Incompatibility with Warcraft III

[solcroft]

Does anyone else have this problem?

When joining a custom game on Battle.net, all player names are replaced by "Unknown" as the game seems to try to download the information, typically symptoms of a laggy connection. Everything returns to normal after a few minutes, assuming the host doesn't kick you first from assuming you're a laggy player. Terminating PCTAV doesn't seem to solve this problem.

I know my description is kind of vague; I'll try to post a screenshot later.

[Eli]

Hey there,

If turning off PCTAV doesn't seem to resolve the issue, you might check the task manager is see if there are any other programs running the background of your computer that might be cuasing this to happen. Or maybe try a different internet browser and see if makes a difference.

Just my two cents worth.

[solcroft]

I know it sounds strange, but only an uninstall of PCTAV solves this problem. The only conclusion I can come up with, therefore, is that the cause behind the incompatibility is PCTAV.

The game isn't browser-dependent, btw. It's a program by itself.

[Darkbeholder]

AntiVirus's Internet Guard has a HTTP filter and if I remember correctly Battle.net opens a HTTP connection (Its been awhile since I've played any games on battle.net (not since WoW was released :D)) along with several other connections on different ports so its possible that the Internet Guard is causing a problem with Battle.net's connection.

Have you tried turning off Internet Guard while AntiVirus is running? When you turn Internet Guard off the status page will show On Guard as limited.

[solcroft]

Nope, turned it off. PCTAV refuses to let me connect to the internet at all with Internet Guard turned on, so it's off all the time.

Personally, I suspect the Winsock driver that PCTAV installs as the culprit, though, of course, I can't say for sure.

[Support]

Hi Solcroft,

Thanks for your report.

This has been noted and escalated to the Technical Support.

Will let you know once this has been resolved.

PC Tools Support Team

[Jinih]

I remember in order to connect to bnet you will need to open a port (TCP and UDP). You will need to open that port to host a game. Also AV also have Internet Guard, if you have actually disable the Internet Guard, it will says "OnGuard Limited". And I don't think Winsock is the cause of the problem (not sure though), but winsock is not installed by AV. It's already there before, it's part of the windows.

Check this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winsock

Also, you might want to test does it happen when you are hosting the game. And you might want to try to use another gateway to connect to Bnet. (try using lordareon or azereoth).

[solcroft]

Actually, PCTAV installs a Winsock LSP (pctlsp.dll) which I believe is used to intercept network traffic for scanning by the Internet Guard. Even if Internet Guard is turned off, however, the DLL remains there. So far it's implementation has been more trouble than it's worth...

My problems seem to have been escalating for the past few hours, and I'm beginning to believe it's not the hosts who're kicking me, but me dropping out from the game due to connection problems. And yes, to the above poster, my firewall is configured perfectly - like I mentioned, no problems whatsoever once PCTAV is uninstalled and out of the way.

[Chippa]

Hey Solcroft,

I play WC3 Frozen throne on Bnet as well and I also run PCTAV without any problems.

How long ago did you receive this anyhow? Has this happened before? I haven't performed a Smart Update in the past couple of days, so just curious if something from the Smart Update is affecting this.

BTW what server do you play on?


Cheers,
Chippa

[solcroft]

Well, if it helps... I've noticed this problem for weeks. I thought it was a problem with the WinPcap drivers I was using for the WC3Banlist program, and it was only during the past few days that I traced the problem back to PCTAV.

I'm on Lordaeron. Used to play ladder for a while, though I've been playing DotA exclusively for almost six months now. :P

[Chippa]

I just tested it again yesterday, but this time I performed a Smart Update with PCTAV and didnt have a problem with it Bnet.

So not sure what this could be.

I play on the same server, but not dota. I like 4v4.

Cheers,
Chippa

[Org]

Sorry for the bump.

I just upgraded to spyware doctor with antivirus 5.0.0.169 and I get that some thing. I join a game names all say unknown they load in slowy (My name don't show into very last) then I ether drop or host kicks me.

Did anyone figure out what was doing this?

[solcroft]

If it helps, the problems stopped entirely once I snipped pctlsp.dll from the Winsock layer using a few system tools. Not sure what could be causing the problems with SD5, though, since I don't intend on using it in the near future...