Shogun MP w/out Shogun.Net?

[BlackWatch McKenna]

Two Things:

(1) What if EA decides that they no longer want to host Shogun.net (or whatever its called) that allows us to all play Shogun online against one another.

Do we have other options? Myth II, for example, allows you to host from your own IP address.

(2) At what point would EA give out the source code that would allow some crafty programmer in this community to create a working online MP campaign game?

[Vanya]

Well, I'd say if the are going to scrap the old server, this would be a great idea to keep the oldtimers enjoying the original game. For those of us with WEMI, obviously, this exercise is pointless.

But it would be nice to peer into the source code so as to learn more about the game and determine what the heck they were smoking when they decided to leave all battles showing as having been fought on 'Test' battlefield and victory won by 'test condition'!

http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Dark Phoenix]

They wont release the source code while they are still using the engine when they could let other developers use at a cost of course.

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DoragonPhoenix of the Clan Doragon (http://clandragon2.homestead.com/Dragon01.html)

I am no hero I just like to hit people in the head. :p

[Khan7]

There is also a very good reason why ONLY THEY can host games-- to combat software piracy. Now COME ONE people, I've done it, you've done it, there are probably very few gamers who haven't taken advantage of blatant weaknesses in certain games, and probably very few can say they've never benefited from, even if they didn't participate directly, more sophisticated methods that counteract the more sophisticated anti-piracy measures now utilized almost across the board. There will probably never be a system that will protect a game from being copied and used, and if there will be Shogun is certainly NOT IT. But what CA/EA CAN do is hold the supremacy at the MP end, arguably the cream of most games, so that [theoretically] only people with legitimate copies can enjoy this, thereby eliminating much of the incentive to pirate.

So this policy may be a PAIN IN THE CORRUCKER sometimes, as the ongoing MI cd key fiasco has demonstrated, but you have to concede that we ultimately all benefit when a company who we look to for future great games can claim more of their rightful proceeds for themselves. Plus there are certain benefits to having one big host, such as convenience of finding matches at the drop of a hat, as well as allowing people with a less than 10mbit [exagerration] connection to play the game reliably and without excessive lag (believe me trying to play a game with graphics like Shogun is a PAIN if you or your buddy hosts it, even if you've both got highspeed connections).

So that's my 2 cents.

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Khan7

[Reverend Bayes]

Well my buddy and I have been having horrendous problems with EA net so we dusted off our copies of Kali (www.kali.net) which we have not had to use since, oh, command and conquer, and tricked shogun into thinking it had a LAN connection. It was much less frustrating than dealing with the EA servers. Honestly, this is the most gamer UNFRIENDLY MP game I have purchased in the last five years. Boo EA!