GoaFan sent me some of the debug info you referred to. That's just showing the name of the Perforce branch we used for 1.041. Unfortunately your minidump files didn't contain anything useful.

I will try to talk to some of the other MP guys that don't get involved on the forums, see if they are willing to send in stuff...

I would think that if the MD was due to a hardware issue, it would only affect that one person....but is it possible that one person's hardware issue could cause other people to DC or MD at the same time?

If it helps, one of the games that had multiple MDs crashed at the exact same moment upon using a save file...

Talked to Ekko tonight...said two games in a row had false starts...people are getting lots of DCs, weird stuff where you are sent back to the main menu (but you still see the in-game HUD)...I can only assume Goa has told you this already, he's had the problem himself...

I have never had a DC like these until v1.041...I've also never seen more than 2 people MD/DC simultaneously until v1.041 (perhaps it happened, but certainly not with this frequency)...

If the last update didn't change anything related, I'm inclined to think ICO itself has somehow changed...

I had 2 games in a row where the game crashed and I got kicked to a screen saying Disconnected from ICO - an options screen. One was a MP game and the other was a 1v1 SP played on ICO. I have both replays functional - no MD autosave file or crash to desktop - just booted out of the game to the disconnected/options screen. Has happened to multiple people as well. Other than the replay, what file would be helpful? There's a log file in the Debug folder but it says last modified in August with no date I can see in the text.

Really the best thing to do would be to try and get everyone to quit and restart the game from the autosave. If it happens at about the same time then the autosave might be useful.

The log files are usually generated when you run the game in the dev.exe. You can turn them on manually in the normal .exe but I'm not sure if that will work with multiplayer when other people aren't using that option.

Is there any word from devs whether this is going to improve in the future or not?  Most games are ruined now by DCs and MDs...and that's assuming you even get the game to start without the entire lobby dumping....

More dump files here...

Today started with a DC for me early in the game...next game had several people MD at once....was able to "finish" a game where person quit at beginning and thus everyone else quit...final game ended with at least 2 people MDing at once, including me...another player reportedly MDed earlier in the game...

I've decided to give up on MP....I'm simply tired of investing large amounts of time into a game, only to have it end because several players MD or DC....it's not about winning or losing, it's about fun...and ICO simply isn't fun anymore...

Are you able to repro your MD's or DC with a save game?  If so, that would be super helpful to get everyone's saves and the host should have a desync log file also.

Your posted MD's indicate some kind of command corruption, which is very strange. 

if there is one thing i've learned about my minidumps over the last 4 and a half years of sins of a solar empire, its that minidumps are always 'strange', 'unexplainable', and/or 'not reproducable'

I will try to talk to some of the people who host a lot...they may have some log files, saves, or dump files...

Unfortunately, I doubt we'll ever be able to comment on reproducibility....if multiple people MD or DC at once, players are generally very unwilling to rehost from a save for multiple reasons...certain drops may greatly favor one team over another (where the assumed winners won't want to quit till they get their win), and many players simply log off after an MD...

I suppose someone could play alone (and fill in the other 9 people as AIs) but I'm not sure that would be the same situation as having 10 human players using 10 internet connections...

Yeah, from our experience using AI's to fill the spots doesn't really work when trying to locate this stuff.

Any info you guys can provide no matter how insignificant you think it would be will help the dev's fix this. MD's, Replay's, Save Games, Debug log's. Maybe even screenshots. Perhaps include personal notes of what you were doing, and what you saw when the MD/Desync's happened. Include your full system spec's, Driver versions, and OS's with your reports.

Ruby told me about a game where he went to watch the replay, but the replay didn't match up with what actually happened in game...

He didn't get a desync warning or anything of that sort....

That's been a known issue that has cropped up from time to time with Sins over the years. Not sure if it is more prevalent now or not though.

It was my understanding though that you are now alerted when a desync occurs....if this is the case, that the alert didn't occur is a new problem...

I'm linking this thread by Slackah...not necessarily related, but it points to the general trend that MP/ICO related issues are on the rise....is it at all possible that Steam could be related to this recent influx of problems?

You misunderstand. With what I described, the players never desynced, the replay is just goofed when you go to look at it. Sometimes the replay itself will seem to desync from what the rest of ALL of the players are doing. This does not mean the players themselves were desynced from each other, just that the replay is no longer accurate. This particular issue has appeared from time to time every now and then and should not affect the players in the games themselves.

How are you alreted of your desync?

On autosaves you should get some text that stays on the screen. You won't miss it.

All the more important to remember what was happening, and what you were doing when the desync/MD occurred. Especially if there is no warning. Take notes, and let the dev's know.

Do these things happen during Autosaves? During Pirate Raids? Did you click on something like a Starbase Upgrade? or Do they happen just out of the blue at random with no warning at all?

It is possible it could be Steam related, but we have been having desync issues before sins went to steam. So i think it is unlikely, Doesnt hurt to look at it anyway. At this point anything could be possible.

Pretty much...with multiple people MDing at the same time, it's hard to say which specific action caused the MD....

If that is the case then the only thing i can suggest is document what you were doing, and what the game was doing just before the dumps. Try to find out what the other players were doing as well. Every little detail will help. Even if you don't think it will.

See. Single player peeps do give somewhat of a damn about MP. Especially on an issue like this

This is exactly why I wait to update and let the minions test it out. Being required to update is absolutely unacceptable.

Makes me glad I have a working version of 1.04 lying around. I'll port it over to my main comp when/if I'm going to MP with friends.

I don't think Steam would have anything to do with it. We're not really using it once you're in the 'game' like that afaik. What Protoplazm posted sounds like it's related to the in-game Steam voice chat that's built-in, but if most of you aren't using it, I doubt that's it either.