Players wanted for multiplayer play

neonext · December 7, 2002, 06:20

I am the author of an alternative civlization game called Global Contention, and very soon the project is going multiplayer. I already have working multiplayer over my LAN, but unfortunately only one person to help me test (who is not very reliable).

I would like to know if anyone would be willing to give this game a try and help out finding bugs or suggesting new features.

The reason I'm posting this here is because this game is primarily based on Civ2. Be warned though that this entire game was built with multiplayer in mind, so many things you would normally be doing in Civ games have been streamlined to make the play much quicker. It is only played in a mode similar to Civ3's turnless, but you will see it still has it's turn-based roots.

Global Contention has support for up 8 players, using TCP/IP, IPX, modem, or serial connection. This is includes AI players, which are all controlled by the host. Also there is a scenario editor which can be used to make all sorts of different scenarios using a variety of settings. I have already tested scenarios over the LAN, and I'm really starting to like the possibilities.

If you would like to try the game before the multiplayer update is released, visit this thread http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=69558

The update should be out within a week.

War4ever · December 7, 2002, 20:26

is it a civ based game?

neonext · December 8, 2002, 00:07

it is mostly based on Civ 2, but there are definitally differences...

is that what you meant?

Alexander's Horse · December 8, 2002, 00:52

I might be able to help in January, but not now.

War4ever · December 8, 2002, 13:47

this sounds promising

neonext · December 11, 2002, 16:04

if anyone (preferably someone not behind a firewall) can help test this week or this weekend, please contact me

on msn add neonext@msn.com

War4ever · December 11, 2002, 16:57

i may be around this weekend...do you use icq at all? i don't use aim

neonext · December 11, 2002, 18:37

that's like the only im serviice i dont use, but i suppose i can get it again by this weekend

War4ever · December 11, 2002, 18:58

you could try trillian? it uses them all in one easy to use program...

neonext · December 11, 2002, 20:08

thanks, i had never heard of trillian before, but it's features look cool so i'm giving it a try.

it turns out i still have my old icq account, it's 158419555

neonext · December 11, 2002, 20:12

i'm not sure if i can get this to work through my router, but at the very least i can directly connect the dsl line to one of the computers here for testing. if anyone can help me get this to work with a linksys router, let me know

War4ever · December 11, 2002, 21:42

sorry i know nothing about routers, but dr spike should be able to help you

neonext · December 12, 2002, 20:32

who's dr spike?

War4ever · December 13, 2002, 22:43

Quote:

Originally posted by neonext
who's dr spike?

hes a british poster..i think hes british...anyways.....check out the setting up ip games and you will find his spam in there....

good guy, knowledgable in that sortof thing...if anyone can help, i would think he can

DrSpike · December 14, 2002, 15:55

Hehe my spam? This coming from the guy with a bazillion posts.

Yeah if it's advice on routing you need I can help you out. Essentially if you host from behind a router the IP address that you must pass to your opponent is that of the router itself.

This means that the router receives info from the client (your opponent) that your machine needs in order for the game to function. However the router needs to know what to do with the packets of data it receives, which is where the adjustment you need to make comes in.

Set the router to forward all packets arriving on the civ2 MP game port (which is 4993) to your machine. You will need to know the IP that the router has assigned your machine to do this. The configuration usually takes place via a simple web interface......you are looking for the port redirection/translation section or perhaps network address and port translation (NAPT).

Hope that helps.

War4ever · December 14, 2002, 15:57

my job here is done, i havee set up a date, call me the matchmaker...

now i can try this game out with this dude

DrSpike · December 14, 2002, 16:01

Matchmaker......spammaker......horses for courses really.

War4ever · December 14, 2002, 16:02

are you being persnickety?

DrSpike · December 14, 2002, 16:05

Peace! Peace!

*War turns his back*

DrSpike gets out knife......you know the rest.

War4ever · December 14, 2002, 16:11

gr.............. as AH would say, "you like to pick scabs don't you!"

neonext · December 14, 2002, 20:01

Quote:

Originally posted by DrSpike
Yeah if it's advice on routing you need I can help you out. Essentially if you host from behind a router the IP address that you must pass to your opponent is that of the router itself.

Well, actually router's normally have an IP of 192.168.1.1, which obviously people won't be able to connect to. You're talking about the IP address assigned by the ISP right?

I can get the IP by going to http://checkip.dyndns.org

Quote:

Set the router to forward all packets arriving on the civ2 MP game port (which is 4993) to your machine. You will need to know the IP that the router has assigned your machine to do this. The configuration usually takes place via a simple web interface......you are looking for the port redirection/translation section or perhaps network address and port translation (NAPT).
Hope that helps.

Not really.. I don't think you read this thread before the 'who's dr spike?' part. I'm not trying to get Civ2 to work through my router. I'm trying to get MY game to work through the router. As a developer, it's hard to keep developing something that I cannot test, in this case it's multiplayer play over the internet. It works great over LAN (using the router) but I have yet to get internet play to work (Users cannot connect to me and I cannot connect to them).

From some reading I have done, I have learned what ports need to be forwarded in order for DirectPlay (what I'm using for multiplayer) games to work. They are:

47624 - 47624
and
2300 - 2400

I can enter the port range of 2300-2400 correctly but I'm having problems getting the 47624 port into the router forwarding setup. I think this is the problem that I'm having. What is the deal with the 47624 port and how do I set it up with the router? I have a LinkSys router btw.

Any help will be very much appreciated!

DrSpike · December 14, 2002, 20:28

Quote:

Originally posted by neonext

Well, actually router's normally have an IP of 192.168.1.1, which obviously people won't be able to connect to. You're talking about the IP address assigned by the ISP right?

Can't help you with the ports for your game. As for the quote above there is both an internal and an external IP for your router. The external one is assigned by your ISP, and may change depending on whether you have a static or dynamic IP. The IP you quote is the internal IP for your router. Whatever ports you need (and this I have no idea) you need to redirect data arriving on those ports from the external IP of the router to the internal IP of your machine on the LAN.

Of course the game will work on your LAN without setting this up.....in this case you only need internal IPs, and critically the host machine can talk directly to the client, obviating the need for port redirection. I hope that is clearer now.

neonext · December 15, 2002, 01:16

Quote:

Originally posted by DrSpike
Can't help you with the ports for your game. As for the quote above there is both an internal and an external IP for your router.

Sorry to be really picky about what you're saying, but..
No.. the router ONLY has ONE IP, which is what you use to connect to the router and change the settings.

The computers hooked up to router however have TWO, one internal (Starting with 192.168, different ending numbers based on which computer it is) and one external (assigned by ISP, all computers hooked up to the router share this external IP)

Quote:

Whatever ports you need (and this I have no idea) you need to redirect data arriving on those ports from the external IP of the router to the internal IP of your machine on the LAN.

Why do you have no idea? I just told you! You're obviously not reading my posts, so thanks anyway but I guess I'll get help elsewhere..

DrSpike · December 15, 2002, 08:31

Quote:

Originally posted by neonext

Sorry to be really picky about what you're saying, but..
No.. the router ONLY has ONE IP, which is what you use to connect to the router and change the settings.

You are wrong, but whatever........good luck.

neonext · December 15, 2002, 09:16

ok, fine i see what you're saying now, but still, you did keep ignoring me about the ports