A potential way to combat disconnects?

[RandyBass]

Quote: Originally Posted by prey2god

It can, but I am an IT consultant and this is what I do for a living. I tested everything. Even power cycled my router and modem when I got disconnected, tested the connection online on other games and those work fine. It's a server issue. Might have bugs they need to patch up on their side or upgrade the server entirely which I think is way too late at this point imo for that. Patch will be issued soon for the server stability, I could almost guarantee that.

My idea is not aimed specifically at this year's version of Madden and how they have online set up, it's merely a possible way to address disconnects in general.

Quote: Originally Posted by NYM72382

I keep getting disconnected from EA servers. it took me 6 times to complete my online madden franchise game and my friends in the league are getting pissed i take so long to play a week. Anyone know why as I get disconnected from ea servers and has only happenned to them once. I have been kicked out in the 2nd quarter, twice in the 4th quarter (once with 25 seconds left)...

And this is the type of scenario I'm talking about. Twice in the 4th quarter; if there were some sort of save state feature, the game could have been completed rather easily.

There are multiple ways a gamer can become disconnected from a game. Having some sort of back up system would likely help curb a lot of aggravation, as well as help online gaming in general as it moves forward.

[zadokguy]

In my opinion, the EA servers have shown to be fairly stable over the past week. I am getting cut off a few times every night, but my disconnects are all DNS error related.

[EVerk]

Quote: Originally Posted by aspengc8

You don't play the game on EA's servers. EA sets up the match making peer to peer, and one of you host the game. This is why IP booters get the win when they block your IP from connecting to their xbox, it reports to EA servers saying "hey, this guy disconnected from me". If EA had dedicated servers all this garbage would be gone.

I find it hard to believe that EA would use the ancient P2P system for online gaming. They have dedicated servers for both NHL and FIFA games (although EA doesn't own the servers they use to host games, it's contracted outside the company). P2P has so many problems (like the one you said about port blocking), not to mention ISP throttling.

This cannot be the case, my friend. If it were, you wouldn't find anyone who would play a game they weren't hosting.

However, it could work similar to the way online NHL games occur. The captain of the home team is considered the 'host', meaning whichever server the 'host' is closest to is the one that everyone connects to.

Do you have any proof of EA devs saying Madden is P2P hosting?

[RandyBass]

Quote: Originally Posted by zadokguy

I am getting cut off a few times every night, but my disconnects are all DNS error related.

Yeah, and a save state/back up system would have prevented any potential data loss in that situation. Viola!

Networks aren't to the point of being free of disconnects or other connection errors, regardless of what speed your ISP provides. A constantly updating back up system would act as a safeguard for situations like online leagues or even ranked games, so that when errors did occur the damage would be minimized.

[MMurda]

Quote: Originally Posted by RandyBass

Disconnects can come from the user's end as well.

that is def true but alot of the times it just random ea server probs. me and a local friend tried to play 3 diff times back to back monday...1st DC'd in 3rd qtr...the 2nd DC'd on the 4th play....the 3rd DC'd once again in the 3rd qtr. meanwhile ive played 4 others across the us...one with horrible lag..without a DC. what does ea say...we're experiencing unexpected increase in traffic...haha

funny part is on one of the DC's it said i did excessive grieving?? yea im grieving against my good friend of many yrs in the middle of a play(impossible), and im winning by 21pts in the 3rd qtr by the way. i never even used a single pause in the game or done anything but pick plays and run em. GTFOH EA!! we're in the same city, both got good internet and never get DC'd in any other online game we play together...ghost recon, bf3, fifa12, etc etc.

they gotta upgrade their netcode or servers or something. and ppl are getting DC'd playing online ccm against the cpu. screams EA's end...not ours. its widespread...everyone cant just be somebody with crappy internet.

[MMurda]

by the way does anyone know why they took out the options when a DC happens to either quit and count game, quit and dont count game, or continue vs cpu?? havent seen this mentioned anywhere

[RandyBass]

Quote: Originally Posted by MMurda

me and a local friend tried to play 3 diff times back to back monday...1st DC'd in 3rd qtr...the 2nd DC'd on the 4th play....the 3rd DC'd once again in the 3rd qtr.

And you know what would have helped in that situation?

Drum roll please...

A back up system that uses save states!

[mrprice33]

There really needs to be some kind of auto save happening after almost every play.

As to what could fix online, they could copy the Starcraft 2 model and give users losses for dc'ing.