IWD2 - Vista & Multiplayer?

Remove all ads!

Hiya folks. I'm a long-time IWD2 player, but I've run up against an issue when trying to introduce one of my friends to the game. I apologize if this is way too much information, but I've been banging my head on this for a few hours and I'm ready to admit defeat. Perhaps someone else has a bit of insight on the matter~

THE ISSUE

I cannot get IWD2's multiplayer between two Vista computers on the same local network. I've heard mixed reactions about it on other forums, ranging from "it works fine, why doesn't it work for you?" to outright denials that the multiplayer can work at all. Since the folks here seem to know more about the inner workings of the game than any other place I've seen, I figure this is the best place to pose my question; is it possible to get two computers running Vista to actually play this game together?


THE SCENARIO

All of the following scenarios are possibilities I've used during testing, and a solution for any of these would be considered a win:

1) Two Vista Home Premium computers located on two separate networks. Both are behind a router performing NAT translation.
2) Two Vista Home Premium computers connected to a Netgear router on the same local network.
3) Two Vista Home Premium computers connected via VPN tunnel created by Hamachi.


TROUBLESHOOTING

Here's a laundry list of things I've done to prevent issues:

1) Installed the game successfully on both computers. Users have full admin rights and UAC turned off. Programs are able to edit files in the Program Files folder, including IWD2 in single player mode.
2) Opened up relevant ports (2300-2400 & 47624, TCP and UDP, inbound and outbound) on the host's local router. Confirmed using TCPView that IWD2 listens on port 2300 when hosting a game.
3) Used Hamachi to establish a tunnel between two remote computers. Verified the tunnel works via pings and using another application (Age of Mythology, if you must know) across the virtual network.
4) Updated both computers to version 2.01. Downloaded the patch on one computer, then sent the install file to the second computer and used it again. Verified in the Options screen that both versions were patched successfully.
5) Confirmed that both computers have identical settings in the Config Utility, including frame rate, AI pathfinding checks, cache sizes, etc. Running both client and host in windowed mode for testing purposes.
6) No mods have been installed on either computer.


THE SITUATION

Both computers can run single player normally. The host is able to create a game. However, when the client tries to connect, they get the "Cannot connect to game session" error message. Using TCPView I confirmed that a request *is* coming through from the client to the host (client's WAN address is the remote address shown), so I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the client is getting through the firewall normally. It seems like the client and server just can't seem to work together.

The really curious thing; after a failed attempt, if the client tries to connect again, they can see the name of the host's game under the IP address field. However, trying to click on that game and connect yields a failure message immediately.


FAILED ATTEMPTS

1) Using Gamespy encounters the exact same issue.
2) Turning off all local firewalls does not solve the issue.
3) Enabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP under the network cards for both computers
4) Disabling IPv6

....

Does anyone know why this doesn't work? Is it a problem with DirectX10? Or am I just trying to do something that is actually impossible? If the solution's technical, I can handle it.

And yes, I know; Don't Use Vista If You Can Avoid It. Unfortunately, I cannot avoid it in this case, so I'm hoping for an answer one way or another. A solution or a confirmation that it can't work, either will let me quit worrying about it so much.

Thanks for your time, and as always any help is appreciated.

-Ixtalis

 

Just to update, I did finally get this to work. I let my client host and, for whatever reason, it worked fine. I did solve another issue, however, and maybe someone can make use of this....

.....

There is a separate graphical issue using IWD2 and some other IE games in Vista. It can cause items to have large black boxes surrounding them, or text boxes to cover large parts of the screen and obscure your view.
Turning off hardware acceleration in Display Settings -> Troubleshoot can solve the issue, but many video cards do not allow you to change this setting. The issue can also be solved by disabling DirectDraw, but Microsoft opted to not allow you to turn off DirectDraw in Dxdiag for Vista, for whatever reason.

However!
If you download the DirectX Developer's Kit, you can turn off DirectDraw. Go to the following Microsoft site and download it (450~ MB). Once it's installed, open the "Run" prompt and go to "dxcpl", the DirectX Control Panel. Under the DirectDraw tab, uncheck the "Use Hardware Acceleration" box. Your game will now play without any graphical errors =) Just remember to turn it back on after you're done playing.

DX Dev Kit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a6-263a-4424-a7fe-69cff1a5b180&displayLang=en

 

hey i know this is a *late* post but...

first im glad you got it running, do you have any problems whatsoever any more?

is the version of vista different on the client that allowed you to join?

anything else you can think of that may have let it go though? i was sketchy about XP all those years ago but the NT kernel was/is more stable then the predecessor (wont go into a DX10 vista only rant here) but....my brother has vista on his laptop...vista is a piece and decides to freze up on his laptop for no reason other than it own will at anygiven time

(sorry for dragin on with the back story)


so any way long before i rediscover IWD2 to play with my brothers i fix the all that ales vista on his pc by dual-bootin XP (the reason of course wasn't the lack of a stable operating system, it was the inability to play almost any game for one reason or another ->being long winded again<-)

k heres the deal that i found most annoying in a like situation... Freelancer is an excellent spaceRPG/exploration game ( check out the discovery mod) but every time we tried to lan his computer wouldnot accept the xp comps in the house (this is ofcourse after i figured out the other qurik ~freelancer.exe -shost/server IP"

ok i really am bumb, i mean done almost.... i HAD to install xp cuz vista (at least his) REFUSED to dissolve IPs back to or from standerd from the v6 (i belive?) it would show us connection even state the hex (?) code of the IP but wound use the connection... i found that to be the problem for almost all some what dated games (cant 'mnber if C&C3 multi'd or not, but i can tell you this, the dual boot and finding the drivers for his *vista only* hardware was everybit worth the time and effort...

sorry to blog on your thread... but i hope that helps you understand where i come from with the questions above... while i dislike vista and havent had any in counter with 7 ,yet, things move forwards and if i can bend vista or :better *-say better!! here come forth of the house of Montague* then i should not have them make worms wood of you nor i

but the sad truth is with the push forward and the snaggles of the free market needing a new operating system ever other year (and thoses that make em a salary every year) i think backwards suport past the XP/Vista could be lost quite easily... that being said if you look at the games 20 years ago, in another 20 (or quite less) whos gunna come outa the holo vid ( and yeah if i had any ambition i got a few fesible plans for a "holo-deck" --imagine the Wii fit around your hole body, feel the weight of your gun/sword/gravity...or the best yet the lack there of... oh, im quite sorry i have run away with my self (and saddly you) again... please do forgive my rants...

~=Ender=~
​

 

Hamachi.

THE solution.

 

After fighting with this issue for two nights straight, I finally got it working. Here's my current setup, paralleling Ixtalis (who is pretty much on the money):

My friend and I are both running Windows 7 and are on the same network under a Linksys router. The router is forwarding ports 2300-2400 and 47624 for both TCP and UDP to the host (me). Each computer can ping the other.

Both copies of IWD2 are v2.01 (They're from GOG.com). The programs can write to Program Files, and the configuration options are identical to each other. We both have full admin rights and UAC turned off.

This was the change we made that finally made it work.
We're both using Windows Firewall and have no other firewalls. We went into Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and deleted any existing rules about Icewind Dale in both Inbound and Outbound. When we entered Icewind Dale II, I clicked "Load Game" and immediately got a popup asking me if I wanted to create a rule. For kicks, my friend clicked "Load Game" and did not see a popup. After closing the game, he then went back to Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and clicked the "Restore Default Policy" button. This caused the prompt to show up when he clicked "Load Game," but this still did not solve our issues. We then noticed that there were two inbound rules created for IWD2, but no outbound rules. We each manually created a program-based outbound rule to allow IWD2, and after restarting the game, we were able to connect to each other.

My guess here is that he had some other conflicting firewall rule enabled that was preventing traffic for Icewind Dale II, even when automatic and manual rules for IWD2 were created and deleted several times over the course of a couple of days.

Some unimportant backstory
I was monitoring traffic using Wireshark and saw that the computers were able to communicate with each other when my friend attempted to join the game that I had loaded. As a matter of fact, Wireshark on both computers showed identical output given a filter of:

Code:

(ip.src == 192.168.1.102 && ip.dst == 192.168.1.109) || 
(ip.src == 192.168.1.109 && ip.dst == 192.168.1.102)

(Needless to say, 192.168.1.102 and 192.168.1.109 were our internal IPs, so if you decide to use Wireshark, replace those values with your own internal or external IPs.)

Seeing that the output on both computers was the same really, really pissed me off.

We didn't experience this side effect. If the client tried to connect again, he didn't see the name of the host's game, and it took just as long for it to fail the second time around.

We didn't mess with Gamespy, NetBIOS or IPv6.

I hope this info helps someone out there. If you have any questions, feel free to post them, and maybe I'll see them when I come back to look at this after our configuration screws up again. :-)

 

IWD2 Windows 7 and TCP-IP

Hey,

really great you got the game working! Been trying for a while and it sounds like our problems are identical (as well as the set-up).

Would you mind sharing what you did with Windows Firewall (not to invade yours) so that we get a better idea of how to alter the rules for the game.

Been a fan for a long time, unable to play since Windows 98. UGH

Also, if anyone can recommend actual games similar to BG and ICWD 1 & 2, and less like WOW and Guildwars and other MMORPG's you can recommend, we'd be very grateful.

Thanks a million!

Ima