Strategic Command - European Theater Internet Play instructions by Madmatt edited for use with Strategic Command by Hubert Cater Quick How-To: Playing a TCP/IP multiplayer game is quite easy. All you need is two players with active connections to either the Internet or LAN. One player is designated as the Host the other is the Client. The Host is responsible for picking the Campaign and selecting any applicable parameters. Keep this in mind: the Host should inform the Client, prior to connecting, of any specific parameters et cetera of the battle. This can be done using any normal communication method. (ICQ, 3rd party Chat services or simply via email) The Host selects any custom or regular Campaigns by selecting TCP/IP and then New TCP/IP. Once the campaign is loaded the Host is then presented with the standard Connection Type Screen. This will also list the all of the Hosts Current IP addresses, one of which the client will need in order to connect to the game. See below for issues with the IP address. The Host then waits until the Client connects and once that occurs the game will proceed normally. From this point on the game will proceed almost like playing the AI except the enemy will be Bill Macon, Immer Etwas, DevilDog, Jollyguy, Daringly or any of your other fellow gamers! ;-) For the Client, connecting is even simpler. They need to select TCP/IP and then Join. At this point they are presented with a screen to manually enter the Hosts IP address. They can toggle through the four IP address windows by using "TAB" or "Left" or "Right" arrow keys. Once they enter the address they will attach almost immediately to the Host and begin to download the campaign info and begin the game. NOTE: A campaign does not need to be on the Client's system in order to play. The Host sends that info. See below for specific connection and chat issues. Tips and Watch-outs: IP Addresses: When a player Hosts a game, Strategic Command lists ALL the IP addresses assigned to a system. If you have multiple modems or network cards it will list all IP addresses associated with those devices. What it can't do is tell you which one is the correct IP address as it depends on how your system is configured. Users of AOL, for instance, may have up to three addresses listed. You will need to have your opponent try to attach to each IP address in order until they find the one that allows connections. Once you have found the correct IP address, make note of its place in the list since it should always be the same one. For example, let's say when you host a game Strategic Command shows three separate IP addresses. You give the first one to your opponent and it doesn't work. You give him the second one and he makes a connection. In the future, the correct IP address should always be the second one in the list even though the address itself may change. * TIP: Unless you are hosting a game on a local network, an IP address of 192.168.x.x will not work. Those addresses can only be used with other computers on an internal LAN. Firewalls and Proxies: In order to play a network game, Strategic Command requires that TCP port 6530 be open for all outgoing and incoming transmissions. Please configure your firewall and proxies accordingly. Users of the software packages Black Ice Defender and Zone Alarm may have to disable the software completely before a successful connection can be made. We have gotten reports from some users of Black Ice Defender that even disabling the software was not sufficient and they had to fully uninstall the package. Once this was down games could be hosted and joined. Please visit the Battlefront.com Discussion Forums for the latest info on such issues. Cable/DSL Router Configuration: If you use a home broadband router like the LinkSys Cable/DSL 4 port Router and wish to host games you will need to add TCP port 6530 to the routers forwarding table. You then need to match port 6530 to the internal IP address of the computer that you want to host the game with. Then use the routers control panel (usually accessed via your browser) to get the external IP address given out by your ISP. Give this external IP address to your opponent and he should be able to connect with you hosting. Please visit the Battlefront.com Discussion Forums for the latest info on such issues. Internet Connection Sharing: Many people use ICS on their home LANs to access a broadband or modem connection to the Internet across multiple computer systems. Currently a computer that is connected to the Internet via an ICS connection can not Host a Strategic Command game out to the Internet. They can however host locally to systems that are connected on the same home LAN. They can also still attach to a hosted game normally on the Internet or the home LAN. This limitation on hosting affects systems that gain their access to the Internet SOLEY through an ICS connection. Please visit the Battlefront.com Discussion Forums for the latest info on such issues. Lost Connections: If at some point during play you lose connection (this IS the Internet after all) each player should be given a message which indicates that the connection was broken or lost. Play can be resumed by loading a TCP/IP 'autosave' file. Autosave files are created automatically after each move made by the current active player (i.e. not the one watching), so whichever player was active must load the autosave file and become the Host (regardless of what they were before) while their opponent must join as a Client. Play will resume normally at that point. Sometimes, one player or the other will drop to the desktop. Even when this happens, a usable 'autosave' is usually created. If you are on an ICS connection and are unable to host your autosave, then your opponent will have to host using thier autosave. In this case you may be required to replay portions of your last turn. Chatting: Each player can send a text chat message by first pressing the "T" key or for users with non-US standard keyboards they may alternately use the number "0" (zero) key. To send the message you must click on OK or click on Cancel to cancel. The message will be displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen and is announced by an audio squawk sound that plays on the other player's system. Each message will be displayed for 15 seconds and a maximum of three messages will be shown prior to reseting of the chat list. * TIP: Both the Host and Client will receive messages that a connection is being established. As soon as a Client joins into a game they can begin chatting. At this point it is smart for them to send a brief message to indicate to the host that they are "in" the game. As such, a message such as "IN" can tell the host that all is well on the (client) side and play can commence. Chat Limits: Chat messages cannot be sent while you are in any of the submenus or during game events. Once game events such as combat, unit movement have been completed a chat message can be sent. Note: This limitation only applies to the player with the current active turn and not the player who is watching. Watching players can send chat messages at any time. Switching to PBEM from TCP/IP and Back: A TCP/IP game can be switched to PBEM by the active player saving their current turn and then moving that turn to the PBEM directory (autosave files can also be used by either player). Note: If a PBEM directory has not yet been automatically created then you will have to create one in your Strategic command installation directory. Moving files and creating new directories can be done with 'My Computer'. Once the file has been moved to the PBEM directory it can be loaded by selecting LOAD SAVED PBEM from the main menu. At this point you will be asked for an appropriate password and the game can be continued as per a normal PBEM game. This same process can be repeated to switch a game from PBEM to TCP/IP but in reverse. The only limitation when switching multiplayer games from one format to another is that the 'Last Turn Replay' will not be shown.