anyone successfully played a TCP/IP game?

[Embiss]

Just had my first go at TCP/IP play.
Both my opponent and I alternated between hosting and joining each time with the same result, the joiner couldnt find the hosts game.

We thought this might be a firewall problem so both of us turned our firewalls off and tried again, felt like we were both standing naked on the town square but we were so keen to try we took the risk (medal please)....anyway, it didnt pay off, we still could join a game.

My firewall didnt alert me to any attempt from my opponenet to contact me and, according to his log, I made no attempt to contact him.

I play a lot of online games and have never had any problems with my firewall (zone alarm pro) so I dont think this can be a firewall problem, even if it was, turning the firewall off should have solved the problem it didnt...

any suggestions,
anyone successfully played a TCP/IP game?

[nukkxx5058]

I am the opponent (I want my medal too ! LOL)

So I strictly confirm what was said ...

Help us pleeeease !

[CapnDarwin]

I think Erik posted something on TCP/IP setup some time ago. Perhaps if he scans through here he can lend a hand. Firewalls, zone alarm type programs, and certain hardware make this a challenge sometimes.

EDIT: well doh! The top post of this forum page goes through Online play and setup. Pays to read sometimes. [;)]

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=785406

[Embiss]

we had the same problem both with and without firewalls....so firewalls to one side......has anyone tried TCP/IP with success?

[nukkxx5058]

embis, maybe we you should try to load a game with somebody else to ensure the problem is not linked for example with my provider our yours.

[IronManBeta]

Erik and I have played it this way several times. Erik hosted and he knew how to move his computer outside the firewall to do the test.

FPG uses regular DirectX DirectPlay commands so that if another DirectPlay game works on your setup, then FPG should too. That is a big first step though and I'm not an expert on it!

You can actually install the game a second time on your machine and then fire up both copies and play them against each other. Obviously you don't have them both running full screen but if you have a higher res monitor (1280 x 1024 say) then it is feasible and you can see that it works.

These are my notes on how to do this to the playtesters:

For those who would like to try out the LAN play and don't have two networked machines, you can do what I have learned to do.

1. Create a second complete installation of FPG. It can be in any directory so long as you can find it again.

2. Start an instance of FPG and select Style of Play "Host over a LAN (DirectX)" instead of the usual "Computer Oponent" or PBEM.

3. Select a scenario and click on the Proceed button.

4. You will be taken to "Congifure DirectPlay Host Connection" Screen. Keep all the default selections and click on the Host Game button. The game will start and you can position your forces inside the setup box. Notice that there is a new "Unsecured Comlin" chat box at the bottom of the screen. You can type in messages to your opponent there if you like.

5. Click on the blue 'box' button in the extreme top right of the form to make the game a normal (not full screen) window. Shrink the screen down to about 1024 x 768 and park it say in the top left of your screen. It helps to have a high screen res running - I use 1280 x 1024.

6. Start the second instance of FPG and go to Select Scenario and click on the "Join LAN Game" tab.

7. The same 127.0.0.1 local host address will be the default so click on the Search button. It will find the current session and let you click on the "Join this Game" button. Do so and you will be told which scenario and side you will be playing.

8. Click Proceed, go through the Mission Briefing and position your forces. Again, make this instance of the game 'not full screen' (I forget the correct term) so that you can see at least part of each game. I usually put the client session in the bottom right corner of the screen. You can then pass the focus back and forth just by clicking on the instance that you want.

9. You are now ready to test. When you resolve the turn you will hear all the sound effects times two. There might be some curious differences in timing of animations but nothing that is material. You can now play a complete game as if it was with someone else across the internet.

10. [ deleted].

11. If you spot something that you don't like, please take care to tell me whether it occured on the HOST session or the CLIENT session. That makes all the difference to me wrt actually reproducing and fixing it!

Doing this proves it can be done, that just leaves getting the original DirectPlay setup to work with the outside world on your particular configuration. That in turn depends completely on your firewall arrangements and how that is configured. Me, I'm not able to advise on that area - that is getting way outside my expertise!

Cheers, Rob.

[Embiss]

Thanks Robert. I will try again at some point.