FSX on Gamespy

[Guest rightnumberone]

Is it just me, or is this suckitude? Lots of lockups.

[timest 472]

huh?Tim

[Guest rightnumberone]

Well, let me rephrase:I'm flying FSX in multi-player mode using GameSpy. I'm finding that it pretty much blows chunks. I'm wondering if it's just me, or has anyone else found this to be a pleasant experience?

[tf51d 284]

>Well, let me rephrase:>>I'm flying FSX in multi-player mode using GameSpy. I'm finding>that it pretty much blows chunks. I'm wondering if it's just>me, or has anyone else found this to be a pleasant>experience?I'm still confused, is the issue performance, stability, both??

[Guest abulaafia]

now try again in English please

[Guest Tingoose]

Whatever you mean, I like the word 'suckitude'. That's a new one on me and its meaning seems to be self-explanatory.

[Guest rightnumberone]

OK,Having spent most of the night playing (first time) multiplayer on GameSpy, here's what I mean:1) FSX is unable to stay connected for any length of time to GameSpy. Why? I have no idea really, but it appears that GameSpy sucks and is spewing its suckitude all over FSX. Why Microsoft, a company with literally billions of dollars spent on R&D, can't afford a few FSX servers to host its own sessions, and would rather partner with a company that does nothing but make them look bad, is beyond my comprehension.Does GameSpy run XBox360's shared gamespace (I really don't know)? But I wonder why a 25-year franchise requires a 3rd party gamespace provider that can't keep folks connected and is constantly nagging me for my email address so that I can be spammed.2) Now ... to the UI suckitude: Enter a multiplayer lobby and just sit there for a few minutes. Now, attempt, I dare you, to click on the servers in the list to ponder which you'd like to enter. It's nigh impossible, as the list is refreshed every 2 seconds. Try it yourself. You will come to know where the term "suckitude" originated. I invented this word after fruitlessly attempting to click on a particular server for about 5 minutes; but couldn't because the list keeps jumping around.3) More UI issues: It seems to me that if I'm going to join a hosted session that has a tower, that the tower should be REQUIRED to specify in the lobby what its freakin frequency is. But the host of the session isn't required to specify what the tower frequency is (or ground, or ATIS, etc.) The very first thing EVERY SINGLE player does is a comm check, and because they usually have no idea what frequency the tower is on thanks to the UI not allowing the tower to specify this in the session setup, the comm checks get broadcast to all frequencies by use of the Shift-CapsLock maneuver. This clutters all frequencies and creates a DDOS situation. The "create host" options should include the option of specifying freqs as part of the session settings; and this info should be in the lobby. (Some hosts have compensated by including freq's in the comments ... spotty at best.)4) Searching for appropriate sessions: Can't be done because of the jumpiness of the list, but even if the list would sit still for longer than 1500 miliseconds ... it's still barely functional. The player should be able to filter the list of hosts to EXCLUDE a) locked sessions for which a password is required :( "pro" sessions where pilots are expected to adhere to FAA-like ATC rules c) sessions at foreign airports where the tower does not even speak English d) sessions that do/do not support voice, e) host sessions that are too latent to be even considered playable f) by VFR/IFR conditions g) by day/night setting5) Cancel Buttons. Hit cancel a few times in the multiplayer UI, and you'll see what I mean. Some programming loop occurs that is so time consuming that the game appears frozen (it probably isn't, but it appears that way.)So ... that's just from my first few frustrating howers of experience. This is not an exhaustive list of suckitude; but indicitive of the frustration to come, I suppose.Having said that ... once I did find a session that was fast enough, had a tower, had an English-speaking tower, had a competent tower, was in VFR conditions, in daylight and I actually got permission to operate my craft in that pattern ... it was FUN AS ####.Great idea. Poor hosting partner. Undeveloped UI. It's a shame it's so much work to get to the fun part.

[Guest Shalomar]

I have had much more success with it. Selecting a session in the Free Flight lobby is a bear; the other lobbies are much better (such as flight training and Helicopter ops). A trick that works is to highlight a session as far down as you can scroll before it refreshes; you can than make your way to the bottom. The sessions on top are usually the fastest.If you find a session you like, consider adding the host to your friend's list to make them easier to find again (or any competent controller if they are not the host). Right click on the person's name to request it, either in the lobby, briefing room or chat window.Consider hosting your own session; (maybe in a less crowded lobby) and definitely try sharing aircraft. If it is enabled; you and your copilot can talk privately. If you want to join someone elses aircraft, make sure you do NOT select "share my aircraft". That is if you want someone to join you; then you select "share my aircraft". You can set a password to keep the terrorists out- (once in a while you get an Xhole who pulls all your engines).My username on Gamespy is Shalomar; may I ask yours? My PM is enabled.All in all, Multiplayer would be much better on MS owned servers. But it can still be a lot of fun; I rarely get disconected while flying unless the host leaves. I have never been asked for my E-mail addy- what is that about? If it really is just too much for you, FSHost has a client so you can fly on FSHost servers like Bushnet and ChicagoATC.net . The one drawback is that you must fly in windowed mode.Best Regards, Donald :-waveFLYing? It's cool. Trillions of birds and insects can't be wrong.

[Guest blazingcessna]

I have to agree on the idiocy of using gamespy for FSX. There need to be more control over the whole MP issue. I have had similar problems, I usually run as the controller. On one session a kid popped in and really tried to be ground control, and after getting him/her used to the vernacular, they left. Then you get the yahoo's that get an aircraft, pop in and screw up all your well laid plans. A kick/boot function would really help out!

[beatle 0]

A Kick option will be available once SP1 is released. My bad, I forgot to hook up that option in the in-game Chat UI and nobody noticed apparently :->.Not sure how hosting the lobbies somewhere other than GameSpy would make any difference, FSX controls all the access to its own lobbies (you can't get to them from any other GameSpy UI/App - you have to be running FSX to access them) so what exactly would be different on some other server?

[FlyingsCool 3]

I imagine it is too late for SP1, but the jumpiness of the session list has got to be fixed. It is very hard to use. I have no idea what the solution is, but it seems that there are two, maybe three causes:1. the length of the list keeps changing2. servers keep leaving and coming back (even though I imagine they were available all the time), as if the check for whether or not a server exists is too short3. server availability rating keeps changingPlease investigate this. I'd rather have the list remain static. Maybe keep server names on the list even if they are gone and just gray them out if they aren't available, or lengthen the time of refresh, or, create a box to turn automatic refresh on and off, so that those of us who want to search a static list can refresh the list when we choose instead of having it automatically refresh every 1/10 of a second.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

[Guest N6722c]

>A Kick option will be available once SP1 is released. My>bad, I forgot to hook up that option in the in-game Chat UI>and nobody noticed apparently :->.>>Not sure how hosting the lobbies somewhere other than GameSpy>would make any difference, FSX controls all the access to its>own lobbies (you can't get to them from any other GameSpy>UI/App - you have to be running FSX to access them) so what>exactly would be different on some other server?>>The KICK option is just the tip of the Iceberg.Constant Disconnects -- FSX "should " be able ro maintain a more stable connection, or at least, have the option to automatically re-connect.The HOST should be ble to go back to the Sesson's lobby without CLOSING the session, and dumping itself back at the gamespy Logon screen. -- In fact, the host "should" be able to do a whole mass of things that even the payers cannot do. At the moment, the Host can allow players to do things that even the Host cannot allow himself to do.The only GOOD thing about loosing connection with Gamespy when in the Game, is then you do not get those annoying "ADD ME TO YOUR FRIENDS LIST" popups, when you are on short finals.Where is the DO NOT DISTURB Option.????etcetcTalking of MP UI, I have 3 things to say(1) Line Wrap. !!!(2) Vertical Scroll. !!!(3) Max number of lines. !!!Hoping to see great things in SP1Geoff_Dfs-mp.com

[Ramasurinen 0]

Hehe, suckitude, what a fantastic word. Oxford probably wouldn't agree, but then they added "bada bing" to their lovely dictionary, so really all bets are off. :)I agree about the bugs mentioned so far, especially the hosting issues. I host a session every other night, and have not once spawned in the position I chose. Host always ends up on the runway. And yeah, the host ends up feeling pretty dumb when they know they have to shut down a session, interrupting their friends' flights just because they want to change aircraft. Getting booted from gamespy right after shutting it down adds that extra insult. :)Some other bugs that I hope can be addressed:1. If a player in your session appears to pass through terrain on your system, regardless of whether he hit the ground on his own, his or her landing gear will appear to be down for the rest of the session...until of course he decides to land, in which case his gear will be down from his perspective, but will appear as being retracted on your screen, resulting in levitating aircraft during taxiing. This happens constantly during low flight in multiplayer due to different terrain resolutions and mesh complexity settings. The only way to fix it is to get the person to leave and rejoin, or to have them turn off crash detection, lower their gear and smash themselves into the ground for real, then raise their gear again.2. Similar problem with engines. If a player shuts down their engine using keyboard shortcuts for mixture and then restarts it, or shuts it down more than 30 miles away from other players, when they come into view they have a stopped prop in flight, regardless of what their engine is actually doing. 99% of the time shutting it down and restarting it never actually gets their prop to spin again from the perspective of other players. Granted this is a minor thing, but it looks silly, and its something I run into a lot when shooting my FSX films.3. Invisible aircraft problem. If the host crashes during flight, when he/she respawns they will be invisible to every other player for the rest of the session. Also when doing shared cockpit in many aircraft, especially addons, as soon as the second pilot joins the plane, it becomes invisible to all other players. This doesn't happen all the time, but it does occur quite often. And it isn't just physically invisible, its also invisible to the session info, CTRL-SHIFT-O/F etc by other players doesn't find that aircraft at all.4. Effects will often get "stuck" on in multiplayer. Things like propwash, contrail effects etc, and will end up showing 50 feet above players' aircraft after they have landed and shut down. It looks ridiculous. Lights are similarly flaky and often appear to be on from the perspective of other players and vice versa. Anyway, I haven't seen these issues mentioned yet, so I thought I'd bring them up. I think some periodic state checks by the game on other players aircraft would help a lot with these issues. All the game has to do is poll the other players once every minute or so to get the proper state of the major visible bits of their aircraft. Is their engine running? Is their gear down? Are their lights on? I don't think a few extra ones and zeros will have any effect on gameplay, but they'd sure help the visual anomalies.So yes, Gamespy is utter "suckitude". You never end up where you choose to be and you get kicked if you so much as look at it funny, but it's still a ton better than what we had in FS9. Cheers.

[Guest N6722c]

GREAT list of well presented FSX MP BUGS.Will be interesting to see how many of them are addressed in SP1 :)Geoff_Dfs-mp.com

[Guest Stoopy]

Agreed, good topic and having tried multiplayer a bit more now I have to agree. The GameSpy connections that seem to get dropped is annoying, and this doesn't happen in FS9 or FSX Host Client r any of my online air combat sims either - it IS unique to FSX and Gamespy and a common point of discussion over voice comms even in the FSX online flights. Not a local user configuration problem, I'm sure. And in my case Ive triple-checked my FSX online settings and router ports.The disconnects, and program pauses due to the disconnects, make FSX look bad, possibly due to GameSpy's fault FSX looks and feels "buggy" in this regard. It's noticeably less responsive and user-friendly once connected, that's for sure.Having said that, FSX multiplayer is a gas when it works and you're with the right crowd. And although I tend to avoid using them due to wanting to be able to talk to my family or hear what's going on in the house when I'm flying, having built-in voice comms spurs people into getting acquainted and sharing tips - it's a very gregarious atmosphere out there. It would be nice if the other flight-category "channel" selections were used more, like if Bush flights could be actually placed in the "Bush Flying" section.....that would make the "Free Flight" section less crowded (maybe) but even so the selection problem there is abysmal and a "freeze" feature for the server list should have been added as a right-click option or something. Anyway, when it works it'taint bad at all!