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Lag = Mod?

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Post Sun Sep 19, 2004 3:59 pm

Lag = Mod?

I'm new to the multiplayer feature of Freelancer. For my first play, I selected a server called "Deep Space 9."

OK. I logged onto the server, created a new character, and loaded it. I started out on Planet Manhattan, and launched into space. A nearby player -- just sitting there next to the planet -- asked me to go into cruise mode. I went into cruise mode as I was asked.

I noticed that an image of two computers and a ship -- in red -- appeared near the top of the screen. Since my attempts at sending chat messages weren't being reflected, I could only assume that this meant that there was a connection problem -- lag! (This makes sense to me, since I'm on dial-up.) Still, I was moving in cruise.

I think the image turned yellow and then finally disappeared. This was after a few minutes. Right about that time, I got a whole bunch of chat messages at once -- including what I tried sending earlier -- and a message from the player, asking me again to go into cruise.

A few seconds later, that same player said, "nice mod," and then my ship exploded, for no apparent reason.

What happened?

Post Mon Sep 20, 2004 11:36 am

Hmmm probably an internet problem. This happens on all kinds of servers even the ones without MOD's so its nothing to worry about you just had a bad connection for a while. You should be fine next time you go on

Post Mon Sep 20, 2004 12:12 pm

What happened is very typical when your connection stops for a few seconds. When it opens all those things that were supposed to be transferring back and forth occur. What this player in the game, the one that asked you to cruise, was probably looking for was a cheat. What he would have seen is you go fast in one direction and then suddenly show up again at some point not as far away as the speed you showed in the first place. If this player wasn't familiar with seeing players under lag or what he saw happened to actually look like a cheat, he would call it a cheat. That's what seemed to happen here.

What you see is your system working with the last information and that is cruise in a certain direction. You decide your destiny of your ship but all the other info of everything around you that moves like that other player is determined by them and comes from the FL server. When it all caught up with you the messages appeared all at once the the universe seemed to "wrench" back into position. It certainly is an odd sensation but if you have an intermittant connection (can happen with dial-up or broadband), you'll see it quite often.

As for your question it's possible that player that mentioned you had a nice mod was actually saying you had a cheat. He may have been a server police type character himself and asked you to go into cruise to test if you had a speed mod which is usually considered a cheat on most servers. On some servers the server police run with powerful, invisible, high speed, high refire rate, long distance weaponry which can take you out so fast you won't know what hit you. As in this case. B-) Chances are Omega Chief is right, next time you should be alright.

_____________
Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server
Server community website & forum: EarendilsPlace.net (server rules)

Post Mon Sep 20, 2004 6:02 pm

I see. I suspected something like that might have been the case. It would appear that Freelancer multiplayer isn't very dial-up friendly.

Yes, I did notice that the player I was talking to had the "police" tag in front of his name.

I'll just avoid that server and find one that has people that understand lag.

Post Mon Sep 20, 2004 7:36 pm

Look for a server with the lowest ping and you might be fine. Less than 60 for sure.

Post Tue Sep 21, 2004 3:53 pm

Less than 60.. what? I know you're not talking about the ping, since I mentioned earlier that I'm on a dial-up connection.

Edited by - Reviewer of Time on 9/21/2004 4:54:50 PM

Post Wed Sep 22, 2004 8:36 am

I played for almost a year on 56k, so I know it's difficult but not impossible.
Sort your servers by Ping after filtering out the ones locked or incompatible builds.
Select the lowest ping that has some players on it, pay attenttion to news for rules.
I used to play with like 300 to 500 ping, but this is only part of it. Some servers
with exact same ping could give radically different lag when connected. Keep looking.
Also, make sure to turn off anything which could impact your connection like AIM.
Of course, seach for spyware and viruses too, and latest drivers, etc. etc.

Post Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:55 am

The problem with lagg is that it can actually be used for illegal purposes such as speedhacking. i have seen many online games with people implementing this protocol abuse. even with cheat detectors its quite hard for developers to overcome this hurdle. Is there a safe way that a server can overcome such events?

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