questions of MP construction

[R'as al Ghul]

Hi TechnoMage,

would be nice if you would spot something that we haven't considered yet.
Here's a link to a thread where we've listed all symptoms and thoughts so far:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=69991

I think we've tested MP on very generic maps. Iirc CBR and I did some test on
an ironboard map without any models. (is that right CB?)
It seems to be related to animations. Number of clans doesn't seem to be an issue.
I think Pink & Musket has about 200 units, so the number of units isn't a problem either.
Two cavalry units use the same mount which isn't exactly a mount but just different phases of the animation. But again, cegorach is using something similar in P&M and it works in MP.
We had to stop testing at some point because of lack of time.
Personally I'd love being able to play beta_8 MP because of the number of clans available, change in colours, change of map textures, models etc. We've put a lot of work into it and it's frustrating not being able to use it properly.

R'as

[TechnoMage of Shadows]

from your deductions it really is looking like unit animations

do you have a test configuration setup already?

i can operate 3 PC's simultaneous to test (i have 3 MTW-VI license's here) IF someone can tell me wether or not 3 systems can connect to a host and run the game through a netgear DG834 (wireless + 4x10/100)

[R'as al Ghul]

3 systems, 3 licenses = 3 nicknames and IP adresses = yes that should work.....
Maybe a bit of a hassle to set up the portforwarding, though.
Just try it, you seem to be tech savvy enough.

[TechnoMage of Shadows]

multiple external IP numbers? (single internet connection here)
is there a way around that?
can mtw use different ports?
can they be set on the local machine?
(has no-one written a fakeserver yet?)

aalso direct from gamespy help
(seems to indicate that you could use different ports!!)

What ports does GameSpy Arcade use?
If you are behind a firewall/proxy and are able to change its settings, Arcade needs the following TCP ports open in order to function:

· 6667 (IRC)
· 3783 (Voice Chat Port)
· 27900 (Master Server UDP Heartbeat)
· 28900 (Master Server List Request)
· 29900 (GP Connection Manager)
· 29901 (GP Search Manager)
· 13139 (Custom UDP Pings)
· 6515 (Dplay UDP)
· 6500 (Query Port)

Again, these are TCP unless otherwise specified and are bidirectional.

University Internet connections - Universities usually protect their networks with firewalls. In most cases these cannot be opened by you the user. You'll have to consult a technician at your University to see if a workaround is possible. It might be necessary to open more ports in order to run certain games. Also, please note that this is a list of recommended ports. It does not mean that your particular firewall will be easy to configure. Please consult your firewall/proxy manufacturer for detailed instructions. In reality, getting Arcade to work on certain restrictive networks may even be a little harder than opening these ports. DirectPlay games in all likelihood will not launch properly at all.

i have also seen a report here on the org where the player failed to allow the specific ports that mtw and mtwvi used,
yet was still able to play and host,
so maybe mtw is not "strict" as well,


seems to me all that needs be done is define/assign a range of ports "near" the ones gamespy and vi want for each individual machine,
then LOCALLY close the ranges that the other machines will use,
then set the internal ip's for each machine and (on the router) port forward each range for each machine...
?

[R'as al Ghul]

Can you disable the firewall of your router and forward all ports?
That way the IP's of the machines behind the router should be visible on the net with different IPs.
I'd recommend to use a personal firewall on each machine, like Sygate, and allow the game to access the network.
CA has written MTW in a way that fakeservers, like for STW, are impossible or very hard to set up.
The gameserver adress of gamespy seems to be hardcoded and is not read from a txt file, although such a txt file exists. They didn't want people being able to use fakeservers, like the Shogun one.
If gamespy turns off the server in the future the only way to play will be Hamachi.
Which, by the way, could be a solution to what you're planning, because it sets up a VPN and tunnels through everything. You can read it up on the net.

R'as

[TechnoMage of Shadows]

reading about Hamachi, will that connect to the arcade?

any fancy setting needed? (rome and m2tw require some fancy footwork)

setting up trashable drives, so i can, if needed, be "exposed" with little "cost".
I can have 3 systems up and running with VI, all i need to do is get them connected to gamespy/host...

do you have a version that we can test and try to find the desync cause?

[R'as al Ghul]

When you set up Hamachi you have to use the LAN MP option of the game.
No fancy settings needed.
Maybe you could just start with the regular beta_8 at first.

Then there's a version in this folder: http://www.mizus.com/Ras/temp/
called stws.rar which CBR and I used for testing.
There are three other archives in that folder called step1 - step3.
To be honest I can't remember exactly what the different steps do without checking out my saved versions first.
(I'll do that later, have to do other stuff first)
We started with the install of stws.rar on a vanilla MTW install and tried that, then the three steps add new animation files each time and have to be installed/extracted on the test version.(always main game folder as target) That way we wanted to find out which animation file is causing the trouble.
One step is adding a new NoDachi, one cavalry, etc.
The downloads aren't that big so just give it a go.

Cheers,

R'as