Intro Video Not Working Also Online Questions

[Ice Blade2097]

Hello all.  It has been quite some time.   I see a lot of changes have happened but do have some questions about some issues I ran into.

1)After downloading outpost 2 and pasting the video files in the directory I get an error on the intro video saying "Video not available, can not find  ' vids:FMP4' decompressor.  I hear the audo for the video but just get a white box with that error message.

2)Also to play through net fix do I just select the net fix option on the menu after making sure Enable UPnP is enabled on my router and create match? Does the respective party still need to type in my ip address in the box or does the search button work?

[Hooman]

The original videos use the old Indeo codec. Drakmar re-encoded the videos to use a newer codec. Either install the old codec, or get the converted videos. Details can be found in the Codecs For Op2 Videos thread.

NetFix uses a game server to introduce clients, so you shouldn't need to enter the other player's IP address. When you host a game, it informs the game server, which will send details to other clients when they search for games. Keep in mind traffic is a little light these days, so most of the time there will be no games hosted. Usually people chat on the IRC channel using either the Web Interface or their own IRC client. Again, traffic may be light, and people may be idle in the channel. You may need to wait some time before people notice any messages in there.

Some people have reported problems using NetFix, though usually that's starting a game, rather than seeing hosted games. If you want to test, it possible to run 2 clients from the same computer. Just start Outpost 2 twice.

[Vagabond]

Hi Ice Blade! Welcome to the forums.

The newly encoded videos as listed under the Outpost 2 downloads sections require a codec that is not by default installed on Windows machines. The original Codec was Indeo. The newer videos require the codec FMP4. FMP4 is bundled in FFD Show. I install FFD Show in order to get the videos to work and have easy success.

Note for others who are more media savvy than myself: I have successfully converted the videos into a format that uses a standard codec that ships with Windows 7/8/10. This eliminates any need for special codecs. However, I experienced a couple of artifacts in a couple of the videos which I believe were caused by the tool I used to encode them. It would be really worthwile for someone to reencode the versions that Drakmar has provided into a more widespread Codec.

I also have a lot of trouble using NetFix/NetHelper. Unless someone is smart enough to setup port forwarding on their router in the group I am playing with, we default back to using Hamachi. It might be helpful if we had some sort of unified guide on how to get multiplayer games going for non-network savvy individuals like myself. Right now, it doesn't appear to be an out of box solution to multiplayer scenarios for Outpost 2, but since it is the only game I really play multiplayer on the computer, I don't have much of a frame of reference for if this is normal or not.

-Brett

[Hooman]

Note for others who are more media savvy than myself: I have successfully converted the videos into a format that uses a standard codec that ships with Windows 7/8/10. This eliminates any need for special codecs. However, I experienced a couple of artifacts in a couple of the videos which I believe were caused by the tool I used to encode them. It would be really worthwile for someone to reencode the versions that Drakmar has provided into a more widespread Codec.

This would be highly desirable. Ideally, the conversion should be from the original Indeo codec version of the videos to minimize generational loss or conversion artefacts. Would also be nice to have instructions on the process so people can update in the future if there is a change in supported codecs. Also hoping someone else takes point on this, since I lack experience with video reencoding.

I also have a lot of trouble using NetFix/NetHelper. Unless someone is smart enough to setup port forwarding on their router in the group I am playing with, we default back to using Hamachi. It might be helpful if we had some sort of unified guide on how to get multiplayer games going for non-network savvy individuals like myself. Right now, it doesn't appear to be an out of box solution to multiplayer scenarios for Outpost 2, but since it is the only game I really play multiplayer on the computer, I don't have much of a frame of reference for if this is normal or not.

There is certainly more we could do here. Ideally things should just work without needing configuration or anyone to read a guide, though it seems the system falls a bit short of that. Perhaps tighter coupling between NetFix/NetHelper could eliminate some of the problems, or more feedback in the user interface. Might also be useful to increase logging, both on the client and on the server. As it stands, it's very hard to know why it fails, or which player should adjust settings to allow things to work.

[Ice Blade2097]

So opening up two copies I can see my game.  My friend however, can not see anything.  They tried to host and I do not see them either.  Any ideas?  Also is there still a hamachi guide laying around somewhere that I can use as a back up?

[Vagabond]

Ice Blade,

I'm guessing you can see and join the game locally because it is on your local network (IE no one is trying to connect from outside of your home router). To get your friend to see the game, the person hosting will likely need to setup port forwarding on your router so the person joining can access the port. I don't have the expertise to tell you how though. If you log onto IRC, maybe ask someone there. Dave Erald was setting it up earlier and got it to work with me at one point.

Unfortunately, we do not have an up to date guide on how to use Hamachi. Fortunately, it is fairly self explanatory. Using the free version of Hamachi, you are limited to 5 players. If you google how to play an old game with Hamachi, you should be able to find instructions on what to do. Basically, once you are both on a network together via Hamachi, you use the IP address provided by Hamachi for the host's computer to join the game.

This would be highly desirable. Ideally, the conversion should be from the original Indeo codec version of the videos to minimize generational loss or conversion artefacts. Would also be nice to have instructions on the process so people can update in the future if there is a change in supported codecs. Also hoping someone else takes point on this, since I lack experience with video reencoding.

If anyone wants to take up the project, specific instructions for video container and audio format and the original Indeo Codec for download can be found here: https://wiki.outpost2.net/doku.php?id=outpost_2:technical_review:in_game_videos

There is certainly more we could do here. Ideally things should just work without needing configuration or anyone to read a guide, though it seems the system falls a bit short of that. Perhaps tighter coupling between NetFix/NetHelper could eliminate some of the problems, or more feedback in the user interface. Might also be useful to increase logging, both on the client and on the server. As it stands, it's very hard to know why it fails, or which player should adjust settings to allow things to work.

In the long term, I would be willing to help with standardizing error reporting from op2ext.dll and game extensions. Something to hash out in a different post someday though.

-Brett

[Hooman]

So opening up two copies I can see my game.  My friend however, can not see anything.  They tried to host and I do not see them either.  Any ideas?  Also is there still a hamachi guide laying around somewhere that I can use as a back up?

It's very curious that your friend could not see any games listed, nor was his game visible. That would suggest a break in the connection between the client and the game server. The client doesn't really provide feedback to make such a problem obvious, so that's an area for improvement.

This might be caused by a firewall or router dropping UDP packets. It might also be caused by an incorrect game server setting in Outpost2.ini, though the downloaded version should have it set correctly, assuming it wasn't modified. An old version of the game might have the value set differently.

If you're able to see the game, but not join, or there is trouble starting the game after everyone has joined up, then it may be a NAT/port forwarding issue.


Thank you for the link Vagabond. I was wondering where the original codec can be found.