Multiplayer questions..

[Esme]

Hello

I'd very much appreciate if someone could either answer the following, or point me in the direction of answers..

1. the Gamespy thing (which I have not set up). Is it necessary in order to take part in multiplayers games, is there any cost involved, is there any security risk (ads, dataminers, etc) involved?

2. If the Gamespy thing isnt necessary, how else does one go about playing via the Internet?

3. Is there some kind of in-game communication feature, so one can message ones opponent?

4. What are clans for?


Also, if there's an experienced multiplayer player willing to give a newbie a hand getting into multiplayer, 'twould be much appreciated. I'm an experienced wargamer, middle-aged, just new to online TW gaming (I do NOT have the VI expansion, btw. I do have the Warlord edition of Shogun, though, and will be getting the Rome game when it is released).

Esme

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Well there is an ingame chat feature, both during battles and in the foyer.

I'm confused about your last statement btw...do you have Medieval and want to play it online? Or are you looking to play Shogun online?

[Puzz3D]

Hi Esme,

You don't need GameSpy Arcade to play, but you do have to make a GameSpy account. You can get there by choosing Register from the Multiplayer menu of the game. After making your account choose Play on GameSpy from the Multiplayer menu and enter your email address, gamespy name, password and CD-key. Use caps-lock and put in the dashes for the CD-key, and hit return to save it. You then click on Continue at the bottom.

In battle, press T to message all players and Y to message only allies.

Clans are for developing team strategies since it's hard to play at a high level with pick-up teams.

The vi add-on made improvements to multiplayer, and most of the verteran players went to vi. Although the foyer is merged for both mtw and vi, you can't play each other. Both mtw and vi have unit imbalances which means you have to learn what units to buy and how to optimize their upgrades to be competitive. This varies depending on the florin level, map and climate chosen by the host.

There is a CBR community mod available for vi which fixes the unit imbalances and co-exists with the regular game, but everyone playing the mod must download and install it. There are also a couple of custom mappacks available which can be installed and work in both mtw and vi.

[Louis de la Ferte Ste Colombe]

Hi Esme,



Ok, I'm currently writing something that might prove usefull...


You got an excerpt,



I./. Getting on line

1./. Technical requirement

Your computer needs to meet minimum requirement; if you look at your guide, or on your box, you'll see

Required for Multiplayer Mode

PIII 750 or athlon processor or higher
128 Mb of ram
28.8k connection

The minimum requirement for SP is only a PII 350.

One of the main difference between MP and SP is that pu to 8 armies can join a battle; which means a lot of sprites and a lot of computing. Much more than a regular 1v1 in SP.

Failure to meet requirement will result in very slow laggy games.

Many like to blame bad connection or gamespy for lag or slow games; most of the time, a slow computer is really the problem.

Louis;Dispelling the 56k legend;; MTW/ VI is somehow very tolerant with high ping. I often play on a Tasmanian 56k server (I am on the US East Coast), 4v4 games with normal unit size; ping is in the 400+; and most of the time it works fine.
If the connection is stable; you shall not have problems.

To know if your system is good enough to handle MP, you can test in 4v4 SP custom games normal size units; if your PC can't handle that, you have a problem.
A few steps can help;
- do not join 4v4 or 3v3 if you can't play them in SP...
- reduce unit size (as defined in your game options)
- reduce graphic options, gunpowder, birds, etc... (as defined in your game options)
- play in arid / summer setting to avoid graphically challenging weather conditions
- don't do anything else while playing; no movie download, protect yourself against pop up...

You also needs MTW, MTW / VI. As a CD key is required, please support Creative Assembly, buy the game, and get a CD key.

Your CD key is on the back of your manual for European edition and on your CD box for US edition; it looks like 1234-5678-90AB-CDEF-GHIJ-KLMN (note: for any chancers out there this is not a functioning CD key, go buy the game ).

A small note on CD keys: Do not give yours to anyone

Both MTW and VI have been patched. All, or nearly all online players use the latest patch; 1.1 for MTW and 2.01 for VI (download the patch http://www.totalwar.com/community/download.htm)


2./. Registering on gamespy

Beside LAN, there is no other options than going throught Gamespy.

If you play other online games and are already registered on Gamespy, you can use your existing account.

If not, open up your Internet connection. Now while you are still on the Internet start up MTW. Some people do not need to open their Internet connection before launching the game, others do. This guide suggests opening a connection just to avoid the hassle of quitting the game if you do need to open a connection manually. Because you have an open Internet connection the multiplayer option in the game's main menu will not grey out as it usually does. Click on multiplayer, then on register a gamespy account. You do not need to install gamespy arcade on your PC to play multiplayer, so save yourself some hard drive space. You will be taken out of the game and onto the Internet so don't panic. Registering your account is quite straightforward; simply enter the information it asks for. You can't use blank space for your online name; most players use '_' or '-'.
Make sure you deselect the 'send me information etc'; options at the bottom unless you actually want to be emailed adverts etc. When you have registered your gamespy account return to the MTW menu leaving your Internet connection open. The registration process is over when Gamespy forward you to a totalwar.com page.

3./. Joining the foyer

the foyer, or the lobby is the virtual place where online players meet, chat and join games.

a)to join;

Starts MTW, click on 'play multiplayer' then on 'play with gamespy'. Now you will need to enter all the correct information for the account you created. So remember and write down the name you chose for yourself and your password. You will also need your CD key (which is on the back of your manual for European edition and on your CD box for US edition; it looks like 1234-5678-90AB-CDEF-GHIJ-KLMN).
Tick the box labelled 'remember my password' as it saves you a bit of hassle each time you want to play. When you have entered all of the information click on continue. There will be a pause as the information is verified, if something is mistyped or wrong you will be returned to this screen with a message telling you what the problem is (invalid password, invalid CD key etc) so you can re-enter the information and try again. If everything is correct you will find yourself at a new screen - the foyer.
Error message can sometimes be self explaining; wrong CD keys are just that; be sure you really respect the typo of your CD key. Invalid password is just that; you enter a different password than the one you used when you registered.
But sometimes you will face an enigmatic 'Log on Error' message. Gamespy server might be done. Or you may have other connections problems. Your best options are;
1/ reboot & restart
2/ post about the problem at .com, .org or .net and maybe someone can help.

Louis tip ; you can also start playing using Gamespy. Once you will click on host or join a game in Gamespy, MTW will start, and you will go through the same steps described above. It is recommended NOT to use Gamespy; just start MTW, and choose play multiplayer without worrying about Gamespy at all

Assuming everything worked fine, your screen shall look like below;

b)the foyer




The foyer looks complicated at first glance but it is quite straightforward once you know what is what. The large box at the top lists current games along with important information like player counts, florins, the host etc. For more on this box and joining a game in general check step 3: Choosing and joining a game, below.

Below this is a large box that is subdivided into smaller boxes. Down the right hand side of this large box is a small column listing names. This is the player list. To send a message to a specific player click on their name in this list. To send a message to everyone click on room. If a player's name is in grey they are not available for you to message either because they are in a game or because they are away from keyboard (also called afk) To send a private message to multiple players at once just hold down shift and click on the names, selected names will turn red. When you have selected everyone you want just let go of shift.

To the left of the player list is a box labelled 'medieval' and you will probably see a lot of fast scrolling text in it. This area is where all messages targeted at the room appear; this is why it is so busy.

Underneath this box is another, unlabelled box. This is your private message space. If someone sends you a private message it will appear here, alongside any private messages you send.

Below this large, subdivided box is a little rectangle with a prompt in it. This is the chat box, as you type a message in here before sending it. The prompt starts out as 'To Room' but it will change as you target different players, for example targeting frogbeastegg would result in 'To frogbeastegg'. If you have selected more than one person it will read 'To Selection'. One important thing to note about the chat box - it is very small so you must try to be compact in your messages. Either that or break them up into several smaller chunks.

Code Sample Foyer linguo;
afk;away from keyboard
relog; exiting the foyer and relogging to refresh the player list and game list
gg; good game; ritual sentence after a game either it has been good or bad
gl & hf; good luck and have fun; ritual sentence before a game
brb; be right back[/QUOTE]

Code Sample Foyer command;
#ignore + player name; you won't see this player message anymore. Very helpful against spammer.
#unignore + player name; cancel an ignore command.

You can also press CTRL + Click on the target player name instead of typing the whole name
[/QUOTE]

After a game, you might not be able to see new games, or new players in the player list; that is why many players 'relog' after a game. This refresh the game and player list which can get stuck after you played a battle.
Also, you may face the 'scroll lock bug'; suddenly (most of the time just after a game) you can't scroll the player list anymore. Again, the solution is to 'relog', or if this is not enough to exit the game and restart.

Generally, polite behaviour will be rewarded. If you are mean or abusive people wont like you and wont want to join your games or play with you. Please dont use foul language--I've noticed Americans can handle a bit more in the way of crude language than some other folks, please be respectful of our international community. This game is played around the world and someone's kids could be looking over daddy's shoulder at any time. This is just a matter of courtesy to others. If you insist on being a jerk, you may find yourself on everyones IGNORE list--or even worse--you may be banned from peoples games. At the most extreme your CD Key will be revoked by the publisher (it does happen).



More to come...

[Louis de la Ferte Ste Colombe]

Let's get more specific;

- most veterans players play VI... If you want challenging game, VI is a better place. + VI fixes a few bugs.

- in game chat; as Yuuki says; T for all, Y for allies.

- clan; mostly useless. Potentially nice group of people you have fun with. + a good way to learn a lot about the game.

Louis,

[CBR]

And I still havent succeeded in brainwashing Swoosh


CBR

[Esme]

Many thanks all who responded

I'll happily play either Shogun WE or MTW, although I like the extra complexity of MTW. I don;t have VI simply beause I don't yet have VI, it isn't that I've no interest in it... if the pennies allow, I'll see if I can get a copy at the end of the month.

Um... OK, multiplayer evidently means more than two people playing in the same game at the same time then? So, does each side have several generals and sub-generals played by humans all in one big battle? Clan against clan all at once, kind of thing? Or are games played within clans, so that clans are a bunch of folk that play against each other regularly?

(chuckle...) y'see, I really do NOT know anything about the online play at all.

Thanks for the note on Gamespy. Hmnn.. I'll look into that, so I'm ready for when I have VI installed.

Esme

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Each player controls their own army of up to 16 units, there can be up to 8 players in one game.

[Esme]

Ah, so THAT's why the claim that there can be 10,000 plus troops in one battle, eh? Always thought it was including masses of reinforcements, which I thought was a bit of a cheat, but less outrageous than most companies claims.

Well, well... This IS going to be fun

If any clans out there are looking for a mature newbie with plenty of wargaming experience (used to play WRG 4th edition rules, mostly; speciality Khitan Liao and Post-Roman Britons, specialist cavalry commander, wasn't so good with infantry. More recently TWSWE and MTW, have improved greatly on infantry use), favourite historic generals Hannibal and Marius, point me at some contact details, and we can discuss enlistment possibilities.

Esme

[Sjakihata]

Hi Esme

Did you have all your questions answered or you need anything else?

About training.

Im fairly expeirenced, although Im out of practice. I would gladly give you a few tips n tricks, while I improve my lost (but not forgotten) skill ;)

you can contact my on:

martinlarsen38@hotmail.com that is both email and msn messenger contact.

looking forward to enter total war again.

I play both shogun + expansion

medieval + expansion

but can play medieval only as well, tho I suggest you get a VI pack.

[Sjakihata]

bump

[Esme]

Did you receive my email?

Esme

[The_Emperor]

Well Esme welcome to the Multiplayer community.

I am sure you'll like MP once you get going. The atmosphere online is very good and there's a lot of people on there willing to hand out advice.

Experiment with army configurations and find out the best deal for your florin level. (10K per player seems to be very common)

See what works best for you.

Welcome and, See you out there

[Sjakihata]

Quote[/b] (Esme @ Feb. 22 2004,00:37)]Did you receive my email?

Esme

thanks

[ichi]

Nice post, Big Papa Smurf

ichi