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Desynch! What do we do?


kingraph

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From time to time, you (GENS) may experience a desynch in a game. It sucks, but it's a reality that we have to deal with sometimes. Now that we have player stats in nhl94online.com, dealing with desynchs are a bit trickier. Here are some tips to help you understand what to do if this happens.

How do I know we desynched?

First, both players should notice some odd behavior from their opponent. Standing still, skating into a wall, shooting from center ice, errant passing, scoring an easy goal, etc. While it may not always be so evident, that's your first sign. If you suspect a desynch (maybe after a lag spike), you should immediately PAUSE the game and message your opponent. Ask what time and score they have. If that matches (rarely does on a desynch), you may ask what is happening on the replay. If you both have the same thing, no desynch!

What do we do?

There are a couple of options.

OPTION 1: First, if it's early enough in the game (1st period, usually), you may decide to just replay the game from the start. If someone is winning 1-0, or even 2-0, it's common to allow a free goal or two early and just start playing from there.

OPTION 2: If it's later in the game, it becomes a little trickier because of stats. You can do as above...score the appropriate goals and wait until the desynch time to play. For example...it was 2-2 with 3:00 left in the 2nd. Each person can score two goals and then you let the time run until 3:00 left in the 2nd. Dump the puck out of play and start playing from the faceoff!

OPTION 3: There is a game stitcher program that you can use to get a correct savestate and preserve the correct stats. The caveat is you need to grab a save at the time of desynch, with the correct score, which may not always be available.

Here is the orignal post, copied below, with instructions on how to use the program. It may look complicated, but it's really not and I'd recommend everyone at least try this method.

Attached is a program I made that stitches together 3 nhl94 savestates.

attachicon.gifNHL94_game_stitcher1.4.zip

It's for use when you're playing a game and get disconnected/desynched.

You can use 3 savestates to make one savestate that represents your full real game, so all your stats are preserved.

Most Recent Update:
Version 1.4, November 3, 2011

  • Gets correct +/- data
  • Gets correct Time On Ice data (well, close to correct)
  • Gets correct Peak Crowd Level
The Idea:

The "formula" is this:

stitched_save = save1 + (save3 - save2)

save1: a savestate from when your game desynched.
save2: a savestate from the replayed game that has the
same score as save1 and approximately the same
time left.
save3: the savestate from the end of the replayed game.
stitched_save: a new savestate you can upload to the
website.

So, if you had 10 checks when the game was disconnected, then replayed the game, but had only 5 checks at the point where yiu started playing for real again, and ended up with 25 checks, this program will output a savestate where you have 30 checks (10 + (25-5) = 30). It will also fix up the scoring summary so you get all the right assists, etc.

Instructions/process:

1. Oh no! My game got disconnected when it was 5-4 half-way through the 2nd
period, whatever will I do?

2. MAKE A SAVESTATE when the game desynchs. Take note of the current score,
time remaining, and who had the puck (which coach).
Hit the F7 key to set gens to the next saveslot, so you don't save over this
savestate. Better yet, go and make a copy of the savestate for safekeeping.

3. Replay the game up to the time it got disconnected last time, scoring the
appropriate number of goals.
Don't worry about who scores them -- the stitcher will take care of it! But
you have to have the same score as when the game was disconnected
.

4. Make another savestave -- this will be the reference
point for stitching the games together. DON'T SAVE
OVER THE ORIGINAL!
Hit the F7 key to set gens to the next saveslot, so
you don't save over this savestate. Better yet,
go and make a copy of the savestate for safekeeping.

5. Once the time is approximately what it was when the
game disconnected last time, start playing for real
and finish the game
! Give the puck to the coach who
had it when the game disconnected.

6. At the end of the game, make yet another savestate.
DON'T SAVE OVER THE OTHER ONES!

7. Put Gamestitcher1.4.exe in the same folder as your
savestates

8. Doubleclick GameStitcher1.4.exe

9. Enter the length of periods you are using, in minutes. For example, 5.

10. Enter the names of the three savestates, one at a time

11. Enter a name for the output file, such as "out.gs0"

12. The games should get stitched together and output.

13. Load the stitched savestate in gens just to verify
that it stitched properly.

14. If all is good, upload to the website!

---

This game was stitched with version 1.4: http://www.blitz94.com/boxscore.asp?gameid=3860

Download:
attachicon.gifNHL94_game_stitcher1.4.zip


Old version: attachicon.gifNHL94_game_stitcher1.3.zip

Many thanks Smozoma!

OPTION 4: If it's really late in the game (3rd period), another option is to grab a save of the desynch, restart a new game, play the remaining time out, and then sim any updates to the desynched savestate (if needed).

For example, let's say you are winning 5-2 with 1:30 left in the 3rd and you desynch. Grab a save. Agree to play a new game for 1:30. Make a note of who (if anyone) scores.

Afterwards, open the ROM (not netplay) and choose to Load State:

28rz347.jpg

Choose your desynched savestate and manually score the appropriate goals, or let the time run out to the end if nobody scored. Then get a new save at the end of the game to upload. That's a little more involved and complicated, but it's another option if the above methods doesn't work.

OPTION 5: Lastly, if you tend to play a lot of exhibitions with someone in particular, you may just decide to upload a future exhibition game savestate that ended with the same score of your desynch!

Whatever method you choose, just make sure you and your opponent agree.

Our scores are different, what is the correct starting point?

Remember, when you desynch, you will be more likely to be the one to score a goal! Both players should pick the score that both players had at one point. So if someone had a score of 5-2 and the other 4-3, the game desynched sometime around 4-2. If one person has 3-2 and the other 2-2, then the game desynched around 2-2.

I think my opponent is faking a desych!

Your opponent keeps claiming desynch when you are winning! Remember, you are LIKELY to be winning when there is a desynch, so don't necessarily assume the worst. Most people in our community want to play the games honestly and have a good time.

However, we've had a couple bad apples in the past. If you really suspect bad behavior, you can always ask for your opponents savestate or a screenshot of the gamescreen to prove the desynch. Again, this would only be in the most extreme situations and unlikely you will ever get to this point.

That's just about all I know or can recommend on desynchs...post if you have other thoughts/options.

Good luck! AND WIRE UP! :)

2jdl4dj.jpg

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as usual a great, informative post by the king!! If i may, id like to add a few tips to avoid a desynch that i have learned in my experiences.

sometimes desynches just happen and theres nothing you can do about it but like raph said, they usually occur just after a lag spike, rarely do they just happen if the game is playing smoothly. so whats the best way to avoid desynches?!? avoid lag!!

as a 94 enthusiast, witch we all are, we should go through every precaution to avoid lag and desynches possible. now i know probably all players know not to run things like torrents or any kinda of downloading program while playing but in my experience having anything open really can induce lag, such as browsers, AIM, skype ect.. several times ive been in a lagged game and asked the person i was playing if they had anything open or if they had wifi and they will have a browser or something seemingly harmless open, i can see why you would have a browser open for league games so you can upload the save right away but 9 times outta 10 when they closed the browser, aim or whatever the lag situation got better. and ya, having AIM or whatever open probably wont make much of a difference if any at all but when playing online theres no point in having a messaging program open so couldnt hurt to close it.

lastly, one thing that gets overlooked sometimes is what the other people are doing on your network. if youre playing a classic league game in one room and your dumb girlfriend is watching sex in the city on netflix in the other.. theres gonna be lag. this is why i make sure when i play i try to make sure im the only one using my network. it might not be completely necessary for everyone because some people might have a higher bandwidth but its just my belief that we need to try to do everything we can to kill the lag. SO DO YOUR PART. KILL THE LAG DEAD.

Edited by donnybrook
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It's also a good idea in certain instances for credibility's sake (like playoffs, or if u just don't trust your opponent) to pause the game & take a screen shot (on the graphic drop-down menu, or press shift+backspace). Attach it in an AIM message to your opponent.

Edited by Uncle Seth
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Uncle king Bettman comes thru! He's got the majority the owners backing him ....only a ray rice type incident in which Andy moog beats up a fan could get him out

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Great post raph.

I would like to add a way to preserve game stats without the stitching for late in the game:

1. Drp1Zza is up 3-2 with a minute left in the 3rd period and the game desynchs.

2. Carse pauses immediately, notes the game desynched chatting with drp1zza on AIM.

3. Carse makes a savestate, reopens his gens folder and renames the file.

4. Drp1zza hosts a new game, Carse joins and scores 2 goals in the last minute with Doug Gilmour to win 4-3.

5. After the game, Carse opens gens->loads nhl94.bin->opens savestate from the desynch->adds two more goals with Doug Gilmour->make new savestate

6. Carse uploads the new savestate to nhl94online dut com giving the game nearly spot on stats

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It's also a good idea in certain instances for credibility's sake (like playoffs, or if u just don't trust your opponent) to pause the game & take a screen shot (on the graphic drop-down menu, or press shift+backspace). Attach it in an AIM message to your opponent.

Thanks for the specifics, I forgot about the shift+backspace method in GENS to grab a screenshot.

Uncle king Bettman comes thru! He's got the majority the owners backing him ....only a ray rice type incident in which Andy moog beats up a fan could get him out

B)

Great post raph.

I would like to add a way to preserve game stats without the stitching for late in the game:

1. Drp1Zza is up 3-2 with a minute left in the 3rd period and the game desynchs.

2. Carse pauses immediately, notes the game desynched chatting with drp1zza on AIM.

3. Carse makes a savestate, reopens his gens folder and renames the file.

4. Drp1zza hosts a new game, Carse joins and scores 2 goals in the last minute with Doug Gilmour to win 4-3.

5. After the game, Carse opens gens->loads nhl94.bin->opens savestate from the desynch->adds two more goals with Doug Gilmour->make new savestate

6. Carse uploads the new savestate to nhl94online dut com giving the game nearly spot on stats

This was essentially what "Option 4" was meant to say, but I like how you laid it out here.

SO DO YOUR PART. KILL THE LAG DEAD.

:dal_skater_hand_grab:

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