Posted September 11, 2014
Hi,
recently bought Project Eden to play it in co-op, but found out the MP/coop doesn't work on Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
I searched everywhere online, in forums (even the official Eidos one, the archived version), in the official manual, in the readme manual, in all walkthroughts available online, in the game files/settings.
Having found nothing that could help, I ran some experiments.
So far, here's what I found:
*** Setting: no anti-virus, no firewall, no Windows firewall, 2 computers (A and B).
In the multiplayer menu, you can display your own IPs (LAN or Internet) - I tried all the possibilities mentioned below while displaying the LAN IP and while displaying the Internet IP - it made no difference.
In that same multiplayer menu, you can add 5 IP addresses, to scan them for any MP game. I tried only adding the LAN IP, only the Internet IP, both.
*** Results:
1) Wireless LAN: doesn't work. I can ping A->B and B->A without any problem, PE can't see the MP game of the other computer.
2) Ethernet cable LAN: doesn't work. I can ping A->B and B->A without any problem, PE can't see the MP game of the other computer.
nb: I tried without any other connection (no wireless or anything), and with another connection (wireless, to the Internet), just in case it would "choose" the wrong connection. Didn't work.
3) Tried Hamachi, to make an online LAN network. Didn't work either.
4) Ran two instances of the game on the SAME computer. Added my own Hamachi LAN IP in the multiplayer 5-IP list. It worked: I can see, join and play with the other instance.
*** Hypotheses:
1) The game is using DirectPlay for the multiplayer. DirectPlay was the "network" part of DirectX.
DirectPlay was "deprecated" (removed) from Microsoft Windows operating systems since Windows Vista. The last known Microsoft OS to feature DirectPlay is Windows XP.
Hamachi, for some reasons, seem to circumvent the Windows service replacing DirectPlay when used on a local loop.
I'll see if I can get a Virtual Machine with Windows XP running this week-end, see if it is indeed a DirectPlay issue.
2) Aliens.
*** Additional information:
Using the command line (cmd.exe) netstat command (netstat -o -n -n -a 1 >> test.txt) to monitor network ports while creating a Project Eden MP game (from lobby to actual game), then identifying the PID of the .exe, then using regular expression (and Notepad++ TextFX) to clean the whole thing up, I found the ports it used.
Of course, it's using all kind of ports (different each time), making it nearly impossible to determine the ports ranges needed to run a MP game.
...
PS: If you have any information on making DirectPlay games work on Windows 7, feel free to post them here, it could immensely help me. It could also help us find MP fixes for tons of other 'good old games' :D
...
This post will be updated with the results (even negative) of my experiments.
If I manage to run a co-op/MP game successfully on two different computers, I will provide all the details in this thread.
recently bought Project Eden to play it in co-op, but found out the MP/coop doesn't work on Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
I searched everywhere online, in forums (even the official Eidos one, the archived version), in the official manual, in the readme manual, in all walkthroughts available online, in the game files/settings.
Having found nothing that could help, I ran some experiments.
So far, here's what I found:
*** Setting: no anti-virus, no firewall, no Windows firewall, 2 computers (A and B).
In the multiplayer menu, you can display your own IPs (LAN or Internet) - I tried all the possibilities mentioned below while displaying the LAN IP and while displaying the Internet IP - it made no difference.
In that same multiplayer menu, you can add 5 IP addresses, to scan them for any MP game. I tried only adding the LAN IP, only the Internet IP, both.
*** Results:
1) Wireless LAN: doesn't work. I can ping A->B and B->A without any problem, PE can't see the MP game of the other computer.
2) Ethernet cable LAN: doesn't work. I can ping A->B and B->A without any problem, PE can't see the MP game of the other computer.
nb: I tried without any other connection (no wireless or anything), and with another connection (wireless, to the Internet), just in case it would "choose" the wrong connection. Didn't work.
3) Tried Hamachi, to make an online LAN network. Didn't work either.
4) Ran two instances of the game on the SAME computer. Added my own Hamachi LAN IP in the multiplayer 5-IP list. It worked: I can see, join and play with the other instance.
*** Hypotheses:
1) The game is using DirectPlay for the multiplayer. DirectPlay was the "network" part of DirectX.
DirectPlay was "deprecated" (removed) from Microsoft Windows operating systems since Windows Vista. The last known Microsoft OS to feature DirectPlay is Windows XP.
Hamachi, for some reasons, seem to circumvent the Windows service replacing DirectPlay when used on a local loop.
I'll see if I can get a Virtual Machine with Windows XP running this week-end, see if it is indeed a DirectPlay issue.
2) Aliens.
*** Additional information:
Using the command line (cmd.exe) netstat command (netstat -o -n -n -a 1 >> test.txt) to monitor network ports while creating a Project Eden MP game (from lobby to actual game), then identifying the PID of the .exe, then using regular expression (and Notepad++ TextFX) to clean the whole thing up, I found the ports it used.
Of course, it's using all kind of ports (different each time), making it nearly impossible to determine the ports ranges needed to run a MP game.
...
PS: If you have any information on making DirectPlay games work on Windows 7, feel free to post them here, it could immensely help me. It could also help us find MP fixes for tons of other 'good old games' :D
...
This post will be updated with the results (even negative) of my experiments.
If I manage to run a co-op/MP game successfully on two different computers, I will provide all the details in this thread.
Post edited September 11, 2014 by Klem