that 3 players does not work at all or that it is too laggy to be playable?

im sorry, well, once the game starts, sometimes i goes black, but the music plays, but other times the games just freezes as soon it starts,(and since you can look around it's like a huge lag),once the other two players leave, the game starts.
i hope this is usefull, it has prevented me from play multiplayer with 3 players or more

]Not a clue what the original poster meant as he seemed to drop off the face of the earth, so I guess my case is taking over the topic.[/size]

heh, well i think both we have the same trouble

[edward850]

im sorry, well, once the game starts, sometimes i goes black, but the music plays, but other times the games just freezes as soon it starts,(and since you can look around it's like a huge lag),once the other two players leave, the game starts.
i hope this is usefull, it has prevented me from play multiplayer with 3 players or more

Which further proves that player both player 2 and 3 have closed ports (thus, not a bug). That behaviour occurs because player 2 and 3 can't talk to each other so the game goes in standstill, because if you don't get any tic packets, the game stops until it does resulting in you not getting any packets either because their two clients will not proceed.
Either one of them needs to open their port, or you have to set '-netmode 1' in your command line (for reasons explained earlier in this thread).

[DMPhobos]

Which further proves that player both player 2 and 3 have closed ports (thus, not a bug). That behaviour occurs because player 2 and 3 can't talk to each other so the game goes in standstill, because if you don't get any tic packets, the game stops until it does resulting in you not getting any packets either because their two clients will not proceed.
Either one of them needs to open their port, or you have to set '-netmode 1' in your command line (for reasons explained earlier in this thread).

Thank's i will try "-netmode 1", and then i'll post the results

[Ixnatifual]

I've been playing cooperative with 3 players succesfully using GZDoom 1.1.6 through Doom Connector while testing Titan 2. Seemed to work just fine. Same with 2 players (haven't tried more than 3). We did have a couple of freezes on occassion when I tried quick saving the game. But I tried setting the backup packets to be sent as well as only quick-saving at the beginning of a level and didn't have any problems since. Did suffer desync first time through map 7. Seems suddenly they were playing their own game while I was playing mine, although we could see each other running around attacking random walls.

[Guest]

sorry for the long reply, indeed, netmode 1 works
it get's sometime laggy, but i asumme its the host conection, rather than a zdoom problem,
well i guess this is user error then, thank's for the help

[Macil]

Can it be changed so -netmode 1 is default? There is rarely a reason to use -netmode 0, and if a user needs to use it, they can set that option. Plus using the -host and -join parameters would seem to imply using a host/client model (netmode 1) as opposed to a peer-to-peer mode (netmode 0, default).

Also, maybe some sort of informative error message could be displayed when using netmode 0 and the game can't contact all of the peers? Because currently it just stops on a blank screen (or the first frame for the 'host' / player 0) without giving any indication of what's going wrong.

[randi]

I thought I had already set it so packet server mode was the default for four or more players, but looking at the code, I guess I hadn't. Now it is. If everybody's not on the same private network, it's also the default for three player games.