New to on-line play, please help.

[jimfelt]

Hello. After playing the computer, I want to play against human players. I don't know anything about Multiplayer play, and how to get started, but would like to learn. I read the manuals, but don't understand it. I want to play DW,Sub Command, and SH2 on-line. Do I need a particular patch? what about virus scanners? do I leave them on or off durring play. Can someone help me with the basics, to get started. Thanks, Jim.

[fatty]

Hey Jim (if I may), welcome aboard. Do you have any instant messaging programs like MSN or ICQ? I'd be happy to walk you through the process of getting into multiplayer (MP herein) if you do...

Otherwise, most MP Dangerous Waters games use the 1.04 patch, which is the latest available. There are two of ways to go about finding games:

1. Use a "lobby" program like GameSpy or HyperLobby. Once you navigate your way to the Dangerous Waters lobby, you'll have to wait until other players come around and create a game to be joined, which you can sign on to. The programs will automatically start your game for you and connect.
2. Find a friend on boards like these! The multiplayer subforum here has a game tentatively scheduled for this Saturday. What you will need for this kind of game is an IP address (a number like 24.222.187.64) to plug into the multiplayer section of the game, accessable from the main menu after launching.

Virus scanners are your preference. If you find you are experience problems with slow-downs in-game you may want to disable them. I leave mine on.

Let me know if this helps you and what other questions arise.

[Molon Labe]

For your general questions, the FAQ is always a good place to start:

• What settings (i.e. ports, etc.) do I need to play online?

You can find a ReadMe in the Dangerous Waters installation folder which covers Multiplayer issues, however for convenience here are the highlights.

ReadMe - Multiplayer wrote: C. Multiplayer

1) The IP address shown in the Gameroom for the Host in Multiplayer is the local IP
address and may not be the IP address needed by other players to join your hosted
game. One method to determine the IP address for your computer with respect to
the rest of the Internet is to browse the website: http://www.myipaddress.com/
That website will display the IP address clients will need to use in order to join a
Multiplayer game. Also, if you have a firewall installed and active it may not allow you to
connect in a Multiplayer game.

2) SCS-DW uses DirectPlay 9.0c for its Multiplayer connectivity. In order to
connect to other players in a Multiplayer game, it may be necessary to open
ports in the range 2302-2400 in your firewall and/or router for TCP and UDP packets.

3) SCS-DW attempts to determine which network adapter your computer is using
when connecting in Multiplayer games. Sometimes this default selection is
incorrect and can prevent connections to/from other players in Multiplayer games.
In order to determine if this default selection is causing problems, first start
SCS-DW and "Host" a game. At the Gameroom screen, the adapter that was chosen
by SCS-DW will be displayed in the chat window. It is suggested that you write
this down. It may look similar to the following:

"Local Area Connection - IPv4 - 192.1.168.69"

Then using Windows Explorer, browse to the directory where SCS-DW was installed
(DEFAULT: C:\Program Files\Sonalysts Combat Simulations\Dangerous Waters)
and open the file "adapters.txt".

The following is an example "adapters.txt" file:

This file contains all adapters found on this system:
Local Area Connection - IPv4 - 192.1.168.69

The adapter that SCS-DW will pick is the "Local Area Connection" adapter, but in
some case there can be two adapters on a given system:

This file contains all adapters found on this system:
Broadcom Ethernet Adapter - 68.132.123.45
Local Area Connection - IPv4 - 192.1.168.69

In order to force SCS-DW to pick the "Broadcom Ethernet Adapter" you need to edit the
file "dangerouswaters.ini" as follows:

Scroll down inside the "dangerouswaters.ini" file to find the keyword
.AdapterName "IPv4".

In the example "adapters.txt" file above, the .AdapterName keyword
would need to be changed to
.AdapterName "Broadcom Ethernet Adapter".

After making the change, save the "dangerouswaters.ini" file. Next time
Dangerous Waters is run it will use the adapter that you specified.

It is recommended that the numerical address portion of an adapter be left out of
the .AdapterName. This will allow SCS-DW to still connect successfully if
your ISP changes the IP address being used. (This is common with cable/DSL Internet
connections.)
It might helps to open up port 6073 in addition to the ports 2300-2400 that the DW Readme suggests (link to MS knowledgebase with the info).

• ========================
  If using DirectX 8 or a later version...
  ========================
  Connection // Ports for Client Configuration // Ports for Host Configuration
  Initial UDP Connection // 6073 Outbound // 6073 Inbound
  Subsequent UDP Inbound // 2302-2400 // 2302-2400
  Subsequent UDP Outbound // 2302-2400 // 2302-2400

Open all these... for all protocols.

Going to the specific questions... You need to have the same patch as the player you are connecting to. Most players use 1.04 for DW and 1.08 for SC (the most recent). As for virus scanners, I don't recommend you engage in any virus scans during your game session since scanning is a very RAM and processor intensive process. If you actually meant to ask about firewalls, which is usually more of a concern to players connecting for MP sessions, then opening the ports listed in the FAQ should allow you to connect with the firewall up.

[Xplodotron]

Sorry to revive this 19 month old thread, but it want to get an update on what fatty said before, and I didn't think it was worth starting a new thread. (If admins have a problem with that, I'm sorry. Please advise.)

fatty said that the best ways to find other players was to wait around in an online lobby, or scan forums like these and make an appointment.

question 1:
other than subsim and CADC, are there other forums that i should check? and has there been consensus (or cross-linking) to minimize the amount of research you have to do?

question 2:
other than xfire, hyperlobby, and gamespy, are there other game-finding software i should use? and has there been a consensus which one to use?

maybe the winner of the CADC ladder should get to choose.

and on a similar note: question 3:
is it possible to host a MP game by yourself (without anyone else playing), AND have it such that someone can still find you on one of these lobbies and join in spontaneously? [i tried, and i think you can NOT host a game with yourself only.]

i feel like people are still playing DW all the time, but the hassle of waiting for or coordinating with other players forces many people to just play alone.

thanks!

-X

[Castout]

Tell me about it yesterday i tried MP only to find that my firewall seemed to be blocking my online partner from connecting.

I found no solution to this yet. My firewall seems to be blocking a lot of things. I mean a lot. At the moment from morning it has blocked 3100+ intrusion attempts. Some of which appeared to have originated from friend's yahoo messenger application.

I'm beginning to think that my ISP is using my modem as a router.

[CapitanPiluso]

Originally Posted by jimfelt

Hello. After playing the computer, I want to play against human players. I don't know anything about Multiplayer play, and how to get started, but would like to learn. I read the manuals, but don't understand it. I want to play DW,Sub Command, and SH2 on-line. Do I need a particular patch? what about virus scanners? do I leave them on or off durring play. Can someone help me with the basics, to get started. Thanks, Jim.

In order to play DW in MP you could join some virtual navy (Seashadows,Seawolves,GNSF,etc)

[Xplodotron]

Yeah, joining a navy is probably a good way to get some action.

"Accelerate your life," as they say. [But, if the inescapable conclusion of Life is Death (and if you want to live a long life), shouldn't you want to slow down your life?]

Molon Labe answered a question at the CADC forum as follows (from August 2008):

There are more people playing DW than SC, but that isn't saying much. I managed to get 5 people into a session by posting here in advance of the date, though, so it can happen. The calendar feature here [CADC] is pretty sweet, and I'll probably be using it a bit more in the next several weeks. DW.pl gets matches together on a weekly basis most of the time too. And there is always the virtual fleet option, although I haven't heard from any in awhile. GNSF apparently has had 16 logged DW and 688I player-matches for July, which is lower than I expected but still probably good for a match a week if you want to be active. Subb and Muhaja started an Xfire guild for DW players who prefer objective-based missions; it's not going as strong as it used to but I still see people pop up now and then.

And no, there aren't really any other sims. The SCS series is the only game in town for modern nukes.

I know there's been talk of a dedicated server for a while now. But I wonder if--at the least--one couldn't make one's own computer available for spontaneous MP when one is playing by oneself?