Multiplayer missions getting stuck at 99% loading for a long time - any ideas?

[TWC_Flug]

We're having some of our missions, some of the time, get stuck at 99% loading for along time--like 20-30 minutes.

These are online multiplayer missions and you select the server from the servers screen, and then the progress bar starts and goes relatively normally until it gets stuck at 99% for an extended period of time. If you wait it out you eventually do join the server and all seems well.

Nothing seems particularly amiss on the server end--about the normal amount of CPU used and no particular messages in the launcher window.

Has anyone ever encountered this, or any ideas about what could be the cause?

[RAF74_Buzzsaw]

These are COOP missions?

We're having some of our missions, some of the time, get stuck at 99% loading for along time--like 20-30 minutes.

These are online multiplayer missions and you select the server from the servers screen, and then the progress bar starts and goes relatively normally until it gets stuck at 99% for an extended period of time. If you wait it out you eventually do join the server and all seems well.

Nothing seems particularly amiss on the server end--about the normal amount of CPU used and no particular messages in the launcher window.

Has anyone ever encountered this, or any ideas about what could be the cause?

[TWC_Fatal_Error]

no buzz multiplayer only Atag was also having some issues with hang screens and no loads

[TWC_Flug]

These are COOP missions?

No they're just regular online multiplayer missions.

However, they do have a feature where all the statics, airports, fronts, etc will load and then it will wait for a player to enter before loading any actors/or moving AI.

So the the server might be sitting there for an hour or two (or, theoretically, more) before the first player enters and then it runs for an additional three hours.

One of my thoughts is that maybe something bad or cumulative happens over time as the server sits--even though there is not much of anything going on during that time--no AI aircraft, ships, trains, vehicles, etc. Just stationary objects sitting there doing nothing.

[TWC_Flug]

There are a few things I thought *might* be contributing to the problem:

- We recently added a fairly large number of stationary objects to the mission
- We recently added a decent number of trains to the mission
- We recently added a fairly large number of buildings to the mission
- We recently changed the missions from 90 minutes to 180 minutes in length
- More people have been online simultaneously, at certain times of the day or week
- As mentioned above, we added the feature that loads stationaries, front lines, airports, spawn points, and other mission elements that are relatively static, and then waits until a player actually joins before loading AI actors etc. So the mission could be sitting there for (potentially) several hours doing nothing before starting the 3-hour mission

The funny this is that with all those changes, the missions almost always load just fine. I'm sure they are a bit slower than before, with a lot more stationaries etc to load. But as a rule they load & run just fine. Then just every once in a while for no noticeable reason, you will get into this mode where they get to 99% loaded and get stuck there for 20-30 minutes or even more.

Another possible clue, is that once the problem starts to happen, it seems to get worse with time over the course of the mission, until the mission ends & the server re-starts. By worse I mean that the time spent stuck at 99% seems to grow longer & longer.

So I'm not sure if one of the elements above are the cause, or maybe a few of them together, or some of them combining with some other unknown cause.

Or perhaps, as Fatal mentions above, there is something like a Steam-related problem that has been happening recently & it just happens to be hitting these missions at the same time we've made these other changes.

Any & all ideas welcome. Just for example, is there some rule of thumb for how many stationaries or buildings or AI actors can be in a mission before 'something bad' starts to happen?

[Salmo]

I'm not sure anyone has ever tried loading a mission without any actors, then delay actor spawn until a player enters the server. Try loading the mission with just 1 "mobile" inconsequential actor at startup & see if the mission/server "needs" an actor to fully load. ie Could be a vehicle away from the action.

[TWC_Flug]

I'm not sure anyone has ever tried loading a mission without any actors, then delay actor spawn until a player enters the server. Try loading the mission with just 1 "mobile" inconsequential actor at startup & see if the mission/server "needs" an actor to fully load. ie Could be a vehicle away from the action.

Hey, that is an interesting thought, and definitely one I hadn't considered.

Thinking a little more though, we always have a plane or two on either side for testing purposes and we generally just leave it in the 'real' mission because it's not really hurting anything. So those load immediately with mission start regardless.

So rather than having 'no' actors at all on the battlefield at mission load, it is probably more like 2-5 planes on the map & the rest statics, which may sit there for 30 or 60 or 90 minutes or however long until an actual live player comes on board, then the rest load.