Beta 8...A problem??

[Orda Khan]

R'as,
Yes I am on Vista and I am the only one. I answered Tomi's query about running VI on Vista, as I understand it to be an eight series Nvidia card problem. My GPU is 7600GT and this mod runs perfectly well in all ways except hosting.
No news from 800 players may well be good news, it may also mean there are 800 SP players enjoying Japanese campaigns. How many actually play online?

I seem to remember a bugged installer with a previous beta on SamWars

.....Orda

[R'as al Ghul]

R'as,
Yes I am on Vista and I am the only one. I answered Tomi's query about running VI on Vista, as I understand it to be an eight series Nvidia card problem. My GPU is 7600GT and this mod runs perfectly well in all ways except hosting.

I was afraid you'd say that. Ok, this is serious then. 3 or more players on XP who can't host.

No news from 800 players may well be good news, it may also mean there are 800 SP players enjoying Japanese campaigns. How many actually play online?

Okay, you've a point there. Most do play SP.

We have to find out what you lot do differently or what's the difference between yours and our XP.
To be absolutely sure that it's the mod we'd need to know if you can host games in MTW/VI with the current setup. Don't know how much time you have but it would be best to uninstall the mod and to try MP with a vanilla version. If that works, make a copy of the working version and install beta_8 over it, then try again.
I agree that it's tedious but I've no idea how else to get more information on the situation.
I'd also like to know if Jochi has made progress with Tosa's zip version.

R'as

[Jochi Khan]

Hi R'as

I was afraid you'd say that. Ok, this is serious then. 3 or more players on XP who can't host.

My graphics card is the same version as Ordas, The GeForce XFX 7600GT and as Orda said, we can play the mod with no problems, the only difference being, I am using XP and Orda has Vista. CBR hosted some games for us and they all played ok. So there is no problem with our setups, we can play the mod.

Okay, you've a point there. Most do play SP.

This is what I was thinking. Highest number I have seen in foyer is 21 (and not all of them on Beta 8) so not many MP'ers amongst the 800.
I have downloaded it 3 times incase of a 'bad' download causing the problem. Trying to rule out all possible options.

Don't know how much time you have but it would be best to uninstall the mod and to try MP with a vanilla version. If that works, make a copy of the working version and install beta_8 over it, then try again.
I agree that it's tedious but I've no idea how else to get more information on the situation.

I had 2 VI installs, Samurai Wars installed and the other with other mods installed. I did a new fresh install for the Samurai Warlords Beta 8. The reason is, I like to keep these games I enjoy on their own install and not have multiple mod installs on one. Hope you understand what I am saying.

As it is now........ I have Samurai Wars installed and MTW/VI with other mods installed.
The MTW/VI/Beta 8 I have uninstalled.

I'd also like to know if Jochi has made progress with Tosa's zip version.

Tosa and I run some tests the other night with me trying to host. I could host but Tosa couldn't see my game. We both kept relogging and waiting for a few minutes in the hope it would work but no luck.

I will try your suggestion of installing a new MTW/VI vanilla and check if I can host successfully with that. Will post the result.

To recap in answer to some of the above posts.....

1. Yes I do have a new ISP but that was December last year and I have hosted since then
2. I was on adsl broadband 1MB connection before changing but now on 8MB connection.
3. I can and still do host in M2TW with no problems. So can see no reason why MTW/VI Beta 8 should be a problem. It is the same PC with the same connection.
4 After installing Beta 8 on this PC I was unable to host any of the MTW/VI installs.
Barocca posted that files do not get installed outside the directory and affect others but it seems to have on this occasion. (I am not doubting your word Barocca :o))

[Puzz3D]

3. I can and still do host in M2TW with no problems. So can see no reason why MTW/VI Beta 8 should be a problem. It is the same PC with the same connection.

M2TW communicates over a different port than does MTW. The port is a number that's included in each data packet, and it's used to direct incoming packets to the appropriate program. Firewalls block data packets that originate a request from outside the firewall unless the firewall has been configured to pass the included port number. As I recall, MTW uses port 18321 and MTW/VI uses port 18322, and these ports have to be open for both UDP and TCP. GameSpy also requires about 10 additional ports to be opened, but I don't know if they affect visibility of hosted games. I don't know what port or ports M2TW uses or if it requires both UDP and TCP. So, it's possible that a firewall could block MTW/VI hosting and not M2TW hosting, and that would be consistent with all the MTW/VI installs not working.

4 After installing Beta 8 on this PC I was unable to host any of the MTW/VI installs.[/B]

But, two weeks elapsed between the last successful hosting of MTW/VI and the inability to host. Something could have changed in those two weeks.

I run WinXP Pro + SP2, and have 6 installs of MTW/VI. I installed beta 8 to two of them; one for SP which I modify and one for MP which I don't change. I can host by enabling DMZ on my hardware router which forwards all ports to the local LAN ipaddress of my machine. I have Windows firewall running, but don't have to turn that off to host.

Right now we only have 6 people playing Samurai Wars MP regularly. We all have MSN and can arrange games over that, and CBR hosts a teamspeak server on Sunday for those who have a headset and microphone. I think just about everyone can host, so it's not actually necessary to be able to host during this session. The network operation of this mod seems stable now. We get together on Sundays at around 19:00 gmt. We play for at least 3 hours, but last Sunday the session lasted 6 hours. AggonyKalle joined us for a couple of games. Unfortunately, RageFury can't get MTW/VI MP to work due to his new ATI X700 video card.

[Jochi Khan]

M2TW communicates over a different port than does MTW. The port is a number that's included in each data packet, and it's used to direct incoming packets to the appropriate program. Firewalls block data packets that originate a request from outside the firewall unless the firewall has been configured to pass the included port number. As I recall, MTW uses port 18321 and MTW/VI uses port 18322, and these ports have to be open for both UDP and TCP. GameSpy also requires about 10 additional ports to be opened, but I don't know if they affect visibility of hosted games. I don't know what port or ports M2TW uses or if it requires both UDP and TCP. So, it's possible that a firewall could block MTW/VI hosting and not M2TW hosting, and that would be consistent with all the MTW/VI installs working.

So, why have I not had a problem hosting before? All I have ever had to do with my firewalls is set them to 'Allow' or 'Not block' the servers that I am connecting to.

Right now we only have 6 people playing Samurai Wars MP regularly. We all have MSN and can arrange games over that, and CBR hosts a teamspeak server on Sunday for those who have a headset and microphone. I think just about everyone can host, so it's not actually necessary to be able to host during this session.

No, but it would be necessary for one of us to be able to host at other times that suit us.

[Puzz3D]

So, why have I not had a problem hosting before? All I have ever had to do with my firewalls is set them to 'Allow' or 'Not block' the servers that I am connecting to.

Is Windows Firewall turned on and Windows Automatic Updates enabled? If so, maybe an automatic update changed the Windows Firewall configuration. I have Windows Firewall turned on, but Windows Automatic Updates turned off. If you go to Control Panel then Security Center, you'll see if it's turned on. Access the Windows Firewall under Manage Security Settings, and check under the Exceptions tab to see if Medieval_TW is checked as an exception. There is also a check box there to display a message when Windows Firewall blocks a program. In Windows Firewall, you can't allow or block servers. You allow ports or programs.

I don't know anything about Zone Alarm, but if it has an automatic update feature, the configuration could have changed or the program could have become incompatible with MTW/VI. We'd have to hear from someone who can host and is running the same version of Zone Alarm on the same version of Windows to rule out incompatibility.

[Jochi Khan]

All I have ever had to do with my firewalls is set them to 'Allow' or 'Not block' the servers that I am connecting to.

That should have read.. Programs ...and not Servers.

I am aware of how windows XP sets the Exceptions. Have been using it for a number of years now. Checked and double checked, all the programs I need 'not blocked' are not blocked (all the necessary boxes are ticked). The windows updates do not change your Exceptions.

Zone Alarm works differently in as much as you set your levels of security each time you want to play online. This you then change when you log off the games. Again, do not get changed when Zone Alarm does auto update.