Topic: Difficulties getting onto Dynaverse 2

[weegee101]

Hello,

After many years of not playing any Starfleet Command game, I've gotten the urge after one of my friends got Federation Commander from ADB.  I've been playing through an OP Mirak campaign to pass the time, but I'd like to get into D2 again.  I've followed the instructions provided by Bonk; installed fresh, patched to 2552, and installed the directory fix, all things I've done in the past (the last time I played OP was 2006).

However, after doing that, I still get an error about a firewall, so I still need help.  I opened up the ports on my router/firewall and I'm using static DHCP assignments so I know its not redistributing my IP to any of the other computers here.  I'm thinking this might be a Vista x64 issue, but I'm not sure, and I didn't want to just shrug it off as that.  Has anyone had any success at getting OP to work online in Vista?  Does anyone else have any ideas as to what I could do?

Thank you,

Weegee101

[Age]

You can not play on the Dyna D2 with Vista look for a thread made by Pestalence on this.You can however play on GSA but not the Dyna still need XP to play on it.Read this thread although it would be better if you had XP installed as well partitioned.

http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163381430.0.html

Look for the dual boot thread in Engineering.

[weegee101]

That's disappointing.  Booting with Windows XP isn't really an option for me.  I've only got two hard disks, and I'm already booting between Linux (Work), and Windows Vista (Play).  To top it off, my motherboard doesn't have any AHCI drivers for XP, so having to change a BIOS option just to reboot into XP would be a pain in the ass.  Thanks for the help.

[Pestalence_XC]

That's disappointing. Booting with Windows XP isn't really an option for me. I've only got two hard disks, and I'm already booting between Linux (Work), and Windows Vista (Play). To top it off, my motherboard doesn't have any AHCI drivers for XP, so having to change a BIOS option just to reboot into XP would be a pain in the ass. Thanks for the help.

You don't need any other hard disks.. all you need to do is Partition an existing drivew to make your computer think you have another drive..

Vista does a fine job of doing that natively.

Also ALL hardware has both XP and Vista drivers (if Vista certified).. You just have to go to the Hardware manufacturer (Not the company that built the computer) for each component.. if you have Intel Northbridge or NForce Northbridge.. get your mainboard drivers from Intel, if you have a Geforce Vid Card.. go to NVidia and get the drivers.

You see.. You can load XP on to your Vista system using a disk partition, once you are done installing XP, you can boot to XP, but you have hardly any hardwaqre functionality.. this is due to XP not recognizing Vista hardware.. remember your system was built after 2005 (last version of XP released).. this is where you need the Hardware Drivers for XP.. most specifically the Ethernet driver..

If you can get your Ethernet card working, then most likely you can download drivers from Microsoft Update, at least until you can find them on your own.. but hoepfully you have already downloaded your drivers before attempting Dual Boot just so you can save time hunting while in XP.

Plus you can still have Vista on a large partition.. Like my current set up.. I have a 320 GB HDD, I have 260 GB assigned for Vista and 38 GB assigned for XP on the partitions.

You won't need much room for XP .. you can even get by with 10 or 12 GB for the XP partition.. but I was giving some margin of error for Swap Files and more older games..

Out of my XP partition of 38 GB, I have 32.7 GB free with XP fully updated, SFC OP with OP Enhancement pack,  and Max Payne I installed... so now I have 32.7 GFB that I can play with on my XP partition.. plus I can use Vista to enlarge or shrink the partition without loss of information all I want.. If I need more room in XP, I can pull 20 GB from XP and wha la...

Anyhow.. You can Dual Boot your system, but what you have to have before you try is an XP Install Disk with Authentic installation Key... The XP disk has to be Bootable in order to install for Dual Boot.

Anyhow I hope that this information helps..

I do a lot of work on this.

[weegee101]

I know I can have 3 boots, but Currently I have 160 GB reserved for Vista, and 160 GB reserved for Linux.  I'm a freelance programmer, and I do multiplatform/porting stuff, so I need the 160 for the Linux partition since I have a lot of VMWare Guests.  Additionally, Vista is currently has 20 GB free, because I have X-Plane and FSX and a few other games installed.  I would get another hard disk, but right now I don't have that option as business is slow because of the economy, and I need to keep what cash I have.

Also ALL hardware has both XP and Vista drivers (if Vista certified).. You just have to go to the Hardware manufacturer (Not the company that built the computer) for each component.. if you have Intel Northbridge or NForce Northbridge.. get your mainboard drivers from Intel, if you have a Geforce Vid Card.. go to NVidia and get the drivers.

I have an ASUS P5B motherboard, which does not have AHCI drivers, on account that its using the ICH8.  ASUS has information on how to use AHCI for the P5B with the ICH8M, but I have an early generation P5B which only has the ICH8, which has been confirmed by ASUS, Microsoft, and Intel as not working in AHCI with XP.  Its unfortunate, and it does piss me off a little, but thats just how it is.

I do a lot of work on this.

Hehe, so do I.  :p  Thanks for the help though.  It's definitely appreciated.

Could this be a winsock issue instead of a DirectX issue though?  I don't know much about how OP initiates network connections, but I would imagine that if online play from GSA works, then it might not be a DirectPlay issue.  Has anyone tried installing old winsock .dlls to the OP directory?

I'm going to see if I can get Orion Pirates working in Linux under Wine.  I've had some good success in the past getting old DirectX games working better in Linux than on Windows Vista, so I'll have to see.  After I get it all working this evening I'll post my results, either good or bad, here.

EDIT: Does anyone actually play on GSA?  I might download that tonight if people actually play.

[KBFLordKrueg]

EDIT: Does anyone actually play on GSA?  I might download that tonight if people actually play.

Yes, although not usually in great numbers these days.
Look for KBF MuadDib's room. 
There might be a few other familiar names there from time to time.

[Roychipoqua_Mace]

Aye, Dib is a good host and he usually adds in some rules to make the game more fun.

The most active times are usually 8 PM - 11 PM Eastern, with most players on weekend nights. A good night still brings about 20 players which isn't bad.

[Bonk]

I'm going to see if I can get Orion Pirates working in Linux under Wine.  I've had some good success in the past getting old DirectX games working better in Linux than on Windows Vista, so I'll have to see.  After I get it all working this evening I'll post my results, either good or bad, here.

We've had moderate success running OP on Wine:
http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163377223.0.html
As  I recall where I left off it was hanging at mission end on the Dynaverse, but that was a good few Wine versions ago. Also, sound was iffy, but there's been a major ALSA release since, as yet untested with OP as far as I know.