Windows XP - IPX Gaming

Hey. Question for you guys.

I've recently set up my home network consisting of four Windows XP machines and decided to try some older LAN games like Diablo and Baldur's Gate using IPX. Now, when I fire up a game of say Diablo, none of the other PC's can see the PC hosting the game. I've ensured that IPX is installed on all of the clients and have matching framing types, etc. Services such as file / print sharing works, as well as any other TCP/IP based uses. All PC's have the latest patches, service packs, and drivers.

Ideas anyone?

 

hmm.. for diablo, you don't need IPX ..just use TCP/IP

 

Well, the only other options besides IPX for LAN games is BattleNet or Direct Cable connection. There is no option for TCP/IP.

 

I could have swore there was a direct IP connect. I remember doing this with friends across town. Even my brother.

 

Yeah... even though I don't know anything about the game, I'd have to agree with Kodo on that. Not many games run IPX by default, as it's not really a de facto standard or whatever you'd call it. It's just not used by that many people.

Even if it is the case that you have to use IPX, the protocol you're using might not be the problem. How are your routers/switches/hubs set up? Make sure they're set up right and that you've configured IP addresses and subnet masks correctly too. Firewall may be a problem also... I'm not completely sure what the problem might be. Could ya shoot us some mo' info?

 

Diablo 2 has TCP/IP, but Diablo 1 is IPX/SPX only for LAN. Starcraft was the same way until the 1.09 patch when TCP/IP LAN was installed.

First, you should make sure your network adapters have IPX/SPX installed. You said you've done this already. My next guess is that either your concentrators are dropping IPX frames (like T-Rex says) or that you have some form of a firewall installed.

IPX/SPX doesn't have the suite of troubleshooting apps that TCP/IP does (ping, ipconfig, tracert) so it is very difficult to tell what's going on.

If you can, try a crossover cable to connect the two machines directly (NIC to NIC) or find a hub rather than a switch or (especially) a router. IPX/SPX is a fully routed protocol, but your router might not recognise the header for those frames and drop them as malformed [TCP/IP] packets.

 

i agree with chicken legs p)
I had the same problem with Red Alert 2 (which runs IPX for lan games, IP for net games.... how weird) when i tried a lan game over my home router. problem solved when we got an old hub since they arnt active....like switches (or routers)

 

I've got legs!

A switch should work ok. IPX stops at the Network layer, and switches are Data Link and Physical. Routers go into the Network layer, which is possibly why you've got problems.

Still, I don't know enough about IPX vs IP or how "smart" modern switches try to be (especially auto-sensing switches, which most modern one are) to say for certain that a switch will work 100%.

 

IPX question as well

I too have the same problem with Carmageddon.

It wants to use IPX, and I've installed the protocol on both computers. Nothing. Neither computer can 'see' the other game in progress.

Can anyone at all help???

Both computers are running XP with SP1, both have NIC cards and connected with a Hub and of course 2 cat5's.

Danny

 

Does either machine have the IFS (or other) firewall running?

 

No Sir, no firewall is active. I have/had Norton Internet Security's firewall active on the host, but it was interferring with the networking of the two computers, so I disabled all. Since then, the network has worked fine with the exception of Carmageddon 2. As for WinXP's firewall, no, I did not incorperate that in the network setup. Double-checking, it is in fact disabled.

Danny

 

Hm. See if you can run some other IPX game. A quick Google turned up a fair amount of threads about problems with Carmageddon 1 & 2 with WinXP. It might not be anything you can fix.

 

Hi!

I've got a similar problem for you clever guys - I'm trying to play Delta Force2 on two XP machines (SP2) connected with a crossover cable and 100Mbps NIC's in both machines. I have no problem accessing files & printers on either machines through the cable, but I can't join a multiplayer game hosted on one computer from the other. Firewalls disabled - any ideas? Tried installing NETBUI, but that doesn't help either. I can't even find out on Novaworld.com if this type of multiplayer game is possible with XP??

Thanks!

Sam