BOTF over LAN

[benny147]

My brother and I wish to play BOTF over our Wired LAN, is this possible?

We tried using the botf multiplayer section in the game but the game cannot see the other persons computer. The program is not blocked by our firewall.

Would having a wired LAN affect multiplayer in any way?

Thanks in advance for any help offered

[thunderchero]

My brother and I wish to play BOTF over our Wired LAN, is this possible?

This make me ask, by "Wired LAN" is this just a lan cable from computer to computer or is there an internet connection on both computers being used?

A wire between computers I think needs to be a com port, But I have never tried this.

you need internet connection on both computers for lan usage,

first get your IP of host computer from control panel>Network Connections>view status of this connection>support "IP address"
give this to other player.

start game and select "new Multi Player Game" then enter:
game name; this must be same on both players.
players name; this must be differant
password; is an option must be the same or blank
the computer that you got IP from must be host, other player will use join.
network; both player select this
then input IP of host computer in box.
click on TCP/IP
then click on connect.

Good luck

thunderchero

[benny147]

Thanks for your reply;
Our setup is, each computer linked to a switch via network cable. The switch is connected to a router which is our internet.

We had already tried this. Either of us can host a game but the joining player cannot see the game in the listings.

Any help?
cheers

[KrazeeXXL]

do you see the other computer in the network environment?

try to give your computers IP's manually.

try 192.168.0.1 and 192.169.0.2 for the other comp
(right click on the network environment and go to properties of tcp/ip)

then edit hosts and/or hosts.sam in windows directory

type in after "######################## stuff"

192.168.0.1 nameofcomputer
192.168.0.2 nameoftheothercomputer

restart

then check out if you find the other comp in the network environment
I got it launched even if network enivironment found just one of two pcs.


TC what you mean is a direct cable connection. this is something really old. I guess noone use this for at least 10 years

do you use a hub or a switch? if you use a simple hub you need a twisted pair cable. if you use a switch you dont need one.

[benny147]

Our two computers can see each other in everything except botf. All other games with multiplayer work fine.

This problem is only present in botf. Is there an option or config file that edits the multiplayer side?

[KrazeeXXL]

not that I know.

odd, that it doesnt work in Botf but in all other games. Never had this before. You could try to launch it with ipx/spx. You need to install the protocol before, of course.

[Pigman]

Hi Benny147

My brother and I wish to play BOTF over our Wired LAN, is this possible?

This should be no problem although BOTF can be a bit fussy at times, but I've been playing Multiplayer BOTF on our home "wired" LAN for many years, with my son and sometimes 3 player with my daughter as well. (Yes! a girl who plays BOTF).

I must admit that I haven't tried playing any MODs using the Multi Installer on our LAN yet and will advise soon if this is a problem.

We have many different PCs on our LAN with some Vista (YUK!) some Win XP and some Win 98SE and were playing successfully before we ever had an Internet connection, so you don't need to play over the Internet to play MultiPlayer.

Obviously one has to be host and one joins and you both need to select "Network" and then either "TCP/IP" or "IPX" as long as you both select the same. If you have normal 10/100 Mbps Ethernet LAN cards then either protocol should work.

The host needs to select a Game Name, Player Name and Password. All are important as Game Name should appear eventually on joiner's list of games to join and password obviously needs to be same and player names different.

Sometimes it can be tricky to get started, but once you have a working set of parameters it's a lot more reliable than playing MultiPlayer over the Internet, in my experience anyway.

If you want any help going through this on screen send me a PM and we can try to resolve your issue.

Regards

Pigman

[benny147]

Thanks for all your help guys!!
Don't know what we have done differently to last time but we only really care about the fact that it works!! lol

Basically we uninstalled everything and started the whole process again and it worked.

Once again Thanks!

[benny147]

Hi im back with a new problem...
Although the game plays fine over LAN, my brothers pc seems to struggle to cope with botf after about turn 10. We both have the exact same settings and his computer is even a little bit better than mine. Yet as I say, it doesn't matter whether I host or he hosts it is the same outcome.
Any ideas why this is?

Cheers

[KrazeeXXL]

check any background programs like antivirus and other stuff and switch it off.

[DOT]

Hello,

I never ever had the luck to get beyond round 10 or so with multiplayer and pc-to-pc-lan-connect.
Had no antivir or other things running, expect firewall, where boft is listed in expection list.
Always the same "lost sync" error...

Damned, I would love to have botf running via mp...

[KrazeeXXL]

out of sync can have many reasons. What kind and how long is the cable you use? more than 30 meter isnt good - longer > worse

did you tried another cable maybe a shielded? you may have some electromagnetic interference fields in near to the cable. any apparat which uses electricity will cause them.

did you tried another frame @ethernet settings? maybe ethernet II?

do you have latest patches of the game installed? (at best two synchron multi-installer versions with the latest patches included)

[Flocke]

expect firewall, where boft is listed in expection list.

Depending on firewall that may not be enough. First, please mention your firewall, 2nd, cause you play on LAN, try disattaching from internet and turning of firewall + restarting pc (some firewalls need a restart to shut down).
To get botf working in MP with a firewall, you need to allow dplaysvr.exe as well. It's a service of direct play, part of directx 7 and is used by botf for connection. It's normally to be found in C:\Windows\System32\
Additionally, some firewalls may not recognize incoming packets as belonging to botf, cause none of the packets is marked as belonging to botf, the firewall has to assume it on the fact that botf is listening on the corresponding ports. To assure all packets from the other pc reach your botf, you should read the firewall protocol (any worthful firewall is having a connection log). If there are blocked packages on the ports 47624, or between 2300 and 2400, open these ports explictly for all incoming packets.
If you want to try a new firewall, I can recommend free comodo from http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/
More and more ppl out here, including myself, are using it by now and got botf working with it quite soon.

Hope this has been helpful.

Edit: Lost Sync can also happen when your botf versions differ partially. Reinstalling completely should help in this case, but use same installer and same patches and first try botf 1.0.2 without of any mods (vanilla).

[benny147]

Another problem lol!
We are using the multi-installer and playing UDM III me as Klingons and my brother as Feds. We get a sync error everytime he researches Energy Level 8 and the game kicks us both to the desktop.
Is there anything we can do to get past this?
We tried re-installing.

Cheers

[KrazeeXXL]

1. try to load some turns before the error occurs.
2. act different
3. explore another tech not the one which causes the error

if nothing helps I guess only a complete new game will help