VOGONS


First post, by CodeJunkie

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Edit: I just realized not everyone here may know what this is. A few years ago I started working on a dedicated server for DOSBox and I put together a website called Classic Gaming Arena to be used as a meeting place to get connected with other players with the use of a client program I also wrote. The site was (for testing purposes) just a single web form and you had to fill in all the criteria for the game you wanted to play and so did the other players. The CGA client is the MIME handler for the file that gets generated and downloaded from the site and it in turn launches DOSBox with all the necessary parameters to connect to the server or person which will host the game. Over the past couple of weeks I have updated the site and the software.

I have updated the Classic Gaming Arena website. Check it out and give it a try. I made the site account based to keep the riff-raff out, but a lot has changed since I had the single web form up. I still have a few things left to finish up, but you can create game rooms and get connected pretty easily now. I have 2 dedicated servers up and running that can be used when creating game rooms. The servers can both have up to 32 connections.

I should have my dedicated server released soon for both Windows and Linux. I have made quite a bit of changes to the original DOSBox server code to make it effective as a dedicated server.

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

Reply 1 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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The Windows dedicated server is available for download. Make sure to check out the help section on how to configure your servers to communicate with the website.

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

Reply 2 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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Wow, it's been a long time since I have posted here. Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still running the Classic Gaming Arena website, http://www.classicgamingarena.com .

Version 2.0 of the server was released a while back and I put up a Linux version. My production servers are running under Linux now. I added support to the server to allow configuring a serial relay server for older games like Battle Chess or games like Need For Speed which only worked with IPX under Windows. There is a new CGA client as well and I have added support for games purchased from GOG.com, Steam and 3D Realms. Several players have configured there own dedicated CGA servers as well as straight dedicated IPX relay servers.

The site currently supports 84 games:

70 - Full/Retail
11 - Shareware
3 - Demo

There are a lot of old games to get supported and I'm adding games all the time. I make sure to test each and every game I can before adding it to the site to ensure a rich user experience so if a game you want to play isn't added yet, don't fear. Also, contact me and I can probably get a game added quicker.

I'm planning on integrating the latest TeamSpeak into the server and client to provide audio chat features. I have done quite a bit of preliminary research and coding and this should be pretty cool once it's ready. This should be in the next major release. Right now I'm working on trying to workout a way to create leader boards for these old games.

I also have a Linux version of the CGA client if anyone wants to use it. It will require manual setup as I don't have any packages built for it, but contact me and I can assist in setting it up.

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

Reply 3 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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I have made some updates to client and website. One update I made is that DOSBox is now included with the client. This will make life easier for everyone with the planned updates in the future. You can now launch games from the website in single player mode as well as launch their setup programs.

I have made progress on stat collection for the purpose of leader boards and other things so stay tuned. I think the next major feature though will be audio chat since it will involve client and server updates.

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

Reply 4 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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More updates.

1. Added Theme Hospital to the supported games list.

2. Added private servers support. You can set a password for a server in the configuration file and it will be "private" on the website. Creating rooms or joining rooms created on a private server will require the player to enter the password. If the password they enter is correct it will be saved for future use and will only be requested again when the server admin changes the password.

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

Reply 5 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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Added the game Constructor to the supported game list. You can configure it manually or use the GOG.com configuration if you bought it from GOG. Also added Big Red Racing. You can also download the demo.

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

Reply 6 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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If any of you like GOG.com check out the GOG Mix I created for games they sell that are compatible with CGA.

http://www.gog.com/en/mix/games_compatible_with_cga_classic_gaming_arena

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

Reply 7 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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The Linux version of the client is now available for download.

http://www.classicgamingarena.com/downloads

Just be sure to read the instructions in the install.txt file.

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

Reply 8 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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Just another update. I released a new version of both the client and server. The I cleaned up the server code a lot, rewriting all the TCP code including the code for the serial relay server. I optimized quite a bit of the code and prepared it for the audio chat integration with the TeamSpeak 3 API. So that will becoming very soon!

I added more games to the supported list as well:

Jurassic War
1942 Pacific Air War
Dawn Patrol: Head to Head
Detroit
Dogfight: 80 Years of Aerial Warfare
F-15 Strike Eagle III
Flight of the Intruder
Hammer of the Gods

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

Reply 9 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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Just added Strife, the Strife demo and Burnout Championship Drag Racing to the site.

Also for all the Doom Engine based games you can now set game options when setting up a game room. For example the map to start on or whether or not there should be monsters present. For Hexen each player will be able to choose their player class or have their class be random each time they die before launching the game from within the game room. This includes:
- Doom
- Doom 2
- Heretic
- Hexen: Beyond Heretic
- Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
- Strife

Version 3 of the client and sever is almost ready! I'm doing some final testing on the TeamSpeak integration and adding some new features.

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

Reply 11 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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I updated the game list. It now lists all the games we support and plan to support in the future and denotes them accordingly. It also depicts each game's relay type (IPX or Serial), if it uses NetBIOS, maximum number of players, and the number of players that have the game setup on their account.

http://www.classicgamingarena.com/games

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

Reply 12 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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Audio chat is right around the corner!

The integration of TeamSpeak in the client and server is complete and the site has been updated to accommodate the new features, but I have to finish up the client configuration tools for both Windows and Linux. Once that is ready I will be officially releasing version 3.0 of the client and server.

Stay tuned.

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

Reply 14 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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More games added to the supported list:

Command HQ
Global Conquest
Falcon 3.0
EF2000
EF2000 TACTCOM
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer: The Covert Operations
Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Counterstrike

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

Reply 15 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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MacOS support coming soon!

I'm in the final stages of a MacOS port of the CGA client.

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

Reply 17 of 18, by CodeJunkie

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Man, I finally released the Mac OS version of the client. All the details are HERE. The Mac client has all the features of the Windows version including audio chat.

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