I assume you have a static LAN address for your play 'puter and tunnels have been opened in your firewall. If not, first you have to disable DHCP as it will assign a different address within the specified range each time you log into the LAN. Best way to set a static address is link the address in the firewall/router/gateway/NAT server/DHCP server to the network card's MAC address (no two alike in the world, six pairs of hexidecimal numbers) Next check the readme.html (I think) file that came with FL, it lists the DirectPlay ports needed to open up, ports 2300-2302 (I think). Those must be associated with your playing 'puters static LAN address. If you use software firewalls as well (I do) ensure they have the permissions to peirce the firewall.

If none of this works or you are already set up correctly, you may have a problem with DirectX of which DirectPlay is part of and DirectPlay is what actually uses the ports. Try reinstalling/installing the lastest DirectX version 9.0b. There is also a way to check DirectX through the System Information program, it is in the Tools/Windows pull down menu under DirectX Diagnostic Tool.

Sorry for the several "I think" statements. I'm at work and am recalling it all from memory.

---------------
Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server

i didn't totally understand what you said up there but i have a dynamic ip address and everytime i start up the comp its the same ip addrees so i don't nkow what that means.

anyway i got the new version of directx and installed it and that didn't do anything

i also just shut down the firewall on my router because when i opened the ports needed it diddn't do anything. i don't have any other firewalls that i know of.

Edited by - Toco on 05-08-2003 01:26:55

OK, one step at a time! You said initially you had ports open in your hardware firewall/gateway/router/NAT server/DHCP server (I assume you have one these all-in-one devices, let's just call it a gateway). What IP address did you assign those ports to? It has to be something on the LAN side, not the WAN (internet, broadband, ISP, modem, outside) side. Check the status of your network connection in Windows to determine your 'puters LAN address.

Another way is to get your gateway IP address. Most private LANs start with 192.168.x.x (where the x is a number from 0 to 255) and a gateway address will be the x.x.x.1 of that LAN. Thus depending on your gateway you can have any computer be of an address from 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.255.255. For example my gateway can support up to 253 computers, thus my gateway would be 192.168.x.1 and all other things connected to the LAN (network printers, network devices, laptops, 'puters, but NOT your broadband modem as that is upstream the gateway) would be in the range of 191.168.x.254. Note x can be ANY number from 0 to 255.

By the way revealing your LAN address in the public domain is no problem. 192.168.x.x, 172.16.x.x and 10.x.x.x are used only for private networks and will not be found anywhere on the internet (a public network). So there will be no "link" to you...

If there are specific questions you can email me. Nevertheless this thread may help others so I can continue the discussion here, your choice.

---------------
Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server

i set them to the 192.168.2.23 and i opened the ports 2300-2400 as said on the microsoft support site.

now what?

Is the LAN address you described, 192.168.2.23, is it ALWAYS the same each time you restart/reboot the 'puter? (in other words static?) If it is good. If not link this address to your 'puters network connector MAC address in the gateway (older gateways may not have this feature). Ports 2300-2400 is a bit much but hopefully DirectPlay intercepts all those ports even though only one is actually used to talk to the global server and other flservers. Let me know what gateway you have if you want more specific steps. EDIT: Opps, I forgot you can also set a static address in the 'puter's OS network setup as well. Ensure it is within the gateway range, in your case 192.168.2.x where x is 2 to 254.

One quick way to test if it is the firewall that is preventing you from accessing the global server is turn it off! There is a setting in gateway that says enable DMZ (DeMiliterized Zone). This is to completely disable the firewall, mostly for games. Do it only long enough in this case to connect to the global server, or not if the problem isn't the firewall or it's setup.

Make sure you have your software firewalls set or turned off. Only WinXP and Win2k have built-in firewalls and under certain network setups they may be enabled. Ordinarily this shouldn't be a problem because DirectPlay through uPnP should open what is needed in those firewalls.

When FL connects through MP to list other servers, FL connects to the global server (it will show connection status in the upper, right hand corner) where it retreives a list of all internet flservers. Do you see that list? If not what does it say?

Let me know what happens when you do the things above...

---------------
Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server

Edited by - Earendil on 07-08-2003 01:15:38

I Have tried the DMZ and that didn't do anything. The ip addrees is in the gateway range.

all it says is connecting to server in the bax. i left it on for about 30 min and it still said that. leave it on longer?

my gateway is 192.168.2.1 (obvious?)

I kind of feel like a fool. I did remind you I was doing this all from memory and at work. The file that comes with FL is called readme.rtf and after reading it again I remembered some things. This rtf document tells you how to set up a FL server. All the stuff about your firewall pertains to a FL server setup! You need not open any tunnels in your firewall for an FL client (a MP player). I did get the server ports wrong as well, they are not 2300-2302 but 2302-2304.

So onto why you can't connect in MP. I assume you can connect to the internet already. You also said you have no software firewalls. Either DirectPlay in DirectX is not working correctly or there is some trouble between you and the global server. I assume you did a reinstall of everything. I assume you are at least using a Windows account that has power user or above permissions. You also said you installed the latest version of DirectX so for now we will assume that isn't the problem even though that usually is the problem (at least according to the forums).

So all I can think of is a ping for the global server. You can bypass the global server by linking right up to the flserver itself. But you need to read the readme.rtf file to see how and you need the flserver's IP address.

---------------
Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server

doesn't matter if you messed up as long as i get to play. thats all that matters

In another post someone suggested when installing DirectX v9.0b from the web doesn't install correctly. What worked was downloading the install file and installing it from the file on your own hard drive. I other words not to us the Windoze update install. It might help who knows...

---------------
Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server