FlatOut 2 | How to play online without LAN.

How to play online without any LAN emulators like hamachi, tunngle etc.

OBSOLETE

As of 20.07.2024, this patch was incorporated into the official game. The multiplayer now works out of the box. Thank you all for playing!

Disclaimer

I feel like I should mention that this method was originally discovered (or maybe even created) by Dead Snow. Here's the guide http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=389374146) But since it was in russian and people are still questioning how to play online in the discussions, I decided that I should make my own guide, to help people revisit this truly nostalgic trip of a videogame that holds up surprisingly well even to this day, the way it was meant to be played, and to just get more people playing in general.

Setting it up

Step one: You are going to need the patched FlatOut2.exe file (it uses OpenSpy):

Link : https://me ga.nz/#!doMjAL5T!RVhCFtmIC27DbdfAukiPJvZvl9U46YfMNkofpdxyFLA
(the link is split in 2 parts)

Alt Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JZkOENL5MJ4LV8HL-2FX1zddoZUNd87-


Step two: Replace the original FlatOut 2.exe file in the game's core folder with this modified one.

Step three: Run the game through Steam (not a necessary step, but otherwise, your overlay won't work and Steam won't count how many hours you've played, etc).

And now you're all set! Now it's time to head into the game.

Hosting a Game

(You do this in-game)

Multiplayer --> Online --> Host Game, choose your track, customize the match settings, etc

After that you should be put in the lobby, where you just have to wait for people to join your game.

Joining a Game

(You do this in-game as well, of course)

Multiplayer --> Online --> Find Games, and then just join any game you want!



And, here are some screenshots!
(my UI is a bit messed up, because I used ThirteenAG's widescreen fix, which I actually highly recommend if you're using a widescreen monitor: https://thirteenag.github.io/wfp#flatout2 )












(I lost that race because I'm absolutely horrible at flatout \o/)







Quick Notes:
- You need to have the same version of the game as the people who are going to play with you.
- You technically don't need to have the Steam version of the game for this to work.

"This Game Session is No Longer Available"

If you're unable to connect to most online games, getting the "This game session is no longer available" message, then follow this guide below:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1616603438

That's all.

And that's pretty much it.

Feel free to ask me any questions you might have in the comment section, and I'll do my best to respond to them.

Thanks for reading this guide, and have fun!

Special Thanks:

B Dawg -- For spreading the guide and generally helping people on FlatOut 2's Steam Discussions.

Tussmorke -- For also spreading the guide and helping people on FO2's Steam Forums, as well as his all-around help on the FlatOut Discord server.



Thank y'all for your contributions to the FlatOut community. No, really, without not only those guys, but all of you people who used this guide and maybe even spread it around, we probably wouldn't have had such a surprisingly alive multiplayer community for a game that's turning 13 years old this summer, and is largely forgotten about in the mainstream. And remember - if you've contributed to this whole thing yourself and I haven't credited you here personally, it doesn't mean that I'm still not grateful.

anyways have fun online guys xoxo

[GLOBEL ELITE]

I still cant Connect to servers even with port forward

[TUYmerik]

Glad to know it's still helping someone!

[かぐや]

Thanks for keeping this guide for players who have disc version of the game.

[Serhii0659]

I got same problem as guy before me in new version, "This Game Session is No Longer Available"

[TUYmerik]

So yeah, the official patch was very unexpected, but is very welcome. Thank you to everyone who dedicated their time to spreading this guide around in the discussions and boosting the OpenSpy playerbase, and thank you all for being a part of this game's community for so many years. This game is very special to me, and I'm glad that there are still people around to play it. Here's to another 8 years of multiplayer!

[Backr∞ms Entity]

Is this game still active?

[YoshiCity]

i got same problem as guy before me, i used programm from guide and tried to open 23756 and 23757 ports manually in router, it doesnt work, i still cant play online, i guess here's only 1 solution - emulate lan connection with your friends with hamachi, thats sad

[Fr3akY_S0uL]

Hello guys, I see all multiplayer games, but I cant connect to them. I forwarded the port on my router to 23756, also I enabled all ports in firewall for this game. I am quite desperate right now. I have tried everything. It keeps writing "This Game Session is No Longer Available". Also if use this command in command line "netstat -na | find "23756"" I can see that the port is working.

[TuuHee]

tested today 4-10 servers every server has players :D

[TUYmerik]

It... really doesn't. What do you mean?