PS2 online Call of Duty-OR-the pluses of upgrading your network

donssword

donssword

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NOTE: I just upgraded both my 6 year old cable modem *and* my 6 year old router (was a Netgear RT-314, now a D-Link DI-604). Its amazing what a little upgrade will do. COD online runs like butter (except for all the player kicking), and I only spent $24 (router+shipping and $3/month modem lease) to fix everything.

Just got COD:FH in the mail from the EBG sale. I am a big Medal of Honor: Allied Assault fan on the PC (playing for 2 years) but my video card is not up to the task anymore, and I can't upgrade my video card without upgrading my OS, and that means upgrading my processor, so I am trying to make do with what I have. I figured maybe if I migrated to online console gaming, it would make-do until I can get my PC upgraded. And, it should be obvious that my PC can't run the orig Call of Duty.

The single player game of COD:FH is amazing BTW, and the multiplayer looks really promising -- controls are great for a gamepad FPS. I also really like the way the characters look integrated into the environment, as opposed to being pasted on like dolls in a diorama. The sound and visuals are great -- the amount of visual and auditory stimulation is intense and very immersive.

However, while I am sure others are doing well with connectivity in multiplayer, I am not happy with my experience in connecting to games -- and I believe it is all in my own network's connectivity.

I am running a Netgear Router RT-314 on Comcast Broadband. My Lan is DHCP, but I have set a fixed IP on my PS2 and configured a DMZ with my router. My router does not support Mac Address Cloning. I was easily able to play Killzone during the Beta test a few months ago, but was never able to play SnowBlind during last months beta -- apparently because I needed Mac Cloning, which my router does not support. COD:FH is using GameSpy connectivity software, so any GameSpy brain-share would be good.

My problems are:

Game sessions seem short. I am not sure if they are deliberately short, or I am losing a connection. Each session ends with a message that says something to the effect of: "Session Ended or Network Disconnected" which to me is just not enough info to diagnose the problem.

I am playing without a headset, and I wonder if some people are kicking me for it -- I am not big into chat in games, but having played online FPS games since the LAN days of Marathon and later QuakeWorld (Q1), I have logged some FPS online hours in my day. I am a fairly good player, in no way disrespectful to other players, I don't smack talk, and I am good at Team Play modes. I "play well with others."

I need some help trying to make this work. Please, this is not a discussion of how much better XBox Live is, or how Sony blew it by not licensing and supplying middleware (I rambled about this way too much on the SnowBlind board), this is a discussion of how to maxmize PS2 online gaming, specifically with COD:FH.
 
okay. DROP THIS GAME AND GO TO SOCOM. This game is fun in single but sucks in multi. There is no teamwork and you say chatting is not a big deal to you but this game has no ability wat so ever to do it. You need to be close to somebody for them to hear you. You are not getting booted. Something is wrong somewhere in your system. Cant answer your question. Socom is the best the ps2 has to offer and is just amazing. Its not to arcadey but not to simy. Nice balence. Just go for socom2.
 
[quote name='Chris Dillon']okay. DROP THIS GAME AND GO TO SOCOM. This game is fun in single but sucks in multi. There is no teamwork and you say chatting is not a big deal to you but this game has no ability wat so ever to do it. You need to be close to somebody for them to hear you. You are not getting booted. Something is wrong somewhere in your system. Cant answer your question. Socom is the best the ps2 has to offer and is just amazing. Its not to arcadey but not to simy. Nice balence. Just go for socom2.[/quote]

Thanks for the input. I'll add SOCOM II to my wish list, and investigate my network connection.
 
I'd pass on Socom 2 and just wait for Socom 3. I hear of nothing but cheaters in Socom 2.

Have you tried asking at the Sony board, or perhaps contacting your ISP? It might be the game servers. Burnout 3's game servers (on XBox Live) always do that to me, and when I DO join a game, people kick me out. So you might be right, it might be people kicking you out.
 
[quote name='Scorch']I'd pass on Socom 2 and just wait for Socom 3. I hear of nothing but cheaters in Socom 2.

Have you tried asking at the Sony board, or perhaps contacting your ISP? It might be the game servers. Burnout 3's game servers (on XBox Live) always do that to me, and when I DO join a game, people kick me out. So you might be right, it might be people kicking you out.[/quote]

My ISP is Comcast and they suck. As soon as you mention the words "router" or "gaming" they clam up and say "we don't support that."
 
in commercials in our area they say the support online gaming. Have a commercial about xbox live. But socom 2 is still okay. I played it last week and it wasnt to bad.
 
[quote name='Chris Dillon']in commercials in our area they say the support online gaming. Have a commercial about xbox live. But socom 2 is still okay. I played it last week and it wasnt to bad.[/quote]

Yeah - their web site says they worked closely with Microsoft to configure Comcast compatibility with XBox live -- then you scroll to the bottom and the only thing they mention about the PS2 is that it is not suported, but we will show you the standard Sony PS2 online set-up screens.

I'm a Sony guy thru and thru, and won't be buying an XBox -- most of the games I am interested in just aren't on the XBox, but I am mad as hell at Sony for not licensing a consistant middleware for online play.

So... I am still stuck with performance problems. I am about ready to ditch my router for a new one. Any suggestions?
 
So does no one do online gaming with the PS2? Anyone? Bueller?... sound of crickets chirping.

I cycled my modem and router (turned them off for 5 minutes) and was able to get a couple of really good play sessions in, but I am still getting dropped 50% of the time during a respawn.

BTW -- When u get kicked, you wil actually get a message to that effect. Having played FPS and Squad based strategy games online on PC & Mac for the better part of 9 years, I have never once been kicked or banned. But, when playing the console version of COD, I get kicked at least once a night -- how fun.

For the record, besides having a smooth time with the beta of Killzone (too cheap to buy the release, though I really want it), I never had probs with XIII either (shame the online portion sucks).
 
Test it without the router, to make sure it's specifically a router issue. You might want to look into updating your router's firmware, and figuring out which ports would be best forwarded instead of using DMZ. From my experience, the DMZ mode doesn't always work the way it's supposed to. Port forwarding gives you the best results. You might even want to try it with the DMZ mode disabled. How about the router's built-in firewall, can you disable it?

If you end up changing out your router I can recommend you the D-Link DI-624, as I hardly have to do any configuring, if any, for PS2 online play. A lot of the newer routers are built with console gaming in mind. Upgrading your current router's firmware would definitely be the best option, if it isn't already up to date. Test the game out without the router first, though.

http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/RT314.asp
 
I'll definitely look into the D-Link. Netgear's instructions for my router for DMZ are the same for port forwarding.

Basically is only uses TCP with no UDP features at all, so that makes opening ports impractical -- plus finding the ports I need can be a challenge.

With my modem and router on another floor, and Comcast doing MAC address validation, there is no way I can run a straight line for my PS2 without waiting on the phone for 30 minutes to change my MAC address to test, and then calling them back and waiting another 30 minutes and hope they set it back correctly without fuggin things up.

My router's firmware is updated -- I think it is just old and needs to be replaced at this point.
 
One new cable modem and one new router later, and u would have thought that this PS2 baby was born to swim... everything works fine now.

Amazing what happens when u replace 6 year old networking equipment.
 
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