Replay sync problem

[emek]

Hi
I am having a game as Japan for about a year now and some time ago my opponent started to complain that his game replays are out of sync and he is not sure what happen during his replays. I remember reading about this problem some time ago so the first thing we both checked that we are running the same official install with no modifications.

I have 3 clean installs on 2 computers and my identical replays include some minor ships sunk. In his replay, nothing sunk. As you might assume it causes a lot of frustration to my opponent.

Any ideas how to resolve?

[Lowpe]

Basically, try a fresh power up and then run the turn without any other additional programs running.

And you are correct to run the same version.

But other than that, nobody really knows.

[BillBrown]

As the allied player that was the first thing I tried. I then reinstalled the game with official patch. Same exact incorrect combat replay.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Basically, try a fresh power up and then run the turn without any other additional programs running.

Doesn't make a difference, this is just voodoo [;)].

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Basically, try a fresh power up and then run the turn without any other additional programs running.

And you are correct to run the same version.

But other than that, nobody really knows.

The programmers know, but I'm not sure a) I'm allowed to say and b) I can explain it without revealing a lot of the underlying architecture. The cause is obvious when you know the underlying architecture, but the problem can pop up anywhere in the program. The bug is relatively easy to find (though sometimes tedious) when Michael gets a save from the turn before it starts.

It's critical both players are on the same version of the EXE. If not, sync problems are highly likely.

Bill

[BillBrown]

Interesting enough, the next turn has been done and the combat replay was just fine. We both did a lot of
things to work out the problem, but this is the first time we advanced the turn since we started to try
and fix the problem. We were using the last combat replay file that was corrupted, and even when emeck
reran the turn we had the same exact error.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BillBrown

Interesting enough, the next turn has been done and the combat replay was just fine. We both did a lot of
things to work out the problem, but this is the first time we advanced the turn since we started to try
and fix the problem. We were using the last combat replay file that was corrupted, and even when emeck
reran the turn we had the same exact error.

If you're running different versions of the game, you'll pretty much get this bug every turn.

If you're on the same version, then it's a random event every time you run a turn. It's possible to get multiple in a row, but really unlikely. They're typically isolated.

[BillBrown]

We are not running different versions. If you try you get an error message about a different version and if you want to continue.

[michaelm75au]

There are fewer cases of the sync issue that when we first started.
As the order of game events need to be exactly the same between the replay and the original execution turn, any differences in the EXE program or even in the switches can alter the order of the 'random' numbers consumed during the turn - this is the sync issue in a nutshell.
Often, the issue may once, and then not again (or many turns later) in a game.

[BillBrown]

And then the next turn has sync errors again. Anyone want to take a pick up game as Allies?