An evening of playing UC2 on XBL: Issues described

[legacy-augy]

Last night I spent a couple hours playing UC2, and after having run into lag issues almost every day with this game, I decided to make a short summary of what happened, in hopes that the epic guys will glean something from it:

First match: DM on Acid Rain. I "joined" and was in the pre-game float-around state. There was no HUD or display, I tried pressing back button and it didn't come up. It said it was loading, and I could hear my XBOX churning away. The screen turned blue (like when you turn on warrior spirit) like it was about to spawn me, and then it froze. It still said "loading" on the bottom, and the sound effects from the level were still audible. I was never able to see any of the other players. After a while (not more than a minute or two), I got a "match is full" message and I was sent back. The game had 1 person in it when I joined, so I figure that was just an excuse, not the real reason :)

Second match: worked fine. a bit laggy, but totally playable.

Third match: Sporadic, heavy lag. It was a DM. I played for a while before I died, but when I died for the first time, the game froze again. this time I couldn't hear any music or sound effects, and after a couple minutes of waiting, I hit the power button the xbox and restarted.

After this point, I couldn't find a decent server, so I did a 3-bot instagib from "Instant Action" to work on my snipe shot. I was playing Solar Flare. I selected my mutators and everying just fine, and when I hit start match, I was in the arena floating around again. I saw the HUD this time, and it showed me and the 3 bots. The bots showed "ready" obviously, mine showed loading. After a couple minutes, it still showed loading. After a couple more minutes, it still showed loading. I could fly around still without any problems. I couldn't hear my xbox "working" at this point, and the floating around was smooth like it is after it does the loading. I gave up, hit the start button, and went down to forfeit to try to get out. The game made the sound effect of me pressing the button to forfeit, but totally froze that that point and I had to restart.

Hope this is of some help to you guys. GL fixing it.

[legacy-threelood]

apparently the blue screen happens when u join a game and the match becomes full between the time u selected the game and the time u actually loaded into it if u experience this just pull your controller out and put it back in you will get the controller is disconnected message and then in like 30 seconds you will get sent back to the menu as for the other problem u had all u can really do is wait for the match to end and u should be ok when the next map loads or u could switch the map manually which might work or u could just turn ur xbox off and start again

[legacy-Spartan_15]

its not a problem. the lags are part of everyone's gameplay
-_-

[legacy-augy]

THIS kind of lagging isn't part of "everyone's gameplay", if that's supposed to mean I should accept it and get on with my life. It's an issue which can hopefully be addressed. The reason there is such a notable flood of posts like mine on this forum is because this game seems to handle lag unusually poorly. Just look at the first page of postings. A full half or so of them have a title along the lines of "freezes, lags out, constant disconnects" etc. etc. I'm assuming you've played Halo 2. Halo 2 is massively popular because the online experience is the best online experience of any console game. When you're playing Halo 2 and get lag, you're surprised. When you're playing UC2 and you DON'T get lag, you're surprised. When people start returning their copy of UC2 because the online experience is so bad, you know you've got a problem that needs to be fixed. And that's happened a couple of times on this board already.
I know I am just one more post in a sea of "lag sux" posts, but I am trying to be descriptive so that devs can look at this and hopefully reproduce it, or know where to look at least. I'm a programmer, and I know this kind of stuff can help. So I'm trying to help. :)

[legacy-Hydrafiend]

Yep, 9 out of 10 H2 games goes along just fine no major issues, even if some people have a crappy connection, maybe Bungie can teach Epic how to write some network code.

[legacy-Junias]

Bungie has raised the bar on online multiplayer.

As in any good software company, their primary concern was customer experience. They want to lengths (in both interface design and server selection) to make sure that every game you and I play results in the best experience (such as lag and overall fairness) as possible. It "just works".

How could Epic tout UC2 as primarily an online multiplayer, ship later than H2, and be so far behind H2 in so many ways? Did Epic design UC2 in a vacuum?

The only reason I'm keeping this game is because I’m going to give Epic a chance to fix these issues. Thanks to XBL, they have a good deployment story to get these fixes out. If Epic doesn’t fix UC2, then, not only are people going return it, but, they will hesitate when buying future Epic titles.

[legacy-FViral]

Yep, 9 out of 10 H2 games goes along just fine no major issues, even if some people have a crappy connection, maybe Bungie can teach Epic how to write some network code.

Lol this humors me. Ever heard of the standby glitch? One of the worst holes in netcode to date. As i've said before, I've never had a problem playing online. I assume it's your ISP or network setup. Just because you can play Halo 2 fine dosn't mean that everything is set up right.



Bungie has raised the bar on online multiplayer.

As in any good software company, their primary concern was customer experience. They want to lengths (in both interface design and server selection) to make sure that every game you and I play results in the best experience (such as lag and overall fairness) as possible. It "just works".

How could Epic tout UC2 as primarily an online multiplayer, ship later than H2, and be so far behind H2 in so many ways? Did Epic design UC2 in a vacuum?

The only reason I'm keeping this game is because I’m going to give Epic a chance to fix these issues. Thanks to XBL, they have a good deployment story to get these fixes out. If Epic doesn’t fix UC2, then, not only are people going return it, but, they will hesitate when buying future Epic titles.

Wow, so much disregard. UC2 had less time to develop, and a smaller budget (I assume) than Halo 2. Not to mention Bungie *did* have to get help from microsoft networking specialists to optimize the online, think Epic got such attention?

All the unreals for the PC have excellent netcode, I don't think that UC2 is an exception.

[legacy-Junias]

FViral, you may want to go online again on Halo 2. Your standby-glitch comment indicates that you aren’t aware of the auto-update Bungie released. It fixes the glitch and rebalances the weapons based on customer feedback.

I think excusing the problems UC2 has based on smaller budgets and time constraints isn’t valid. The majority of game buyers won’t have sympathy on Epic given what it costs (the same price as H2 when it first came out).

Also, your argument about Bungie having an advantage because they are part of Microsoft also doesn’t work. The Xbox Development Kit (XDK) is well known and well documented platform with a huge developer community (DirectX as a whole). It even comes with sources. The only advantage Bungie has is Microsoft’s strict quality assurance processes. Bungie mentions it in their announcements as the last hurdle before they can ship updates (like the new maps and playlists).

Judging from all the feedback people are giving, it sounds like your positive online UC2 online experience is not the norm.

[legacy-FViral]

FViral, you may want to go online again on Halo 2. Your standby-glitch comment indicates that you aren’t aware of the auto-update Bungie released. It fixes the glitch and rebalances the weapons based on customer feedback.

First of all, the standby glitch is NOT fixed. You can never really eliminate standby, just make it less appealing. All bungie did was reduce the timeout contraint so that if you lose connection for X amount of seconds, you will be droped. Standby is still possable, you just need to do it in small intervals. (If the patch did anything it helped mask standby so you don't know it's going on)

I think excusing the problems UC2 has based on smaller budgets and time constraints isn’t valid. The majority of game buyers won’t have sympathy on Epic given what it costs (the same price as H2 when it first came out).

Also, your argument about Bungie having an advantage because they are part of Microsoft also doesn’t work. The Xbox Development Kit (XDK) is well known and well documented platform with a huge developer community (DirectX as a whole). It even comes with sources. The only advantage Bungie has is Microsoft’s strict quality assurance processes. Bungie mentions it in their announcements as the last hurdle before they can ship updates (like the new maps and playlists).

The SDK dosn't come with very good netcode.

The XBL classes in that SDK only implement the basic features such as invites and friends lists. Nothing to help optimize.

You cannot simply say that Microsofts Quality Assurance made sure the game was solid, I doubt Epic was able to source Microsoft's Network Programmers to clean the code and make it run smoothly before the ship date. Quality Assurance is different than what I was mentioning.

Judging from all the feedback people are giving, it sounds like your positive online UC2 online experience is not the norm.

All my friends and customers have not had a problem, I think this is a rampant client issue with an easy solution.

[legacy-augy]

"rampant client issue with an easy solution"

Come on. Really. I'm not trying to be combative here, but on the scale that it's happening, it can't possibly be a client-only thing, especially where other xbox live games work just fine for me. I've got access to UC2, crimson skies, and halo 2, and UC2 is the ONLY game with these kinds of issues. If you can read post after post after post of people reporting a range of issues that come up during online play, and still maintain that it's a client thing, well, what can I say.

[legacy-FViral]

I bet everyone with problems has the same ISP, everyone I know with Comcast Cable has had 0 problems.

[legacy-Digininja]

Actually, I just had to deal with this massive lag/freezing problem last night myself. I noticed during non-peak hours (early morning or late afternoon) I didnt have many issues, but upon getting online in the 8 player games last night, I couldent even get into a playable game. Now, before I get the "must be your ISP" comments I have 3.5 Meg DL and 1.5 Meg Up, so the problem sure as hell isnt on my end (for those who do not understand what those numbers mean, im practically a T1 line). This is very, very bad netcode, plain and simple, I can play 16 player Halo 2 games, and almost never see lag, I can play SW Battlefront with 32 players and almost never see lag. I am astounded that Epic dropped the ball like this, I hope they can fix this very soon, or this game will flop in a very big way (and I really do love this game, WHEN IT WORKS).

[legacy-FViral]

T1? Sucks for you. But I'm surprised you get problems your connection is only a little under mine.

[legacy-Digininja]

Like I said, its not the connection speed, its Unreals ****ty netcode.

[legacy-FViral]

...*sigh*

Have you tried anything to fix the problem? It's easy to blame Epic, but it might be easier to investigate if for yourself.

[legacy-Digininja]

Ok, dude, READ THE POSTS. I have no issues with ANY OTHER LIVE GAME. Are you suggesting that I have to tweak my modem and ISP settings specifically for UCT2? I would LOVE to hear you explain this off, really I would. I can run SC Chaos Theory, no problem. Mech Assualt 1 and 2, no problems, R6 no problems, SW battlefront, guess what, no problems, Halo 2, well you get the idea. So PLEASE, PLEASE in your astounding wisdom, explain to me how this is my ISP or modem settings? No, I dont have an active firewall, yes I have retarded bandwith, and my port settings are fine for every single online game I have, so, what kind of excuse are you going to come up with next? I know (judging from the numerus threads on the subject) that I sure as hell am not the only person with these difficultys.

[legacy-FViral]

Different games handle connectivity differently. Host/Client Relationships, Packets, etc.

I'm not a programmer so the framework of networking is lost to me, all I can say is I have no problem playing online at all and I'm running the same net code you are.

[legacy-Digininja]

And like I said, its nice for you that you dont have these issues, it really is, but what about the MANY others who are having these issues? I dont know if this is a regional thing or what, but every single person I played with last night was complaining about the retarded amounts of LAG (roughly 60 people). Just because you are lucky enough to not have issues with the online play does not mean everyone is in the same boat, OBVIOUSLY this is a issue for alot of people, I guess we are all lieing though, and we didnt pay for a game that we cannot play.

[legacy-Hydrafiend]

I have Comcast cable and I have had all the freezing problems. I also have a pretty new xbox-this is a problem with the game, no other game I know of just freezes.

[legacy-Digininja]

See? exactly my point.