LAN not working. Can create a LAN game but its not visible

[Davy Jones]

I've come back to this game after a while and have two PCs running Win 8.1 x64.

I've installed the base game, added the conversion pack and 1.3 patch (available in the guides) and added the patched game executable that shows games on Gameranger.

Before any changes I could setup a LAN game but the other PC would not see it. After installing all the packs and patches still no LAN games show.

I've checked the firewall and everything else so I'm a bit lost at this point. Maybe it doesn't work in 8.1 or something or I need to open a port somewhere? Any help at all would be appreciated.

[SHIM BLUESY]

is both pcs on the same internet?

[Scott (GameRanger Dev)]

Originally posted by crankigeek:

and added the patched game executable that shows games on Gameranger.

GameRanger does not require any patches. You might be confusing it with the other hack.

[Davy Jones]

Sorry yes, I meant to add that both PCs are connected to the same Network. LAN works for Minecraft although I've been needing to use the direct connection option in Minecraft since the browse for local servers stopped working where it had worked before. It appears empty and refreshing the view doesn't help.

The LAN game for Battlefront II use to work. Windows has been reinstalled on the PCs since. One of them can be more troublesome than the other for some unknown reason since they run the same OS.

And yes it wasn't a Gameranger patch. Rather some executable I found a link to here on Steam that I downloaded and uses to replace BattlefrontII.exe in the GameData folder. And now the Internet section of multiplayer is showing games, although I'm not really sure where they're coming from, not GameSpy anyway :)

Suffice it to say I'm a bit lost since both are on the same network and the net connection works and is normal and once the OS was installed I only updated to 8.1. There's no third-party firewall, anti-virus or internet protection apps installed. Just vanilla windows. One of them has Hamachi installed but I've checked to make sure that the Wifi connection has priority in the list of connections etc.

[Scott (GameRanger Dev)]

Yeah, it's only showing a small subset of the players with that hacked exe. Most of the active SWBF2 players are on GameRanger.

I'm not sure what could be blocking the PCs from seeing each other with SWBF2, but you could try hosting a private game on GameRanger and launching SWBF2 from that. GameRanger may be able to bypass the firewall problems that SWBF2 couldn't do by itself.

A few users have reported that they needed to run GameRanger as administrator on Windows 8, so you may need to do that as well if it doesn't work first go.

[Caligo Clarus]

First part doesn't matter, the new master server and game ranger can both be used together simultaneously. The gameshare.co master server games will show up in the SWBF2 game under "internet", and GR games are listed under "LAN" last time I played.

[Davy Jones]

Okay I'll try Gameranger. I guess there's a guide here somewhere

[Scott (GameRanger Dev)]

Originally posted by BrandeX:

GR games are listed under "LAN" last time I played.

GameRanger uses SWBF2's Internet mode, not LAN mode. This changed back in April 2014, I think.

[Davy Jones]

I have GR installed, two accounts created which are linked and I tried hosting a private match. Steam and the game launched and the host PC was places in the BFII MP host a game screen. When "Internet" is selected I get the GameSpy error as normal but a match seems to start.. The other account tries to join and is placed in the user profile screen. At this point I'm at a bit of a loss on what to do.

1. How is Gameranger integrating with the game installation? It it supposed to replace the component that defaults to GameSpy for MP games on the internet?

2. Should I reinstall the game so it's the vanilla 1.1 version from Steam? And reintall the conversion packs along with the 1.3 patch?

3. I noticed that when I started with BFII through GR there was a prompt for "install con 2.2"

Is there a step-by-step guide to follow some where?

[Caligo Clarus]

If you are trying to play with 2 PC's in the same house, you don't need any of this stuff. Just run SWBF2 by itself.

[Davy Jones]

Yes had been trying that but LAN play wasn't working. Create LAN game on one but not visible on the other and vice versa

[Caligo Clarus]

Yea, you'll just want to get that straightened out. Going over the internet to play someone on the same LAN is worse.

[Davy Jones]

I got it working with Gameranger. I have two copies of the game, one for each account which I wanted to use. I reinstalled the game, conversion packs and the patch and then tried LAN again but no go. I had another look at GameRanger and realised that once the host game is setup that the other player just needs to select Join. I don't know if the modiifed executable i was using was an issue.

Anyway it appears to be working now so thanks all for the help

[Scott (GameRanger Dev)]

Just to be clear, using GameRanger to play on a LAN will still send all game traffic over the LAN, despite it using SWBF2's "Internet" mode. ie. There's no disadvantage to doing that.

[Davy Jones]

Yes, the host PC is hosting the game which when one froze the game ended. So the net connection is only used to get the ball rolling so to speak. If my description makes any sense :)