Mister Frag

Skal, I've been wondering what the new information accessed by pressing 'P' is -- where did you see that the first number if the FPS? I'm not doubting you, I was just wondering if there's a document that provides a detailed explanation of what is shown on the screen.

I have that happen to me maybe 25% of the time after hosting, but under Windows 2000, I can avoid a reboot by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete, and logging out. For some reason I can't bring up Task Manager to kill OFP, I think its because switching to Task Manager doesn't switch from full-screen DirectX video mode to a normal Desktop mode.

I've got a dual PIII-800 / GeForce2 GTS / 512MB of PC100 RAM / Windows 2000 / 1.5/384 DSL, and I host using the non-dedicated server for four or five people, no slowdown. And we use the built-in voice communications as well...

I would suggest adding the end conditions, if any, for the map. If there is a time or point limit, they should be displayed, along with the scores for all the sides.

You never actually mentioned that you were using ASE -- we probably could have saved you some time and frustration if you had mentioned that. Anyway, I'm glad you got it to work. Cheers!

Peer-to-Peer doesn't make sense because every client would have to communicate with every other client. That increases the bandwidth requirements, and introduces additional potential points of failure. When you connect in OFP, you only need the IP of the server, but not those of the other clients. While it would be possible to get those from the server once connected, I seriously doubt that the clients communicate with each other.

I used the non-dedicated V1.27 server to host for five hours with four or five clients connected, not one hickup, and no lag.

When you fire up the dedicated server, you must specify a configuration file that lists the missions you want to make available etc. In that file, add a line that reads hostname = "uksfwarlock's spiffy dedicated OFP server"; and you're set. There is a sample configuration file that comes with the server, as well as a batch file to launch the server with that configuration file -- that should get you started.

Read the Dedicated Server FAQ, it explains it.

The problem is not with OFP, but with Microsoft's DirectPlay. There is a Microsoft Knowledgebase article on it.

I haven't tried a LAN game yet, though all of the telephone jacks in my home support network connections -- I only have my personal system and a company-owned laptop. The laptop is strictly for company use, so no gaming on it. I also only own one copy of OFP... Anyway, I have a dual PIII-800 system with 512MB of RAM and GeForce2 GTS running Windows 2000, and an ADSL connection (1500 down, 384 up). I tend to host our network games using the non-dedicated server, and we get four or five people together, mostly for private co-op missions. We all have DSL with one exception (cable). We're on V1.27, and use the built-in voice communications; most of us use a Microsoft Sidewinder Game Voice. The MP games are very enjoyable and mostly trouble-free. No network lag or system slowdown on my machine running the server. We are pretty disciplined and don't all chatter on the voice channels. When we play team-based adversarial games, we use the Side channel. None of us ever bothered with Gamespy, but a few of us have The All-Seeing Eye.

I think the Dedicated Server FAQ might have the answer. There are some new settings in Flashpoint.cfg in V1.27 that are explained in the FAQ, and it seems that the last two numbers in the player information screen are the results of the bandwidth estimation. The first number might be MaxMsgSend. And anyone wondering how people find their private servers through Gamespy should take a look at the reportingIP command.

RN Malboeuf, what makes you say that DSL averages 50kbs upstream? That would be only slightly better than analog modems can do. Go to DSLReports.com and take a look at the throughput people get -- it works both for US and Canadian service providers. The vast majority of the people getting double-digit upload speeds are ones with problems or wireless access -- both cable and DSL exceed 100Kb up routinely. Take a look at the Speed Test Results Archive. I have 1500/384 DSL myself, BTW.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from Murda Inc on 12:34 pm on Oct. 20, 2001 Merlin Swri...You know absolutley nothing about computers obviously. Did you know that ME is an update of 98, 98 being an update for 95. all three being VERY gaming friendly PLatforms. Let me guess you think Win2k is a gaming platform?? just an assumption cuz it would be as dumb as your first guess. Win2k is a workmans platform ME= GamersPlatofrm and Home office. XP is supposedly the gamers platform. BTW someone told me XP is now out on a 64bit Kernel is this true? I thought it was only ran on the same Win2k 32-bit Kernel. can sum1 answer this <span id='postcolor'> Yes, the Windows 2000 64-bit OS is out. NVIDIA even has Detonators for it! :biggrin:

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from Monkey Lib Front on 7:02 am on Oct. 20, 2001 What about infantry riding on a tank? <span id='postcolor'> Letting people ride on top of IFVs probably isn't too hard to implement, but sooner or later someone is going to ask why they can't shoot while riding on a BMP. As most of you know, the engine doesn't support more than one weapon firing from a vehicle at a time, so I doubt that this will be implemented anytime soon. Same with the 5 ton trucks -- you can have an entire squad in the back, and they are all sitting ducks until they disembark.

Actually, Win ME is a consumer OS intended for gaming. But I digress. ICS is known to cause problems with DirectPlay, which is what OFP uses to communicte. CM's only suggestion at this point is to uninstall or disable ICS. Microsoft also has a Knowledgebase article on this subject, which explains the problem.

I checked ZoneAlarm just now (V2.6.357, released on Oct 11, 2001), and there is no way to manually add a program. You get what you pay for, I guess. :biggrin:

Thanks, quiet, I have to try that when I get home! I played around with ZoneAlarm a long time ago, and at the time couldn't find a way to add new programs manually. I wonder if that is a new feature that was added after I tried it, or if it is only available in ZoneAlarm Pro (I have the free version)? Avengrr, if only GameSpy shows up in the Programs list, it means that ZoneAlarm stopped when GameSpy tried to access the Internet to locate servers, and before OFP had a chance to do anything. Once you configure the GameSpy settings, you should be able to proceed to the point where OFP will cause a ZoneAlarm Alert dialog. Fix that, and you should be set. Alternatively, see if you can add OFP manually like quiet suggested. You still need to fix the settings for GameSpy to remove the question marks first, though.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from Avengrr on 11:42 pm on Oct. 17, 2001 I have purchased and lock up hard if i try to open OF with zonealarm running . Â no cntrl -At - delete . i have to kill power .<span id='postcolor'> Is that on Windows 98/ME? On Windows 2000/XP, you should be able to bring up the Task Manager that way, and get yourself out of that predicament. Regardless, I think the system locks up/appears to be locked up due to ZoneAlarm popping up its Alert dialog behind the DirectX full-screen window. After you reboot, you should see an entry for OFP in the Programs list of ZoneAlarm. All you need to do is set the security options for OFP, and the lockup problem should be solved. You'll see a couple of question marks next to the OFP entry, indicating that the options haven't been specified -- simply click on the first option from the left in both the Allow Connect and Allow Server columns, which will place a green checkmark there instead of a question mark.

By the way, there is one major problem with ZoneAlarm that I wish they would address, at least with the free version of ZoneAlarm (don't know about ZoneAlarm Pro). That problem is the inability to add programs and their security settings manually. Instead, you have to run the program and let it try to access the Internet, at which point the ZoneAlarm alert dialog will pop up. Unfortunately, the dialog is not a main window, so you can't Alt-Tab to it, and since OFP runs in DirectX mode, you can't even see the dialog. The dialog is there, of course, but you can't get to it, and the system and OFP will appear to be hung. At this point, I reboot, and after the system restarts, I manually edit the program-specific entry that ZoneAlarm has just added before the reboot. Since the program signatures change every time you apply a new OFP patch, you'll wind up going through this for the regular game and the dedicated server every time you patch.

BTW, the Canadians have a M113 APC variant which they call the Lynx -- it's a transport, and it has a machine gun (not sure which one):

In the Security tab, I've got the local zone at Medium, and the Internet at High. In the Programs tab, I've got both the OFP executable as well as the dedicated server set up to allow connections to and from the Internet. I have no problems connecting to others, or accepting connections.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from KoRnboy on 7:36 am on Oct. 13, 2001 Oh yes one more thing, D3D T&L what does T&L have over normal D3D and what does it mean? Thanks KoRnboy! <span id='postcolor'> The T&L option lets the graphics card handle the Transformations & Lighting, which offloads the CPU. It also isn't supported by all graphics cards. If you have a fast CPU, you may not see a difference when selecting Hardware T&L, or may even notice a slowdown in performance. I seem to recall reading a comment from one of the OFP developers that no OpenGL support is planned.

Do you have a software firewall or a router with a built-in firewall? If so, you'll need to open up certain port ranges as per the FAQ: Problem: What ports need to be opened in a firewall to play online? Solution: Direct X will need port 47624 or 6073 tcp both outgoing and incoming 2300-2400 tcp both incoming and outgoing 2300-2400 udp both incoming and outgoing Operation Flashpoint needs 2234 tcp both incoming and outgoing

There's a guy named AnalogX who has put out a couple of small free software gems, one of them is NetStat Live, which display bandwidth usage etc. -- it's much more useful than NetMonitor: http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/nsl.htm