hehe, that too, how the heck can I watch replays? I click on them, but my computer never knows what program to run them on. I tried windows media player (I have windows xp), quicktime, and maybe something else, but nothing.

Also, you do recommend I make a post to find similar players to "comp stomp"?

Man, I ask a lot of questions. Six in this post alone...

ROFL

The replay files are not video files - they are a log of what happened in the game to allow the Sins engine to re-create the game on your screen for you to watch (think of it as a TV script for all the little Sins actors to follow).

You copy them into your replay folder (in your user settings, similar area to where your config file lives) and then go to single player > watch game and cycle through the options until you find it (there are 4 sub folders - single/mp and recorded/auto-recorded = 4 combinations).

The game will then show you what happened.

I suggest you just log in, host a game of whatever size/type you want and go from there

e.g. 5v5 comp stomp or 4v6 computer bash or whatever....

LOL, whoops.

Awesome, thanks for all the help. +1 Karma worthy.

wait, sorry to continue asking questions, but you said:

I'm logged in at the moment, and have no players on my player list. I can't even get to the lobby to start a game, but you implied that I could just choose something like "host game." All I can do at the moment is add player and manage account. To get players on my list so that I can go to the lobby and host a game to comp stomp, should I make a post?

OK - I thought I had posted a response to this, but it must not have submitted (seems not to happen sometimes from work...)

If you are still having the issue then

1) The screen you are talking about is the logon screen. You logon with your ICO account and then pick the player you wish to use (you can add up to 5 I believe).

2) You then select the player and click the Use Player button in the bottom right hand corner

3) You should now be in the lobby (Lobby 1)

4) Join a game or host one - people should be able to help you out with what to do

I don't think that you quite get what I'm asking. You say that I should pick a player in the lobby. The problem is that I don't have any players there, since I don't know many people very well on Sins. To find players of a similar playing level in order to be able to get to the lobby, should I make a post on the Sins website asking for players who can beat so and so but not so and so?

Sorry to be so pesky , but I'm psyched (sp?) to figure out how to play multiplayer. Thanks.

I don't think you get what I am saying (suggest YOU post a screen shot of what you are looking at - I am STILL not convinced you are actually in the lobby).

You don't pick a player in the lobby. You a pick a player (your player) in the screen BEFORE the lobby and then use it. This player gets the stats (hence you can have different players - e.g. clan and non-clan - Hack and [_]-Hack are different ones I can select)

When you actually get into the lobby there will be bar on the left with game options, including hosting, looking up friends, joining a game someone else can host etc...

If all you can see is a box under where you put in your account and password, you are not in the lobby. That box holds up to 5 players that you select from and then click "use player"

Just got it! Thanks so much. I thought the players that I selected from the non-lobby from were people like you that I was friends with, not different names for me. Just a couple last questions. Does join game mean to watch a game? If not, how do I watch a game? What the heck is latency? Okay, now I'm done bothering you.

You can't watch games, all you could do is browse for replays or just play the games and watch the replays afterwards. Latency is basically the time it take for data to travel from/to your pc to/from the host.

Great - finally got there... What Az said is basically it.

You cannot "watch" a game live. However you can save a game as a replay. Other people can send you theirs. As long as the replay is for the same version of the game you have, you can watch it. What the replay file does is re-create the game except it is in read-only mode - think of it like a movie script and the game engine is the movie projector.

Latency is also known as your PING time - it is the amount of time it takes for a packet (technical term for a collection of data bundled together to be sent over a network/internet) to be sent to the recepient and then for the other end to acknowledge it.

It is important for Sins as it uses TCP (which gurantees delivery unlike UDP). Known as a 3 way handshake, it works like this

You > Here is some data

Other person > Thank You

You > I acknowledge your thank you

If You don't get a thank you, you resend the data.

If Other person doesn't get an acknowledge your thank you, they resend the Thank you

Probably confuses you - if so go with Az's answer - time to send data end to end.

HI I am trying to get online in sins of a solar empire but I am having disconnect right when I log in, what do I do? do I install every update I find? or is there just one specific one I need?

Do I also have to have the newest version of sins of a solar empire rebellion or something? I only have the first version would it still be possible to work without the rebellion version?

What is the exact version you have? It does not have to be Rebellion, but your game must be fully patched (from Impulse/Gamestop, Stardock Central, or Steam depending on where you bought it).

That said, there is not much activity on anything before Trinity, so if by "first version" you mean the original Sins, no expansions, I can almost promise you that you won't find a game without trying to set one up.

when I try to log in to ICO it also says net work error and also in my account it say's I am not registerd. How do I register? do I need to reinstall or something?

ok I have now the gamestop app installed and when I clicked update it sais I have not yet registered with gamestop but I am registerd now I figured it out but still not registered to gamestop yet, how do I register in gamestop? ok I got it in my steam account

ok I will try to patch it in my steam account

thanks

ok wow oh well, cuz I cannot be the one to set one up anyway

ok so now I am in my steam account finaly how do I patch it? where do I click? I can't find the options for patching

never-mind I found the patch thanks but it sure was difficult to find I had to click the redeem button and found out that was what I needed to redeem my code key, so now I just need to buy the newer version for being able to join other games without having to be the host sins I am not good at that.

hi I am trying to host a game and I tested my hosting but it sais ip is not available, then sais alloy is recomended. what do I do? is it just I need a better pc? the one I am trying to play with has the same version as me, but he can't join my game I host. help thanks

Depends on your internet connection. I have the same problem and I can't host games on one internet connection, but I can on another.