Hi Folks,

I just got a new G5 (dual 1.8GHz, WOOT!!!) and I'm trying to work the bugs out of hosting dedicated servers. In last night's PsychoScrum game (Black Sheep vs. Glamdring) I was hosting when all of a sudden I had a major connection lag for a few seconds, followed by at least 4 other players getting booted from the server. We had to abort the game! Bummer!!! Has this happened to anyone else?

I really want to be able to provide a reliable server, but I need a little help on tracking down the problem. There have also been a couple of time when I set up a server, and then start playing a game on that server when my screen will freeze (I play in full screen mode). The only way out of it was to reboot my whole computer.

Some basic questions:

1. After I start a server, what is the best way to start up TT to play on the same machine? I do this by double-clicking on the "Contents/MacOS/ThinkTanks OSX" file. This opens up another shell in the Terminal and the TT app opens. Is that OK?

2. In order to host a game I usually open a Terminal window and then drag the "Contents/MacOS/ThinkTanks OSX" file into the Terminal window and then append the text string: "-dedicated -mission...." etc.. I noticed this is a bit different than the directions in the read me file. They say you need to change the directory first and type in a slightly differnt string. Could this be my problem?

Any suggestions on how to track this down would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Reagent X

Last edited: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 at 8:05:22 PM

RX, it's a hard thing to diagnose if it's heat related I found out. My problem started during games I hosted but soon showed up in regular game play. 10.3.3 is said by Apple to improve the G5's fan control system. Perhaps this will curtail your bug.

You could send your TT crash log to support@bravetree.com and ask them to take a quick look.

Here's a link for a free GUI for the Apple cpu thermo. You can keep it in the dock and keep an eye on the temperature for your cpu's. It's G5 compatible. You'll have to look into the proper operating temp for your model. Perhaps just keep an eye on things and check after you host a few to see if there's any great difference. My G4 dual runs about 136 - 137 f.

Temp Monitor

Seems like your going through extra steps to host in the dedicated mode. I don't know if its contributing to your problems. I made a copy of my TT app and put the the copy in my home folder. To copy the app just control click on the tank. I launch terminal and enter:

/Users/yournamehere/ThinkTanks copy.app/Contents/MacOS/ThinkTanks OSX -dedicated -mission All -Game TS.

I cant get it to line up here after its space copy. You can also drop the app tank icon on the terminal and it will write the link.

To join I just launch the original copy of the program my Applications folder.

Hope this helps.

Az

Last edited: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 at 8:44:38 PM

I mentioned this elsewhere.. But wouldn't it be cool of some hip Applescripter made a little script that launches dedicated servers? Wouldn't it be cooler if that hipster shared it with the community?

Yes Laggy my thoughts exactly. Where's Mars?

@Az - I will try your suggestion about making a copy of the TT app. Never thought of that! I hope that will do it. I'll also check out my processor temperature. Will test it out tonight and report back!

An applescript is a great idea - seems very do-able...

-RX

Reag-

A couple of notes. First, if your screen freezes, first try using the force quit shortcut to quit out of TT. There is a hidden shortcut to force quit the frontmost app in Panther, which is Cmd-Option-Shift-Esc Careful with this, as it will force quit the frontmost app (TT in this case) without a dialog confirmation, but that's ideal for your situation. Better than force rebooting the whole Mac. If that doesn't work, your Mac may have frozen (unlikely)

Next, your 1st question was one that I asked some weeks back, and it was answered by JamesBomb. Easiest thing to do is launch the TT client (game) FIRST, then run the Terminal command to launch the dedicated server. Yes, you can use the same program executable to run both the client and dedicated server. However, making a copy of the app isn't a bad idea. I've done that myself.

Concerning running the dedicated server, try using the cd command in the terminal to change to the ThinkTanks folder first, then run the line that launches the game. In my case, I have a simple text file with the command that I open and copy/paste into the Terminal once I've changed to the ThinkTanks directory. You can then arrow key back to edit the portion you need. For example, if I want to run a server hosting Frantic maps instead of Lush, I change the GREEN text to RED, etc.

I wish I knew more about running shell commands from within Applescripts, 'cause I'd make one that does exactly that as 56k mentioned.

Hope that helps.

OM

Thanks guys. I'm still getting crashes when I'm hosting :'(

The CPU temp seems fine at 129 degrees F. The crashes seem to occur after the server is up, I join the game, and then about a minute later the screen freezes. The bizarre things is that I can still hear my tank's engine and I can hear my bullets fire when I click the mouse. I can even drive off a cliff and respawn (judging by the sound anyway) while the screen remains frozen. After a minute or so of this the sound stops as well. Even though I am not in full-screen mode, I am not able to cmd-shift-esc or even cmd-opt-shift-esc out of it. The only way out is to reboot. Seems kinda seriously farked! Could it be the video card (GeForce FX5200)?

%$#@%$#!!!!

-RX

Last edited: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 at 12:36:13 AM

Well @$%&!!

You should be generating crash logs. Have Bravetree take a look maybe.

Nice machine btw. I thought yer bullets sounded kinda loud lately!

Az

Could indeed be video card / driver. There is no end of trouble these cards / drivers creates for gamers / hosts.

Well, your client (not the server) is definitely the culprit. Since only your client uses your vid-card, it may be unstable video card drivers. Full-screen has always been something of a hack, so try setting your desktop and TT resolution to match and playing in a window (use CMD-Enter to toggle window mode). This will allow you to bring up the process menu if things freeze (CMD-OPT-ESC). You may be able to kill and restart the client this way. You can start a new client by creating a new terminal window and dragging the TT executable to it. Then add "-windowed &" after it to start a new client.

Do you have any special menubar items or programs that pop-up new windows that are running in the background? It could be that certain programs are conflicting when trying to grab screen real-estate. Running in windowed mode usually prevents this.

Has your Mac ever had the screen freeze on any other full-screen game? It may be that BraveTree has to re-hack things.

- BombJames Bomb

Nvidia video card??? As I said several times before these cards have REALLY aggressive drivers. Try lowering screen resolution for the client just for troubleshooting purposes and see if it still freezes... Also maybe try a newer driver?? Try increasing the client's priority (if u can do it in a mac)

Good luck

Or an older video card driver.. At least on the PC side, some of the new drivers actually slowed TT down. (And all other OpenGL based games.) I had to down grade my drivers to get my framerates back up. Video cards and drivers, oye! What a pain...

Last edited: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 at 3:30:20 AM

Can you just do a "save as" in Terminal and choose "execute this command" (copy/paste your </ThinkTanks copy.app/Contents/MacOS/ThinkTanks OSX -dedicated -mission All -Game TS> stuff) to create a file that will launch your server when double-clicked?

Heh. Thank you Flea B! Works like a charm.

Az

Good suggestions. Here's what I've found so far. The thing that seems to effect this the most is the screen resolution of the client - thanks Bolo! I have a 20" monitor set to max resolution (1680 x 1050). When I normally play TT, I have the in-game resolution set to very high (like 1280 x 800). However, when I am hosting and then I play on the client with this resolution it will eventually crash. When I lower the reolution to (1024 x 640) it doesn't seem to crash -- so far...

I hope this is it. I can live with the lower resolution - it is still full screen, and the radar and chat messages are actually bigger and easier to read. I still need to battlle test this before I will feel ready to host a league game.

Thanks,

-RX

Here are a couple of crash reports I was able to save. I have no idea what this means - any ideas?

Crash1

Crash2

Who should I send these to?

-RX

Last edited: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 at 12:53:07 PM

Cool. Hope it works... Nvidia and their drivers have been on my shit list forever...

Damn! Thought I had it solved, but I still get the occasional crash. I think you're right Bolo about the Nvidia card/driver. I will have to try to swap out the video card...

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for your responses and suggestions.

-RX

Did you try Windowed mode, yet? For me, I hardly notice that it isn't full-screen. I just keep the Resolution Menu Accessory available so I can change resolutions on the fly.

- BombJames Bomb

@JB - I tried typing "-windowed &" appended after the string from dragging the app into Terminal, but it didn't open the app. How is that different than running a second copy of the app in non-full screen mode?

I will try even lower in-game resolution settings, but jees what a pain this is!

Crash logs posted above...

At least I can play TT without hosting or I'd be in serious withdrawl! I do notice a definite improvement in game play with the G5 vs. My G4. The bullets fire more evenly and I can see their trajectories much more smoothly and realisticly. On the G4 it was sort of like unload a clip in someone's general direction and hope for the best. Now I feel like I can time the release of the bullets better.

I'm hoping to solve this hosting problem cuz I really want to be able to host. I was able to host a team scrum game for awhile yesterday with 12 Ri bots - all on the green team. It was insane!! It takes at least 3 determined humans to be able to beat them (they are bots after all)!

-RX

Strange that it didn't open the app. It is the same as running in non-fullscreen mode. The idea is can you escape and kill the client while the server keeps running? I'm trying to determine if it is the server or client that dies.

- BombJames Bomb

Good news!!

I've hosted sveral games and all seems stable. My best guess is that my server and host were interfering with each other. Each work fine alone, but together it crashed. Now what I'm doing is what Az pointed out above. I made a 2nd copy of the TT application (acttually the entire TT folder), put this folder in the top level of my home directory, and renamed the app "ThinkTanksCopy". I then opened terminal and started the dedicated server using this copied app. Then to play the game, I open my original TT app and play.

This sounds obvious in retrospect, but man - there are so many little ways to go wrong. I must have done them all. Woot!

Thanks again to everyone!

-RX