Hey guys !

Back, after almost 10 years, with still the same problem, under Windows 10 today.
I tried to make a recent no-cd integration of DD2, since I've no more optical drive in my actual PC. Using wrappers such as _inmm.dll, dgvoodoo2 or ipxwrapper, make the game works really fine with Win10. Except the network part... Hosting a session, joining, sending message between 2 machines are working, but the "F1"key still desperatly not works, and prevent the game from strating the session 😒

Didn't find anything, since my first request in 2016, about this issue, on Vogons, or PCGamingWiki, my two best sources for that kind of problem :
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Destruction_Derby_2

Among the several ideas to try, swapping the key-to-press into the binary with a hex editor was one of them, but I'm a total n00b at hex editing. Just succeded to change the displayed text "Press F1 to play", nothing else.
Would there be any good soul, with the required skill at hex editing, who could take a look, as it might be very easy to do, in order to rehabilitate the Network Game on DD2, in 2024 ? 😀

Nota :
F1 and F12 keys seem to be managed the same way. Pressing them give no answer, where other Fuction Keys display letters, when they are pressed, in Multilayer Lobby.

Hi there, also Destruction Derby 2 maniac writing here.

I was at the same point as you. I set up local lan, everything was connected and working, but I couldn't start the game just because the function keys to start the session did not respond.

swapping out the key bindings in hex is an idea I haven't thought about yet and it would be great if we could fix it that way. that would require some decent debugging skills, though and I'm not diving into it.

I was thinking about another approach: trying the same multiplayer with two instances of PCem/86box running DD2-mp on a win95/98 machine with networking enabled - maybe the F1-keys are working there? when I find the time, I'll give it a chance.

Edit:
I just saw you already tried it with w98 in virtualPC and it's working.. so I guess it will also work with two PCem/86Box-W98 instances.. an expensive workaround I know.. I'm barely able to emulate a p166mmx on my modern CPU so all instances running the game over the network would have to have a similar powerful PC. the hex-keyfix would def. be the better solution.

Edit #2:
I tested it and I got it working!

My setup is as follows:

Host is a Win10 PC.

Box#1:
I've configured a 86Box instance (166mmx is the max I could do) with Windows 98SE and installed DD2 from CD + DD2net patch.

Networking in 86Box: Mode: PCap (host needs PCap drivers), <your hosts> network interface, Adapter [ISA16] Realtek RTL8019AS, choosing a fresh random MAC address from the options.

Networking in W98: install the network card with drivers from the W98-CD, in the network options for IPX enable netbios, in the TCP/IP protocol options choose your local lanIP and subnet mask (192.168.1.10 / 255.255.255.0). Remember every goddamn change you make to your network requires a w98 reboot.

That should cover everything relevant.

Box#2:
Now just make a clone of your Box#1, copy it to your other computer (i run both on the same PC for testing).
We just need to make some adjustments to the networking stuff:
in 86Box network settings, create a new random MAC for the network card and if necessary adjust the host interface.
in W98 give it a unique tcp IP (like (192.168.1.11 / 255.255.255.0) and a new unique computer name (in network settings)

and that's all. fire up DD2 on both instances and start multiplayer either by IPX or TCP/IP.
The Host of the Session can start the game with F1 key and here F1-keys do work!

A few things I've noticed:

IPX (for local lan gaming session) is far better, it performs better, is more sync, less lags.
TCP/IP works too, but I got async and lags and shortly after disconnects from host. (despite being on local lan)

In the Multiplayer Session Chat on Windows 98 and the player name selection screen I CAN'T enter numbers, it's like the keys get ignored.
On Windows 10 i CAN enter number in these screens.
it seems the keymap is somewhat deranged on Win10.

Final Thoughts so far:
While it's working with two emulation boxes it is actually cumbersome and requires lot of processing power. A patch or fix for DD2net.exe to make the keymap work for OS' of the NT era would be much better.
On another thought: maybe it is not the F1 key? what if it is the underlaying network code that fails to start when we press F1 on a modern windows os?
Maybe someday we will get there - i hope so 😀