Multiplayer - Top Issues

[Worntoathread 865]

Lozzy, did you read my last comment on this page as well? I'd like to hear what you think about it.

[ahmednoor99 0]

Lozzy said:

ahmednoor99 said:

@Dnote, @Lozzy 

Apologies for the long post.
Sorry if there were elements of this post that came across "rude". Not intended, just trying to emphasise certain points.
If you need further clarification on anything, please let me know.
Also, I don't expect a Blue Peter badge, but I've spent a fair bit of time constructing this post together, so some sort of acknowledgement from @Dnote, @Lozzy would be much appreciated. Even if it's not what I want to hear - I just want to know where I stand (and the same for the others).

Thank you.

Excellent post, thank you for taking the time to write it. I didn't think any of it was rude, as I've said before I'm fine with people highlighting issues in a mature way which you have. There are a lot of issues on there that we're already aware of but there are also some that we'll investigate as a result.

While @RadioactiveJim doesn't like the idea of the D-Pad menu working in the pit lane I certainly think it should and then it's a case of having a choice to use it or not. That's something I'll raise internally.

ahmednoor99 said:

MOST (if not all) of us wanted the Hopper system to be removed, and at least replaced with the old "Quick Race / Custom Race" system, because that was never broken. However, not a single CM employee has said they'll be discussing this feature internally, so I take it that the Hoppers are here to stay.

That is not the case, I myself have said that with hindsight they haven't worked and that we need to change things. However, when the whole multiplayer system was built from the ground up to use hoppers making a change takes a lot of time and testing. Rest assured that we know how people feel and we share your frustration.

Thank you @Lozzy, I appreciate your time, and I patiently wait for good news.
As mentioned, if there is any other way we can assist, feel free to let us know. I like the fact that you guys want to invite users to the studio (perhaps), or race with us (perhaps). It all helps.

[unknown113 0]

@Lozzy why no weather forecast for whole weekend?

[Lozzy 0]

Worntoathread said:

1) Constantly yellow/green/yellow/green flags being shown, even if there is no accident at all in any sector, alternating between yellow and green about every 2 seconds for lap after lap, sometimes even until the end of the race. 

2) In the hopper lobbies, there is no way of knowing if a race has just begun or if it's nearly ended when you enter one, this sometimes leaves us waiting for nothing. Right now I just entered a lobby, the spectate option doesn't work so I figured they must be at the results. I've been waiting in the lobby for over 10 minutes now and nothing. A simple lap indicator in the lobby menu for when a race is underway would make a HUGE difference, didn't the previous games have this?

3) When asking the race engineer about the driver in front or behind, he tells you everything, but not the tyres they're on. And 90% of the time that's all I want to know.

4) Just general stability, cars flashing and glitching back and forward, sometimes into you.

Sorry, I wasn't ignoring you. Also forgive my editing of your quote!

1) I'm going to look in to this and see if I can reproduce it. Does this happen in shorter races or am I going to need to do something 50%+?
2) I'm not certain but I think we had that in previous games. Regardless I've raised the point but I can't see that being added for this game unfortunately.
3) I've passed that on to the designer in charge of the voice commands. It would need new Race Engineer voice over though so that's going to be something that's unlikely to be added in a patch.
4) I passed on the video to the network guys that showed a car stationary just long enough to cause a collision and break off another cars front wing.

[ProDriver 120]

 I like the idea of the D-pad menu working in the pit lane, but, in the entry is logical, that you cant change the tyre selection, because of the fact that @RadioactiveJim has comented in his post.

[jinCHEZ 0]

ahmednoor99 said:

@Dnote, @Lozzy 
Hello, I apologise if some (or all) of these have already been mentioned, but I'm just going to throw in the issues I've encountered over the last 3 months. I've arranged them in sections of 'fives' as you wanted five. I hope it helps. To other users - feel free to agree, disagree, add-to or ignore.

Platform: PS4

Critical Issues (race-breakers):
1) Sync/Desync. As @NellyFurtado's video shows, when you get close to someone, the lag does get worse, and front wings are vulnerable. This makes wheel-to-wheel racing virtually impossible.
2) Parc Ferme. Sometimes in our league race, every now and then some of us may be locked into the default setup (as others said - maybe from completing a race before? --- It seems "the race before" causes many defects to show in "the current race".
3) Corner Cutting. Incredibly lenient. Fair enough if you want to keep corner cutting lenient in the race (which I both agree and disagree with), it HAS to be harsh in qualifying, at the very least.
4) Mass Disconnection. One person leaves, and one by one everybody is kicked whilst you continue to still go round. ALSO, there have been times where I have been kicked first (I've never been Host of a race by the way), and on MY screen it tells me that everyone else has left, whereas I'm the one that has left first on everyone else's screen. This has happened a few times now.
5) Penalty System - I don't really know how to articulate this across, so I'm just going to list a few scenarios, which should be more than enough.
5a) Sometimes, we get no message on the screen when we've received a penalty (this is an intermittent thing - but important)
5b) If I spin off, and my car's facing the other way, when I try to spin the car to face the correct way again, I get automatically disqualified.
5c) When passing a car that has left the track (spun, crashed, stuck, whatever it is), we get 'Illegal overtake', and because we obviously can't wait for someone who's crashed/stuck to come back and pass us, it's an automatic penalty).
5d) Inconsistencies with penalty lengths. 3 seconds for cutting certain corners, whilst 10 seconds for cutting others?
5e) "Track Limits". No, I'm not about the "Exceeded track limits" message, I'm on about track limits in general. 2 wheels over a kerb/line is fine (although if you do this regularly, then the tyres should feel the effect of constant kerbing, especially if the kerbs are vicious like Abu Dhabi?). Sometimes we get penalties for 2 wheels over, whilst other times when we are 4 wheels over (fully outside of limits), no penalties.
5f) Qualifying. You know the corner cutting is too lenient especially in qualifying, but if most of the lap is being cut, then you can maybe add a grid penalty for the race? Although this may open a whole can of worms!

Important Issues (not critical, but highly necessary):
1) Weather Forecast. We need a weather forecast for the whole weekend, not just the session.
2) Fuel/Tyres/Brakes menu. The "left" menu to alter fuel mix etc. This menu is very very slow compared to older games, and is slow compared to the "Engineer" menu. Needs to be faster and smoother. When a selection has been made, it needs to be highlighted then the menu needs to close ASAP so we can then make another adjustment quickly if required. On a sidenote, 2A) Menu in Pits. Please guys, we need to be able to make a quickfire call when we've already drove into the pits, about changing tyres. Lord knows how many times I've concentrated hard to go around my in-lap on trashed tyres, only to forget to let the pitcrew know what tyres I want - and I cannot access that "left" menu in the pitlane.
3) OSD Times. When we are slower than our previous lap (or best lap), we have the sector difference indicator (e.g. +0.237) highlighted in red. However, when we are quicker than our previous lap (or best lap), there is no indicator. It should be (e.g. -0.391) highlighted in green.
4) Yellow/Green/Yellow Flags. This is very important, because when wheel-to-wheel racing, you have no idea if you can pass or not. As someone quite righly mentioned before, there is a 50% chance of getting a penalty when you pass someone. The other thing is, once the yellow/green/yellow/green traffic-light flags begin, there is almost no end to them.
5) Race Only. If we're competing in race-only races, then there NEEDS to be an option to set your car up. Not everyone is going to save a race setup, and if they have multiple setups for one track, it's difficult to identify which one they need to load.

Multiplayer General Issues (PLEASE don't ignore):
1) P-U-B-L-I-C CUSTOM LOBBIES. I apologise for the caps-lock and hyphen spacing, but if only you guys knew exactly how crucial this feature is to the Codemasters Formula 1 series. MOST (if not all) of us wanted the Hopper system to be removed, and at least replaced with the old "Quick Race / Custom Race" system, because that was never broken. However, not a single CM employee has said they'll be discussing this feature internally, so I take it that the Hoppers are here to stay. I'm not happy about that, but that's fine, if you want to keep it, keep it. HOWEVER, at the very least, insert a function where we can look for PUBLIC custom lobbies. The developers managed to patch in the "Invite Only" custom race (I think it was that one), so why on earth cant the Public Custom Lobbies be patched in too? The best part about it is that it gives us users some CONTROL over how WE want to play this game. Not how YOU want us to play this game. Please please please just make the Public Custom Lobby feature, even if the UI looks exactly like it did in the last few CM F1 games, I don't mind, I just want to be able to... 1) Create my own lobby, with my OWN assist/race settings, and allow people to join, and also 2) Join other people's lobbies. I apologise if it sounds rude, I didn't mean for it to, I'm just trying to emphasise the HUGE importance of this feature - especially because it's a feature which you've always had!!!
2) Spectate Bug / Laps Bug. Sometimes, when looking for a race, I'm taken into a hopper which is ongoing. There are times (not every time, but definitely 1 in 2 times) where I can't select "Spectate", so I don't know what's going on. There's also no Lap indicator so we can't view the race, and we don't know how far into the race the lobby is.
3) AI in EVERY hopper race. I understand that many people like to race online with other races (friends or randomers) as well as having a few AI's in the race. That's fine - each to their own, but seeing as we have -NO CONTROL- over the lobby setup in a regular Hopper (therefore we can't remove AI's from the session if we want to), can you at least make the chances of AI appearing in Hopper sessions 50/50? That way, if I join a Hopper session, and it has AI's in, technically speaking I can leave, search for (and join) another one which hopefully doesn't have AI's in.

Apologies for the long post.
Sorry if there were elements of this post that came across "rude". Not intended, just trying to emphasise certain points.
If you need further clarification on anything, please let me know.
Also, I don't expect a Blue Peter badge, but I've spent a fair bit of time constructing this post together, so some sort of acknowledgement from @Dnote, @Lozzy would be much appreciated. Even if it's not what I want to hear - I just want to know where I stand (and the same for the others).

Thank you.

• 
  

This guy is a legend; ignore all the other posts and just fix these in the first coming patch, so we can look past the things that should have been from the start and can actually start giving criticism on new things we would like (no I'm not talking about sc for crying out loud xD)

[Worntoathread 865]

Lozzy said:

Worntoathread said:

1) Constantly yellow/green/yellow/green flags being shown, even if there is no accident at all in any sector, alternating between yellow and green about every 2 seconds for lap after lap, sometimes even until the end of the race. 

Sorry, I wasn't ignoring you. Also forgive my editing of your quote!

1) I'm going to look in to this and see if I can reproduce it. Does this happen in shorter races or am I going to need to do something 50%+?

@Lozzy Thank you for you response. I've seen in happen in hardcore lobbies with 25% races, but in custom lobbies with 50% or 100% races as well.

I have a video of our last league race that might help a bit, although we didn't have the yellow/green/yellow/green problem there, but just constantly green flags for a big chunk of the race, with repeated notifications.
This is not as bad as the yellow flag problem but maybe they're related. Skip to lap 54 to clearly see the problem, and it stays like that until the end of the race, you can see if you skip through the final 15 laps or so. It's been a lot worse in other races, but I hope this can help.
https://youtu.be/ajB16N_2aSo?t=2h7m40s 

[hobbsy777 0]

Lozzy said:

While @RadioactiveJim doesn't like the idea of the D-Pad menu working in the pit lane I certainly think it should and then it's a case of having a choice to use it or not. That's something I'll raise internally.

While I am an advocate of as much realism and immersion as possible, I agree that tire choice in the pit entry would be helpful for those of us that just cannot manage to match the multitasking whilst racing skills of an F1 driver. I have to admit I am one of those less able.

[enrico68 0]

No , last night nn nothing worked !! XBox One race in Sao Paulo , 50 % , starting in accidents caused by the fact that cars are not synchronized , so you have four riders forced to go box for incidendi of which are not to blame !! then 10 laps from the end, we were all thrown out of the room !! we are also trying to change the hosts but the situation remains the same , you can not finish a race online !!

[Lozzy 0]

I see it like Flashbacks, if they're available you have a choice, use them or don't, you can play the game exactly how you want to. If there is no choice then those people who want to use it are unhappy.

To update you with our progress looking in to the issues you've been reporting were still looking in to some of the issues but a lot of them we have reproduced. I'm not going to make promises but I'll do my best to get the ones that I think are game breaking looked at as a priority. My list from a few days back still feels like the top priority at the moment.

Please keep the issues coming and if we can maintain the more grown up tone we've had recently all the better :smile:.

[RadioactiveJim 4]

 hobbsy777 said:

Lozzy said:

While @RadioactiveJim doesn't like the idea of the D-Pad menu working in the pit lane I certainly think it should and then it's a case of having a choice to use it or not. That's something I'll raise internally.

While I am an advocate of as much realism and immersion as possible, I agree that tire choice in the pit entry would be helpful for those of us that just cannot manage to match the multitasking whilst racing skills of an F1 driver. I have to admit I am one of those less able.

Actually I just like using that 20 to 30 seconds to have a drink, racing is thirsty work

[pietropietro85 0]

.forumfree.it
1 ) Problems of lag , you see cars flying , that distort its position going back and forth , just before they are away and then immediately after the six on , drivers who see them go off track but it is not true , shortly after you reappear front !
2 ) by 8 riders up in a room , it increases very groups the possibility to be disconnected
3 ) issue full of gasoline in qualifying
4 ) issue of the cuts in qualifying , the weather is held valid even if those who made ​​it to cut the track !!
5 ) problems penalty cuts in the race , both inside of the curve , and outside of the curve , you're too permissive , in circuits like Sochi Mexico ecc.si can do everything and not good !!
we spent a lot of money to play and when we could not make a decent match. Do something so you can play otherwise reimbursed. Greetings.

[enrico68 0]

XBOX ONE

Lozzy Hello , sorry but you could not do a race in which you have a your developer , so he realizes how are races ? It is not possible that it is the only racing game that you can not play online !!

[Toper1100 0]

Been in a few races online when after one lap the race finishes. Some races do one lap and finishes but everyone else does 5 laps. Before the end of the races most people get kick from the game. Seems to be happening more and more.

[UnderZice 0]

Toper1100 said:

Been in a few races online when after one lap the race finishes. Some races do one lap and finishes but everyone else does 5 laps. Before the end of the races most people get kick from the game. Seems to be happening more and more.

same bugs since day one , never been fixed and never will.
devs team are more interested by the coffee machine than repair this game.

[FRACTURED 30]

Lozzy said:
1) I'm going to look in to this and see if I can reproduce it. Does this happen in shorter races or am I going to need to do something 50%+?

This is a carryover from all or at least the last 2 or 3 F1 games. Never fixed in any of the previous versions despite being highlighted :( Dreaded seeing this in league races as you'd have 1, 2 or even 3 sectors completely closed off for overtaking. Its amazing that with a completely new engine on a new (to yourselves) set of consoles, you managed to recreate so many of the previous issues!

Lozzy said:
2) I'm not certain but I think we had that in previous games. Regardless I've raised the point but I can't see that being added for this game unfortunately.

Look, be serious now. You are making a joke here, yes? If they can't add a lap indicator to the hopper lobby then what chance do they have of fixing any of the actual on track issues. That also says to me custom lobby list cannot be done by codemasters as thats something you would have to display.

Any jobs going in your QA department for a racing nerd with SDLC and AGILE experience working for a top Insurance Company? Very expensive when we make mistakes or release faulty or defective code, unlike yourselves we have to give any overcharges back, and eat any undercharges. Maybe you could do with someone who can crack the whip and starts from a point where they have played all the previous versions and CAN be certain about what was in the previous games...

[ahmednoor99 0]

FRACTURED said:

Any jobs going in your QA department for a racing nerd with SDLC and AGILE experience working for a top Insurance Company? Very expensive when we make mistakes or release faulty or defective code, unlike yourselves we have to give any overcharges back, and eat any undercharges. Maybe you could do with someone who can crack the whip and starts from a point where they have played all the previous versions and CAN be certain about what was in the previous games...

Spot on, @Fractured.
I'll second those words, I too am happy to help out on the QA side of things on a part time basis. It would be full time but I have other QA responsibilities. Like Fractured, I also have been playing the previous versions, from 2010 onwards. Keep in mind, this is no plea for a job, more of an extension of an arm that's willing to assist. 

Also, CM, the sooner you get the 'first' batch of users to your studio, the better. Honestly. 

[Lozzy 0]

FRACTURED said:

Lozzy said:
In the hopper lobbies, there is no way of knowing if a race has just begun or if it's nearly ended when you enter one,
2) I'm not certain but I think we had that in previous games. Regardless I've raised the point but I can't see that being added for this game unfortunately.

Look, be serious now. You are making a joke here, yes? If they can't add a lap indicator to the hopper lobby then what chance do they have of fixing any of the actual on track issues. That also says to me custom lobby list cannot be done by codemasters as thats something you would have to display.

It's not a question of if, it's a question of having limited resources and using them to fix the most important issues. As it turns out someone took this on a little while ago and it will be in the next patch.

Thanks for the offers, we're keen to do something with the community in the future.

[jonnow 0]

Another league race tonight and again many problems on PS4 since the last patch.

1. First when we arrived at qualifying, before the game puts you in the garage we were all left with names in the left hand corner and the spinning logo indefinitely so we had to back out and restart the lobby.

2. Cars lagging around on screen badly. Jerky movement, cars ghosting and disappearing completely at times.

3. Illegal overtake warnings multiple times for drivers who have either made legitimate overtakes or have not even made one at all. I was 3 seconds ahead of the car behind at one point only for the game to tell me I had overtaken illegally.

4. The issue of overheating engines for anyone using manual gears when following close to a car. Again a new problem since the last patch.

These issues were much less prominent before the last patches. We were able to race without much issue bar the usual bugs you could work around but now the general network stability seems much worse even tho the same guys are racing each week. There were 12 guys in the lobby this week.

[King327 0]

CODEMASTERS, PLEASE READ AND RESPOND:

PC Version: One of the number one issues with multiplayer (PC Version) is that it is so easy to get disconnected during a game (Yes I have a good solid connection speed) and videos TO PROVE ALL MY FINDINGS.  Either;
1.  when another player quits out of the game in ANY online mode, or when it says ERROR- "you've been kicked from the server", then  a black screen. 
2:  The whole online system can get out of wack and you get a winner before anyone starts the game.
3.  Or when you pit you get transported to "Spectator Mode)
4.  Or the time clock disappearing in the lobby while waiting for the game to start (Usually in HOPPER Mode)
5.  When you finish a "Short Qualifying Session" and you still have time on the clock, if that time runs out if you are still on your in lap during your final qualification lap, you get transported to "Spectator Mode"
6.  Maintaining a "stable" connection throughout a 25% race or longer
7. Cars coming from no where and passing you, but they don't register on the winners board.

I HAVE TRIED TO PRIORITIZE THE 'PC" ONLINE/MULTIPLAYER issues.  If you would simply go back to what you had last year (F1 2014) MP, I believe that many of the online issues would simply go away;)  This has been brought up before.  Plese do something to fix our online experience!

*** These issues are ongoing, and until they are fixed, league racing is virtually impossible!  The Precision Racing League", one of the largest and most respected F1 2015 leagues in the US has had to cancel qualifications for this years F1 2015 series due to the above mentioned issues.  Many people are so sick and tired of these issues, and after waiting (patiently) for a Codemasters online fix/Patch, that they are going to Project cars or IRacing to get their online racing fix, and they are dumping F1 2015.   These Multiplayer/Online issues MUST be fixed ASAP, and fixed fast or we will loose most of the people that signed up to race this year.  Just last night we got another request for us to "get things going".  We know it will be the same old thing/same issues, but we are going to try another 50% practice session next week anyway, Wednesday night at 9:00pm EST (United States).  I am crossing my fingers on this one hoping that some, if not all, of these issues listed above have been resolved by Codemasters by either applying a fix "Patch"or not having to apply a patch.  However, I'm sure it will be the same old issues that have been cropping up over and over that will make this practice session unsuccessful.  Come on Codemasters, we are all waiting, and these Multiplayer issues will be your ultimate downfall for 2016.  IF YOU CAN'T GET THE GAME TO WORK PROPERLY THIS YEAR, WHAT IS TO SAY THAT ANYTHING WILL CHANGE FOR NEXT YEAR, OR EVER!  If things do not change quickly, no one will buy the game.  If that happens, you will not be able to financially sustain your company!!!!  Please put absolute priority on these MP/ONLINE issues.

[mhutch1 0]

@Lozzy  I've just seen this thread so I'm sure this has already been mentioned, but the lag warping is really bad regardless of the speed of the players connections. I have posted this video before where you can see front wings and cars being completely destroyed because of the car ahead warping backwards, perhaps it can help to evidence the problem. These clips are all from Monza but this happens in every race in my league.

https://youtu.be/StulXytHRGs

You can briefly see the green-yellow-green-yellow thing at 1:10 in my video too

[jinCHEZ 0]

it's not regardless, connection definitely has a part in it. You need a base good connection (depending on the country, that can be a task...) and obviously wired to your console

I'm talking about PS4 btw, it's been ok so far for us, just the little desync issues where cars are maybe not always on the exact same location on different screens... only tested 2 races since last patch, had tons before

[mhutch1 0]

jinCHEZ said:

it's not regardless, connection definitely has a part in it. You need a base good connection (depending on the country, that can be a task...) and obviously wired to your console

I'm talking about PS4 btw, it's been ok so far for us, just the little desync issues where cars are maybe not always on the exact same location on different screens... only tested 2 races since last patch, had tons before

in the first collision in my clip between the Williams and Sauber, both of those guys are on 100Mb+ connections. If that isn't enough, well...screw that.

Another issue is the penalty system, we had a couple of guys disqualified in a race today for "receiving multiple penalties" but neither of them received any corner cutting penalties prior to being disqualified, just a few warnings.

[jinCHEZ 0]

It's not because 2 guys have lag towards another, that it is actually them lagging, it can also be induced by lobby lag caused by an "average" of the lobby players, plus, you don't need 100mb to race lagfree, you don't even need 10mb, it's more how stable your connection is or what latency you have, that's where the wired comes in.

the 2nd issue can be part of the lobby lag causing it I think, because we don't have that issue and I do see more people combining those 2 issues...

[mhutch1 0]

jinCHEZ said:

It's not because 2 guys have lag towards another, that it is actually them lagging, it can also be induced by lobby lag caused by an "average" of the lobby players, plus, you don't need 100mb to race lagfree, you don't even need 10mb, it's more how stable your connection is or what latency you have, that's where the wired comes in.

the 2nd issue can be part of the lobby lag causing it I think, because we don't have that issue and I do see more people combining those 2 issues...

That's all well and good, but the exact same group of drivers on the exact same connections didn't have any of these issues on F1 2013 or 2014. Sure, there was the occasional blinking vehicle but no-one ever got destroyed as a result, whereas now we have at least 2 people losing their wings through this warping every race. If we can't have dedicated servers there needs to be some kind of compensation in the net code for this kind of thing.