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(July 31st, 2014, 10:45)Caledorn Wrote: Hah. I ran Wireshark while I started a Pitboss window, and guess what? It's attempting to connect to motd.gamespy.com ...
Oh...fuuuuuu*%.
I wonder what's on that server that the game could possibly need.
Host file redirect to the rescue? I guess it would probably take just as long timing out by looking locally and not finding the resource it's looking for. 
July 31st, 2014, 11:05
(This post was last modified: July 31st, 2014, 11:07 by spacetyrantxenu.)
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You know...What the hell.
If there was a hidden Gamespy server involved in the DIRECT IP method all along, shouldn't that have been mentioned in the freaking release notes when it was announced the "pitboss service" was migrating over to Steamworks? I mean...yes, we got the beta (rolled back) version released back to the clamoring masses of remaining civ 4 players, and they said "OK, this is totally unsupported, here you go!" And it WORKED. And then a month later they've clearly shut down the server that the pitboss.exe software was surreptitiously connecting to, and now the game freezes while waiting to connect to a server that shouldn't have been in the chain to start with when using the DIRECT IP connection method.
It has to be a statistics tracking server callback that's waiting to time out. That would explain the delay when getting to step 3 of the setup process. But what else could that server be doing during the regular course of the playing a DIRECT IP game? Maybe there's a callback to the server each time a player connects to a DIRECT IP hosted pitboss game instance? (EDIT: or, to any kind of pitboss game session, since the lag/freeze/alleged timeout happens to LAN connections as well). That would be utterly ridiculous but now I'm suspecting that's the case....
Perhaps more packet sniffing while people connect (and a second player fails to connect) to the game is the next step?
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Sorry again, but it looks like I won't really have access to the game until next week. I'm on a cruise at the moment and the internet is not strong enough while at sea to download the game info. Getting an internet cafe in port is pretty annoying and cuts into limited time to do more interesting things. I assume I'll be able to pick things back up properly at the hotel next Wednesday.
I'll leave some thoughts in my thread for Parkin, can you please play my turn until then?
July 31st, 2014, 12:02
(This post was last modified: July 31st, 2014, 12:04 by Boldly Going Nowhere.)
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(July 31st, 2014, 11:05)spacetyrantxenu Wrote: You know...What the hell.
If there was a hidden Gamespy server involved in the DIRECT IP method all along, shouldn't that have been mentioned in the freaking release notes when it was announced the "pitboss service" was migrating over to Steamworks? I mean...yes, we got the beta (rolled back) version released back to the clamoring masses of remaining civ 4 players, and they said "OK, this is totally unsupported, here you go!" And it WORKED. And then a month later they've clearly shut down the server that the pitboss.exe software was surreptitiously connecting to, and now the game freezes while waiting to connect to a server that shouldn't have been in the chain to start with when using the DIRECT IP connection method.
It has to be a statistics tracking server callback that's waiting to time out. That would explain the delay when getting to step 3 of the setup process. But what else could that server be doing during the regular course of the playing a DIRECT IP game? Maybe there's a callback to the server each time a player connects to a DIRECT IP hosted pitboss game instance? (EDIT: or, to any kind of pitboss game session, since the lag/freeze/alleged timeout happens to LAN connections as well). That would be utterly ridiculous but now I'm suspecting that's the case....
Perhaps more packet sniffing while people connect (and a second player fails to connect) to the game is the next step?
Game is currently unpaused and available for play.
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Whoa. So if I'm reading this right, the Pitboss function has been quietly hitting this gamespy server all along, and now that the server is offline (due Steam migration), LAN or Direct IP games (like Pitboss) encounter timeouts, which means Civ takes for-roughly-ever to connect. Correct? Then either the timeout lagginess and/or some other mystery server function is killing the ability of two players to log in at the same time. Pitboss 19 could go for a long time without hitting this due to only 6 players, and the other three active PBs are also 30% the size of this sucker, so might also dodge the issue for a while...am I summarizing correctly?
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That's the gist if it for now until someone has time to dig further. Either packet sniffing to see if we can figure out what the external gamespy server did and maybe reproduce/replace it (motd.gamespy.com sounds like Message of the Day, which ought to be some really useless functionality) or develop a workaround so that the call never gets made (um...reverse engineering the pitboss server application? Is that possible?), or something. It's kind of lame right now, for sure. 
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Current games (All): RtR: PB80 Civ 6: PBEM23
Ended games (Selection): BTS games: PB1, PB3, PBEM2, PBEM4, PBEM5B, PBEM50. RB mod games: PB5, PB15, PB27, PB37, PB42, PB46, PB71. FFH games: PBEMVII, PBEMXII. Civ 6: PBEM22 Games ded lurked: PB18
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Can someone pause the game? We're under two hours and I'm waiting on a turn split.
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(July 31st, 2014, 18:01)Krill Wrote: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=530923
So, basically the thunderstorm was just random, and this occurred because I reloaded the games when it was over.
Thanks for spotting this, Krill.
Not sure what we do now, except possibly increase the timer.
As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. - Commissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"
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Can we get sunrise to verify it's on his end too?
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![[Image: server%20beyond%20our%20reach.png]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59892754/server%20beyond%20our%20reach.png)
