Updated 2016: Multiplayer Desync Issues

[Bizzenya]

Original: I bought a 4 pack of this game a while back and convinced some of my D3 playing friends to try this game instead. Well, I'm pretty sure they are never going to try this game again and all because of the horrible desyncing issues that make multiplayer unplayable. I know not everyone is effected by this so...good for you if you can actually play. It is a damn shame too as I have played a bit of single player and the game is really good. So my options are to grind for impossible gear in D3 (the horrible item system ruined an otherwise good game for me) with my friends or play torchlight alone. %$#@!

Update: After trying to work through this problem for quite some time, it seems something rather obvious is most likely the cause, two people playing on the same router. I was not aware of this when I made my initial post and it seems like it could cause an issue. These people can both play online fine, but not at the same time. Having searched the forums I haven't found a post about a similar issue. Has anyone tried to do this and did you run into any desyncing issues?

2016: Picked up the game again and tried playing with a different friend, we forwarded ports, tried playing through a LAN tunnel, set our firewalls to allow all TL2 traffic ect., to no avail. Still getting lots of desync, which once it starts it never recovers without restarting. My friend's connection is not the fastest maybe 5 mbs downloads and I can ping him at 80 ms, which is plenty fast for most p2p games we have played together. Such a shame, the game is really great, but desync makes multiplayer unplayable with certain setups for some reason...

[Boca]

Path of Exile. You're welcome.

[jeff thazos]

do you have an extra copy you can gift? i'll buy it for 10 bucks

[Rhea Lefye]

if you have nothing good to say dont play

[OmegaNine]

I disagree. I was thinking about getting this game, and this post made me realize I shouldn't. If multiplayer is broken, it should be mentioned. That is the kind of things people come to forums for. Its not that it shouldn't be said, its that it should be fixed.

[File not found]

I've never had a problem with multiplayer ever.

[xnate56]

multiplayer is fine for me too its peer 2 peer message runic support im sure they can help you.

[Bizzenya]

The way I see it, if our connections and systems are good enough to play all the newest games online without a hitch, chances are it isn't an issue support staff should be looking at. Clearly something with the netcode is wonky and causes issues in many situations. It is frustrating to see news of the developers working on additional content for the game when there are quite a few people who can't play multiplayer, which is a huge part of the appeal of games in this genre. This game should have way more people playing it than it does (according to steam stats) and I can only think the multiplayer not working for a lot of people is to blame.

[frustraktor]

Me and a friend have also a problem with multiplayer in recent weeks.
Several times a day we have to add up for friends, because friends disappear from the list, even though they are visible as added in ours profiles on the runic site.
Because they gone dunno why, and they have same problem.
it doesn't matter if we add the email address or the nick.

Sry for the broken english , im little disappointed and frustrated.

Ps. And Support from Runic (ha ha ha , friend had to buy the second game as he helped him ) ... no comments ...

[Soul Banana]

Haven't had one hiccup playing multiplayer, both with friends and strangers.

[MageThis]

Personally, I'd ensure that my computer's BIOS was current. I know why Runic mostly suggests update video drivers etc and it is because screwing the updating of your BIOS has the potential of converting your puter into a doorstop. But, do check the version of your BIOS against the motherboard manufacturer's update. Also, ensure your Chipset driver is current...the Chipset updates are readily available at both the Intel and AMD websites. Make sure the BIOS update matches your motherboard in model and version. Verify the Chipset update matches your motherboard's chipset.
Please note that most computers now offer BIOS updates as a function of the BIOS itself and will access the motherboard manufacturer's site, auto-check model and version and with permission it will update. You simply have to boot to BIOS and locate the update page. You still have to be very careful not to change any other settings unless you know what you are doing... and few do.
Both the BIOS and chipset driver affects your system at its most basic level (hence BIOS=basic Input/Output System) while the chipset driver addresses the ENTIRE host of chipsets imbedded in your motherboard.
BOTH are usually out-dated BEFORE you open the box on your new rig and is the FIRST thing any technician worth their salt does before they install anything on a computer. We would update the BIOS before the OS is installed and then before applying ANY OS updates we would update the Chipset driver THEN update the OS, video, audio drivers etc.
The BIOS, by the time YOUR system was built, goes through shipping, warehousing. distribution and finally retail is GUARANTEED to be out-dated. Ditto with the Chipset driver in your installed OS. Please note that the Chipset driver update is not offered through MS update manager so is not routinely updated when MS pushes or you manually updated the OS.

[igortroy]

Originally posted by Bizzenya:

The way I see it, if our connections and systems are good enough to play all the newest games online without a hitch, chances are it isn't an issue support staff should be looking at. Clearly something with the netcode is wonky and causes issues in many situations. It is frustrating to see news of the developers working on additional content for the game when there are quite a few people who can't play multiplayer, which is a huge part of the appeal of games in this genre. This game should have way more people playing it than it does (according to steam stats) and I can only think the multiplayer not working for a lot of people is to blame.

well how many P2P-based games you played, besides Torchlight 2?
an educated guess would be "none".
it's a different approach to multiplayer, where just one/two match-making server/s is all it takes to support millions of players.

desync is a problem, but it's far from the "oh noes I can't play the game!" you make of it - and each patch brings the game closer and closer to eliminating desync completely.
85% of the time I spent online, hosting and being hosted by friends and complete strangers alike - was perfectly fine.
and my connection is slow and crappy: 5 megabit download. 512 kilobit upload.
my ping to the US for instance - was close to 900 milliseconds last time I checked.

"clearly something in the netcode is wonky" - well then why don't you fix it, huh?
I'm a programmer, and so far I don't even need to look at the code to tell, they did an amazing job.
the game runs perfectly on a desktop, which I bet is older and slower than your netbook.
haven't seen this quality of code optimization in years.
clearly, these guys know what they're doing - so just trust them, will you?
and meanwhile you can play LAN and single-player any time you feel like it.

EDIT: but you know what? why do I even bother writing a detailed reply to someone who thinks, Diablo 3 (worst game since Superman 64) is a good game?
D3's gear system is only the tip of the ♥♥♥♥-filled "1000 reasons this game sucks" iceberg.

[Varstahl]

Thought I'd post too while I'm at it. I bought pre-launch Torchlight II, because I loved Torchlight so much. Gathered my friends, and when ready we started "playing". It took from 1 hour to 2 to get started, because people couldn't get in, desynchs or getting out. In the end we did 2 bosses and we called it a day. Haven't been able to play since.

We restarted "trying" today, no luck yet. We followed every step, opened TCP/UDP, manually set UDPORT, forwarded that too, nothing to go, we just can't play together. This is frustrating, if I wanted to solo it I'd stick to Torchlight 1.

[Bizzenya]

Originally posted by igortroy:

Originally posted by Bizzenya:

The way I see it, if our connections and systems are good enough to play all the newest games online without a hitch, chances are it isn't an issue support staff should be looking at. Clearly something with the netcode is wonky and causes issues in many situations. It is frustrating to see news of the developers working on additional content for the game when there are quite a few people who can't play multiplayer, which is a huge part of the appeal of games in this genre. This game should have way more people playing it than it does (according to steam stats) and I can only think the multiplayer not working for a lot of people is to blame.

well how many P2P-based games you played, besides Torchlight 2?
an educated guess would be "none".
it's a different approach to multiplayer, where just one/two match-making server/s is all it takes to support millions of players.

desync is a problem, but it's far from the "oh noes I can't play the game!" you make of it - and each patch brings the game closer and closer to eliminating desync completely.
85% of the time I spent online, hosting and being hosted by friends and complete strangers alike - was perfectly fine.
and my connection is slow and crappy: 5 megabit download. 512 kilobit upload.
my ping to the US for instance - was close to 900 milliseconds last time I checked.

"clearly something in the netcode is wonky" - well then why don't you fix it, huh?
I'm a programmer, and so far I don't even need to look at the code to tell, they did an amazing job.
the game runs perfectly on a desktop, which I bet is older and slower than your netbook.
haven't seen this quality of code optimization in years.
clearly, these guys know what they're doing - so just trust them, will you?
and meanwhile you can play LAN and single-player any time you feel like it.

EDIT: but you know what? why do I even bother writing a detailed reply to someone who thinks, Diablo 3 (worst game since Superman 64) is a good game?
D3's gear system is only the tip of the ♥♥♥♥-filled "1000 reasons this game sucks" iceberg.

Chill out. Getting angry at someone becuase they aren't able to play a game properly is ridiculous. Our rigs our fine, our connections are relatively solid, get over it.
I understands the basics of how p2p works and have played other p2p games just fine,check my games list for examples if you must. These same people were able to play other p2p games with the typical annoyances that didn't disrupt the game much. We can't fight a single set of mobs without the game becomming so desynced it is unplayable, enemies aren't attacking anyone they die 3 or 4 times and their status is different to each person.

[Bizzenya]

Originally posted by Varstahl:

Thought I'd post too while I'm at it. I bought pre-launch Torchlight II, because I loved Torchlight so much. Gathered my friends, and when ready we started "playing". It took from 1 hour to 2 to get started, because people couldn't get in, desynchs or getting out. In the end we did 2 bosses and we called it a day. Haven't been able to play since.

We restarted "trying" today, no luck yet. We followed every step, opened TCP/UDP, manually set UDPORT, forwarded that too, nothing to go, we just can't play together. This is frustrating, if I wanted to solo it I'd stick to Torchlight 1.

I wish this wasn't so common, but I'm hoping this thread will continue to highlight the problem. My guess is that the majority of people who have this problem just gave up on the game, which is a shame.

[Circle Nine]

I haven't had any problems with it, personally.