Outpost Universe Forums

Outpost Series Games => Outpost 2 Multiplayer => Topic started by: BlackBox on April 07, 2004, 01:52:03 PM

Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: BlackBox on April 07, 2004, 01:52:03 PM
This is a notice to inform everyone on the current situation for OP2 Multiplayer.

We are no longer using the client to play OP2 games, since it doesn't work for most people and few use it, so you can uninstall it.

(To uninstall it, delete these files from the Outpost 2 game directory:
- client.exe
- snwvalid.dll
- comdlg32.ocx
- mscomctl.ocx
- mswinsck.ocx
- richtx32.ocx
- Emoticons\ folder and it's contents)

The standard way to meet to play multiplayer is to visit the OP2 IRC channel.
To get started, go to the Quick Links, just under the IBShout, and download the package (Outpost 2 IRC) to save on your computer. This will get you up and running with IRC. If you can't download, choose the jIRC to access IRC thru a Java program.

If you already have an IRC client installed or want to use a different JavaIRC, here are the settings:
Server = uk.quakenet.org
Channel = #Outpost2

If you can't play due to routers or other stuff, a fix is being made, called OP2Sock. Check in regularly in IRC to find out the progress.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: ZeusBD on April 07, 2004, 01:54:12 PM
Cool, so now I don't have to keep telling people, "Don't click on the one that says OP2 Multiplayer." Thanks for taking it away.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Kiith Somtaaw on April 07, 2004, 02:28:28 PM
Do you have an ETA?






 
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: ZeusBD on April 07, 2004, 02:52:26 PM
I'm almost afraid to ask what an ETA is.....but what is an ETA?
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Zircon on April 07, 2004, 03:11:29 PM
Estimated Time of Arrival...
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: ZeusBD on April 07, 2004, 03:22:32 PM
WTF, ETA of what. If I knew what he was talking about then I would've known that it was Estimated Time of Arrival. But him saying that makes absolutly no sense.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Zircon on April 07, 2004, 03:42:58 PM
He's probably refering to this...

"If you can't play due to routers or other stuff, a fix is being made, called OP2Sock. Check in regularly in IRC to find out the progress."
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: TH300 on April 07, 2004, 04:20:53 PM
That isn't good news. I don't wanna play op2 games over TCP/IP for ever.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Phantom on April 07, 2004, 04:43:15 PM
Yah, hopefully someone will come up with an internet thing in the near future.
I don't mind playing TCP/IP and entering in the IP's, however, I think a kind of system similar to Starcraft's Battle.net system would be the way to go.
Oh, and I hope op2sock comes out soon, I would like to play. lol.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Leviathan on April 07, 2004, 07:14:00 PM
Quote
That isn't good news. I don't wanna play op2 games over TCP/IP for ever.
The Client just plays using Outpost 2's TCP/IP multiplayer by the way. All it does is navigate through Outpost 2's menus to get to TCP/IP Create/Join screens.

This was done with VB and it can done again. Maybe a small VB program can be made which can do this. People would be able to run it along side IRC.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Kiith Somtaaw on April 07, 2004, 07:34:23 PM
Quote
WTF, ETA of what. If I knew what he was talking about then I would've known that it was Estimated Time of Arrival. But him saying that makes absolutly no sense.
I was refering to the ETA of the OP2Sock at the Forum.
Read the top post.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: BlackBox on April 07, 2004, 07:49:00 PM
Give it a few days... lol.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Kiith Somtaaw on April 07, 2004, 08:19:04 PM
Mmmmm Progress!

I can't wait.



 
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: RipperKhan on April 08, 2004, 12:55:15 AM
has any 1 thought about useing xfire ? u can join a frineds mutliplayrer game from it :) and it tell u server info to, it jsut reads the reg so if we could ask them add it to the chat prog or import the necesary stuff for op2 we could do it, and then there would be no inserting ip address to join a game :)
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Leviathan on April 08, 2004, 06:55:24 AM
Quote
has any 1 thought about useing xfire ?
http://www.xfire.com/xf/modules.php?name=X...e&body=xf_games (http://www.xfire.com/xf/modules.php?name=XFire&file=cmspage&body=xf_games)

i c no Oupost 2 in the supported list...  
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: BlackBox on April 08, 2004, 08:15:17 AM
And OP2 has no automatic method to input the IP for a game from the commandline.
(Which is how all services like these work, by passing game parameters on the command line.....)
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: RipperKhan on April 08, 2004, 12:16:09 PM
hmm... well how did won work then? i think we could get that ot work if it means makeing a patch for op2
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: BlackBox on April 08, 2004, 02:15:47 PM
It returned game info to OP2 thru DLL calls.

Trust me, I've tried it.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Kiith Somtaaw on April 17, 2004, 10:36:22 AM
Any update on the OP2Sock?






 
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: BlackBox on April 17, 2004, 02:09:58 PM
Getting closer to completion, just need someone to help test my udp tunneling software.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Punboy on April 29, 2004, 10:15:29 PM
I'll help. What do you need me to do?
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Phantom on April 30, 2004, 01:19:47 AM
I would help, but I have no idea what you are talking about.

Also, it would be good in the future if something like Battle.net could be made for op2. (Or did I say that already?)
But mabey that is just wishful thinking...
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Leviathan on April 30, 2004, 02:39:48 AM
the fact of the matter is we dont need something like Battle.net for OP2.

We just need a place where evey1 and any1 can meet othere people 2 play, we haev this, its called the forum chat room. It is #Outpost2 on QuakeNet. (Download link under shoutbox, OP2 IRC)

A system was like Battle.net for OP2 was made but failed because it had many bugs and it used a lot of computer resources. etc

Please every1 come on the forum chat room while online. More the better, even if ur not playing but ur online, ur part of the comunity and should b there.

thx
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: BlackBox on April 30, 2004, 02:33:56 PM
Yea... we have IRC. making more useless programs is just a waste of time.

Some good things about using IRC vs. stupid battle.net type progs:

1) IRC is used already for other purposes... It's a "universal" chat system... many clans use it, for other games, etc.

2) Even if you don't come to play, you can come to talk, from any platform. There are IRC clients for almost any O/S imaginable. This can't be done with programs like b.net (eg. have you ever seen b.net run natively on UNIX? (that is, without an emulator))
You can also access it from a java webclient if need be. (ie. don't need to install in libraries, schools, etc)

3) IRC is already configured on many systems, for example many UNIX/Linux packages have some sort of IRC client.... (irssi, bX, etc)

4) Isn't it just easier using software that has been written already, and tested, free of bugs? I think so. If someone is really that lazy that we can't open the game, and click multi, tcp/ip, and host or join instead of using a stupid program, they need help. Nor would we need our own servers, etc to host a "program" like such networks require... We have the IRC server for the platform to run the chat on.


And like Lev said, a program just sucks up more resources and won't work for all people.

Just please use IRC... I'll say it again: network Quakenet channel #outpost2.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Punboy on April 30, 2004, 05:30:10 PM
Actually, the multiplatform part of what you just said is entirely untrue. Write one in any of the following languages and BAM! Its multiplatform with NO recoding:

 - Perl
 - Python
 - Java
 - Ruby

And as far as the resource-hogging, if you design it properly it won't use very many at all! And you can have it die when you start a game so it doesnt affect game performance, and just start back up when you finish.

And there are alot of people who don't understand the concept of a TCP/IP game. Should she shun these people from the game? No, we should try to accomodate them any way possible. A program to start the games with no monkeying around with IP addresses is EXACTLY how this can be achieved. It makes it alot more user-friendly and alot more "professional" too.

And as far as just going there to talk, how about making the chat portion of it run on IRC? It would be farely simple to write an application that used IRC as its transport for pre-game stuff. Communication between client and server can be done with a privmsg or ctcp! Then, the people who just want to talk can just join the IRC channel using their fave IRC client, and the people who want to play a game can start OP2, go to multiplayer, it starts the Multiplayer client. The people using an IRC client and the people in the multiplayer client can talk to one another.

Thats my 0.02 cents.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Sirbomber on May 01, 2004, 12:06:21 PM
Nice, well thought arguement.
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Punboy on May 01, 2004, 12:28:02 PM
Thanks :-)
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: BlackBox on May 01, 2004, 07:31:09 PM
Well, yea....

But I personally hate scripting languages like that. And as far as hogging resources, the user would have to install the runtime for things like Perl. (Have you ever seen how big the perl runtime for Win32 is? its around 50-100 mb with all the modules installed.) That would be bad enough for a user to install. Also, those are really slow (not good for sending game packets thru a network... the game would crawl at a snail's pace using scripting like that), and in the case of stuff like Java it may require special permissions to access sockets.

Even if you did use a multiplatform system, it could be firewalled by schools, libraries, etc. IRC can be firewalled too, but the clients support proxies (bypassing the firewall).

Also, transporting game data thru IRC is very clunky. IRC is a text only mechanism, which would mean binary data would have to continually be base64 encoded and decoded, which would waste a lot of time.

And as far as people not understanding how TCP/IP works, it only takes about 2 minutes to explain it enough that they can join a game.

I think writing programs like this is a waste of time. Why not just use what is already in place?
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Punboy on May 01, 2004, 11:58:09 PM
Python is very small, and actually you can create standalone python applications using something called Py2EXE. And you typically do not require special permissions for ports above 1024. Also, why would you need to use binary for transporting data back and forth? That is only used for pregame setup, like communicating what users are in it and what their IP's are. the IRC chatter would stop once the game started
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: Leviathan on September 20, 2004, 08:41:05 AM
To play and enjoy any multiplayer games (such as Outpost 2) with other members of our comunity please stay on our IRC room while you are online.
Please download the NNS Client:
www.outpostuniverse.net/irc.htm (http://www.www.outpostuniverse.net/irc.htm)
Title: OP2 Multiplayer Notice
Post by: PlayingOutpost0-24 on September 20, 2004, 10:15:16 AM
As hacker said it is "universal". if you go to the right server, then you can find a community of the most classic or new games.