Optimizing CnCNet Gaming Experience at Cleats Bar and Grille

[Mr Ruky]

Hello CnCNet Community,

I'm encountering a unique issue that I hope some of you might help me solve. At Cleats Bar and Grille (https://www.cleatsbarandgrille.com), we've been hosting weekly game nights where patrons enjoy classic C&C games via CnCNet. It's been a great way to relive the nostalgia and enjoy good food and company.

However, we've hit a snag. When multiple customers connect to CnCNet from our Wi-Fi, we often experience connectivity issues or lags, which doesn't happen when there's just a single connection. This problem is unique to our CnCNet sessions, as our internet handles large traffic smoothly otherwise.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues in a similar setting? Any suggestions on how to optimize our network for smoother CnCNet gaming would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your help!

Edited January 11, 2024 by Mr Ruky
Fixed a sentence

[[CC] RaVaGe]

Why not use the LAN network option?

[Grant]

16 hours ago, Mr Ruky said:

Hello CnCNet Community,

I'm encountering a unique issue that I hope some of you might help me solve. At Cleats Bar and Grille (https://www.cleatsbarandgrille.com), we've been hosting weekly game nights where patrons enjoy classic C&C games via CnCNet. It's been a great way to relive the nostalgia and enjoy good food and company.

However, we've hit a snag. When multiple customers connect to CnCNet from our Wi-Fi, we often experience connectivity issues or lags, which doesn't happen when there's just a single connection. This problem is unique to our CnCNet sessions, as our internet handles large traffic smoothly otherwise.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues in a similar setting? Any suggestions on how to optimize our network for smoother CnCNet gaming would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your help!

I'd make sure you're using a tunnel server that is close to you for one. When you create a game and select "Advanced options", look for a tunnel with a low ping, and probably an official tunnel as not all are that great.

Next I'd double check all of your PC's are correctly setup - are the renderers all correct for the different PC's? Check skirmish doesn't lag etc etc. 
Info on that here: https://forums.cncnet.org/topic/6866-frequently-asked-questions/#comment-53290

[kimkorton998]

On 1/12/2024 at 12:13 AM, Mr Ruky said:

Hello CnCNet Community,

I'm encountering a unique issue that I hope some of you might help me solve. At Cleats Bar and Grille (https://www.cleatsbarandgrille.com), we've been hosting weekly game nights where patrons enjoy classic C&C games via CnCNet. It's been a great way to relive the nostalgia and enjoy good food and company.

However, we've hit a snag. When multiple customers connect to CnCNet from our Wi-Fi, we often experience connectivity issues or lags, which doesn't happen when there's just a single connection. This problem is unique to our CnCNet sessions, as our internet handles large traffic smoothly otherwise.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues in a similar setting? Any suggestions on how to optimize our network for smoother CnCNet gaming would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your help!

I am also encountering the same issue, and your description really resonated with me because I’ve run into nearly the exact same situation when trying to host group C&C games through CnCNet on a shared network. Everything works perfectly when one or two devices are connected, but as soon as multiple players try to join in from the same Wi-Fi, the connectivity becomes unstable, with frequent lag spikes and disconnections. The strangest part is that the rest of our internet usage  streaming, browsing, or even other multiplayer games  runs without any hiccups, which makes it even more confusing to troubleshoot.

In my case, I’ve noticed that it seems to be tied to how CnCNet handles peer-to-peer traffic and port assignments. When multiple clients are sitting behind the same router, the NAT and port forwarding can clash, causing packets to get dropped or misrouted. I’ve tried tinkering with router settings like enabling UPnP, manually forwarding ports, and even separating devices onto different SSIDs, but the results have been inconsistent at best.

I’m beginning to think this is less of a raw bandwidth problem and more of a network configuration/NAT traversal issue. Some folks have suggested that using wired connections instead of Wi-Fi, or assigning static IPs to each device and matching them with unique port rules, can reduce conflicts. I’ve also heard that using a VPN configured for each device can sometimes bypass the local NAT issues, but I haven’t tested that thoroughly yet. Please assist as I am not a techie