Alternatives to Hamachi

[leeor_net]

So, the new NetHelper plugin is very useful... for anybody not on an AT&T router. Those stuck with AT&T broadband service are unable to make use of the uPnP features of NetHelper and port forwarding is very painful.

Hamachi seems to do the trick with these users... but it's very restrictive (only allows 5 users) and is extremely expensive to remove restrictions.

That stated, there are a lot of VPN tunneling applications that are free and open source. I've looked at a few but I'm not sure what's the best way to get started with it. DynVPN seems to be the best so far (has clients for Windows, OSX and Ubuntu).

As a side note, I was unable to join a game via Hamachi but was able to use uPnP to connect to the game while a user on AT&T Uverse was only able to connect via hamachi. The host also had uPnP so we were all able to connect to the same game (was like some weird hybrid network with direct connections and connections via VPN tunneling... surprised it worked so well!).

[Zhall]

Evolve seems to work well,  but it seems like they are on the brink of closing their service.

Tungle is another option.

Get on the discord sometime and lets try them out.

[leeor_net]

I would say get on IRC but yeah. Actually I'd still really like to move to discord at some point but we shall see.

I was hoping to find something we could host ourselves and that doesn't require dragging onesself through broken glass just to get running.

[Zhall]

No glass when i set it up?

oh you are referring to the irc

[leeor_net]

What I mean is that there are some very powerful open-source solutions for this sort of thing but that getting them set up is like pulling teeth. The wording was a little weird.

[Arklon]

What I mean is that there are some very powerful open-source solutions for this sort of thing but that getting them set up is like pulling teeth. The wording was a little weird.

I know Zanco has experience setting up OpenVPN servers for games.

[leeor_net]

I'll bother him the next time I see him then.

[Zhall]

embrace the future of discord

[leeor_net]

Discord is not a VPN.

[Arklon]

Evolve seems to work well,  but it seems like they are on the brink of closing their service.

Evolve sucked and they already did shut down.

Tungle is another option.

Tunngle also sucks.

I'm not kidding when I say running our own VPN is the best option.

As a side note, I was unable to join a game via Hamachi but was able to use uPnP to connect to the game while a user on AT&T Uverse was only able to connect via hamachi. The host also had uPnP so we were all able to connect to the same game (was like some weird hybrid network with direct connections and connections via VPN tunneling... surprised it worked so well!).

I've noticed Hamachi has these issues with certain systems in older games like OP2 and StarCraft. I've never found a root cause for any case of this I've seen, aside from Hamachi sucking.

I'm amazed that mixing direct and Hamachi connections worked at all. In the NetHelper readme I specifically wrote don't try that because I assumed there was no way that would work.

[Hooman]

I'm amazed that mixing direct and Hamachi connections worked at all. In the NetHelper readme I specifically wrote don't try that because I assumed there was no way that would work.

Agreed, I'm very surprised by this. The protocol requires all players to have direct connections with every other player. That doesn't play nicely with people being on different networks. Maybe the need for Hamachi was apparent rather than actual? I don't see how you'd get proper NAT punch through with only some people using Hamachi.

With that said, I've been meaning to revisit the NetFix code sometime. Maybe Arklon's NetHelper can be more closely integrated. I'd like to make some adjustments concerning a second port that was opened for fixed ports. I also remember some cleanup issue Arklon mentioned in NetHelper that might be handled better with closer integration with the NetFix code (which is aware of multiplayer shutdown).

[Highlander]

If any Hamachi replacement can be found it would be great

I benefitted greatly from hamachi when it was first introduced in the community, as I had been unable to play since WON shut down.


(Admittedly Im quite stupid when it comes to computers - so thanks to everyone who has ever helped me - or tried to help me get a OP2 game going )

[leeor_net]

I'm amazed that mixing direct and Hamachi connections worked at all. In the NetHelper readme I specifically wrote don't try that because I assumed there was no way that would work.

As am I. I tried using the hamachi IP address -- no go. I was unable to ping outside sources though I could use the chat functions. DaRkInLiGhT and Capm_Awesome were able to connect using Hamachi. Out of a whim I tried using DaRkInLiGhT's direct IP address and lo and behold, the game showed up. We were able to play with only a few lag spikes. Also they mopped the floor with me. 0.0

Anyway, it got me thinking that because of AT&T U-verse and other similar ISP's that lock down their routers for no good reason other than to control their customers, a VPN could be very useful for us.

Still need to track down Zanco and bother him about it.

[Hooman]

As am I. I tried using the hamachi IP address -- no go. I was unable to ping outside sources though I could use the chat functions. DaRkInLiGhT and Capm_Awesome were able to connect using Hamachi. Out of a whim I tried using DaRkInLiGhT's direct IP address and lo and behold, the game showed up.

Ahh, so you were all using Hamachi, which meant you all had addresses on a shared Hamachi network. Meanwhile, you also all had public IP addresses, which are of course all on the same network (internet). Either way, the address of each player, Hamachi or public, was accessible to every other player, and either one was a valid way to reach each computer. Effectively, the game wouldn't realize it was using two different networks, since both networks linked all players.

[leeor_net]

That fits the behavior that was experienced. I remained on Hamachi at the time, I never shut it down.