Panther back from the Dead

[pipfromslitherine]

We send up the orders that are given, and the rest of the gameplay code runs as normal in the playback. The problem arises if something happens in a slightly different way (e.g. if something is incorrectly driven by the onscreen view, or by what can be seen by the viewing player, etc) - this can lead to the random calls ending up out of order, which can lead to a different result for anything that uses a random number (such as a hit determination).

These kind of issues are hellish to try and track down - but I am working on trying to see why we are seeing a spike in occurances.

Cheers

Pip

[Brummbar44]

This really needs to be addressed...it simply spoils an otherwise good game.

It just happened again...I had destroyed my opponents hetzer and panther which would've made for an interesting conclusion to the game only to have them come back and destroy my tanks (which, figuring the trouble was past, moved on).

This seems to occur at least once every time I play...very frustrating and makes me hesitant to get into any games at all.

[pipfromslitherine]

That is very much more often than we have seen it in the past. Have you altered your main game data at all? I am guessing not, as it checks, but I have to ask.

What platform(s) are you playing on?

Cheers

Pip

[Brummbar44]

I haven't altered my main game data...don't know how.

I'm playing on a mac, os 10.6 if that helps.

Thanks Pip, I appreciate the effort and hope you can correct it soon...I really do enjoy this game and think that's why I get so frustrated when it happens.

[pipfromslitherine]

Do you happen to know the platform your opponent in this game (as an example) is on?

Cheers

Pip

[Brummbar44]

Sorry, no. It certainly isn't exclusive to any one opponent though, it happens with almost everyone...mainly with the Merr random scenarios but has also occurred in the regular scenarios as well.

[pipfromslitherine]

I think I may have spotted something. I will dig into it.

Cheers

Pip

[pipfromslitherine]

OK, just to keep you guys in the loop: I have dug down into this some more, and I think the new influx of players, many because of the iPad publicity, has gotten a lot more people playing, which is awesome, but has thrown into sharp relief that the current replay system, which relies on the games playing out in the same way on each machine, isn't going to be sustainable. I have a task on my list to change the way it works, but after spending the afternoon digging through CPU/FPU documentation, I don't think that I can force everything to play out the same way with 100% certainty - not least because OSX crashes in a huff if you change the FPU precision mode, PCs change mode on a whim, and the iPad uses an entirely different CPU with it's own slightly different errors in IEEE implementation... .

So I am going to make the MP replay upgrade my #1 priority. Please bear in mind that anything MP can take a while to get right, and we then need to roll out the update across all the platforms to keep everyone in sync - so it's not going to be an overnight fix. But it seems to have become more than just a very infrequent occurance and so we will focus on it.

Cheers

Pip

[Brummbar44]

Awesome Pip, thanks much. It's the only issue with an otherwise outstanding game.

Hope you can fix it without too much fuss.

[rends]

I'm not sure if this belongs to this thread but my son and me ran into trouble using airstrikes. He plays on Pc while i do it on my iPad but we both noticed that we called airstrikes that never happened.
Instead of strafing or bombing ( this or next round) the airstrike is selectable again after one turn like we never touched it.
I would say it happen in one of ten airstrikes when on multiplayer. Single missions are fine.

[pipfromslitherine]

Hmm - that is very odd. I will check into it. If you have an example mission that this has occured on that would be very useful. I don't recall it being reported before.

Cheers

Pip

[rends]

Happened in 'Dorf im Winter' (Winter village?) we played this afternoon.