Increased frequency of one-sided desync?

Prefacing with information that: I know how to read the log files to a decent degree

Some friends and I have been trying to play FAF for a while now, after a long break. We now run into desyncs constantly, even with all the common causes ruled out in theory.

We use both maps we've used in the past without flaw, and vanilla maps.

We've tried no mods (which did work*) and literally downloading the same zip file of mods to make sure 100% they're identical on everyone's end.

And we're on the latest release of Nomads gamemode (because something changed in non-nomads recently and causes reliable instant desync on load /w any of our mods)

At this point one of my friends is convinced it may be hardware related, which I really hope it isn't. It's always me desyncing with them, as only my client has a mismatched hash code, despite being handed a literal 1:1 copy of one of the other friend's mod files, erasing all of mine, then installing that zip file's contents. Still desynced.

And lately the desyncs have become extremely frustrating to pin down, because we can't set aside several dozen hours to test, as the match sometimes doesn't desync for a full hour, and after that point it's not worth it to try to play anymore as it diverges too far to matter for myself

Does anyone have any pointers, or tips for what to look into for diagnosing this? The hash code mismatch info in the log is nice for knowing when the desync occurs, but useless for knowing why

If I’m understanding correctly, unmodded vanilla FAF works? In which case you’d need the mod author(s) to fix the mods that are causing a desync. I don’t think anyone is supporting or developing nomads anymore.

If vanilla FAF works I’d try adding mods one at a time until you get desyncs again. It’s either a problem with that mod or with the combination of mods you’re trying to use.

This is unlikely to be the case, but if one of you are trying to run supcom on an ARM based cpu you’ll get desyncs as well, and afaik there’s not a whole lot that can be done there. Takes a game engine patch to fix that.

@exselsior Nomads recieves updates every few weeks actually

Vanilla faf works, so far as 5 minutes of testing shows. This is part of the issue though, we just don't have the time or energy to devote to figuring it out
Not an ARM processor, though, thankfully

Well the arbitrary rep limiter just ate that post so:

To reiterate why this is unusual and frustrating, only I seem to cause desyncs at all. None of the other 3 people involved ever desync when I'm not around, with the same mods enabled.

@vaelophisnyx Do you or any of your friends have the path to their maps & mods (FAF Client > top left menu > Settings > Forged Alliance Forever > Maps and Mods Location) set in OneDrive, Dropbox or some other form of network storage?

All versions of SCFA have a difficult time with using network storage systems like OneDrive, Dropbox, etc..

To get around this for FAF, you'll need to:

• go to FAF client > top left menu > Settings > Forged Alliance Forever > Maps and Mods Location > Choose...
• navigate to a location outside of OneDrive
• either select an already existing folder or create a new folder for where FAF will store your maps/mods & then select the new folder
• double-check the new path to ensure that it's not in OneDrive

Desyncs happen 99.9% of the time because a source file is different.

• (1) Maps that look the same but are not

Could be as simple as opening up a map some time ago and saving it back to disk - just don't do it. Best to always install maps via the map vault.

• (2) Mods of different versions or different file content

Specifically mods that do not originate from the vault are prone candidates. Best to always install mods via the mod vault.

• (3) Different game versions

This can happen when we do a release, but that's not so often. Nomads received an update on the 1st of April and the 4th of February, which is also not that frequent. This is unlikely the problem.

If you're into using (many) mods, then I can only encourage you to use the LOUD client instead. It's very stable, has all of the major mod packs (and more). It does not support Nomads however.

@mostlostnoob said in Increased frequency of one-sided desync?:

@vaelophisnyx Do you or any of your friends have the path to their maps & mods (FAF Client > top left menu > Settings > Forged Alliance Forever > Maps and Mods Location) set in OneDrive, Dropbox or some other form of network storage?

Nope, not so far as I am aware

As far as maps, we only use the vault for maps and mods, aside from one mod my friend is still developing that itself has never caused a desync, but is incomplete thus not on the vault.