Reconnection error - asking for help

[semmelbroesel]

Hi. I was so happy to find out about CNCNet because my wife and I used to play RA2 together 20 years ago, and now we can do that again ?

Sadly, we received the dreaded Reconnection Error after a few games.

We are both on Windows 10, fairly recent gaming laptops, very high-powered WiFi.

I installed RA2 and YR from the First Decade DVD, then updated the games using the patch file "tfd-103-rev4.exe" that I had found a few years back (which includes a No CD Patch).

Then I installed CNCNet for YR and let it do its updates.

On another computer, I had read-only troubles, so I installed the games into C:\Games instead of Program Files.

We were playing a few maps in LAN mode without issues until just now. This last map was Malaboo Bay. We had 6 Easy AI opponents. We do not intend to play online.

If I installed the wrong patch for the game, please kindly send me a link to a better patch.

Otherwise, please advise on how I can fix this.

Thanks!

SYNC_CNCNET0.TXT

[throstur]

Hello. Without a second sync_cncnet0.txt to compare it to, there's not much we can advise you on. What you want is two sync files from the same game and to see how they are out of sync. You can use a tool such as `diff` for that. Reconnection errors happen when two clients disagree about the state of the game, so it is more likely to happen under the following circumstances that can "create uncertainty":

• One player is using a trainer (cheats) but changes something that might affect another player, or performs an action that another client knows is illegal
• At least one of the players are on wifi and a dropped packet is picked up out-of-order but processed (this is a working hypothesis, but seems that wifi users can have reconnection errors for no other reason)
• The runtime is not exactly the same between players, could be a version mismatch, botched patch, even a map bug that doesn't crash normally but the players have different stacks due to ASLR and one player disagrees on the state with another player (or one player crashes)
• One of the players experienced a net split to the tunnel, that was resolved but some packets were missing or counted twice (not 100% sure about this one but "identical" games on different tunnels do seem to affect reconnection issue prevalence, seems also that the game's tunnel will have changed in the lobby sometimes when this kind of recon error happens)

So, long story short, it can happen for many reasons, but it's almost always a regular old desync caused by some unprescribed variance. Using LAN cables and diddling with /framesendrate might help you in your situation, but your mileage may vary.

[Ezer_2000]

Try to pick different tunnel server. Without players online and with good ping. Some tunnel servers causes Reconn. errors. I guess number of players increasing chance of RE due to higher server load.

[semmelbroesel]

Thanks for your replies.

I did not know that both sides of the sync file were needed. I'll provide it next time it happens.

I'm FAIRLY certain it has nothing to do with tunnel servers since we only play in LAN ?

It's only the two of us. We are both on gaming laptops. I installed RA2 and YR on both computers the same way - using the TFD DVD, each with their own serial numbers. Then I installed the patch that I mentioned, then I installed CNCNet, updated CNCNet, and that's it. We have a few custom maps, and I copied those over from a shared drive as well as the patch.

So both games should be 100% identical.

My WiFi router is pretty powerful and should be able to handle this, but I do have a lot of WiFi enabled devices, so I might try CAT5 cables.

I do remember having had Reconnection Errors already 22 years ago and 15 years ago when we used to play the original, and back then we were on regular computers on a wired network.

Is it possible that the patch I used has introduced a networking bug? I posted another question about which patch is the best to use (it has one answer that I haven't checked yet).

I'm sure none of us cheat - we have self-made and edited maps in which the oil derrick money is raised to extreme heights, but we have the same version of the map, and we have had the reconnection error on the basic maps that came with the game and CNCNet.

I'll wait for it to happen again and will send the sync files from both computers.

Thanks!