Cant connect

[oldmanfromtea 0]

ive searched all through using the search thing and i have not found anything helpful. The problem is that i cant connect, i use the all seeing eye and when i try to join a game, it leaves me at the waiting for server screen forever. ( what happen before all this) I use to play ofp all the time back when until i uninstalled it and now i really want to play, so i go and install it then i download all the patches and update it to 1.46. After that i set up all my controls and tried to connect to an mp game through ase and it took me to the countdown begins sceen and got stuck, the rectangle that would move on the bottem was stuck too until i presses esc, then it took me to the wait for server screen and thing rectangle kept moving but it wouldnt do anything. After 2 hours of looking at that screen i eventually decided to alt-tab out instead of quitting and there was a message saying that the direct x version was expired and to go and download the new version at micrsoft and blah blah blah. I kinda got confused for a second because i had directx 8.1 installed and the site said it was the latest version, anyway i go and download directx 8.1b and it says that i have to go download the win2000 version because this one is for 95,98 and ME. I didnt get why it wanted me to download the win2000 version cause i have windowsXP pro, then i do and download the win2000 version and it installs so i go and run a mp game and does the same thing and gives me the same message about the directx version im using have been expired. After that i look around the forum some more and read something about ofp using direct play and i go and search around for direct play and finally find out about this thing that u can download with directx (something called directplay 8.2 -file called dplay82 update) the file back at the microsoft directx page was an skd so it didnt help much but i found a site somewhere using google (i forgot now) and unzipped it, there were 2 main exes inside i installed dxsetup ,rebooted, and tried to install the other one called dplay82q but it never opened. So after all that crap i go to a mp game and it gets past the "countdown begins" screen and goes to the "wait for server" page and well... the damn cable modem is blinking so i have a feeling it's doing something but it stays at that page and I STILL CANT CONNECT... i also went out and tried gamespy arcade and that doesnt work either although right when i start it, it says something about my external and internal ips not being the same and it might prevent me from hosting a game. can someone help me with this?

[Mister Frag 0]

It sounds like your DirectX installation is hosed. DirectX is an integral part of Windows XP, and it shouldn't expire -- the only reason why you would see this message is if you had previously installed one of the DirectX 9 betas. To make matters worse, there is no official way to uninstall those betas, all you can do is obtain a new one that hasn't expired yet.

I'm not sure if there is an unofficial way to remove DirectX (on Windows XP or otherwise) -- you may need to pop in your Windows XP CD, and use the "Repair" option in the Setup program. That should get your Windows XP and DirectX back to a working state, but you would then also have to reapply SP1 and any Hotfixes that you had installed.

If you had Resistance, you'd be able to play using an alternative networking implementation that uses Windows Sockets instead of DirectPlay.

[TheBrain 0]

If you want to Kick your DirectX you may want to use the DirectX Buster.

But use it on your own risk!

[Mister Frag 0]

I would have suggested that, except DirectX Buster doesn't support Windows XP, which is what he is running.

[TheBrain 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Mister Frag @ Nov. 29 2002,22<!--emo&)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I would have suggested that, except DirectX Buster doesn't support Windows XP, which is what he is running.<span id='postcolor'>

I think I've heard that it works with XP, but as you said, XP is not "officially" supported.

[oldmanfromtea 0]

well instead of repairing i formatted and reinstalled xp and during the installation it gave me an error about dxdiag.exe not being able to be installed, is this program needed cause i had it before formatting. OFP works now though (yay ) thanks for all ur help

[gijeff 0]

Salute Gents,

Well I have the same issue, and am also running Win XP pro, but dxdiag shows me golden.  I cannot connect to any OFP servers.  OFPR servers, on the other hand, I can connect to at will.  I can only suspect that there is something within OFP itself that screws the pooch.  I have made no changes to my OFP installation besides installing the digital grenade addon pack, add to that this little epidemic of members of my squad being unable to connect to any OFP servers comes on the heels of the suggestion that we all install this addon pack, and I can tentatively conclude that this is the problem.

Either there is an incompatibility with one of the many other addons I have installed for OFP, or the addon pack was installed incorrectly, or it is corrupted, or the addon pack itself is porked.  Keep in mind folks, this is a tentative guess based on incomplete information at present.  I am not looking to point fingers or dis digital grenade, but as I say this is the ONLY change I have made to my OFP install is this addon pack in recent months.  I am currently testing to see what exactly the problem is, but my time for this is limited.  Anyone else having any input or suggestions feel free to check me.  The fact that OFPR and all my other games work suggests that my windows install is not the issue.

Anyone having this issue please confirm or deny the use of digital grenade's addon pack, or any other addon pack just prior to the problem so we can narrow this issue down.  The only people I know of successfully having dealt with this issue have reinstalled windows, but considering that the other games and OFPR still work I have to think that this is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Jeff Waite

aka GIJeff

[gijeff 0]

bump

[Vegas 0]

Thats interesting.

I also cannot connect to MP games on CWC, but Res is fine. I dont have any digital grenade addon though. I've tried uninstalling, deleting all addon folders, all user information, etcetc and trying a clean install and still cant connect to CWC servers. I cant even connect to myself, such as starting CWC, going to Multiplayer, clicking on New. It never pops up with saying "Vegas is connecting....Vegas Connected"

So I just sit and stare at a blank screen.

My Res on the other hand works fine, excpet its always telling me that I need KegSVDDragonuv addon which, I have no idea why I'd need that addon to run Resistance. It still works without that addon, but its annoying to go through the pop-ups that Im missing addons, that shouldn't even affect the game to begin with. Understandably, it might affect certain maps, but just to start up?

I've also heard of this with one of my friends...He cannot connect to MP CWC. We figured it has to do with addons, and the only fix that anyone has come up with is a reformatting of your computer. But that seems a little overwhelming just to fix this problem.

[DOA 20]

I can copy my game folder x:\operationflashpoint\ to another machine on my lan and I can host and connect to a CWC MP server Just fine. My best machine (of course) will only create the local client in Resistance. I can host and play in resistance with no problem. When I start a multiplayer CWC game I never connect to it, I do not show up in the pool of players, and I can not see the fields you would use to select your spot on the teams. I have been through the registry searching codemasters, operationflashpoint, flashpoint, etc. I can not find any regkeys that seem related to this. I can not find anything in the games cfg files that seem to relate to this either. It will work on all machines except this one. I must believe that there is something particular to this machine that is holding us up. My last option is to wipe the hard drive and reload from the OS up, if no one can help with this. When I get time to do this(soon I hope) I will let you know if that worked. TIA...DOA

[abacab 0]

I too have same problem exactly, except I was running Win98SE and now have gone back to Millenium in desperation hoping that the registry would be re-written to get rid of the problem...no dice. I never had any probs until adding DG's Addon #1 and the Battlesounds addon. I also upgraded to 1.85 and then 1.90 in the same timeframe or pretty near so I can't narrow it down to exactly what upgrade started it all. Unfortuneatly I was playing Res exclusivly for quite a bit before I went back an tried to log on to a OFP server or tryed to start my own server so that is not helping set a timeframe either. As far as wiping the hard drive, I am sure that will work until what ever caused this is installed or accessed or whatever. We need to find out what this is and delete it/replace it or whatever. I have un-installed ..reinstalled...searched of all references to the addons and programs in registry, etc like everybody else and its got to be maybe something added to the system folder in Windows or heck who knows...getting very frustrated. I think we need a heavy weight from Codemasters or whatever to look into this and at least offer suggestions as to what could interfere with OFP but leave Res alone.

[DOA 20]

Starting tonight I am rebuilding my main machine from Format c: up. I will document and test at each step. If the issue pops up again I should have at least a small clue as to what is causing this. I am an IT professional and I know how to work through issues logically ...what gets me, is the fact that I can copy my game folder x:\operationflashpoint from my "trouble" machine to another machine on my LAN and it works fine! I can do a complete install of OFP 1.46/Res 1.90 on another machine and it works fine... I then copy that game folder to my "trouble" machine and it will not connect the local client in OFP MP games. I do not show up in the pool of players if I try to host an OFP game; but, I do show up in Resistance MP games I host...This tells me that the problem is not in the \Operationflashpoint\ folder...Right?

Abacab did about as good a cleaning of the registry as you can do between installs, acording to a message I got, and it did not resolve this issue. This may take a day or two, I will post my results ASAP...Good luck men...DOA

[DOA 20]

I connect in OFP multiplayer hosts, I show up in the pool of players and all is right with the world again.

I am going for the Maximum message length in characters: 76800...here goes...

On my problem machine I dual boot Windows ME, for backwards compatibility with some older software, and Windows 2000 for my main operating system. (Don't worry, I have XP on another box, I must support a Windows 2000 environment at work.)

I have Windows 2000 and frequently used applications installed on my D: partition. Nothing else. I get the OS and applications tweaked, then I image D: so I can restore it quickly.  I created this image about three months ago when I added a hard drive to this machine.

After the image was created I installed all games and simulations (like Flashpoint) on my E: or F: partitions, while booted into Windows 2000.

Tonight, after backing up my current data, I booted into WindowsME, which is on my C: partition. I then dropped a fresh Windows 2000 image onto my D: partition. This completely wipes out anything that existed on my D: partition. My current operating system and applications on the D: partition is replaced totally with the three-month-old D: image.

This effectively rolled me back in time about three months to the point where I built this Win2k image, a point before I had installed Flashpoint or any simulations. (I haven’t updated any drivers since creating this image)

It booted properly and I have not restored any backed up DATA from my recent Win2k profile. (Email, favorites, cookies, My Documents, Quicken data, etc.)

I navigated to my F: drive, to my Operationflashpoint folder (untouched by this re-image). I started the game with OPERATIONFLASHPOINT.EXE, (v1.46) I started a new MP game and I connected properly, I show up in the pool of players and all is right with the world again. *sigh* A Resistance MP host works as it always has.

I am afraid all this tells us is that my problem was not in my Operationflashpoint folder but somewhere on my operating system partition.  

Next I will do a complete install of OFP/Resistance to get the proper registry hacks on my newly imaged, totally clean operating system and I will restore my current personal data. If this issue pops up again at any point in this process I will post it here in painful detail.

The issue of uninstalls and reinstalls (to a different location?)has come up in several threads I am following/posted in the TROUBLE SHOOTING and in MULTIPLAYER Forums. I did uninstall and re-install OFP a month or so ago, when I moved all my FPS games to the F: partition. If I had to guess, and I do, I would guess that the original install puts something in the registry or on the OS root drive that is not friendly to the reinstall, and not easy to find. (A pitiful guess)

I have a few addons; but, not the infamous digital grenade. None of them write anything to the registry, and they are all still in my game folder which is now functioning properly.

The last thing I installed was the stand-alone dedicated servers. Could running the dedicated servers do this? (another pitiful guess).

Could a re-install trigger FADE? (a really pitiful guess)

I hope this somehow helps to resolve this issue. Good luck people…DOA

I built my current OFP game folder as follows:

Official BIS-Codemasters:

Operation Flashpoint Gold Edition -  OFP CD (V1.20)

Gold Upgrade CD  (upgrades to 1.30 and Red Hammer)

Patch to v1.46

OFP Dedicated server v1.46

Resistance

Patch to v1.85

patch to v1.90

Dedicated server v1.90

Unofficial:

Between the Lines (X Media Publishing)

Planet of War (X Media Publishing)

CAF monster truck addon

A few Planes

A few soldier units

I am just begining to download addons

No custom sounds yet

(All of these are still in my now functioning game folder)

[abacab 0]

I have this prob also....I have previously been thru all these forum threads watching and hoping for a concrete answer. I got away from it for a week or so and now got back on the topic just last night to see if anyone has an answer. DOA forwarded a message from a fellow that could not post for some reasons or another but this guy has answered it for me. Starting at V8.2, DirectX seems to block ports below 2300 and above 2400. If you have 8.1 you should be fine. Also don't upgrade to V9 as it will crash OFP as soon as you truy to open laptop, at leaast for me. OFP uses Directplay exclusively , where Res uses sockets as default an thats why you can connect with Res with no prob if you have 8.2 or above...but watch what happens when you switch to Directplay in Res....Boom! As a test in OFP if you have DX 8.2 installed...go to multiplayer, click on New...choose an island and then a map...then when you open up your server, and if you have the problem that alot of people are experiencing, you shouldn't be able to see you name on the player list nor should you see "player" connecting at top of screen. Now drop back out to laptop screen and click on Ports. You will default port displayed which I believe is something like 2234. Now change that to 2302 or any number above 2300 (maybe better stick to close to 3200 as I am not sure if anything above 3210 might mess with something else) Now click OK and back to laptop...now click New and choose island and map ...go to your server and you now should see your name on player list and see you connecting.

For me at least looks like I either use DXbuster to remove DX9 and 8.2 and go back to 8.1 until a fix is found or maybe there is away to make OFP use a default port other than the port number that is below 2300 (2234). But then it seems that if you try to connect to a server that uses 2234 as default you are still in deep dudu.