Network Port Problem

[Dodger123]

Hi there,
I´ve got a Dell Inspiron 8100 Noteboook with a Nvidia GeForce2 Go Video Card with 32 MB RAM. The game is running very fine on this machine, but as I took it to a friend to play on a LAN I was not able to connect to the network port 2234. We tried some other ports, but non of the used (even HTTP 80) was working. I can´t also start a multiplayer game as server. As soon as I´m clicking "OK" there is nothing happening. The problem is existing with all patches (1.1,1.2,1.3). I´ve played a lot of other games (UT, CounterStrike and so on) on LAN parties an I nerver had such a problem with this machine. Any advice??

[ScreamingWithNoSound]

Creating a server takes aaaaages, just be patient.

If you're using a firewall, don't.

Beyond that, you'll need to supply more detailed information.

[RN Malboeuf]

disregard the FW comment
only 1.26 had problems with FWs

best reload your TC/IP, make sure you Direct X is up to date

make sure you have the CD in and and it's a legit copy

[mithrandir]

I've always had problems with firewalls.

I've tried out a bunch (all) of them. The only I get to work with OFP is TINY firewall. This is also a good FW. Can be downloaded for free at:
http://www.tinysoftware.com/home/tiny?la=EN&va=aa

[Mister Frag]

OFP works quite well with ZoneAlarm as well. The only problem I know of with the free (non-Pro) version is that the configuration/alert dialog pops up underneath the OFP window, giving the impression that OFP is frozen.

Regarding the original problem with the laptop not being able to join a LAN game, how are IP addresses assigned on the LAN? Is there a DHCP server, or are addresses assigned manually?

Run DXDIAG.EXE, click on the Network tab, and test the TCP/IP connection on port 2234. That should narrow down the source of the problem to either the network/DirectX configuration, or OFP.

[Dodger123]

Hey Mister Frag,
thanks very much, the hint about "DirectX" was worth gold!!
There was a small problem with the "DirectPlay/TCP/IP Service Provider" setting. I fixed it, now it works great!
Thank you!!

[Mister Frag]

I'm glad you got your problem sorted out, Dodger.

Just out of curiosity and to have additional information for other people who might run into this in the future, what exactly was the problem with the IP Service Provider setting, and how did you fix it?

[Dodger123]

Hi Mr Frag,
the last game I installed on my notebook was OFP. With that also my DirectX was upgraded to V8. But it seems that there was some kind of a hidden problem. It wasn´t installed completely but there were also no error messages. In the DirectX Diag there were some exclamation marks in the direct play section. As there is no way to "uninstall" DirectX I tried to reinstall it, with the latest Version available from MS in my country. But the setup was doing a version verification and did not upgrade or repair a single file!
So my last idea was to get the latest version in english from the MS US site. As the package contained a different language version as the one installed on my PC it upgraded all the DX stuff and... all was fine!!

Thanks again for the good tip.

[Mister Frag]

There is a tool called DirectX Buster (http://www.directxbuster.de/) which can be used to uninstall DirectX. The support for Windows 2000 is still in its Beta stage, but is supposed to be working.

Might be worth bookmarking...