BZ2-1.3.6.3 and Raknet

[nagus]

Hi all!

After loosing my old account, which I barely used, here I am again, now with my 'nom du guerre', as usual when I enter on a multiplayer game....

Well, I suppose this is also a good time to introduce myself, for those who never have encountered me before...

I'm a strong MPI player, strong as I like it much more than other games, who has played Battlezone since 1998, first alone (BZ1), then BZ2, also alone (about 2001 or 2002) and after some time, I discovered this huge online community and the online games, entering in this 'vice' ( ) about 2006. As far as I know, there are just a few other Spaniards playing this one, less than a dozen I'm afraid.......and two of them are my sons........(who are as interested on this as I am, BTW).

After so many hours of delight, and taking advantage of the English nature of the online games (voice activated ones, something that has improved my oral English, now I'm barely understandable......XDDDD), last year we hit the GameSpy issue........

And now, it is supposed that the 1.3.6.3 patch corrects this issue, but since February, I cannot get any online match.....perhaps something is wrong in my set up. I've tried to reinstall again from scratch, and patching, several computers.....and nothing. Apparently, I reach Raknet on my setup (no error reported, as 1.3.6.2 did when it tried to access GameSpy), but the online game list is always empty.....

Is there anyone? It would be a shame if this wonderful community loose the easy way of playing, just inside the game interface. The other ways (GameRanger, etc.) have been tested, but they are populated mostly with different MOD's that the ones I like (BZ2 as it is, UEP or G66 MOD).

So, after some carefully but impatiently suffered time, I think it's big time to ask here. Does 1.3.6.3 online playing really work? Do I have bad luck searching for games? Or there is something that precludes me to see anyone.....even just the time zone differences......

Thanks for your time reading my post.

Nagus.

[General BlackDragon]

You can use BZ2 with Game Ranger and to launch mods with it you can use TNT's GameRanger Mod Selector.

[TwinShadow]

To go into a little more depth on the issue, RakNet changed something on their end which made the communication between BZ2 and their servers break. I have no idea when Nathan plans to release a fix since all the patches are done in his free time. Game Ranger is the only way you can make online games right now.

UEP is, for the most part, broke under the latest patches. Think it was only made for 6.1 or something. Either way, I do not recommend using the UEP much as it'll never be fixed. It has been abandoned. Other than that, not much I can tell ya.

[nagus]

O.K., all that explains a lot.....

Try to figure my face searching for online matches......

So I'll continue searching on GameRanger, for the time being.

Thanks.

[Ded10c]

The parts of the UEP that were actually of decent standard will be updated at some point in the future. Anything that wasn't in the release version is lost, and anything that isn't good will be removed. The rest will be released in individual modules.

This is all once I get a) the time and b) the motivation.

[yeah]

To go into a little more depth on the issue, RakNet changed something on their end which made the communication between BZ2 and their servers break. I have no idea when Nathan plans to release a fix since all the patches are done in his free time. Game Ranger is the only way you can make online games right now.

UEP is, for the most part, broke under the latest patches. Think it was only made for 6.1 or something. Either way, I do not recommend using the UEP much as it'll never be fixed. It has been abandoned. Other than that, not much I can tell ya.

UEP works more or less fine under 1.3.6.2 and from what i've seen it works under 1.3.6.3 as well. I don't know whether internally some small things are broken, but its really affect playing 1.3.6.2

[GSH]

Try 1.3.6.3a to work with RakNet once again.

And, most, if not all 1.3 installers have a popup at the end saying "make sure any MOD(s) you have installed are compatible with 1.3.X.Y" Please don't blindly install things and then complain.

-- GSH

[nagus]

Well, after my experiences with 1.3.6.3a yesterday and today on two very different machines (laptops both, but the newer is more or less up to date, the older is, well, old) the last patch works flawlessly to me, of course, it sees matches on RakNet and joins them without any problem.

In both cases I chose a fresh BZ2-1.0 install from disk, and then patched first with 1.3.6.3 and finally with the 1.3.6.3a. No idea about other mods over these patches.....

But surely I'd like to hear that the last G66 (3.0 rc27, I think) works well on top of 1.3.6.3a.

There will be a time for that testing, soon enough, but first things are first.

Nagus.

[yeah]

Well, after my experiences with 1.3.6.3a yesterday and today on two very different machines (laptops both, but the newer is more or less up to date, the older is, well, old) the last patch works flawlessly to me, of course, it sees matches on RakNet and joins them without any problem.

In both cases I chose a fresh BZ2-1.0 install from disk, and then patched first with 1.3.6.3 and finally with the 1.3.6.3a. No idea about other mods over these patches.....

But surely I'd like to hear that the last G66 (3.0 rc27, I think) works well on top of 1.3.6.3a.

There will be a time for that testing, soon enough, but first things are first.

Nagus.

The latest g66 is from last summer and version 3.1, you can dowmload it here:
http://www.bzscrap.org/downloads/Mods/G ... taller.exe

[nagus]

The latest g66 is from last summer and version 3.1, you can dowmload it here:
http://www.bzscrap.org/downloads/Mods/G ... taller.exe

Yes, I was writing without all the details in my mind. It is G66 3.1 version, just that (the last 3.0 was rc 27, so that would trigger your suspicions).

Well, after leaving your session, I copied the G66v3.1 over BZ2v1.3.6.2 folder into another, renamed it as 1.3.6.3a, installed the patches (1.3.6.3, then 1.3.6.3a) and fired it up....

It runs smoothly, and reports the correct version on main page (1.3.6.3A), but unfortunately when I tried to search matches online, there were none (I was also with the other machine on raw 1.3.6.3a).

So G66v3.1 is likely to run after patching to 1.3.6.3a, after all, just rests a final checking when someone hosts a G66 in the same way.

Any volunteers?

Nagus.

[Ded10c]

Installing one patch, like 1.3.6.3a, over another, like 1.3.6.2, creates what we call a "dirty" install. "Pure" installs are better - that is, the desired version is installed directly over an unpatched copy of the game. This helps to minimise the issues that may arise from an impure setup.

[nagus]

O.K., let's see them one by one.....

i) My testing installation of 1.3.6.3, and then 1.3.6.3a was on a fresh install from disc. As it was told you before, 1.3.6.3a now sees perfectly Raknet and the sessions hosted by other players.

ii) On a new fresh installation from disc on a Win7 machine, I've patched it up to 1.3.6.3a, then installed over it G66 v3.1, and it seems to see RakNet and hosting without problems. What's more, during my next installation (see iii) someone has entered my hosting, I presume that using a stock (i.e., not modded to G66) 1.3.6.3a. Obviously, they couldn't fully join the session...

iii) On another machine (the slowest I've got, this one, but running WinXP instead this Linux...) I've applied directly 1.3.6.3 and then 1.3.6.3a over the previous installation of G66 v3.1 over 1.3.6.2. And guess what?
It works flawlessly, this machine could see the other on a LAN seeking, join, and play.

So, unless the G66v3.1 stalls something on the RakNet seeking, I presume that it is compatible with the latest 1.3.6.3a. Otherwise, some precautions are observed, like not to get suprised if after all something goes wrong in another machines.....

So try it on your own risk, and remember not to complaint (even send logs) on that setting (G66 on top of 1.3.6.3a).

Nagus.
P.S.: In this very moment I'm waiting for players on a session....1.3.6.3a (without G66). But I can change it to G66 upon request.
Oh! BTW, I'm posting a brief summary of this as standalone post, dedicated for the G66's lovers (they exist, despite of that urban legend.....XDDDD).