Greetings sdp,
Several years ago when multiplayer games were only designed to be
played over fast local area networks, IPX was the protocol of choice
as it was fast and geared towards LANs. With almost everyone on the
Internet limited to 56k or slower, Internet play simply wasn't
included with most games (if any). The problem with trying to play IPX
games over the Internet is that the Internet runs on a protocol known
as TCP/IP. The IPX protocol is not capable of routing or advertising
it's resources in the same capacity TCP/IP can, therefore it can't be
used in the same way when it comes to connecting to each other in
games (over the Internet). I won't go into all of the grand details
about why this is, just understand that in order to play IPX only
games across the Internet you're going to need an "emulation" software
loaded on your PC that can make your PC think you are connected to an
IPX network with everyone else that is connected to the central game
server. You basically load the software, connect to their servers,
have your friends do the same, then you can all play against each
other.
These types of programs were extremely popular several years ago, but
as of around 2000-2001, when almost every multiplayer game released
had built-in TCP/IP Internet support, these programs became almost
obsolete. This caused the developers to pretty much abandon their
efforts and release the software as free into the Internet community
for anyone still wanting to use it.
KALI (http://www.kali.net)
The Kali Internet gaming network enables Internet play of the most
popular multiplayer games for more than 275,000 users on more than 350
servers in 40 countries. The most popular games currently on Kali are
StarCraft, Warcraft 2, Quake 2, Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament,
Duke Nukem 3D, Descent 1 and 2, Baldur's Gate, Mechwarrior 2,
Forsaken, Diablo Hellfire, Half-Life, Burnout, Command & Conquer,
Diablo, Red Alert, Age of Empires, and others.
Kali will allow you to play IPX games over the Internet on their
servers. You can obtain a FREE registration code from their website.
From what I understand, they still have live servers up and running.
Here are some screenshots of the program:
http://www.lightningraiders.com/kali.htm
There is no indication whether this software will work correctly on
Windows 2000 or XP, however posts in the newsgroups suggest that it
does work on XP just fine. You may have to disable any firewall
software you have to make it work correctly. This includes ZONE ALARM
and/or the built-in Windows Firewall settings that is included with
Windows XP.
KAHN (http://www.kahncentral.net/)
Kahn is a free way to play all of your older DOS and Windows IPX
multiplayer games over the internet. Our most popular games include:
The Descent series, C&C/Red Alert, Mechwarrior, WarCraft, StarCraft,
Scarab, and more! No ads, nags, restrictions, or fluff to get in the
way of your gaming experience. Kahn will not run on Windows NT, 2000,
or XP.
It's difficult to tell whether this service still has live servers up
and running. There is no indication to the contrary on their website,
but it's been a while since their last update. You won't be able to
use this on Windows XP, but in case you have a Windows 95/98 machine
or your friends do, I wanted to make this available to you as an
alternate option.
These are the only two I could still find that *appear* to be up and
running. I personally would try KALI first and it was the biggest of
it's time and it looks like it still has quite a following (especially
since it recently added support for Return to Castle Wolfenstein).
I hope this helps to answer your question regarding IPX gaming over
the Internet. Please don't hesitate to ask for clarification if you
need further help with this question -- I'll be happy to conduct
further research if necessary. Thanks!
Sincerely,
PWizard
Search Strategy:
GOOGLE: IPX emulation gaming (or game)
GOOGLE GROUPS: IPX KALI gaming (or game) |
Clarification of Answer by
pwizard-ga
on
13 Nov 2002 03:57 PST
First, make sure that both of you have the IPX protocol installed on
your machines - done through the network confiuration for your network
adapter. Next, you will setup one machine to accept incoming VPN
connections and the other to perform outgoing. Keep in mind that you
will have to know the IP address of whoever is the incoming host and
that person's computer will have to be unblocked by a firewall, at
least on the ports the VPN needs to communicate on.
VPN connections are setup through the connection setup wizard located
in network properties (right-click My Network Places --> Properties).
Create a new connection, then do Set Up Advanced Connection. Just
follow the on-screen instructions to accept incoming virtual private
connections. On the machine that is calling out, follow the same
steps, instead of advanced, there is an option in the connection
wizard for "Connect to the network at my workplace". This is the one
you use for the VPN connection. Once everything is setup, you
basically "dial-up" the VPN connection and it authenticates and
creates the new connection between the two computers. You can then
communicate as if you were connected to the same hub in the same room.
Your IPX game(s) should work fine as long as they don't have problems
communicating through the encapsulated VPN tunnel.
You will need to create a user account on the host XP machine for the
person calling in. Make sure you only allow that person access and
setup a good password. People all the time scan for open VPN
connections over the Internet and try to hack them.
Here is an article that steps through setting up a VPN server on
Windows XP:
http://asia.cnet.com/itmanager/netadmin/0,39006400,39050037,00.htm
I hope that helps. You might have to play with your Internet
Connection Sharing and/or firewall (router) settings to get this to
work properly depending on your configuration. I know that some
cable-modem providers simply block the ports that VPNs use for their
home customers or customers on certain rate plans (mine used to do
that) so that they don't connect to the office from home and tie up
loads of bandwidth all day. VPNs are usually used for business
travellers or work-from-home employees needing to access the corporate
network. Just something to consider if you can't get it working and it
seems like everything should be.
Good luck with your game and please let me know if I can be of further
assistance!
-PWizard
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