Original Z Steel Soldiers (Bitmap Brothers) Multiplayer help

[Nocalora]

Hey there, I recently found an old CD of the Game, installed it and got it working somehow, after I patched it to the newest vesion I asked myself how I would go to host a Multiplayer game

I actually have much experience in multiplayer hosting such as Dedicated Servers, Portmapping and etc. But this game kinda give me a real headache: I can't get it working with Tunngle, nor with a actual Connect over my actual IP Address.

Can someone please care enough (or the devs themselves) to tell me maybe the needed Port for Z: Steel Soldiers to host a game, or a small Note on how to Successfuly Host a Game that other People can Join? (Tunngle LAN or Internet, I don't care on how, I just want to make it work)

Thanks in advance and I hope I get an Answer by the devs.

[HessXXX]

The devs wouldn't know, however I do. Unfortunately, you need to install gamespy initially (yes I know it won't work) you then need to download the proper file to "update" the game to work on gamespy. I no longer have this file I don't think, but I can double check and let you know. After that you can play it on I think GameRanger worked last time I did it. I spent 2 years trying to get the game to work on a modern PC then another year trying to get the multiplayer portion to work. As a background, and the MP portion was a HUGE work around. Also do NOT use the Virus in MP in the original game, it will crash your PC. If I remember right it was one of the biggest bugs.

[HessXXX]

Just checked, and I do not have the original file on this PC, I may have it on an old HDD. Sorry dude

[Nocalora]

Thanks for the info, gotta search the net for that gamespy workaround thing.

And one more thing: Did you try IPX?, because this was the connection method I wanted to try next when I get the chance to play with my friends. Funny thing was, even tho Tunngle accepts IPX and uses it (apparantly) I did never get the IPX selectable in the connection box, but once I installed IPXWrapper it appeard out of nowhere.

[HessXXX]

If I remember right that is another one of the bugs that was never fixed in the original game, I don't think we ever got it to work. However, if you do get it to work let me know and I will be more than happy to come and play with yall. This game would have been great if the developers had kept at it instead of giving up... The original would have been awesome too if Bit Map hadn't gone under lol

[Nocalora]

I will let you know if I make it work somehow, oh and btw, do you maybe know the default port used for internet play?, Because I don't neccesarily want to open the exe with a debugger and search for it manually since it takes a fair amount of time.

[HessXXX]

Yup, it is the ports that Game Ranger uses, anything further than that I am not absolutely certain, but we never had any of those issues

[Fitzy]

I know this is a pretty old thread and apologies for the necro but i'd love to know how you get the original version to run on modern Os? I've been having no luck getting my retail copy working on windows 10, not sure if 7 is more appropriate?

[Nocalora]

I reckon it actually worked fine on my (then) Windows 7 OS. But I think you can make it work by enabling all the legacy DirectX stuff in the windows features (Things like DirectPlay, stuff like that).

Alternatively you might need to use external programs like DxWnd to help start the game.
Beware you might need to use a IPX Emulator running on your LAN if you plan to play multiplayer, I forgot to respond to this thread; but IPX was the way to go for networked gaming ^^

[Fitzy]

Thanks for the response Nocalora, I've finally made some progress on this with the help of dgvoodoo.

The first time i Tried using it the game started up just fine, cut scenes play without issues and the game works albeit with glacier framerates, this is exciting progress, never even got the game to start on windows 10 before!

I removed some of the files i initially added from dgvoodoo(My initial try was fairly brute force as I just threw all the dlls in and seeing what would stick. Removing the non direct x 8 dlls fixed the frame rate issue I initially had when tested in a skirmish game but trying to skip the cutscene to test the campaign mission caused the game to freeze.

I'll experiment with this later to see if I can get this fully sorted but i'm fairly chuffed to have even gotten this far.

[Nocalora]

Im not sure about the freeze, but Im just gonna assume its probably fixable by experimenting with dgvoodo's settings.

Another thing you need to keep in mind is that the game doesn't handle high framerate well; higher framerate will make the game run at ridiculous speeds.
IIRC I had to limit my system wide refreshrate via nvidia control panel to have a somewhat normal experience, as limiting by other means didn't quite work out for me then.

[HessXXX]

Originally posted by Fitzy:

Thanks for the response Nocalora, I've finally made some progress on this with the help of dgvoodoo.

The first time i Tried using it the game started up just fine, cut scenes play without issues and the game works albeit with glacier framerates, this is exciting progress, never even got the game to start on windows 10 before!

I removed some of the files i initially added from dgvoodoo(My initial try was fairly brute force as I just threw all the dlls in and seeing what would stick. Removing the non direct x 8 dlls fixed the frame rate issue I initially had when tested in a skirmish game but trying to skip the cutscene to test the campaign mission caused the game to freeze.

I'll experiment with this later to see if I can get this fully sorted but i'm fairly chuffed to have even gotten this far.

I was able to get the original to work by installing it to Program Files in your C: Drive as opposed to Program Files(x86) I can't tell you how long it took me to figure that out. I never used dgvoodoo. Maybe giving my method a try will correct your problem without having to mess around with a 3rd party program. Sorry for such a late reply, I don't pay attention to these forums anymore since the Devs decided to just abandon their work instead of trying to actually fix anything.