Partial Disconnects

[Kazander]

Something new is wrong.

All three of my players got 'disconnected' last night (message in the Chat window to that effect, and they no longer show in the participants list).

Yet, they were still connected. They could see/make die rolls, move figures and see other movements.

I've had this periodically happen to a single player before, but never all three at a time. And if they reconnected, it happened again. To me it suggests there may be something wrong with the new client ping code, but you're the expert.

[heruca]

It's entirely possible that there is something wrong with the ping code.

In your session, did the disconnects happen right after a long activity, such as the auto-loading of an external media bundle, perhaps with a large map? Or loading of a server-based map?

[Kazander]

I don't recall noticing that, no.

I'll try to look for that though in the future.

[TRIAD4Evr]

Guys- I had the same thing with 1.7e- all night long there were rotating disconnects that weren't really disconnects. There were also some Script Errors but I can't tell you for sure what the specific trigger was- maybe changing characters in the turn sequencer or something... I did also get a couple Director Player errors... and when I sent some audio, it caused script errors on somewhat random players.

The good news? With 1.7e the guy with the license of his own that always ends up dropping and then can't reconnect cuz it says his license is in use had no trouble reconnecting when he dropped, assuming he really dropped, as halfway through the night, we discovered the same thing as above- it says you are disconnected only you can still move figures and such. It didn't seem to be after anything long- just as the night went on, sometimes following a die roll. Now, granted, just figuring out what you are doing each turn takes a little time with my group, so maybe that's it- they seemed to be idle cuz they were talking to me via Vent and figuring their moves, only they weren't actually idle...

We only used one map most of the night, and little to no loading of new figures. No server based maps or anything, either. Mostly it seemed to be around cycling the turn sequencer and right after die macros (mostly d100 or some small number of d10s).

Also, one player, the Windows 7 guy, couldn't get the patch to unzip right- it showed up as blank for file contents, so I had to ship him the patch files one at a time through Dropbox.

[1MGSIX]

Having tried the demo and testing connections with 4 people I saw this problem as well and was wondering if I should purchase the program at all. That and the random crashes that the host got. Just a couple but enough to ask the question "What if this happens during the game ? Will our progress be saved or will we have to restart the whole encounter ?" Any way I guess the question I have is, Is there a more stable version we should use?

[TRIAD4Evr]

Well I've been a purchaser for quite some time, with five floating licenses to my name, so despite the random warts here and there, it's still the best virtual tabletop out there for running a wide range of games- there might be better DnD specific VTTs out there, etc, but they don't generalize if you wanna play DnD one week and GURPS the next.

You'll still get a script error or two every so often but it usually isn't game-ending, and even if it crashes outright, every time you move to the next player's turn with the turn sequencer, it saves your progress, and it's merely a matter of loading the autosave to pick right up where you left off.

The big thing I would add is Heruca listens to the users and this is probably the only VTT out there where if there's a feature you'd like to see, and you share it, it will likely get implemented. And there are updates and fixes for new issues coming out all the time. So I can't recommend Battlegrounds RPG Edition strongly enough!

[heruca]

Welcome, 1MGSIX.

Having tried the demo and testing connections with 4 people I saw this problem as well and was wondering if I should purchase the program at all.

BRPG v1.7e contains some new networking code designed to help notify the GM if a user has been disconnected, and to make it easier for a disconnected user to rejoin the game session. It's entirely possible that something is wrong with this new code, which is why I released this as a beta.

I would really rather avoid new users basing their purchase/evaluation decision being off trying a beta release. As a developer, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I release new versions as closed betas, I won't get enough feedback from users as to whether new features are working properly or not. Yet, if I make these open betas, I risk having people come to the conclusion that the program doesn't work or is buggy if a beta release proves to have a bug or two. The best I can do is clearly mark the beta releases as such.

I suggest you use either BRPG v1.6m (the official release, available here), or BRPG v1.7c (which is also a beta, but has no major issues reported, and is available in a convenient Full Install format).

BRPG's autosave feature is highly configurable, so if a serious bug should manifest during a real game session, you shouldn't lose much, if any, progress; it's simply a matter of re-loading the last autosave file and resuming the session, or, at worst, of relaunching BRPG and then doing the above.

[TRIAD4Evr]

While we are talking about the disconnects- is there a way to configure the "ka-slam" door sound it makes when it thinks a user has disconnected? That darned thing makes me jump every time it goes off, and, man, it goes off a lot in the current build. Granted, if the ping code gets straightened out, this won't be needed... but in the meantime... yikes!

And to the poster above- I can't recommend Battlegrounds highly enough- I have used a number of VTTs in my day- this one is as close to the actual tabletop gaming experience as I've ever seen! Nobody beats it for generalized gaming!

[TRIAD4Evr]

Any word on a fix for the ping code? Just saw it again tonight- the player appeared to log off after some minutes of idle time, but they were not actually D/Ced...

[heruca]

Sorry, I haven't found the time to work on the fix. Will try to do so soon, perhaps by next weekend.

[TRIAD4Evr]

Okay, it's annoying but not game breaking- I did see a script error pop up before two people D/Ced at once on a map change.

[TRIAD4Evr]

Anything on this? Gonna be running this weekend again and sure could do without the annoyances!

[heruca]

I've not been able to fix the issue yet. Until I do, I suggest you install the attached file, which is essentially identical to v1.7e except that it has the pinging system effectively disabled.

ONLY GMs/hosts need this file (players don't). ONLY install this if you have already updated to BRPG v1.7e.

1. Download the attached file.
2. Unzip the file.
3. Quit BRPG, if it is currently running.
4. Place the file in your BRPG/Support Files" folder, overwriting the existing "Map.dxr" file.
5. Launch BRPG

[TRIAD4Evr]

Well I tried it but there were some odd spikes in lag, so halfway through the session I switched back to the other version. Naturally the lag issues seemed to affect my player with his own license among others, so it was pretty much the lesser of two evils. The issues could easily have easily been unrelated to the new code but I hadn't seen them before, so I switched just to be safe. I may be playing again this upcoming weekend, so I will have to decide by then which way to go for the next session.

[TRIAD4Evr]

So... the new official release... does it have this bug or not? I'm trying to figure out which version I should be using...

[heruca]

The official release (v1.7d) does not have the network ping code, so it does not suffer from this bug, which is about false-positive disconnect reporting.

You should either use the official release or v1.7e with the add-on patch I offered.

In any case, it won't make a difference insofar as keeping your player connected if they have an unstable connection.

[TRIAD4Evr]

Well it was never an unstable connection on their end- it was a script error kicking them, and then their license wasn't being released so the guy couldn't reconnect to my game without me resetting my hosting... the new 1.7e ping code seemed to be misreading long turns and thinking other players weren't connected, which, in turn, caused some oddness with the Turn Sequencer since they could still move their figure on the map and roll dice despite allegedly being disconnected...

[heruca]

Would you like to swap a Floating License to give that player a Player Client license? Would that help matters at all?

[TRIAD4Evr]

No that's the problem. He has his own personal license. And when a script error crashes him (seems to only happen in connection with sound files being sent or a very occasional die roll), his license doesn't get freed up and he can't reconnect to my game unless I completely disconnect and rehost. All my players that use my floating licenses work just fine if they crash.

[Case]

I also have had this issue, since I have floating licenses it's only inconvenient.
I will try and switch everyone back and see if it goes free and clear.
Nonetheless.. my first 2 sessions were awesome heruca (even with this)!!

If you would like for me to test anything further just let me know!

Case

[TRIAD4Evr]

Last session using the latest beta but with the special XP mod to disable the ping code, everything went fine, but my friend that has the issue also did not crash throughout the session. But I also didn't send any audio files, either, which seemed to be what caused him to explode. I think he has dice roll animation turned off now, too, which seemed to be throwing errors sometimes as well. I will be upgrading to Windows 7 real soon, though, so maybe that will solve everything. I will be switching my secondary drive for my main drive when I install Windows 7, so I will probably need a new keycode for my GM edition.