Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Put all your MP game discussions right here.

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Balthagor
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Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Balthagor »

While there are no dedicated servers for online internet play, there are a number of options for multiplayer games;

1. Local Network


These are games where all players are in the same location with a physical or wireless connection.

Host;
- Launch game
- Multiplayer
- Select "Host Game"
- Wait for players to join
- Assign regions, choose settings
- Launch game when all players marked "ready"

Client;
- Launch game
- Multiplayer
- Select game in Available Games list and select "Join"
- Select "ready" when you are ready, wait for host to launch


2. Direct Internet Connection


If a player wishes to host and knows player(s) who wish to join.

Host;
- Provide all players with your IP address
- Launch game
- Multiplayer
- Select "Host Game"
- Wait for players to join
- Assign regions, choose settings
- Launch game when all players marked "ready"

Client;
- Launch game
- Multiplayer
- Select "View Internet Games"
- Enter the IP address for the host
- Select game in Available Games list and select "Join"
- Select "ready" when you are ready, wait for host to launch


3. Hamachi Internet Lan


This system has been suggested for supporting LAN multiplayer games over the internet. Instructions for connecting to Hamachi can be found in a dedicated thread;

Hamachi Multiplayer Games


4. GameRanger Matchmaking


Recently support was added to the GameRanger system for playing Supreme Ruler 2020. Instructions for connecting to GameRagner can be found in a dedicated thread;

GameRanger Multiplayer Games
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Balthagor
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Reloading Multiplayer Savegames

Post by Balthagor »

* Reloading of multiplayer games requires version 5.4.1

When playing a Multipalyer game, saving the game triggers an autonamed file to be created on all machines. To reconnect a multiplayer game all players must have the file of the correct name.

When in the multiplayer lobby, the host can choose to see a list of multiplayer scenarios or a list of savegames. Once a savegame is selected regions can be assigned and the game can be launched. Changes made in the settings section affect only new scenarios, not savegames.

Autosaving in multiplayer will generate unique file names with each autosave. This means that the autosaves are incremental and not overwritten. This can cause a large amount of harddrive space to be taken up, as much as 1 gig per hour on some systems. Autosaving is not recommeded for daily in multiplayer and cleaning out the folder after a game is a good practice.
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Balthagor
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Balthagor »

Some improvements have been made to the GameRanger system. See the above link for details.
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Balthagor »

Just incase anyone is curious, Global Crisis supports all of the above systems and in fact has better GameRanger support than the core game does (until the next update).
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by StrikeForce20 »

hmm, what IP do i type in idk.. all it says is 255.255.255.... so do i have to ask the a person there IP and then put it in. IS there any way that it can be like just click refresh and a bunch of games come down like in other multiplayer game. though SR2020 GC is really good the only thing that really annoys me is multi..ANSWER ASAP PLEASE..
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Ruges »

StrikeForce20 wrote:hmm, what IP do i type in idk.. all it says is 255.255.255.... so do i have to ask the a person there IP and then put it in. IS there any way that it can be like just click refresh and a bunch of games come down like in other multiplayer game. though SR2020 GC is really good the only thing that really annoys me is multi..ANSWER ASAP PLEASE..
Generaly speaking yes, you get the hosts IP number. put it in where it says the 255.255.255 and you will connect to the host. However the host still needs to have the proper ports open and the traffic unblocked. I really sugest using gameranger for your MP exsperiance.
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by StrikeForce20 »

Thank you..
Last edited by StrikeForce20 on Apr 26 2009, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Ruges »

you should probly read OP
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Frank »

Is there somekind of a serial checker that prevent two games installed with the same serial to interact on a LAN?

For testing purposes, I installed the game I bought on Gamersgate on my two PC (desktop on WinXP, laptop on Vista).

When I try to join a game hosted by my desktop PC, my laptop CTD. When I try to host with my laptop, it CTD.

Of course, the game is always launched with Admin rights on Vista and I'm not using any kind of firewall on my LAN.

By the way, is there a log file generated when a CTD occur?
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Balthagor »

No log file. It's as soon as you click host? Do you have any fancy firewall software installed?
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Frank »

As soon as I press Host or after a few seconds when I do join.

And I'm not using any kind of firewall on my LAN.
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Balthagor »

Might be a DirectX/DirectPlay issue, I'll have to get back to you on it. Can you send me an e-mail please?
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by EagleZup69 »

Hi, i'm trying to get in ( neetil server ) but no chance, i got always this message since 3 days, " This network appears to be full ", does they play online 24/24 per day with 16 players ? Can someone explain me ? :lol:

And hi to all this community, i'm a new player trying to play this beautiful game online with someone, see you soon :-)
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Balthagor »

Thought I would take a minute to post some info based on some MP tests I tried this evening with Hundane, GIJoe and a few others.

We had about 7 of us this evening trying to join and only Hundane and myself could get into the game through our default setups. GIJoe got in by manually bypassing his router, but that's not the ideal solution. I did get a chance to speak with Scott and GameRanger and he offered some useful tips.

* When you are in GameRanger and it brings up the warning for "Port-Restricted Cone NAT Router" there is a Learn More button. It brings up a window with a link that will attempt to get you into your routers configuration page. Here's what it says;
Port-Restricted Cone NAT Router
Your internet connection is behind a Port-Restricted Cone NAT Router that may prevent you from connecting to some players in peer-peer games.

You will still be able to connect with the majority of players, but not with those who have Symmetric NAT Routers (which are not that common, fortunately). One advantage of fixing this problem is that the "Preparing Connection" window will complete much faster.

If you do want to solve this problem, it will involve you configuring your router. Most routers are configured through a web page built into them. You may be able to reach yours here.

Many recent routers support a feature called Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). This feature will allow GameRanger to do most of the configuration required. You will need to enable it to allow GameRanger to make changes. Not all routers support UPnP correctly, however, so that may not be enough.

The alternative is to manually configure your router to do port-forwarding for UDP port 16000. Ask your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or refer to your router's instruction manual for assistance here.

Port-forwarding tells the router to send the game communication data to your computer. The port-forwarding configuration page will ask you for a public port and a private port. Set both of those to 16000. In some cases, instead of asking for a public port, it will ask for a port range (eg. Start Port, End Port). Set the Start and End to 16000. It will also ask you for the IP address of your computer that the data should be sent to. It may call this the LAN IP, Local IP, or Private IP. This should be set to 192.168.1.100. If it asks you for the protocol or type, set it to UDP.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to offer step-by-step instructions here as every router is different.

If you are at work on a company network or at a university, you may not be able to fix the problem yourself. Instead you may have to ask the network administrator to how to port-forward UDP port 16000 to your computer.
* if you see a user who's name is italicized, that means that GameRanger has determined it cannot connect you to that player. Sometimes it still works, but it indicates a potential problem. (the tests we ran tonight should have been with me and one user at a time).

And for those asking "what port is used", Supreme Ruler 2020 uses DirectX's DirectPlay networking code which uses multiple ports. If anyone can find details on the ports used by Microsft for DirectPlay, we can test some of that to see if we can do more targeted port forwarding.

If you catch me online, I can usually take the 5 mins to run a quick test connection.
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Balthagor
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Re: Playing Supreme Ruler 2020 Multiplayer Games

Post by Balthagor »

I started digging for info on directplay's port usage. I'll post a bunch of stuff here and if we can confirm it I'll update the OP;
Ok, here ya go...

Table of ports used by DirectPlay
(taken from the DirectX SDK)
The following chart shows which ports an administrator needs to open for a given desired style of play for applications using the dynamic range of DirectPlay.

Connection Client configuration Host configuration
Initial TCP Connection 47624 Outbound 47624 Inbound
Subsequent Inbound TCP Connections 2300-2400 2300-2400
Subsequent Outbound TCP Connections 2300-2400 2300-2400
Subsequent Inbound UDP Connections 2300-2400 2300-2400
Subsequent Outbound UDP Connections 2300-2400 2300-2400
Older version by may still hold true and supports first comment;
Multiplayer uses DirectPlay 7 for networking. If one is behind a NAT router and wants to host a game then they require to port forward DirectPlay 7 ports (range 2300-2400 plus 47624). However some NAT routers are not capable of forwarding port ranges. It is still possible to host games behind a NAT router with only 3 or 4 ports forwared (instead of the 2300-2400 range). The ports needed are TCP 2300, UDP 2350, & TCP/UDP 47624. This assumes this is the only DirectPlay 7 game running.
Seems there was at one time a network monitor from Microsoft but I can't find anything about it beyond a mention...

More later.
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