Hi, folks,

This question is a networking question -- unfortunately, it relates to a Windows game. But perhaps that won't be relevant to the solution.

A buddy and I are trying to play TitanQuest over Hamachi. (Hamachi is a zero-cost VPN software for Windows, Linux, and MacOS).

The problem we're having is that we can't see each other's games when we're logged into TitanQuest via our Hamachi-based LAN. We can ping each other's Hamachi IP addresses just fine, and we can also copy files to/from each other's network shares.

My buddy's setup worked just fine for playing TitanQuest when he was using a cable modem. When he traveled to another location that had ADSL, we were no longer able to see each other's games when logged into Hamachi.

Logic seems to dictate that the problem must therefore be with his DSL modem and/or its configuration settings. The DSL model is a Westell Versalink 327W (model no. D90-327W15-06). The firewall is completely disabled (Security->Security Level -- and it only applies to outgoing traffic) and the relevant TitanQuest and Hamachi ports are open for accepting incoming traffic (done through the Security->Applications).

Technically, the TQ ports don't even need to be open. Since when we're both logged into Hamachi, my buddy's computer is on my LAN and therefore neither of our routers' firewall rules apply as far as the game is concerned.

The last page of this post is what we used to get the game working on his other cable modem the first time:

http://www.titanquest.net/forums/tec...n-games-4.html

The instructions near the bottom of that page worked when my friend was using the cable modem, but only if we had no more than two people playing. (The poster's walkthrough seems to trick TQ into working by making the game think that the first three octets of each respective user's IP address are the same, which is why he mentions the Peer VPN Alias bit.)

To get a third person playing, all we did was undo the Peer VPN Alias in Hamachi, and then all three of us could play together just fine. So, I began to wonder if the Peer VPN Alias portion of the poster's instructions was irrelevant.

But now that my friend is on the DSL modem, the instructions (link above) that we used to get everything working do not work (whether we use the Peer VPN Alias "trick" or not).

My understanding is that TitanQuest uses some kind of multicast broadcasting mechanism so that when clients hit "Refresh" on the "Join LAN Game" screen, packets are sent to some portion of the subnet and the responses are awaited.

Any suggestions would be most appreciative. If I can provide any diagnostic information that would help, just let me know what to provide.

Thanks!

Ok, so totally not on-topic, but...

How the heck did you get TQ running under Linux!? I have tried but there is that damn text-bug that stops it from working properly... sorry to hijack thread, but it made me turn back to windows, its the only game I play...

Ok, so on-topic:
Are you able to verify he is sending packets to you, I'm not a linux expert but there should be some way find out if his packets get to your computer, then it narrows the problem to his or yours... I'm guessing its a config thing to get them communicating again, I know when mine didn't work it was because it was trying to broadcast on the wrong network (Over my wireless internet instead of wired network...), but that was windows...

Thanks for your reply, Beaverus.

No need to apologize; I was actually talking about TQ on Windows, not Linux. I haven't had any success getting the game to work in Linux, either.

The only reason I posted my question here is because I spend more time in Linux than I do in Windows, and the individuals with whom I associate in the Linux community are often far more knowledgeable and intelligent than those in the Windows community. A generalization, perhaps, but true nonetheless.

My hope was that we could boil this down to a raw networking issue, which should be OS-independent.

I was thinking that the solution might be simple and obvious, but maybe we should both fire-up Ethereal (er, Wireshark, excuse me) and figure out which packets aren't making it to his machine (or vice versa).

I'll post back with any progress.

Ok, it looks like whenever I launch TQ, the game is broadcasting on the wrong adapter (it's using the LAN adapter instead of Hamachi's adapter).

I'm not sure why that's happening. We both reordered our network adapters (per the link to the thread in my first post on this topic) such that Hamachi is first in the list (and LAN is second). I'm no networking expert, but isn't the idea behind reordering the adapters to force TQ to broadcast on Hamachi's subnet (instead of the LAN's)?

In essence, it seems that the problem is that TQ broadcasts to 255.255.255.255, when for this to work using Hamachi, TQ would have to broadcast to 255.0.0.0.

Even if I disable the LAN adapter, TQ will not make any effort to broadcast using the 255.0.0.0 subnet mask.

I'm actually curious to know how this was working in the first place. I'm going to try a couple of other things. I have another computer on the physical LAN, which also has Hamachi installed, so I'm going to try initiating a TQ game from both of my own computers and sniff the packets in both cases. That should give us a good idea of what exactly TQ is getting up to in the background.

Good Evening,


I ran into this as well with one of my chaps in the states and the problem that we had was that his version of the game had been updated past mine so as LAN games go your game version numbers must match to play one another. There was also a time where he had lost total connection with Hitachi, but it was due to his DSL provider changing the IP every evening.


Cheers!


Jason Tre.

Thanks for your reply, Jason.

We are all using version 1.30... the latest (and apparently final) version of the game.

We all configured Hamachi identically, per the instructions in the link contained in my first post (minus the Peer VPN Alias bit).

It's weird... when a bunch of us are signed into Hamachi, there is some peculiar behavior when we try to create and log into each others' games.

Here is the basic setup:

Player A: Windows XP 64bit, cable modem with router
Player B: Windows Vista Ultimate, DSL modem with built-in router
Player C: Windows Vista Ultimate, cable modem with router
Player D: Windows Vista Ultimate, on player C's physical LAN via hard line

When we're all logged into Hamachi and each person takes a turn trying to create/host a LAN game, here's what happens:

1.) Players C and D can always see each others' games. (Even though they are on the same physical LAN, C and D can only see each others' games when Hamachi is running, which indicates that the connection is indeed happening over the VPN, despite that both computers are on the same physical LAN; this is the desired behavior, of course.)

2.) Player A can see both C and D's games. In fact, this particular person seems to be able to see and log into anybody else's game, no matter who's hosting or what that person's network set-up is like. But, interestingly enough, whenever this player (A) hosts a game, nobody else can see/join it.

3.) Player B can't see anybody else's game, and the only person who can see player B's game is Player A.

I'm about to give up... do these bizarre symptoms add-up to any of the networking experts out there?

Good day Mate,

I believe that Hitachi does not need to be used while on a Physical LAN as it would cause a flood of packet to the switch and router, while cause an error as you have already seen by not allowing each player to see on another. As for each of the players oddly seeing each other, do your mates have different key codes for the games and as such is this game cd cracked with a "No cd crack" ? If any of this applys, then at which you will be unable to get this to work properly. I am in the process now trying to recreate the problem that you chaps are having.


Cheers,


Jason Tre.

Thanks for all your help with this, Jason. I really appreciate it.

To answer your questions:

1.) We all have different CD keys, and they are a mix of legitimate retail keys and "pirated" keys. Whether the key is pirated or not doesn't seem to make any difference in terms of whether or not we can connect to each others' games. It's easy enough to change the serial key in the registry, though, if you think this might actually be the problem. Of course, one's characters are bound to his CD key, which means that your characters are no longer visible if you switch CD keys. It may be possible to change the CD key that is embedded in a saved game using a hex-editor, though, I have not found a need to try that just yet.

2.) Again, some of us are using retail copies without a No-CD crack, while others are using the No-CD crack. In my previous post, I mentioned that Player A (who is using a pirated CD key and the No-CD crack) is able to log into ANYONE's game, regardless of whether the person hosting the game has a legitimate copy of the game.

The two of us who are on the same physical LAN only use Hamachi when there are more than just the two of us playing. Obviously, if I host the game, I have to fire-up Hamachi so our two friends across the country can play. Once I've done that, my buddy on the same LAN can only see the game if he logs into Hamachi, and he can log-in to the game fine.

That being said, perhaps you are right that the router is being flooded with packets from both the LAN and Hamachi adapters on each of our machines, hence the weird problems with certain people being able to connect to one another and others who cannot.

I'm about ready to give-up. It seems like a stupid problem and it should work. There were entire Hamachi communities that sprung up around TitanQuest, and while I wasn't playing TQ at that time, there is not a lot of "This shit doesn't work!" talk on the forums. Nobody seemed to have many problems (and about 95% of those people were using pirated keys and No-CD cracks).

Good day Chaps,

As I have been discussing with you on your problem, I am also having a LAN party in the states this weekend. I have flown many miles to get together with my brothers and old chaps. I will be testing out the problem that you are having then as there will be plenty of time to check. If at all that you maybe interested in joining, email me at jason trebor At yahoo dot com.



Cheers,

Jason

1) What happened?

B) Was it a Vista problem? -- The original growth of Hamachi TQ communities might have predated the wide spread adoption of Vista.