ericbabe, help...

[Call Me Earl]

Eric, I need your help ! A friend and I play these types of games TCP/IP. The only thing we use the AI for is basic game testing, as we get the most enjoyment out of playing against each other (been doing this for ten years and countless games). The problem is, we can not connect TCP/IP with this game. I am running cable and he is using DSL, no routers involved. I always host. In this game I will host, but he can't see/connect to me.

Please don't think this is something simple like a firewall is on or something of that nature, that is not the case. The problem appears to be with what I will call the games TCP/IP protocol. We believe the game and not our set-up is the problem.

Another member of this forum, Alan Bernardo, was kind enough to help us out with this problem. I hosted and he was able to connect to me no problem. I believe he had cable as well, as he said he did not have DSL. There appears to be some kind of a cable/DSL TCP/IP issue with this game. Maybe you could enlighten me on this.

This is a big disappointment for us. We have spent the money on a game we can't use, but worse, this game has exactly what we look for in a good game. A campaign style format, large scope, economy, research, decent battling, in depth and most important, the game is being patched.

So Eric, is there any hope of fixing this problem ? Is there anything we can do on our end that you may know of, or is there something that could be changed in the game and maybe incorporated in a patch ?

Thanks, Call Me Earl

[Alan_Bernardo]

Another member of this forum, Alan Bernardo, was kind enough to help us out with this problem. I hosted and he was able to connect to me no problem. I believe he had cable as well, as he said he did not have DSL. There appears to be some kind of a cable/DSL TCP/IP issue with this game. Maybe you could enlighten me on this.

 
Al,
 
I sent an email to you late afternoon yesterday.  One thing that I would do immediately is to make sure that your friend has an updated Direct X installation.  Matrix uses a very old routine for multiplayer, something I recall using about five or ten years ago.  My knowledge of the internal workings of network protocol is limited, but I believe that the multiplayer routines Matrix uses are based on an earlier version of Direct X.  If somehow your friend's install of Direct X is not running optimally, the problem may lie there. 
 
Also, if your friend has access to another computer which uses the same DSL connection, he should try that computer.  But honestly, I don't think it's the game's problem.  It does use an archaic multiplayer system, but with a properly configured system connection via TCP/IP should be simple, as it was between us yesterday.
 
One other thing you might want to try is to reinstall on your friend's computer the TCP/IP protocol, and also install the IPX protocol, if it is not already installed.  I do think it is safe to say that something on your friend's computer is missing.  This was never encountered before between you two probably because this is the first time both have tried to connect using an older method.
 
If you want, have your friend contact me and we can deal with these few issues and see if we can get things working.
 
 
Alanb

[ericbabe]

Forge of Freedom doesn't implement its own TCP/IP protocol, it uses the same TCP/IP protocol that your computer (and your friend's computer) uses for normal internet communications.  If the problem is with the transport layer (TCP), as you seem to have diagnosed, then there is nothing we can do about this because there's no code in FOF that implements TCP/IP.  The TCP/IP protocol is built into Windows.  Are there any other things that make you think the problem is with the TCP/IP?

From the software side of things, it's not immediately obvious to me how the problem could be caused on the transport layer (TCP) and also be related to your using cable and your friend's using DSL.  The physical layer is responsible for the transmission of raw bits of data and has nothing directly to do with TCP/IP; the only thing I can think of is that if there is enough latency on the physical layer, the application may be interpreting this latency as a timeout ... but with normal DSL latency (or even dialup latency) this shouldn't be a problem.  Obviously if the physical layer is corrupting the data stream, then the TCP/IP layer will be affected, but that wouldn't be a TCP problem per se.  Are you able to connect to your friend with other transport protocols (like UDP?)

Have you tried having your friend hosting?  Is either of you using a fixed IP address?

[Call Me Earl]

Eric, you will have to excuse me, computer software is not my area of expertise, I was simply speculating as to what might be the cause.

From my perspective, ten years of playing countless computer games online with my friend, and this is only the second game we have not been able to connect on. The other being Space Empires Four, which to be honest, we didn't put much effort into. We have tried everything we can think of set-up wise to make this game work in multiplayer, no luck. My friend tried to join a game with Alanb, and could not join his game either. Were not having any problems with the other five multiplayer games we are currently playing. We transfer files back and forth all the time on Windows Messenger. Alanb also has cable and we were able to connect no problem. There seems to be some kind of an issue with DSL and cable connecting though.

To answer your question, my friend can't host with DSL and we both have a static IP address.

You will have to excuse me for maybe not coming across well. I just spent fifty five dollars on a game that so far I can't use. I don't find playing an AI interesting nor a challenge, just me I guess. It appears there is not going to be an easy answer to this problem. I do appreciate any help or suggestions you can provide Eric. FoF looks to be a great game and I can't wait to give it a test drive! Thks, Call Me Earl

[Erik Rutins]

Earl,

It sounds like we're going to need a lot more info on your friend's setup. I agree with Eric that it's very unlikely to be a problem because of him being on DSL. However, it could easily be related to the settings of his router or computer. An important point to realize is that FoF uses a fairly simple version of DirectPlay that really needs everything to be setup right. Some more complex or recent implementations can better account for less than ideal setups.

First, is your friend local to you at all? If so, can you try having him bring his system over and network your two systems together in one room? If you still can't play, that will then likely point to some kind of software-based firewall or settings issue. If you can connect with AlanB but not with your friend, then I'm confident there's something still set on your friend's side that must be impeding the connection.

Has he gone to the extremes of temporarily turning off firewalls, both hardware and software, to see if they are interfering? Has he turned off all other background applications? If he feels comfortable with more detailed tweaks, he should make sure the specific ports required by DirectPlay 4 are all open.

Regards,

- Erik

[ericbabe]

I looked over the Microsoft troubleshooting guide for DirectPlay.  The ports required are 47624, and 2300-2400.  They also recommend that you both have the same version of DirectX.  They do say that some ISP's may not have certain ports open (I hadn't known this was ever an issue!) and to contact your ISP to ascertain whether these ports are open.  They recommend trying to log in to XP as Administrator.

Here are some other tips on troubleshooting from Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327299/

[Scipio666]

First, regular Erik, I have a Zyxel 645 series dsl modem and use Earthlink as my ISP. My computer is the only one plugged into the modem. I turned off my XP firewall and I use AVG anti virus software(freeware) and I only use it to run scans when I first boot up then I exit it. I dont have any kind of control panel anywhere(on my computer) as I have looked to try to open any ports on my modem. My friend and I arent local he lives in Seattle and I live in New Jersey. We have been playing games online together since 1998 and Panzer General II. We are both using Direct X 9.0c and ran dxdiag from the Run command and encountered no errors under any of the Tabs. Niether of us are computer Guru's so any steps you can suggest on my end as far as 'tweaking' I am willing to try.

Erikbabe, Thanks for taking the time to check into this. I will call my ISP up and see if these ports are open or if they will open them up for me. Also, thanks for the link I will see if any suggestions are there that may help us. We would really like to play this game as it entails grand campaign and similar battles to Civil War Generals II which lacked the campaign side of things.

Anyhow thanks again.