[patg]

I'm trying to play Command and Conquer Zero Hour with another computer on my home wireless network and have done it before with normal C&C.

3 minutes into a LAN game it displays something about " data mismatch loss of sychonization error" and quits.

I have reinstalled both versions multiple times, taking meticulous care to do everything correctly.


1. Mount C&C generals dmg as disc using toast
2. Install from disc
3. Mount Zero Hour From DMG
4. Install into existing C&C generals folder per the instructions
5. followed these instructions to update Zero Hour i found here --> http://www.macgamefi....2&show=reviews

"For Zero Hour update follow these steps: 1. Download this update 2. Run it. It will only update Command & Conquer Generals but not Zero Hour 3. Download Pacifist (www.charlessoft.com) 4. Get the file EN_CCG1.0.4_ZH1.0.2_Installer.pkg inside the CC Patch and open it with Pacifist. 5. Extract the file Zero Hour.app into the Zero Hour directory Now you have an universal binary which you can run on Intel Mac's"


6. Ran the prepackaged installer as normal to update Generals also.
(ps-i have tried updating in the reverse order as well)


other notes:
Both macs are intel so they *should* be compatible

The game runs very nice and fast until it quits, never slows or appears hung-so I don't think its a network issue but im at the end of my rope here

These computers have LAN'ed before with this same setup playing unupdated C&C generals.

The last time the mismatch occoured it was when i first attacked one of the other teams people? im grasping at straws here

There are no custom maps, no mods, nothing like that. Nothing has been edited other than getting ZERO HOUR to update with pacifist.

Ive tried "the google" but there isint alot of support for mac about this.

...ok
Mac #1
Newest "mutltitouch" MBP
2.4 GHz
2 Gig RAM
OS 10.5.4
-------------
Mac #2
24" iMac
2.16 GHz
Core 2 Duo
1 Gig RAM
OS 10.4.11
------------

So if anyone could please help me out here i'd greatly appreciate it.
thanks,
Pat g

p.p.s. Who puts out an installer that only updates half of the things its supposed to and never fixes it? lol

[bobbob]

Quote

Ive tried "the google" but there isint alot of support for mac about this.

The same problem is extremely common on the PC side, too, because EA are asshats who can't handle socket programming better than Bungie (cf. Battlefield 2, Halo, Marathon). I'd try the common suggestions first. Maybe you could try using a network cable rather than wireless, there's a tiny chance it's getting interference, knocking out a couple packets, and desynching the game.

Quote

p.p.s. Who puts out an installer that only updates half of the things its supposed to and never fixes it? lol

Aspyr, obviously?

Also, does installing it from the DVD make a difference?

[the Battle Cat]

If the game is going out of sync between two computers that normally LAN well together, then you could try having the other computer play the role of the server.

[ozzy]

If I remember correctly, Leopard changes the floating point calculation algorithm in some way. C&C:Generals and Zero Hour are probably the worst offenders as far as games that rely on extremely precise calculations. This is the reason why Mac to PC multiplayer never worked, and why Intel to PPC multiplayer didn't work. It's not Aspyr's fault, it's just the way the original Dev's coded the game.

I remember reports when Leopard came out that because of it's change, Leopard to Tiger multiplayer didn't work either, and cause out of sync messages. So basically Tiger v Tiger PPC, Leopard v Leopard PPC, Tiger v Tiger Intel, and Leopard v Leopard Intel will all work, but anything else won't. To get it to work you will probably either have to install Leopard on Mac #2 or Tiger on Mac #1 (if that's even allowed, depending on how new it is it might not be). Maybe create another partition or something? It sucks, but I'm pretty sure that's going to be your only solution.

[teflon]

yup. I believe that Ozzy is correct, Im afraid. which buggers everything up for that game.

Have you thought of getting the very similar C&C3?

[patg]

ok...
three intel, leopard macs
two white macbooks and my MBP
wireless lan
same problem
>:-[
any suggestions?

and come to think of it....

yes host has been passed around-a much easier solution than reinstalling everything.

A few weeks ago we had a wired lan with unupdated C&C generals

with:
Blackbook-intel
2 MBP-intel
white macbook X2-intel
and a chrome necked old imac-PPC


sometimes it took servral tries to get everyone in the game, and we couldnt play more than six computers...
but it worked!!!

it says right in the documentation that it only supports ppc to ppc or intel to intel
Am i missing something here?
thank you all for your generous contributions I'm so glad theres a forum where people can actually get help

[bobbob]

patg, on September 12th 2008, 06:45 PM, said:

wireless lan
same problem
...
A few weeks ago we had a wired lan

And it mostly worked? What was different? ^^^

Quote

unupdated C&C generals

This, too. The patches were supposed to improve the network games, but...

[patg]

this is what was different

Quote

unupdated C&C generals

Quote

with:
Blackbook-intel
2 MBP-intel
white macbook X2-intel
and a chrome necked old imac-PPC

Quote

sometimes it took servral tries to get everyone in the game, and we couldnt play more than six computers...
but it worked!!!

not sure if thats what you were lookin for...lol

oh yeah and like i said it was wired

[teflon]

its a slight falsity to say that its only PPC to PPC and intel to intel. Its the PPC version to PPC version and intel version to intel version. In order to get it running natively on intel they had to change the floating point functions, but running through Rosetta, it emulates the old floating point functions (though you get much worse performance because of this). The intel version only runs on intel machines though.

try the PPC version to the PPC version running on your two macs from the first post, and see if that works. If you get the same problem, then this is because of tiger against leopard. But if it works, then great!

[patg]

All of these computers are running the same exact game installed off the same exact disk image. I dont know how they could be running different versions.

thanks

[Tesseract]

patg, on September 14th 2008, 04:02 AM, said:

All of these computers are running the same exact game installed off the same exact disk image. I dont know how they could be running different versions.

If it's a universal binary, both versions are in the same file, and the OS loads the one that matches the computer's CPU architecture. On Intel machines, you can override this and make it load the PPC version using Rosetta.

[patg]

ok now generals doesnt work either. how frusterating. even macbook to macbook. this is ridiculous.

[bobbob]

Did you try with a wired network connection?

[patg]

Not yet, but I shall.
If this solves the issue, what can i adjust on my airport extreme (Gigabit N) to make it...not suck
Multicast rate? does that even apply here?
would adding my airport express to extend the network help?
thanks all

[teflon]

multicast would potentially help, as it sets the minimum network speed at which computers can connect (to the detriment of range). Setting the multicast to, say, 5.5Mbps should help alleviate things if its down to network speed.

[patg]

ok all
a WIRED game with both comps graphic settings all the way down does the same thing so I dont think its my network
the MBP seems to be faster in the loading screen
and the MBP cannot host a game, if it does, the imac doesnt get a countdown
please someone figure this out lol

[ozzy]

I can't remember if you ever clarified, are both the MBP and the iMac on Leopard, or is one still on Tiger and the other on Leopard? If they both aren't on the same OS then I don't think it will work.

[patg]

:-(
iMac is tiger
are you sure? because they worked (not wonderfully) before the update but at least they worked.

[teflon]

oh lordy lordy. If I have the inclination to go through the painful process of installing and updating then copying across 3 separate computers tomorrow, then Ill see if it works here. I even have access to an old PowerMac G4 which has a legacy HDD with tiger on it (I only left it there in case Leopard messed up. a year later its fine, so I dont know why ive still left it there).

we shall see.

[patg]

ok same thing on a gameranger game with my friend on a new MB running tiger 2 hours away