Playing a TCP/IP multiplayer game is quite easy. All you need is two players with active connections to either the Internet or LAN. One player is designated as the Host the other is the Client. The Host is responsible for picking the Scenario or Operation and selecting any applicable parameters for a Quick Battle. They also have a slight advantage of purchasing units prior to the client connecting. Keep this in mind: the Host should inform the Client, prior to connecting, of any specific parameters, time period, unit restrictions, point totals et cetera, of the battle. This can be done using any normal communication method. (ICQ, 3rd party Chat service like the one at Combat Mission HQ, or simply via email)
The Host loads the game normally and selects any pre-made Scenario or Operation. The Host can also choose to start a normal Quick Battle. Once the game is loaded, play proceeds normally and the Host selects the side to play. The Host is then presented with the standard Connection Type Screen. The TCP/IP option is now available, click the TCP/IP button and a new Time Limit Option will be accessible. This is the default timer limit for both Action and Orders Phases combined. Select the desired time limit then click OK. You then enter a password and click OK again.
The next screen you get will be the Host Connection Page. This will also list the all of the Hosts Current IP addresses, one of which the client will need in order to connect to the game. See below for issues with the IP address. The Host then waits until the Client connects and once that occurs the game will proceed normally. From this point on the game will proceed almost like playing the AI except the enemy will be Wild Bill, Rune or Kwazydog or any of your other fellow gamers! ;-)
For the client, connecting is even simpler. They need to load the game and select Join Multiplayer, They then select Join Network Game. At this point they are presented with a screen to manually enter the Hosts IP address. They can toggle through the four IP address windows by using the "TAB" key. Once they enter the address they will attach almost immediately to the Host and begin to download the scenario info and begin the game. NOTE: A scenario does not need to be on the Client's system in order to play. The Host sends that info. See below for specific connection and chat issues.
Some Comments About The Timer:
One of the new features of the game is the optional implementation of a play timer. When the game type TCP/IP is chosen the host is given the option of selecting from a variety of fixed times including a No Timer option. This works as follows:
In the Setup phase you are given TWICE the Timer Amount in order to position your units.
Once the game begins the timer amount selected is shared between the Action Playback Phase and the Orders Phase. You always get an additional full 60 seconds in the Playback phase (the time of one full playback) before the timer begins to count down.
For example, if you had selected 2 minutes as the Timer Amount you would, in fact, have 4 minutes in the Setup Phase to get ready. Once the game was in play each subsequent turn you would have 3 (see below for details on this) minutes to watch the movie and issue orders. Why 3 and not 2? Because you always get the one free minute during the movie playback. NOTE: That 1 free minute is NOT transferable. It is applied ONLY to the Playback Phase. If you were to immediately click DONE in the Playback Phase and proceed to the Orders Phase you would only have 2 minutes to give orders. Think of it as a 1 minute 'Bonus' only applicable to the Action Playback Phase.
If you have not completed viewing the movie or issuing orders when the time expires, the game will proceed to the next phase automatically. Pay attention to the timer, and balance your time wisely. Multiple reviews of a movie will quickly eat into the total amount of time you have to give orders. The timer will switch to a warning color, red, as it gets low.
The timer is not affected by minimizing the game or escaping or "alt-tabbing" out to the desktop. It will continue unabated regardless of the game's current activity level. If you need to get up and leave the computer or just need more time to plot orders or watch the replay you can request a temporary Pause to the current phase. This is accomplished by pressing the Alt and P keys at the same time, flashing a message on the screen to both sides indicating that you have requested the Timer to be Disabled. The other player now has the option of accepting or denying this request. To accept all they have to do is also press Alt-P (prior to the timer expiring obviously) and a message will pop up indicating that the Timer is Disabled. The game does not Pause as such, but rather the timer stops counting. You can now take as long as you need to issue orders or watch the movie with no concern that time will expire. When you are finished or are ready to continue with the game just click GO, or Done (depending on the phase you are in) and the game will resume normally. If the timer is paused by either player in a Movie phase, it will stay disabled throughout the following orders phase as well.
Tips and Watch-outs:
Nvidia Drivers: We have encountered a variety of issues with the latest leaked 7.17 drivers from Nvidia. If you have these drivers you will need to uninstall them prior to running the game or will crash frequently. We recommend the official Detonator 3 release (6.31 New reports have shown instability with any of the Nvidia 7.xx drivers as well as versions beyond 6.47.
IP Addresses: When a player Hosts a game, Combat Mission lists ALL the IP addresses assigned to a system. If you have multiple modems or network cards it will list all IP addresses associated with those devices. What it can't do is tell you which one is the correct IP address as it depends on how your system is configured. Users of AOL, for instance, may have up to three addresses listed. You will need to have your opponent try to attach to each IP address in order until they find the one that allows connections. Once you have found the correct IP address, make note of its place in the list since it should always be the same one. For example, let's say when you host a game Combat Mission shows three separate IP addresses. You give the first one to your opponent and it doesn't work. You give him the second one and he makes a connection. In the future, the correct IP address should always be the second one in the list even though the address itself may change.
* TIP: Unless you are hosting a game on a local network, an IP address of 192.168.x.x will not work. Those addresses can only be used with other computers on an internal LAN.
Firewalls and Proxies: In order to play a network game, Combat Mission requires that TCP port 7023 be open for all outgoing and incoming transmissions. Please configure your firewall and proxies accordingly. Users of the software packages Black Ice Defender and Zone Alarm may have to disable the software completely before a successful connection can be made. We have gotten reports from some users of Black Ice Defender that even disabling the software was not sufficient and they had to fully uninstall the package. Once this was down games could be hosted and joined. Please visit the Battlefront.com Discussion Forums for the latest info on such issues.
Cable/DSL Router Configuration: If you use a home broadband router like the LinkSys Cable/DSL 4 port Router and wish to host games you will need to add TCP port 7023 to the routers forwarding table. You then need to match port 7023 to the internal IP address of the computer that you want to host the game with. Then use the routers control panel (usually accessed via your browser) to get the external IP address given out by your ISP. Give this external IP address to your opponent and he should be able to connect with you hosting. Please visit the Battlefront.com Discussion Forums for the latest info on such issues.
Internet Connection Sharing: Many people use ICS on their home LANs to access a broadband or modem connection to the Internet across multiple computer systems. Currently a computer that is connected to the Internet via an ICS connection can not Host a Combat Mission game out to the Internet. They can however host locally to systems that are connected on the same home LAN. They can also still attach to a hosted game normally on the Internet or the home LAN. This limitation on hosting affects systems that gain their access to the Internet SOLEY through an ICS connection. Please visit the Battlefront.com Discussion Forums for the latest info on such issues.
Lost Connections: If at some point some point during play you lose connection (this IS the Internet after all) each player should be given a message which indicates that the connection was broke and that play may be restarted by loading the autosave. This autosave is created on each players system when the game detects a loss of transmission to the other player. Sometimes, one player or the other will drop to the desktop. Even when this happens, a usable Autosave is usually created. It does not matter who reloads the autosave and hosts the game although depending on the timing of the disconnect some orders may need to be reissued on both sides. If the connection was lost AFTER both players hit go (committed to going forward with the game) then autosaves that are created due to that broken connection will NOT allow either player to give any additional orders. A message will appear on the screen indicating that each player must press GO and advance to the Movie stage. This is done to prevent one player from purposefully breaking connections during a turn that is going badly and also out of fairness to both sides.
* TIP: If one player had already clicked "GO" and was waiting for their opponent to finish issuing orders when the game disconnected, it is usually wise to have that person re-Host. That way, at least one person's orders should be fully intact. Orders are saved on their own system whenever they click GO.
Chatting: The new patch allows each player to send a text chat message by first pressing the tilde "`" (tilde) key or for users with non-US standard keyboards they may alternately use the number "0" (zero) key. To send the message you must press the "enter" key. Once you open a chat window, you have to send a message to get the window to disappear, even if the window is blank, you do this by pressing the "Enter" key as indicated above. The message is displayed in the upper right corner of the screen and is announced by an audio squawk sound that plays on the other player's system.
* TIP: The Host of a game will get a message on their screen when the opponent has joined. As soon as a Client joins into a game they can begin chatting. At this point it is smart for them to send a brief message to indicate to the host that they are "in" the game. As such, I usually just send the message "IN". That tells the host that all is well on my (client) side and play can commence.
Chat Limits: Chat messages are not viewable when you do not have the 3D game screen up. That means you won't see a chat message while you are in a Briefing screen or the end of game Debrief screen. You may hear the other player squawking, though. You can go back into the game map (3D view) and continue chatting as normal though.
Operations: Operations proceed just like normal single battle except that at the completion of one battle you are shown the current Op Debrief Screen. Remember that you cannot chat when viewing this screen. As soon as both players click OK the next battle will commence to load and the setup phase will begin.
