[EL 1.0418] Unable to join a local EL server *FIXED*

[robberer]

Hi,

I'm trying to setup a dedicated server for my LAN but so far i'm unable to join. The server is running in an virtualBox XP machine on my host computer i use for playing Evochron Legacy. Because i use "bridged" network the VM is in the same subnet (192.168.77.0/24) as my host computer. I can ping the VM and firewalls are disabled. However, i'm unable to connect from inside the game.

I've attached a screenshot. There you can see what's the status right now. "Multiplayer connection not yet established" if I press the connect button it says "Error, unable to list game". I don't want to list the game, just playing it in my private LAN.

If i try to connect from within the game to the server (77.55) i get "Connection failed".

Am I doing something wrong ?

kind regards,
Rob

[Vice]

Possibly a couple of things going on there. First, the list error is likely appearing, at least in part, because of the server name being left to 'Dedicated1' rather than being given a unique session name. You can change that in the server program itself, or configure the text8.dat file to set it by default to something unique.

Next, it appears the server program is not able to bind to the network device in place for whatever reason(s). Could be that the required port(s) are not available, the device itself isn't fully accessible, or something else is using it in some way that prevents the server program from being allowed to connect to it. It's tricky to say for sure.

What I'd suggest to test is simply running the server program and client without the VM/virtualbox in place, instead run both using whatever base variant of Windows you are running the game client in. Start the server program first, configured as desired, then after you've connected it with a successful session start message, connect the client to it.

If that's not what you had in mind or you were trying to achieve something else for some reason, we can try to go from there. But the server program should run alongside the game just fine without being sharded out to another system environment.

[robberer]

Possibly a couple of things going on there. First, the list error is likely appearing, at least in part, because of the server name being left to 'Dedicated1' rather than being given a unique session name. You can change that in the server program itself, or configure the text8.dat file to set it by default to something unique.

Yeah, indeed, that simple. I didn'nt bother choosing an unique name because I just want to run the server for myself on my LAN, so economy progress while I'm not playing. I did'nt care about the server name. BUT that FIXED it.

Next, it appears the server program is not able to bind to the network device in place for whatever reason(s). Could be that the required port(s) are not available, the device itself isn't fully accessible, or something else is using it in some way that prevents the server program from being allowed to connect to it. It's tricky to say for sure.

That was the only thing I was sure about. Because it is my profession to get networks done.

What I'd suggest to test is simply running the server program and client without the VM/virtualbox in place, instead run both using whatever base variant of Windows you are running the game client in. Start the server program first, configured as desired, then after you've connected it with a successful session start message, connect the client to it.

That regularly crashed one or the other (server, client) on the same machine.

If that's not what you had in mind or you were trying to achieve something else for some reason, we can try to go from there.

See above and thanks for sharing your knowledge. I'm glad i've found this gem on steam, because steam makes it very hard to find good games like this. I've wasted so much money in other space "sim" games.

[Vice]

Ok, interesting, not sure what it might be yet then. I'd be interested in more details on the system (including the network device you are trying to connect to). Please follow the steps here to send a msinfo report to me (no need to send the save game, just the zipped msinfo report): http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegacy/faq.htm#208

That regularly crashed one or the other (server, client) on the same machine.

The msinfo report might help me determine that cause as well. Did you try the 2D server program in conjunction with the client, rather than the 3D/GPU optimized version? The 2D version is included in the server program's install folder and may behave differently, depending on system configuration.

[robberer]

Ok, interesting, not sure what it might be yet then. I'd be interested in more details on the system (including the network device you are trying to connect to). Please follow the steps here to send a msinfo report to me (no need to send the save game, just the zipped msinfo report): http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegacy/faq.htm#208

Not sure if you got me wrong. When I change the server name I can connect to the server inside the virtual machine. Everything is fine now.

That regularly crashed one or the other (server, client) on the same machine.

The msinfo report might help me determine that cause as well. Did you try the 2D server program in conjunction with the client, rather than the 3D/GPU optimized version? The 2D version is included in the server program's install folder and may behave differently, depending on system configuration.

Unfortunately i cannot reproduce this anymore. Tried several times. Don't know what went wrong the other day. Running both (server, client) on the same machine works now too. . Should the crash occure again I'll post the information needed.

[Vice]

Ah ok, wasn't sure if you were just referring to the list error message or the entire thing. Glad it's all sorted. Thanks for the follow up.