"You are already connected!"

[CloakedKiller]

Ran into this little treat only moments ago when trying to get into the Hanger 18 server.
Had not been playing SF all day, no problems with it up until that point.
The server loaded up fine, I selected my character and race and it happened when I pressed OK to play.

Worked fine on re-try after a reboot of SF and about 2 minutes time.

I remember this happening also when I tried to log into the simplistic arena a few days ago. Didn't think anything of it because I had just been kicked out due to my wireless connection dropping for a few seconds and assumed the server really did still think I was there. Running Windows XP.

[Sandtrooper]

This "feature" is one of the things I give two thumbs down to the entire 1.3x release, it is simply annoying as hell as I've encountered it as well. It also gives dial-up users the worst of this "feature".

[NiteHawk]

Actually, it's to prevent ghosting, aka two same characters at once. The reason it was added, was to stop some poofing.

Normally the reason why it happens it because you load the game, and it crashes, but your character is still 'logged' in but not, and the reason why it takes 2 minutes, is because it takes a two full minutes before actually booting you. The 2 minute timer is not the same as the 10 seconds no data. The 2 minute timer is when you hit OK at character selection, and the game crashes randomly. (Still a bug to be solved.)

Though we should lower the time of 2 minutes, more or less the reason why it's happening is because of the crash during character selection (as I said, when hitting OK.)

So yes, the server is still thinking you are there, and that's the issue currently.

If you have a better idea to pevent two users on at the same time, feel free to state something. Right now, I felt it was a good idea simply because it pevents players from using the same character at once, and prevents the server from getting confused, which it does.

But for more or less, the timer does need to be reduced a good amount. Currently it is set to 2 minutes (That is how old SF is.) But you really didn't notice it because you could multiple connect with no issues. It used to do this sort of check using the serial ID, but that was removed when the game went freeware to everyone.

I suppose dial up would be worse, but I'm not sure really why. The only thing I can think of is your connection dropping improperly... But in general all those crashes happen to everyone and has been a mystery bug since 1.2.

[CloakedKiller]

Ah, I get what you're saying, however, the reason I logged in 2 minutes later wasn't because I was waiting 2 minutes or that I had problems logging in for 2 minutes, it's just when I decided to log back in after coming to the boards and reporting my findings.

Also I thought it was noteworthy that my game never crashed or even stumbled. Everything was flawless up until that error message. Why would it think I was in the server if I hadn't been online in 24 hours or attempted to be online before I got the error message? That was my first time logging into Hanger 18 since the upgrade.

That said I think it's a good feature, and it's not a big hassle to log back in after an error message.
Just figured it was something worth posting.

[NiteHawk]

Ah, I get what you're saying, however, the reason I logged in 2 minutes later wasn't because I was waiting 2 minutes or that I had problems logging in for 2 minutes, it's just when I decided to log back in after coming to the boards and reporting my findings.

Also I thought it was noteworthy that my game never crashed or even stumbled. Everything was flawless up until that error message. Why would it think I was in the server if I hadn't been online in 24 hours or attempted to be online before I got the error message? That was my first time logging into Hanger 18 since the upgrade.

That said I think it's a good feature, and it's not a big hassle to log back in after an error message.
Just figured it was something worth posting.

Odd, so your saying you never logged in at all, then tried to log and that happened? Never understood the first time then, my bad.  Couple questions then:

Were you in the server previously? Then perhaps got logged off due to an error or disconnection like wireless DC, then decided to log back in again. I'm maybe thinking a wierd disconnection keeps a clone of you on the server, (The playerlist you cannot see) Perhaps.. Basicly the server just runs through that list and if finds a duplicate, kicks you off. But maybe it doesn't until you relog, (May activate that clone into getting a boot perhaps..) Kinda follow me? But neverless another thing I was thinking:

Neverless, I was thinking about this too. Perhaps I should change it to boots the older connection. AKA only the newest connection would be connected.. Basicly:

PROS; No wait time, No clones of yourself still
CONS; If someone had your password, they could log you out via logging on your character on the same server. But you'd have to be careless to give out your password, and you can change your password at SF.net now anyways.

Input on this method? Basicly, the newest connection would be the connection staying alive (and booting old connections), instead of the message you get now stating your connected.

But I'd also like input or maybe some tests via the issue you were having as well. Still need to fix that, this change or leaving it the way it is

[CloakedKiller]

I think kicking the old connection off when the new connection connected would ne nice.
But to some extent I'd say it's already doing that (thus why I was able to log in on the next try).
People who get their passwords intercepted (if they do) wouldn't really lose too much I'd imagine.
And even then, that's the price to pay in every game. Keep your password secured, folks

But hmmm, perhaps I was on that server before and had a weird drop after 1.3 was released. That could be... I was thinking I hadn't logged into Hanger 18 since pre-1.3 but it could definitely be a possibility that I had logged on and dropped connection and never tried to log back in. Seems like a reasonable explanation. Was probably 4-7 days apart at least, though.

[NiteHawk]

I think kicking the old connection off when the new connection connected would ne nice.
But to some extent I'd say it's already doing that (thus why I was able to log in on the next try).
People who get their passwords intercepted (if they do) wouldn't really lose too much I'd imagine.
And even then, that's the price to pay in every game. Keep your password secured, folks

But hmmm, perhaps I was on that server before and had a weird drop after 1.3 was released. That could be... I was thinking I hadn't logged into Hanger 18 since pre-1.3 but it could definitely be a possibility that I had logged on and dropped connection and never tried to log back in. Seems like a reasonable explanation. Was probably 4-7 days apart at least, though.

Alright, I'll make modifications today for the next version. I'll take a look and do some tests too then to see about that.

[NiteHawk]

Okay, fixed the bugs etc.

The server now will boot the OLD connection, and let the new connection in.

Sound good?

[CloakedKiller]

Yup, good deal.