Seems like only one product key can work online at once. Therefore you would have to buy two copies... or something like that.

nope, that's not the problem.

I have the exact same issue. I have a Linksys router and after about 5-10 minutes of playing we both lag out. If only one is on it works fine. Per the other poster..dont' you think a product key issue would happen immediately with big bold letters?

seems to me it's a NAT problem - the router (apparently) cannot forward the corresponding ports to more than one recipient without getting "confused", hence the problems in connection, despite what the readme says.
i don't know how to fix it.

All my cruel acts are justified by the fact that i am a cruel person

Nomad- Not necessarily in Command & Conquer Generals if you are running the same key as someone else you can start a game but minutes later all your stuff blows up and you lose.. It's kinda funny actually.

My fiancee and I have been having a similiar issue. We purchased 2 copies and installed each PC with a different CD. We're on a LAN running NAT, behind a Linksys BEFW11S4-v2 router on aDSL.

It seems that when ever both of us are online, we get disconnected shortly after we see teh infamous red icon in the upper left corner. Sometimes it's less than 5 minutes, and other times, it's as long as an hour, but never more than that.

I've been over the forums a lot, and have seen this problem come up a few times. I tried some of the suggestions from other postings like updating my firmware, and setting my MTU to 1500 and enabling "WAN requests", and even enabling "port triggering" for the specified multiplayer ports. So far, each attemp has only yielded moderate success... By that I mean, it only prolonged the problem, but not solve it.

What I did seem to notice is that of all the people who complain about this issue (or at least the ones that I have read), they all seem to have a Linksys or a Microsoft router.

I would like to know if there are other people out there with multiple PC on a NAT'ed LAN using a different brand of router, and if they've had any success.

Sorry about being so long winded... this problem is driving me nuts...

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Quick update:

Not long after I made my post, I ran out and bought a D-Link router model "DI-604". After installation, I fired up Freelancer with my fiancee, and we've both been playing online for over 3 hours. I plan on testing it some more by letting it run all night while I sleep.

I can't believe some el-cheapo router that costs less than $40 after some rebate is doing a better job than my previous name-brand $100+ dollar router... gosh dern it!

Well, it's not like I'm really complaining.

Edited by - lml on 27-03-2003 10:57:58

****! That means I will have to purchase a new Router aswell... I am also the proud owner of a Linksys 4 port Switch with a WAN port. I tried everything aswell..

I share one DSL using the router amongst 3 clients which all play the same games and we all experience the issues of disconnecting and Client crashes when we are playing on the same servers...

It doesn't even seem to matter what game we tried.. its worse in Counter-Strike then in FL because in Counter-Strike the Client on one Computer crashes and the other disconnects.. Its frustrating to know that I need to buy a new router... I even installed the newest firmware (dated just a few weeks ago) and still no improvment.. someone better tell Linksys whats going on!

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Definitely F4rmed[[!

I don't know if this helps... but I bought my router for $39.99 (+tax) at the "Best Buy" in San Jose, CA. It came with a $10 mail-in rebate. You may be able to find it cheaper on-line.

I just woke up, and noticed that both of my Freelancer games have been connected to the same server for about 7 hours each.

Edited by - lml on 27-03-2003 16:29:20

Yep it was the router for cipher and I as well. I picked up that D Link you mentioned it works like a charm. Was fun to finally play at the same time, instead of being dropped every 5 minutes.

TFC also ran fine tonight for us so the guy with the CS problem may want to try this router. However I know that cipher and I didn't have any problems with our Linksys and TFC/any of the halflife mods at all. Maybe that CS problem is something else other than the router?

Edited by - attackcat on 01-04-2003 11:13:11