56k d/c with TFT

[Darg]

I was wondering for awhile where I could post about this problem I'm having, then it dawned on me (after some time) that I was a mod at a tech support site.... hehe

I'm having an issue where I'm getting disconnected from the internet every single time I try to play a TFT/RoC game in SP or MP or load up a saved game in SP. The disconnect occurs approximately sometime between 3/4 and the end of the loading process (as judged by looking at the loading bar), and it occurs very predictably at this point every single time.

This issue occurs with TFT (1.07 & 1.10) and with RoC, but only occurs with the installation of the xpac. If I have only RoC installed, I can play RoC 1.10 and it doesn't have this problem.

Relevant specs:

Pentium 733
256MB RAM
56k internal modem
Win98SE

Thanks in advance if anyone has any ideas.

(PS I'll try going back to just a RoC install again just to be 100% sure this problem isn't occuring with just RoC)

 

[Darg]

Hmm I've tried to open up maps in the world editor too, and it seems to be the case that I am getting d/c in this scenario as well. It always happens when the map has nearly finished loading up.

This problem is really a nuisance, since it means I can't play on bnet anymore......

edit: I forgot to add I'm not having any internet connection dropout issues under any other circumstance, only through using TFT and TFT WE.

 

[Darg]

I can't believe this.....

I just went back to having a RoC only install. I uninstalled the game, made sure all traces of it were removed from the registry, and then reinstalled RoC into a fresh directory.

The internet disconnections did NOT occur with RoC only installed.

Then I went and installed TFT, and gave it a run. And bingo, disconnection problems.

I think I've just wasted 30 dollars, since I will never be able to play TFT on bnet.

 

[NoNameRequired]

Originally posted by Darg
I'm having an issue where I'm getting disconnected from the internet every single time I try to play a TFT/RoC game in SP or MP or load up a saved game in SP.

You get disconnected from Single-Player games??? Are you sure the game isn't crashing? Is there, by any chance, any folder by the name of "Errors" in your WarIII installation folder?

Ah, never mind, I get it now. So that means you can play Single-Player perfectly?

 

[Darg]

hehe, sorry perhaps I wasn't clear.

When I say internet disconnections, I'm referring to that little green computer icon in the system tray. I am not referring to disconnections within the game itself. I am not experiencing any problems with warcraft 3 crashing (meaning I can play single player perfectly yes), and I can logon to battle.net without a problem.

The internet disconnections occur when loading up ANY map, regardless of whether I'm playing SP or MP or loading a map in the editor. Obviously an internet connection is not required to play SP, it's just that I happen to be connected to the internet and usually have something downloading in the background when playing the SP campaigns.

Oh yeah, here's one other thing I tried:

I tried to hunt down different/newer drivers for the modem. I have a Conexant SoftK56 D/F/V internal modem, so the drivers were a little hard to find, since conexant don't release their modems to the end-user, they sell them to other manufacturers instead.

They luckily did have a generic driver available on their website, so I tried that. And this resulted in good and bad news. The good news was that I was no longer being disconnected when loading up maps. The bad news was that my modem was making a constant deafening noise after being connected. And by deafening, I mean I was driven insane within 10 seconds of connecting.

I tried to turn the volume off via the modem applet and via dial-up networking, but this seemed to make no difference. Does anyone know if there is a way to disable the modem speaker on the hardware itself?

btw, I found a couple of other drivers for the modem, but had no luck with them in terms of fixing the d/c problem.

 

[wakko]

Originally posted by Darg
I tried to turn the volume off via the modem applet and via dial-up networking, but this seemed to make no difference. Does anyone know if there is a way to disable the modem speaker on the hardware itself?

I believe you can do it with an init string for the modem in either Dial-Up Networking, the modem applet, or in Device Manager; however, you will need to find documentation on modem commands for that particular modem.

Along those same lines, you can pass in AT commands from HyperTerminal, I think, to get it to turn the speaker off.

I believe on 3Com/USR modems it's "AT<something>=0" where <something> is the command and =0 means "speaker off". Your modem command for "speaker off" might be something similar.

It's been a long time since I've helped with modem problems. (around 4 years)

 

[Darg]

Good advice, I too had completely forgotten about init strings, since I have not used them in a couple of years at least.

I'll test out some strings and post back. Although I do find it odd in the first place that the modem refused to respond to the volume setting I gave it via the applet/DUN with this generic driver.

 

[Darg]

I haven't tested the init strings yet, but here is a theory on what is causing this d/c problem.

I was noticing that, ever since I installed TFT, all the maps are taking longer to load, and even the editor works a little slower now as well. I was reading about people experiencing the same problems on the blizzard forums as well. And this made me think:

was it possible that, during the loading process of a map in the game or editor, that there was such a massive load being placed on my CPU, that my computer was not able to maintain the internet connection?

I have noticed that performing other tasks such as surfing the web was not possible while loading a map up in the editor , because it either was really slow or the browser didn't respond to my commands, which has led me to realize that this theory may have some merit.

Also remember that, with internal modems, the modem itself does not do a lot of work on its own, it relies on the computer to handle much of its operation.


The only solutions based on this theory that I can think of are:

- get a new computer
- get a new external modem
- try installing Win2K and see if there is any difference (this solution probably doesn't hold as much water as the others)

Anyway, that's pretty much what I think, anyone else think that my theory could hold some truth?

 

[Darg]

To anyone who's been concerned with my situation but been unable to help, I tried borrowing an external modem and using that, and so far so good, I am not getting d/c when loading maps. Looks like buying a new external modem may be the best way to go for me.

Perhaps I should send blizzard the bill for making me buy a new modem just to play TFT........

 

[Rapmaster]

You can get an internal modem, but just make sure it is a "hardware" modem... not a softmodem (also known as WinModem)

Although I'm surprised Blizzard hasn't tested this. It doesn't make sense that this is from CPU load only. Windows 2000 or XP would do a better job at managing CPU resources.

 

[Darg]

Hmm yes, I had forgotten that you could get hardware internal modems, thanks for correcting me.

I'm thinking about changing to Win2K sometime soon, I will have to make sure I hunt down all the drivers for my hardware first though.

I guess until I meet another person using a low end CPU, Win98 and a software modem, then I will never know if blizz fully tested for this configuration or not.

 

[Unregistered]

You can get rid of the noise by plugging in a headphone set or something in the back of it... thats what i do with my dial-up modem... or you can just get a ISDN modem from telstra (If your Australian) or broadband.

And I get D/C from Reign of Chaos now! Ever since The Frozen Throne was installed... i can't use ROC on Bnet. But it works fine on TFT, but i do get inot the game (it does finish loading), but about 5 mins into the match, i get d/c.

Oh, and my computer sometimes resets itself after loading big map files (through the game... not editor), is there a problem with my pc, or is it WC3: ROC itself?