How to set up a multiplayer server for Eco using Hamachi (very outdated)

THIS GUIDE IS INCREDIBLY OUTDATED AND WAS MADE IN 2018, JUST USE STEAM MULTIPLAYER :)

This guide is created to teach you how to set up an Eco server for you and your friends (not a public server for randoms to join). This guide was made especially due to the fact that no guides currently exist for this. Finally, this guide will be split into four sections, setting up Hamachi, setting up the Eco server, configuring firewalls, and putting it all together.

Downloads and other important information and specifications

IMPORTANT NOTEAccording to a moderator who is part of the official eco discord, using Hamachi may casue corruption in your world. I HIGHLY reccomend you play with only one friend or two as more people will most likely cause more problems. In the future I will make a new guide explaining how to create a server via more safe methods, but as far as I've seen (which is only about thirty minutes) this method is safe, but don't quote me on that. IMPORTANT NOTE

As a little intro to this guide other than the little summary above, this task is not an easy one and will take a little bit of time to accomplish. If you encounter and troubles or issues, post a comment. I will most likely reply within a day or two depending on whether or not I remember to check the comments.

Here are the things you'll need to download for this whole mess to work:

Hamachi:

https://www.vpn.net/

Eco server:

Downloading the server is a little bit different. I assume that if you found this guide, you're probably using Steam, in which case you will need to first hover over your library button. Click on "Tools" and scroll through them until you see "Eco Server". Download this for later.

If you don't have Eco for Steam, then start by going to the Eco website: https://ecoauth.strangeloopgames.com/home . Goto "Account" and make sure you're logged in. If you are then you'll see in the "Eco Download" section a download called "Server". Click on this to download it and in the file you'll see a file named "EcoServer.exe". That's the file you'll need for later. I reccomend adding a shortcut to this file to your desktop for ease of acess.

Here's a list of notes that I wanted to add before we really get into things:

1. Setting up an Eco server varies depending on whether or not the computer you're hosting on is the same one you're playing on. I wil bring this up every time it's important so just keep a look out and make sure there isn't an alternate step you have to take.

2. If you encounter any issues, post a comment as I am basically a professional at this point on this subject.

3. If you're interested in a different way to set up an Eco server and you're having issues, join the Eco discord, here's a link: https://discord.gg/eco

4. If steam flags any of my links as bad, just manually type them into your browser, steam is weird about stuff like links sometimes.

With all of that out of the way, let's begin the "fun" part.

Setting up Hamachi

FOR THE OWNER

After downloading Hamachi open the program and click on the power button in the top left

You will then want to open up network and create a new network (You can see the network my friend and I use for Eco behind the option to create a new network)

After this you will need to put a network name and a network password, make sure to write it down or have it as something easy to guess

FOR THE JOINER

After the person making the network has created it you will need to join it. To do this hit the power button shown in the first image in *FOR THE OWNER* and then click on network and select "Join an existing network"

Simply put in the Network ID and Network password that the owner used and then you'll be in the same network as them!

IMPORTANT NOTE

As mentioned in the notes before this section, this will differ depending on whether the computer you're using to play on the server is also hosting the server or not. If you are hosting the server on your computer that you're using to play with, then you have nothing to worry about. If you're using a different computer to host the server you'll need to create a Hamachi account for both computers for this to work. Have the computer hosting be the owner of the Hamachi network and simply have the computer you're using be a member of the network.

Setting up your Eco server

Now we're going to set up the server so it works properly.

First, you will want to start by opening the server either through the exe file you downloaded from the Eco page or through Steam by simply launching it.

This will be the first screen you'll see after the command prompt window has finished doing its thing
This screen isn't imporant and you'll want to start by going to difficulty settings. Once there you will want to click on "MediumCollaboration" and scroll until you get to the level of collaboration suitable for however many players you want to have on your server. Here's a link explaining how mahy players will be present for each level: https://eco.gamepedia.com/Getting_Started#Collaboration
After this goto the tab "Network" and do the following: First, set "PublicServer" to "false" if not already done by default. Next, you can set the description of your server and the name of it when it appears in the server list for your friends and you (for example, mine will appear as "Ecoserver" with no description based on the info below). This next step depends on whether or not the computer you're hosting with is the same you're using to play. If the computer you're hosting with is the same computer you'll be playing on then: set the "GameServerPort" to 4000 and the "WebServerPort" to 4001. If the computer you are hosting on is NOT the one you're using to play on, then keep these two values as their defaults (3000 and 3001, respectively). Finally, set the "DetectNAT" setting to false. Keep the rest of the settings the same. (THIS IMAGE DOES NOT SHOW WHAT THE DEFAULT VALUES ARE.)

To save all this work simply hit "File" in the top left and "Save".

Let's move on to configuring your firewalls!

Configuring and testing firewalls

I'm going to say this flat out, this section is the most confusing and complicated and I barely understand what is happening here, but it works.

A couple of good notes are:

*If you have any firewalls other than windows defender firewall, either uninstall them or work around them as they WILL interfere with this process

*You will need admin permissions on your computer

*I have already done all of this so my windows WILL look different from yours at first but you can compare at the end

*If you have more than you and one other person playing, or your host computer is seperate from the computer you'll be playing on, do the steps for each system that needs checking.

To start, open up CMD through your search bar and do the following.

Step 1:

Type the following into CMD:

"ping 127.0.0.1"

If it says that your request timed out, make a note of this and move on to the next step.

Step 2:

Goto Hamachi and copy the ip next to your power button OR right click on the ip next to the power button and click "Copy IPv4 adress"

Type the following into CMD:

"ping [the ip you copied]"

If it says that your request timed out, make a note of this and move on to the next step.

Step 3:

Goto Hamachi and right click on your friend's computer/username and click "Copy IPv4 adress"

Type the following into CMD:

"ping [your friend's ip that you copied]"

If it says that your request timed out, make a note of this and move on to the next step.


The next section will be broken into two pieces depending on your results, follow both steps if both of the above failed, IF NEITHER FAILED YOU CAN SKIP TO THE NEXT BOLD SECTION.

IF STEP ONE OR TWO OR BOTH FAILED

First you will want to search in your search bar "fir" and click on Windows Defender Firewall

Once the firewall window is open click on "Advanced settings"

Next you will have to right click on the top file in the picture below and goto its properties.

In these properties you will need to goto "Public Profile" first and "Private Profile" second and follow the same steps for both. First you will want to click on the "customize"
button.

Next you have to uncheck Hamachi, hit "OK", hit "Apply", and then your settings should be configured correctly.

To test that this worked correctly go back to the top of this section and redo steps 1 and 2. If they work then you're done with configuring your firewall. If not post a comment and I will try to help you look into it. Again I'm not an expert and this is confusing to me so I may not be able to help you but I can try,

IF STEP THREE FAILED

If this step failed then that means your friend's firewall is incorrectly configured. Send the directions for step 1 and 2 failures above and have them follow it.

AFTER FIXING/IF NONE FAILED

I reccomend you redo steps 1 and 2 to double check that everything is in working order. If it is then your firewall should be configured to handle the server using Hamachi.

Finally, let's put it all together and hope it works!

Putting it all together

After setting up Hamachi, your server, and the firewall, it's time to put it all together.

With the host device, open up the EcoServer.exe/steamapp thing. Next, open up Hamachi and double click on each person you're trying to connect with. It should open up a window and start "pinging" them. If it gives you a "Request Timed Out" refer to "Configuring and Testing firewalls" and "Setting up the Eco server" sections and make sure you followed all the steps correctly.

After this start up Eco. In the "Join" menu you will see a list of the servers. Click on the option to add a new server at the top. For the IP you will need to take the IPv4 adress from the system hosting the server in Hamachi and use that. For the port you will need to use either 3001 or 4001 based on which you used in "Setting up the Eco server". Refresh the page and if all goes well, you'll have yourself an Eco server! If it doesn't work, make sure you read all of my notes and don't skip any steps. If you follow everything perfectly, there may very well be an error in the guide. If you believe this is the case, leave a comment and I will look over everything and make sure it's all correct.

Special thanks

Figuring all of this out was a lot of guess work and throwing together information I found on the internet. Some useful sites were the Eco wiki, the Hamachi support page, and the Eco discord. In more detail I'd like to thank my friend for helping me through the five or six hours this took to set up, and DeathTech on the Eco discord for some useful advice near the end of this project.

[Spyseand6]

@Matchun i totally forget how the steam multiplayer works for eco; havent touched the game in years, i only remember that it was much easier to setup than the six hours my friend and i spent getting hamachi to work. in case you havent already (considering my reply is a couple weeks later), id advise just joining whatever official discord the game may have and asking for help there.

[Matchun]

@Spayseand6 What does “just use steam multiplayer” mean? As far as I can tell, we need to use Eco Server. If there is a way to play multiplayer using only Steam features without Eco Server, please let me know.

[Spyseand6]

@HS Leo sorry for the late reply, but my man, don't use hamachi for eco anymore lmao. just use steam multiplayer

[Spyseand6]

@Solution Epsilon this guide is almost 4 years old, back when there wasn't steam multiplayer and 3rd party software or manual port forwarding was needed. My friend and I couldn't be bothered to figure out port forwarding and already had hamachi installed and knew how to use it for the most part, and I decided to write a guide on the process since it took us like 2 or 3 hours

[Dwezer]

Why?
Option A - Just set public and password you can share with your friends
Option B - Buy public IP(or set dynamic dns if you don't wanna buy it), set FW rules and share IP to you friends.
no need to use 3rd party software

[HS Leo]

i says error when verifying login token

[小邵不睡觉]

有中文版吗

[Kali_Snake]

Still use Hamachi, super outdated but it still works on some old games like Supreme Commander. Never got to use it on Eco though.

[Sparky Summers]

Good for him but man that is some outdated software. Didn't even know it still existed.

[Spyseand6]

@Sparky Stardust Summers my friend and I had Hamachi on hand and halfway through this drawn out process it was too late to go back. best part is that this guide is obsolete now thanks to steam multiplayer, but hey that one guy in the comments got some use out of it.