Second copy of the game refuses to "connect to steam." Online game unplayable.

[XDeadzX]

So... I have a weird setup. It ends up with me running two copies of games to play together with my GF. It's a program called SoftXpand, it's multi-seat software which means it lets me load two copies of windows, two mice, two keyboards, two monitors, and run basically two "computers."

Now we're both huge fans of Prelude/beatdown, and bought in to Guardian's of Orion wayyyy back, we're both pioneer founders, but the game has never worked online together, so I figured I'd finally complain about it.

So here's the summary. The second copy of the game refuses to connect to steam. Whichever user/steam/orion copy starts second, it doesn't connect to steam. Each one connects to the correct steam so it's not like it's only detecting the one steam, it's just the second one improperly sets itself up.

I don't expect you to go out and buy the software to troubleshoot this niche bug, so here's the free easy way to test it because it happens without SoftXpand too. Install sandboxie, and create a second copy of steam/orion on your hard drive (separate folder) and run that copy in sandboxie. Now load your normal copy of steam/orion. Go to the sandboxie version, and try to connect online. Should connect fine. Now go back to the non-sandboxie version of the game, and you'll fail to connect.

If this could be fixed somehow, that would be great. I believe it to be a hardware agnostic problem, so you should be able to test/trouble shoot it using the method listed above. I just want to murder some robots and dinosaurs with my GF again :( Split screen on Orion isn't as well fleshed out with a lack of inventory.

[KandiPanda]

Hmm... While I don't have this setup, I can make a few guesses.

I know multiple players on one router is fine (I've seen it done), so that's not an issue...

Have you tried using a separate network adapter for each instance? (Either a cheap USB-to-Ethernet adapter, or possibly some sort of "virtual" adapter?) You may need something like ForceBindIP to make each one use its own NIC, though.

Just some ideas mind you, I haven't tested it, just something that comes to mind.

(Just did a little more reading before posting, also note what it says about MAC addresses in https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6370-QPHJ-3567 )

[XDeadzX]

This game is the only one that fails. Virtual adapter or not, it doesn't change anything. Orion fails to connect to the correct steam, not to the internet. The support article is irrelevant to this issue. 50+ other titles work fine, which is what leaves me to believe it's not a hardware issue.

[andymc2045]

Have you bought Orion twice??, I'm pretty sure you would have to have two seperate trek accounts with two seperate steam accounts to be able to play together at the same time :-)

[XDeadzX]

Originally posted by andymc2045:

Have you bought Orion twice??, I'm pretty sure you would have to have two seperate trek accounts with two seperate steam accounts to be able to play together at the same time :-)

Yes, I have two seperate copies of Orion, on two seperate steam accounts. Both of them connect fine seperately, but together only the first one to load connects.

[andymc2045]

No worries I was just checking, it definately sounds like an ip conflict just as KandiPanda suggested.. OK, so just to confirm, you are using the pro version of SoftXpand and have set up your SoftXpand Duo Pro for multi-ip gaming?, you can find more info here..
http://www.miniframe.com/knowledge-base.html?kbartid=168

[XDeadzX]

It's not a problem on my end, it's a problem with the game. Mutli-IP or not, it does not solve the problem. This is the only title in our shared games library that has the problem out of 250+ titles we've played. It's not an IP conflict/connection issue, it's the game not registering the steam client it was launched from properly, and instead mimics the first call of the client. Softxpand or not, the issue persists running two copies with sandboxie without SoftXpand. The game will detect the first client, then it refuses to connect to the second, in regards to the order that they are loaded.

___

Yes, I am using SoftXpand Duo Pro, the paid version. I've tried with and without vlan connections for separate IPs. It's unrelated.

[juxstepin]

Can you try it with the unreal tournament beta? It seems like a awful heavy load on the PC with 2 instances of the UE4 engine running.

[Wafflesaurus Supreme]

The issue isn't the load on the system, it's that the second account won't connect to Steam to begin with. First things first...

[KandiPanda]

Originally posted by XDeadzX:

Yes, I am using SoftXpand Duo Pro, the paid version. I've tried with and without vlan connections for separate IPs. It's unrelated.

Originally posted by http://www.miniframe.com/knowledge-base.html?kbartid=209:

2. SoftXpand workstations do NOT get different MAC addresses - Applications that require different MAC address per workstation will not work (securtiy, etc.).