Tourney's at 7Sultans

[binshakindown]

Over the last couple months I have been playing some of the tourney's at 7Sultans. I like the fact that there is usually a five minute play time (unless the continue feature is enabled to allow you to extend your playing time by a few minutes for a couple bucks). I have been playing the free tourney's since they are free and also gives me a chance to check them out with zero player risk (but if time is money then disregard last half of sentence).

First question: If you also enjoy playing these tourney's I am referring to, is it common for your first spin at the start of the tourney to hang and spin away, eating up about 20 to 35 seconds of the five minute play time?

Second question: Does this same thing happen again about three minutes into the tourney? Does it sometimes make you rejoin the tourney and when you do get back in there is only a minute left?

I e-mailed fortune and they were very polite and offered some suggestions. These included, re-installation of the software, and that I should check my connection. I re-installed, but basically same thing happens. I had the same result with two different high speed internet providers. So that is unlikely.

I may still try these tourneys with some real cash, but I am wary in that I may not get the playtime that I purchase. I really don't want to pay to find out either.

[cpdnd31]

I was playing at villento casino same thing kept happing to me, that and other wierd things I just stopped playing there and went to another casino.

[vinylweatherman]

Over the last couple months I have been playing some of the tourney's at 7Sultans. I like the fact that there is usually a five minute play time (unless the continue feature is enabled to allow you to extend your playing time by a few minutes for a couple bucks). I have been playing the free tourney's since they are free and also gives me a chance to check them out with zero player risk (but if time is money then disregard last half of sentence).

First question: If you also enjoy playing these tourney's I am referring to, is it common for your first spin at the start of the tourney to hang and spin away, eating up about 20 to 35 seconds of the five minute play time?

Second question: Does this same thing happen again about three minutes into the tourney? Does it sometimes make you rejoin the tourney and when you do get back in there is only a minute left?

I e-mailed fortune and they were very polite and offered some suggestions. These included, re-installation of the software, and that I should check my connection. I re-installed, but basically same thing happens. I had the same result with two different high speed internet providers. So that is unlikely.

I may still try these tourneys with some real cash, but I am wary in that I may not get the playtime that I purchase. I really don't want to pay to find out either.

This bull$h1t is pretty standard for these MG tournaments. It has NOTHING to do with YOUR internet, NOR anything to do with the software at YOUR end. A polite reply, but polite BS is still BS.

Some have found that leaving it for a while between loading up the tournament, and making the first spin, can often cure that first spin lag. Lag in the rest of the tournament is caused by the result not getting back to your PC from the server.

It seems the tournament servers have even WORSE availability than the casino servers. The big problem with being booted, or suffering lag, is that the TIME still manages to count down perfectly, but you cannot play properly.

MGS are not interested in these concerns. All MY complaints have been stonewalled by MGS. The most recent related to the festive tournament at 32Red. I was booted half way through the first time, and booted after 3 SPINS the second. 32Red have raised this directly with MGS, but this has made no progress, just like the last time, and the time before, and the time before that, and so on. MGS are a brick wall, they simply will not address this issue. Since many of the tournaments are NOT free, and even the free ones have paid continues & rebuys, this stonewalling is unacceptable. EVERY TIME, the answer is ALWAYS that it is the fault of the PLAYER'S hardware, software, PC, ISP, etc.
I don't believe a word of this, because one weekend a couple of years ago, MGS did an update and there was a MASSIVE worsening in the performance of the tournament software, although we got some new slots, and a few tweaks elsewhere. This worsening has NEVER reversed, even though circumstances surrounding MY software, internet speed, all vary constantly.
This was about a factor of 10 worsening in average play through speed, this simply CANNOT be explained away by these internet connectivity variations. There were NO changes to MY end, yet one week fast, and the next week, around 10x SLOWER, and it has varied little since that change.

The slots in the casino itself are NOT AFFECTED, they play just as fast as they always have done, and the tournament slots are the SAME games (apart from special tournament logo), yet they play MUCH slower, and keep on booting and lagging far more than is experienced in the main casino.

[binshakindown]

just keep playing the free tourneys and avoid paying money for them since you won't get the play time you paid for. Thanks for the input.i

[AussieDave]

32Red have raised this directly with MGS, but this has made no progress, just like the last time, and the time before, and the time before that, and so on. MGS are a brick wall

<derail>
Using this as an example... And knowing Pat and the lads at 32red, I can unequivocally state that I'm sure they know nothing about what MGS does (tweaks) to their software. I use this as a reference to the iffy slots play that most of us have experienced from a range of MG powered casinos.

Sorry to derail the thread with this, but when Pat or Ed have contacted MGS about a software glitch and they get stonewalled, I'm sure everyone else is too. MGS are a law unto themselves.
</derail>

Back to topic...I've found turning all sounds off in the options helps or just mute the speaker icon - top right corner game panel ;-)

Cheers
T

[kmay87]

I've found the temporary answer is to not start the tournament the second it begins.

You'll get the pop up messages asking if you wish to be taken to the slot, then the timer etc, but if you ignore all these and join a minimum of 30 seconds after it has begun, usually the problem becomes infrequent.

This MG bug has virtually stopped me from playing all tournaments. I always played the free ones and then decided to try a few of the buy in ones. But with lagging and booting becoming more common, it's no real wonder why fewer are taking part in them.

[pmhcfc]

I've found the temporary answer is to not start the tournament the second it begins.

You'll get the pop up messages asking if you wish to be taken to the slot, then the timer etc, but if you ignore all these and join a minimum of 30 seconds after it has begun, usually the problem becomes infrequent.

This MG bug has virtually stopped me from playing all tournaments. I always played the free ones and then decided to try a few of the buy in ones. But with lagging and booting becoming more common, it's no real wonder why fewer are taking part in them.

I couldnt agree more with this post...The only way I cured the lag problem was (as is suggested above) not to hit spin as soon as the torny starts...even delaying for 10 seconds cured the problem for me....I still get booted from time to time though. I wouldn't take the chance and pay for a torny though...It seems as though if you're going to hit the top five, you get your big win in the first two mins of play anyway.

Having said that, I never have a problem with playing the blackjack torny's - for free. Have managed two wins and a second in my last five (free) tornys at blackjack.

[binshakindown]

delaying play does seem to make the difference between playing smoothly and timing out. I played several free ones today and restrained from starting when the count down ended for about 25 to 45 seconds. Not one problem (well I didn't win). I wonder why the CS at 7 Sultans put it back on me and failed to let me know about this. One can only wonder that if CS told everyone to do this, would the timeouts occur 25 to 45 seconds into the game?

Anyway thanks for all the responses.

[unicorn40]

It does that to me too.....I found for some reason it only happens to me when theres over 1000 ppl. in the tourney though and i click right at the start. I wait a bit too before i start because of it...

[vinylweatherman]

<derail>
Using this as an example... And knowing Pat and the lads at 32red, I can unequivocally state that I'm sure they know nothing about what MGS does (tweaks) to their software. I use this as a reference to the iffy slots play that most of us have experienced from a range of MG powered casinos.

Sorry to derail the thread with this, but when Pat or Ed have contacted MGS about a software glitch and they get stonewalled, I'm sure everyone else is too. MGS are a law unto themselves.
</derail>

Back to topic...I've found turning all sounds off in the options helps or just mute the speaker icon - top right corner game panel ;-)

Cheers
T

This is as far as it goes, if MGS stonewall 32Red, there is no way players are going to get a better chance at resolution, except perhaps by sending a letter to MGS from their lawyer

delaying play does seem to make the difference between playing smoothly and timing out. I played several free ones today and restrained from starting when the count down ended for about 25 to 45 seconds. Not one problem (well I didn't win). I wonder why the CS at 7 Sultans put it back on me and failed to let me know about this. One can only wonder that if CS told everyone to do this, would the timeouts occur 25 to 45 seconds into the game?

Anyway thanks for all the responses.

CS are just giving the canned responses. The standard response to a problem NOT listed as a known issue is probably "blame the player's kit", so they will send a string of replies all intended to solve the most likely player-end issues. This includes reinstalling the casino, switching off firewalls and other security software, changing ISP to a "better one".

One or two players have mentioned in the past that they have spent a fair bit upgrading their kit, only to find the MGS tournaments are just as slow on their new Cray III supercomputer as they were on their old Amstrad (Slight exaggeration).

Since some tournaments run over a few days, even with 4000+ players, they cannot possibly ALL be playing at once & clogging up the server. MGS must be using pretty low specification servers for these tournaments, and higher specification ones for the casinos, where the majority of money is wagered, and profits made.

I have noticed variation in the frequency of being "booted", but the slow speed of the tournament games is PERMANENT, even if you are playing when almost no-one else is. When they first came out, the tournament games were MUCH MUCH faster, and the slowing was NOT a gradual process as would be expected as more casinos enrolled, and more players played, it all went bad over one particular weekend.
I remember that particular weekend caused such a fuss that the then Weekender tournament was extended by an extra 2 days because so many players had problems getting it to work. Clearly, MGS KNEW this was a fault at "their end", otherwise they would never have allowed this extention, but now MGS are in denial, and take a hard line approach of never dealing with this themselves, but leaving it up to the individual casinos to try to help players with the canned replies for indeterminate problems.

A deep investigation would require access to traffic and server data that only MGS have, as this would at least identify the route of the individual components of a tournament session, plus the load on the tournament servers. MGS will also know the bandwidth allocated to the tournament servers by the ISP THEY, MGS, have selected to provide the service.
Any one player at best can only analyze his own traffic, but making this analysis live will ruin his chances in the tournament. This could only be tried on the free ones of little worth, but these may have so few players that the problems will be less evident.