Author Topic: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?  (Read 7205 times)

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Offline Hezus

  • 23
Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
I'm running into some serious problems trying to get FS2 Open to work on my LAN by connecting through direct IP. I've googled, read all guides, posts and stickies but I simply can't connect to any local server.

What I'm trying to achieve is to host a server within my own local network and connect to it on a different computer within the same network. This should all be possible by simply entering the hosts internal IP, the appropiate port and disabling PXO in the multiplayer options. Sadly, the server does not show up in the list.

I've tried connecting through FS2NET but it doesn't allow more than 1 external IP connection, so that's no solution.

Firewalls and virus scanners were all switched off during the attempts. I'm running 3.6.14 RC6 with the Wxlauncher 0.9.0 on Windows 7 machines with the GOG version of FS2.

Can someone confirm that the direct IP connect method actually works or tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thanks a lot! :)

EDIT: Someone suggested using Launcher 5.5g instead, but that didn't work either.


« Last Edit: August 12, 2012, 06:59:37 pm by Hezus »

 

Offline Al-Rik

  • 27
Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
I have a small network, and connecting to the Server works.

Server: Windows VISTA, 64 Bit

Gaming PC: Windows 7, 64 Bit

I start the Server via the Launcher and the -standalone argument (in the multiplayer section of the launcher)
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Command-Line_Reference#Multiplayer
I have a small mulit.cfg with the server name and the connection type in the DATA folder of the server.


Settings on my gaming PC:



  

Offline Hezus

  • 23
Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
Alright, so if I understand correctly, you use 1 PC to run a dedicated/stand-alone server and connect to it with the other clients. Do you use Wxlauncher or Launcher 5.5g for this?

From your screenshot I understand that you don't even need to enter the host IP as a client? It will automaticly find the server?

Could you also paste the contents of the multi.cfg file you use, so I can see how you've set it up?

Thanks!

 

Offline Al-Rik

  • 27
Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
Alright, so if I understand correctly, you use 1 PC to run a dedicated/stand-alone server and connect to it with the other clients. Do you use Wxlauncher or Launcher 5.5g for this?

From your screenshot I understand that you don't even need to enter the host IP as a client? It will automaticly find the server?

Could you also paste the contents of the multi.cfg file you use, so I can see how you've set it up?

Thanks!

I use on both PCs Launcher 5.5g

I don't have to enter the host IP, I simply go to multiplayer and select the server

mulit.cfg in Freespace2\DATA\
Code: [Select]
+name Alriks Freespace Server
+lan_update

Screenshoot of the network settings in the servers launcher:


Following options are marked in the other settings of the launcher:
In Features\Multiplayer:
Run as standalone server

In Features\Experimental:
Allow in-game joining
 
Both PCs are not in the same Workgroup.
I use a simple and cheap switch.
I used the server at a Lan Party last May, it worked well. We played with some hours of coop with 3 players.
It was a big network (180 clients), an if I record correctly non of us have had to enter the IP of the server.

 

Offline jr2

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Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
I would definatally try wxLauncher with the same settings.  If it doesn't work in wxLauncher, but it does in 5.5g, please post about it so they can fix wxLauncher.

What security software do you use?

Specifically, if you use some 3rd party firewall, you need to allow FS2Open to use the appropriate ports on all machines.  If you use Windows Firewall, you should just be able to hit "Allow" when prompted.

 

Offline Hezus

  • 23
Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
Thanks for the detailed reply, Al-Rik. I'll probably get the chance to test it on my setup tomorrow, so I'll let you know if this works. Especially the +lan_update command appears to be usefull.

One more question: I see you use a stand-alone server for this. Did you ever manage to get a normal listen server to work on LAN? By listen server, I mean: starting a server in-game by clicking "Create" and then just connect to it with the other computers, so you don't need a seperate computer to run the server?

If it all works, this information should definatly be added to the guides about multiplayer.

@JR2: I'm using Windows Firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials. FS2Open is on the exceptions list of the firewall. I even tried disabling the firewall on both pc's to make sure it would allow connection. I've played tons of other games on LAN with the same computers, so I doubt the network security tools are to blame for this problem.

« Last Edit: August 15, 2012, 03:18:33 am by Hezus »

 

Offline jr2

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Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
Go to your router and for troubleshooting, disable the firewall / security options and then try again.  If it works then, then you just have to set an exception for FSO's port numbers in the router.

You could go to portforward.com to get instructions for forwarding on your router.

 

Offline Al-Rik

  • 27
Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
One more question: I see you use a stand-alone server for this. Did you ever manage to get a normal listen server to work on LAN? By listen server, I mean: starting a server in-game by clicking "Create" and then just connect to it with the other computers, so you don't need a seperate computer to run the server?

I'm not quite sure, but I think that I also hosted a game at the Lan on my working PC.
Have you on both PCs the same installation ? The best idea is to copy the complete Freespace 2 Directory and copy it to the server.

The need for a separate Computer as server isn't IMHO a problem.
An old Pentium 4 with 2 GB of Ram is strong enough to host a Freespace server (and several other old games like BF2, CoD United offensive,.... )

 

Offline Hezus

  • 23
Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
@Al-Rik: I did copy the entire installation to the other pc, so it should be exactly the same. Everything runs fine except for the multiplayer part.

I do have a separate pc I could use for the dedicated server if necessary but it's just easier to host and play on the same pc.  I hope I can get that working too. Could you maybe try it too and verify that it actually works?

@Jr2: The router is not the problem here, because it deals with external connections outside of the LAN and since I'm not trying to connect to the internet, I would not need port forwarding. I only need the router to function as a switch, which is does.

 

Offline jr2

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Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
Hmm, yeah, you're right, I forgot, d'uh, you're playing on the LAN side, not trying to host an Internet game.  Sorry.  :rolleyes:

 

Offline Hezus

  • 23
Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
Hmm, yeah, you're right, I forgot, d'uh, you're playing on the LAN side, not trying to host an Internet game.  Sorry.  :rolleyes:

Haha, no problem. I'm glad people are trying to help.

 

Offline Hezus

  • 23
Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
Status update! It works!  :D

It did not work with Al-Rik's settings initially, so I took a closer look at the settings. This is what happend: Since I had both Launcher 5.5g and WxLauncher installed, it somehow conflicted in the use of the registry. This meant that when I tried to remove the IP and Port from the launcher, it would actually not apply the change. I had to go into the registry and manually remove these values.

Now I can make a dedicated, as well as a listen server and join with the other clients :)

Thanks for the help, guys!

 

Offline jr2

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Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
So, which was to blame, and how to fix?  Both 5.5g and wxL are still being updated, so this can probably be fixed.

 

Offline jg18

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Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
Glad to hear you got things working, Hezus.

Could you explain what you mean by conflicted? Were you using the same values for port and IP in both launchers?

wxLauncher doesn't make any registry changes until you press the "Play" button, and 5.5g doesn't make any registry changes until you press one of the "Apply", "OK", or "Run" buttons.

 

Offline Hezus

  • 23
Re: Playing on LAN through direct IP, how does it work properly?
For some reason the port and ip kept showing up in Launcher 5.5g even after I hit Play, Apply or Ok. I removed those lines but the next time they suddenly showed up again. I was only able to fix it by going to the registery values and remove the lines manually. For good measure I removed WxLauncher and only used Launcher 5.5g, to make sure the launchers were not writing the same information into the registry.

I used the same values in both launchers. I just did a quick test and the problem seems to be within Launcher 5.5g. Enter an ip adress and port, then click apply and run. Exit Freespace, exit Launcher 5.5 and restart the launcher. The IP and Port will show up again, even though you removed them before. Apparently the launcher does not save empty values. You can set the port to 0, which was the default setting but this doesn't work for the IP adress, I think. It'll probably still force itself to look for IP 0.?.?.? or something.

It's also a bit confusing how Force IP and Force Port are stored at different places in the registry.

EDIT: Just tested it and I can confirm that WxLauncher is able to save the empty values of Force IP and Force Port.

I think it would be good if the launchers had the option to set the multi.cfg file to LAN settings or Internet Settings. So if you select LAN it'll add +lan_update to this file and if you select Internet it'll save the PXO/FS2NET login info.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2012, 07:42:40 am by Hezus »