Space Empires IV Deluxe LAN Play

Sargon · #1 July 19th, 2006, 01:09 AM

My friend and I both recently purchased Space Empires IV Deluxe (Version 1.95) and are trying to play online, but we can't get the LAN play working. We have each tried hosting, but are unable to connect to each other. Has anyone been able to get this working? If so, what should we do to connect? Are there certain ports that need to be opened in order to do so? If anyone has any info to help a newbie out, I would appreciate it!

Suicide Junkie · #2 July 19th, 2006, 01:19 AM

I suggest using http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...4autohost2.zip

The simplest way is to share the game folder.
Run the autohost on the local PC, and punch in all your settings.
Create the game, and then have everybody open the shared savegame.
When the turn files appear, it will automatically process the turn, and you can chug through your turns nice and fast.

This would be a simultaneous/separate machines/manual moving setup, but the tool handles the processing.
It can also blink your keyboard lights to show who still needs to finish their turns too!

Fyron · #3 July 19th, 2006, 12:00 PM

All players need to forward UDP on port 6716 and TCP on port 6720.

Ed Kolis · #4 July 19th, 2006, 12:07 PM

You mean the random port bug was finally fixed? And I hope you mean "open" the ports, not "forward" the ports - if it's truly forwarding, the game will never run on a LAN, seeing as port forwarding only allows you to forward a port to one machine on the LAN at a time, AFAIK!

Fyron · #5 July 19th, 2006, 02:53 PM

Well no ports are blocked within a LAN by the router firewall, so I was assuming he meant TCP/IP in general. Software firewalls on each machine usally aren't configured for specific port access, just the application in general.

SE4 1.95 randomizes the UDP port when you open the game, but it is set to the proper 6716 when I start a game as a host. Didn't test it as a player though.

Sargon · #6 July 19th, 2006, 03:00 PM

Yes, I was referring to TCP/IP in general. I believe we both tried forwarding these ports originally and it still didn't work, but I'll try again... I also tried connecting between 2 PC's on my home network and still couldn't get any connection.

Fyron · #7 July 19th, 2006, 03:23 PM

Check for software firewall blocking the game then (such as the Windows XP firewall).

Sargon · #8 July 19th, 2006, 03:34 PM

More local testing... The 2 listed ports are forwarded on the host machine. Disabled Windows firewall on host and player machines. I'm still not able to connect, trying both my internal and external IP. I don't get it, firewall issues are one thing but I've never seen a game that couldn't connect within a network. Any other ideas what I could be doing wrong?

Captain Kwok · #9 July 19th, 2006, 04:41 PM

The only thing I can tell is that you are doing wrong is using the buggy TCP/IP mode to play a game.

If you're eager to just play, a 2-player game on PBW can come close to the same speed as TCP/IP.

Kana · #10 July 19th, 2006, 09:40 PM

Before Deluxe came out, and using 1.91 I believe, I hooked up my laptop, and my desktop via LAN, and they saw each other and everything...I didn't play a game out or anything...I do remember some bug about playing with AI players along with human players, there is some issue with connection order, and when to add the AI players and such...