to use a different port then 23 :
atdt ip:port

The best dosbox version to use is one based on CVS. so ykhwong/aep

canadacows ipx list shouldn't be used.
tyrian works with ipx I think. and warcraft should work as well using a cvs build.

There isn't a public list. Although I could copy a beta list to this thread.

- fail: Armada:
requires Netbios - Int number??
- fail: Armada Proving grounds:
Multiplayer game can be started, but it unsyncs as soon as somebody moves their ship (Timing issues???)
- ok: C&C1 (requires local loopback)
- ok: Descent 2
- ok: Master of Orion 2
- ok: One must fall (patch 2005-08-23 15:58 )
- ok: Radix
- ok: Terminal Velocity
- ok: Transport Tycoon deluxe
- ok: Tyrian
(actually this was ipx code related Wink)
- ok: Warcraft
- ok: Warcraft 2

In Warcraft1 your phone number should look like this:
IP: 10.2.3.1
Phone number:010002003001

IP:10.2.3.1:23
Phone number:01000200300123

Re Armada Proving Grounds: I would say the desync errors are caused by timing issues. I participated in a few matches online and the issue tended to be minimized when we were all around 6000 cycles. Looking into it.

Re Armada and NetBIOS: seems to be fully playable, both using Hal's patch which allows using Novell's NetBIOS and my (very) incomplete NetBIOS implementation for DosBox. I didn't notice any problems in the matches i played online, either in Simulation mode or Strategic mode. By the way, i'm only using int 0x5c. I remember reading about a couple of other ints which can be used to access the NetBIOS interface, but i'm currently ignoring those, since all games i was able to test only used this one.

Qbix:
Thank you for the quick answer and for bothering with the list.
After seeing your post I tried with a port different than 23 and still couldn't get it to work but then I noticed I made a newbie's mistake, I didn't read the comments in the ykhwong's buikd config file...
I wrote:
serial2=modem listenport=40000
when I should have written:
serial2=modem listenport:40000
I was just so used to "parameter=value" and not "parameter:value". Very stupid of me.
After I got it working with another port, I fiddled with the ports, games and settings and found out that modem emulation works with port 23 and regardless to my firewall or open ports, which makes perfect sense because I'm sure that my firewall works ONLY externally (for packets sent through my ISP) and not internally (inside my home network ), although I still can't figure out why I couldn't get it to work in the first tries (I'm usually very thorough) but as long as It's working I can't complain.
Anyway, Tyrian works great for both IPX and Modem also warcraft2 (ipx and modem). with Z I couldn't get modem to work (BTW, there is not enough room for the phone number in Z to include a port number (only 12 numbers allowed) if this is the case for more games maybe you should consider a different ip scheme? I.E. not 19216800000140000 = 192.168.0.1:40000) but as I mentioned earlier, it's working with IPX.
Heroes of Might & Magic works ok with modem too but I think that IPX for this game requires NETBIOS.
With warcraft however, it's a different story, couldn't get it to work at all, when choosing IPX it just says "Connecting..." forever, and with modem, it says NO CARRIER, here is the output for the modem session:

1Serial port at 2f8: Write to reserved register, value 0x41, register 
2
32
4Serial port at 2f8: Write to reserved register, value 0x0, register 2
5Command sent to modem: ->ATZ<-
6
7Modem response: OK
8Command sent to modem: ->ATZ<-
9
10Modem response: OK
11Command sent to modem: ->ATDT010003002002<-
12
13Connecting to host 010.003.002.002 port 23
14Modem response: NO CARRIER
15DOSBox Time: 43.9 of real time
16Command sent to modem: -><-
17
18Command sent to modem: ->AT H0<-
19
20Modem response: OK
21Serial port at 2f8: Write to reserved register, value 0x0, register 2

I'm using floppy version 1.2.

Well, thanks again for your answers, I have another couple of questions if you don't mind:
1) same question as my 1st post about serial -> network support
2) If I'll test more games will it be ok to post my resaults here or is it not necessary?
---------
h-a-l-9000:
Thanks! (love your patch, BTW 😉 )
---------
HCL:
Hi, I saw that ykhwong disabled the NETBIOS patch in his build:

ykhwong wrote:

# 09/23 /2005 - CVS 0.63 :: New build : DOSBox CVS (09/23/2005) - The following patches are added. * Native IPX * VG […]
Show full quote

# 09/23 /2005 - CVS 0.63
:: New build : DOSBox CVS (09/23/2005)
- The following patches are added.
* Native IPX
* VGA corrections/vgatest accuracy
- The following patch is removed.
* NetBIOS
- The following patch is updated.
* OpenglHQ
- The following library is updated.
* physfs (for zip mount)
- Minor bugs fixed.

So I figured it was too buggy.... Is this the case? and if not, where can I get it? I haven't visited the patches page on sf.net yet but I assume it only has source code(which I don't know how to compile) and not binaries.

Thank you all.
Og

@HCl:
That list is for "pure CVS" without any patches, I wrote it before I even started on the Netbios support.

There was a report here about Armada not being synced properly with my patch, I also experienced something similar while working on it - but only once, after that it worked again.

Armada PG seems to crash preferrably when something CPU-intensive happens, might have been fixed a bit, but still crashes (especially when a player dies). Interestingly, using native IPX, only the Dosbox session says unrecoverable error, the game on the real DOS machine goes back to the network screen and says "data link broken".

@Og:
Well the trouble with the phone number...
Some games only accept numbers, others also accept letters. Some limit the length of the number.

Warcraft1 only accepts numbers, therefore the 010003002...
A game that also accepts letters can be given domain names, computer names and IP in the form of 192.168.0.1:40000. The modem hopefully understands all of those.

As for Warcraft1 and modem:

Connecting to host 010.003.002.002 port 23
Modem response: NO CARRIER

The network connection failed for some reason. Did the machine to be called listen on port 23? Was the game on that computer in answering mode? You need to press 'Connect' after chosing answering mode.
It does work for me, should also work for you.

Warcraft1 and IPX:
Damn, something went wrong. Doesn't work for me either. It was working sometimes in between... maybe check some of my files, the links at the bottom of this message.

Your questions:
1) You mean serial connection without modem? There is a workaround for that, get some modem client like Qmodem, set up the connection and go to the console modem. Run the game in the console and choose "already connected" or "serial cable". I did not thest this too much though.
2) Feedback is always welcome, networking stuff doesn't get too much of that here. One could think it either works so good nobody bothers to give feedback, or they throw their computer out the window and therefore can't give feedback anymore 😦 .

The Netbios mixup:

ykhwong removed (I assume my, but don't know for sure) Netbios patch, but added the native IPX patch, which also contains my netbios patch.
It's described in the Netbios patch thread how to use it. Unfortunately the native IPX part doesn't work correctly in ykhwong's build.

HCL's Netbios patch:
NetBIOS code for DosBox

My Netbios patch:
Netbios support patch

Native IPX:
Native IPX support

Edit: Netbios part does work in ykhwong's build.

Native IPX part doesn't work correctly?
I didn't test the patch, though. (I have no environment to use Native IPX feature now.)

The command "ipxnet startni" should return some more text, the problem (the only explanation to me) the C_NATIVE_IPX was not applied to config.h by CVS.

Btw thank you for providing these builds.

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

The network connection failed for some reason

Yes, that is weird, It seems like the other dosbox session doesn't accept the ring (even when used in 2 dosbox windows on the same computer).

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

Did the machine to be called listen on port 23?

Of course.

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

Was the game on that computer in answering mode?

Indeed.

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

You need to press 'Connect' after chosing answering mode

Let's assume that I am not that daft 😉

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

It does work for me, should also work for you

Hmm, very odd.... If we are using the same build (ykhwong's 10.13.05) then the only thing I can think of is differences in the config (E.G. core=dynamic etc)
I also tried CD ver 1.22 in addition to the floppy 1.12 .

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

There is a workaround for that, get some modem client like Qmodem, set up the connection and go to the console modem. Run the game in the console and choose "already connected" or "serial cable". I did not thest this too much though.

OMG! this actually works, and not only that, it seems it has the highest compatibility, I was even able to use warcraft with it! 😁 :

BTW, I didn't use Qmodem(didn't find full ver) I used Terminate5 ( www.terminate.com ).

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

Feedback is always welcome, networking stuff doesn't get too much of that here. One could think it either works so good nobody bothers to give feedback, or they throw their computer out the window and therefore can't give feedback anymore

Yes, I'm also surprised from the lack of enthusiasm, but rest assured that if you .... wait, let me rephrase that: Rest assured that when you(you=dosbox programmers/contributers) get FULL network support (that means playing games that wasn't ment to played online("console emulators+kaillera" style)) the boards will be swarming with feedback.
As for my testing results, I'll post it soon, just need to organize it a bit.

One question which I forgot to ask before:
What should I set the modem speed ? Should I always choose the highest for better transfer speed, or lower speeds for better compatibility?

About NETBIOS:
This is weird, with ykhwong's build AND HCl's netbios I get "not enough memory" and the memory requirements of the game (using the command MEM I see I have enough available memory) when trying to run HOMM.

With your build, I get "NETBIOS not loaded" (HOMM) although I loaded both "ipxnet startserver" and "netbios.exe" successfully.

Og.

Interesting analysis regarding feedback (through their computers out of the window...). I myself have extensively tested Command and Conquer and there are some stability issues. First of all dynamic core doesn't work 100% with CNC but that's another thing.

I've played CNC with the modem emulation against a friend and it worked good. Though there was only one CVS version in which CNC detected the modem - that seems a bit unstable. Only real issue was that laggy connections led to frequent disconnects. So we couldn't use my wireless network and were forced to resort to ethernet.

@Og:

Homm: Seems to be soundblaster related. I've chosen GUS as soundcard and the memory problem was gone. (don't ask me why...)

Warcraft: Using dynamic core, warcraft floppy version 1.12 and ykhwong's 10.13.05 build I have no problem using the modem. (I hope this won't make you really angry 😉, but did you also set the right com port/IRQ in warcraft?) com1-irq4 com2 - irq3

Modem speed is not implemented, there is just a limit of 16 bytes per millisecond which makes 128kbit/sec.

"console emulators+kaillera" style: Do you mean some kind of battle.net interface? That might be an idea for a Dosbox frontend, which can connect to IRC and help start multiplayer games and ... oh well, who is going to code that 😀

@Alkarion:
I use dynamic core and dos32a with C&C and never saw any stability problems not related to networking, but then again didn't spend really much time on it.
dos32a game.dat -cdcdrom

Just tested C&C and modem with ykhwong's 10.13.05 build, no detection problems. I don't think there is much that can be done regarding lag, those games just weren't made for that. I always prefer solid copper over thin air 😀

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

Homm: Seems to be soundblaster related. I've chosen GUS as soundcard and the memory problem was gone. (don't ask me why...)

Had to see it myself to believe 😳 , strange stuff...

About warcraft: well, I don't remember that I have seen any game/application which does not set com1/irq4 or com2/irq3 including warcraft, but I always double-check to make sure (especially when it doesn't work 😀 ) so the problem doesn't lie there.
But please don't waste your time on this, if it works for everyone else, thats ok with me (I have no plans playing it, and even if I did, I could use the COMM program workaround).

Another feedback bit:
DOOM complains about bad modem configuration, the Readme says edit the init string in modem.cfg (in game dir) but it looks ok to me...

If you don't want to hear about problems in other games please say so, because I plan on testing a few other games.

Thanks
Og

Concerning HOMM and memory working with GUS instead of SB. Perhaps the default DosBox memory amount is too much? I don't have the game but try setting DosBox to a lower memory amount and then trying it.

If it's really complaining about the below-640k memory:
try to use loadfix (if it's something with incorrect detection
of low memory)
try to load things into high memory (lh xyz.exe for the
dosbox CVS), maybe disabling ems to get larger UMBs

@DosFreak: Tried 8MB (minimum for this game) and it's the same.

@wd:
As I said earlier, the amount of free memory is enough (Conventional included), here is a pic which shows the message:

Try ems=false and xms=true, then try ems=true and xms=false.

DOOM: This modem.cfg works for me:

AT &D2
AT Z H0
38400
Hayes Optima 28.8

@HunterZ: xms=false - doesn't start, ems=false - same.

@h-a-l-9000: After I saw your modem.cfg I understood you have a newer version of doom(mine is 1.2) because the format is different, so here's what I did:

looked for a newer version, couln't find one, found patch to 1.9, applied patch, didn't work, noticed patch only updated game itself - not the setup and serial util, downloaded demo ver 1.9, worked, looked harder, found full ver 1.9, tried it, worked 😀

By the way, now I'm trying to connect trough my external ip (still 2 windows of dosbox in the same computer) E.G. 212.13.143.6 instead of 10.3.2.1, having problems again, modem rings and tries to connect but fails. IPX didn't work either although I opened port 213, but then I tried opening port 213 UDP instead of TCP and it worked. I'm now experimenting with modem settings to make it work.

OK, I promised some feedback, so here is a small list of a few of my favorite games, I wanted to add the games Qbix mentioned, but I didn't know whether he ment IPX or Modem.
I hope this will help someone:

Legal Stuff:
This document is not copyrighted, you can copy it, sell it, claim it is yours or anything else you might think feasible.

I seem to remember that either someone wrote a third-party replacement for Doom's serial multiplayer util, and/or you could use enhanced ones that were included with later Doom-engine games like Hexen. You may want to experiment.