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Getting a game working...

I am new to this group, so apologise if this is a common problem, but my internet searching has come up with so much confusing information, I though I would just ask real people!...

We are trying to setup a game to work over the internet in multiplayer mode.

2 of us each have routers (Netgear) and the game Entente (exe is antanta.exe). We use the free ZoneAlarm home version and want to play the game over the internet. We have both been into ZoneAlarm and granted the exe 'Access' and 'Server', but I think we probably need to do something with port numbers in our router and perhaps in ZoneAlarm.

The game suggests using port 20005, so as my PC will be the server, I have been into the router setup and added a service for Antana.exe using type TCP and port number 20005. I have also added this as a Firewall Rule with 'always allow' and put my 192.168.0.10 number in the 'Lan Server IP Address' box.

Problem is that when we run up the game, I start a multiplayer game and my friend at the other end cannot see anything in his list.

What do we need to do?

Thanks.

Reply to
GT
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Remove ZoneAlarm. Activate the Windows-Firewall. Use a VPN to play.

Yours, VB.

Reply to
Volker Birk

Thanks for the advice.

Is the Windows firewall any good?

I am on XP, so I have that option, but my friend only has Win98, so he is stuck with ZoneAlarm. Does this matter?

Also, is it easy to setup a VPN - I have never done it before.

Reply to
GT

It does its job.

He doesn't need a filtering software. With Windows 98, he just can unbind any service from his external network interface, with the exception of the "Internet Protocol / TCP/IP", of course. Windows 98 is not offering services to the Internet afterwards, which have to be filtered away.

Hm... ;-)

Of course, you could play without a VPN. But this is a security hole, which could be used by third party to attack your machine.

With Windows XP, it's not too hard. With Windows 98, I'm not sure.

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At least Windows 98SE seems to have such an option:

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Maybe Windows XP as server and Windows 98SE as client could work.

Yours, VB.

Reply to
Volker Birk

Thanks for the VPN advice - looks straight forward, but I don't understand what this above paragraph about unbinding things means.

This seems like a lot of hassle to play a game - isn't there an easier way?

Reply to
GT

I originally said the game needs port number 20005. Is this UDP or TCP or UDP/TCP. I have found a page in my router that allows me to clear inbound services, but I don't know which type to choose.

Thanks.

Reply to
GT

It means, that with Windows 98, you don't need a firewall. Just right click on your network interface, chose Properties, and remove anything with the exception of Internet Protocol / TCP/IP.

I don't know one.

Yours, VB.

Reply to
Volker Birk

If you trust closed-source freeware, you could install Hamachi on both machines - Easy to set up, its main use seems to be gaming judging by their forums:

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Once you installed it and set up a VPN (and joined it from the other machine), both of you will get assigned a special IP inside the VPN that you can use to reach the other machine. You can password-protect your network so that nobody uninvited can join, too.

Juergen Nieveler

Reply to
Juergen Nieveler

Please read the manual of your game.

Yours, VB.

Reply to
Volker Birk

VPN is indeed the most secure way but may affect your performance significantly, your PC needs to spend cycles doing the encryption/decryption and if the game happens to use very small packets the encryption overhead will impact the throughput of the game significantly also which may be a consideration depending on the game.

If it only uses one port you can just route that in from the untrust and block the rest, preferably by limiting the source IP to your friend's house also.

-Russ.

Reply to
Somebody.

Let's hope, it's not UDP and not Windows' TCP implementation then.

Yours, VB.

Reply to
Volker Birk

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