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Jurassic War multiplayer

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First post, by criver

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Hi!
Here I'll explain how to set up multiplayer for jurassic war (many thanks to h-a-l-9000 for helping me set up the modem mode):

Null modem:
Server:
First you have to start DOSBox 0.74 Options.bat - find [serial] and make serial1=nullmodem (you can choose serial2/3/4 if it doesn't work with 1).
Client:
Do the same but serial1=nullmodem server:192.168.1.100 (this 192.168.1.100 should actually be the server ip - so check the ip of your pc that runs as server and write it rather than 192.168.1.100).

Next run the game on both PCs, go to multiplayer game in the menu and then to Com setting (multiplayer game -> com setting). The baudrates on both PCs should be the same (I think that with a higher baudrate the game runs faster - at least it was like this for me). The com ports should also be the same on both pcs and they should match the serial (if you chose to write serial1=nullmodem in dosbox you should use com port 1 if you wrote serial2 =nullmodem then you should use port 2).
After all of this just click on Null Modem and play (Multiplayer game->null modem).

Modem:

First you have to start DOSBox 0.74 Options.bat - find [serial] and make serial1=modem (you can choose serial2/3/4 if it doesn't work with 1).

Run DosBox and write loadfix (a lot of thanks to hal-9000 for pointing out that I should run loadfix before trying modem). Run the game. After that go to multiplayer game-> com setting. Do the same changes in com setting as for null modem.

Server:
Go to multiplayer game->modem and press recieve.

Client:
Go to multiplayer game->modem and write the IP of the server in Phone No - choose that phone no and press dialing.

Play.

P.S. You might want to turn off your firewall before trying this. And I
know the game is extremely slow in multiplayer (even in LAN) - I don't know how to fix that - it doesn't run fast enough with null modem or modem to be playable. If you know how to make it run faster I'd be happy to know.

Reply 2 of 12, by CodeJunkie

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set the txdelay and rxdelay options to 0 when setting up your serial connections. This did the trick for me. Runs perfect in multiplayer.

For example:

serial1 nullmodem txdelay:0 rxdelay:0

serial1 nullmodem server:192.168.1.100 port:5000 rxdelay:0 txdelay:0

oh and yes, the loadfix program does need to be called before starting the game.

Classic Gaming Arena
Home for all your DOS multiplayer gaming needs.

Reply 3 of 12, by SepiS

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Hi!
Thanks to CodeJunkie for advice about rxdelay and txdelay. It had help, but not too much. We still have heavy lags in multiplayer, although we are playing in LAN.
Are there some other tweaks for nullmodem connection in DosBox?

ps sorry for my bad english..

Reply 4 of 12, by CodeJunkie

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You could try using the "transparent" option which instructs it to not do handshaking, but I didn't see any difference in performance when I tried it.

It's odd you didn't see a significant performance increase when setting the delays to 0. When I did the game went from not playable to playable. But I'm running 3.33ghz core 2 duo systems on 100mb LAN.

There was a slight difference in performance when I was running my relay server on my computer and had my wife's computer connected to mine than when I connected both computers to the relay server on my production server. It was slightly slower when we both connected to the server that was not on my box basically, but it was still playable.

Are you playing on the same LAN or over the Internet? I haven't tried it over the Internet yet, but I imagine that would introduce a good amount of latency to the mix. The game in general just doesn't seem to have very optimized serial communication code.

For all the options available you can check look at http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Dosbox.conf

The configuration file also lists all the options.

OH and also remember to run "loadfix" before starting the game.

Classic Gaming Arena
Home for all your DOS multiplayer gaming needs.

Reply 6 of 12, by CodeJunkie

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criver wrote:

I've tried nullmodem with rx and txdelay = 0 but it was still bad... so I don't know - I think the problem is that on one of my PCs the connection is wireless - 54mbps - so I think maybe you have a better network.

Ahh yeah, could be the wireless.

Just my curiosity, are you typing rxdelay=0 or rxdelay: 0? The syntax matters, but yeah the wireless looks like the guilty suspect. That and the fact the game just has poor serial communication to begin with. For a good comparison play doom over serial.

Classic Gaming Arena
Home for all your DOS multiplayer gaming needs.

Reply 8 of 12, by SepiS

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I have a success with MP. I don't know what exactly had help but it works good enough now.
I typed rxdelay:0 and txdelay:0 and I typed loadfix before running the game(I made it for sound - it doesn't work without "loadfix"). We played inside home LAN, xp is installed on both PC.
I know exactly, the game will have lags if:
-even one of PC has a wireless connection
-one pc has XP installed on it and other has win7.

So there is no problem with connection now. There is other problem. After about 1 hour playing I've got "Running error by line" message and game back to lobby after this. It happens in 90% games and usually in the middle of the game so it's very annoying. More than that there is no possibility to save in multiplayer and we have to start a new game every time. I think it's a problem with a game not with nullmodem emulation but.. do you have any ideas?

Reply 9 of 12, by CodeJunkie

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SepiS wrote:

After about 1 hour playing I've got "Running error by line" message and game back to lobby after this...

Hmm..not sure what would cause that. It could be the game. I'll have to run a game long enough to see if I have it happen too.

Classic Gaming Arena
Home for all your DOS multiplayer gaming needs.

Reply 10 of 12, by SepiS

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I think it's a game too. I had run game for 2 players without comps and just left it to see what will happen. I had come back after 2 hours and game was still playing OK, so.. probably I just have to figure out what does cause this problem and to do not do this.

Reply 11 of 12, by OmniB

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Hey,
Me and my buddy are trying to run Jwar online in a remote(External IP) connection but it seem to lag really bad.

Our configuration:

SERVER: serial1 nullmodem port:5000 txdelay:0 rxdelay:0
CLIENTS: serial1 nullmodem server:*IP* port:5000 txdelay:0 rxdelay:0

Any new fixes for the Lagging issue over the past 9 years since the thread last updated?
Thanks in advance!

Reply 12 of 12, by OmniB

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After ton of testing, what works the fastest is.

1.Setting connectivity to modem instead of nullmodem on both machines over the conf file:
serial1=modem

2.launching the game on both machines.

3.Setting the modem inside the game for both machines. > Multyplayer Game > Com Setting
COM1
Buad Rate: 9600
Dial Type: Pulse
don't touch anything else
SAVE.

4. on first machine(with port 5000 forwarded) - Modem > RECEIVE

5. on other machine - Modem > On phone number write only the ip of the receiveing machine(Either local or internet) > DIALING.

6. If you have menu flickering bug inside the game, Press W twice.
Enjoy.