XP Pro crossover peer-to-peer games problem

[olderrocker]

Hi

I have a desktop and laptop both running XP pro and have them peer to peer networked with xover cable. I can file share, map drives and printers etc OK but cannot play LAN games over the network (used to have no probs with win 95/98 machines of old)

I have tried various permutations in the network setting area to no avail. Are there other setting to consider in XP which will allow LAN games? I am going round in circles with these network settings so any help would be greatly appreciated
(I have two sons breathing down my neck fo this to work !!)

Thanks in advance

 

[bcastner]

You need to do a small amount of work:

1. Try with no firewalls enabled. If that works, you will need to configure the firewalls to open the ports required by the games. Steve Winograd has some suggestions on his site, but the manufacturer of the Game likely lists the ports required to be opened on the firewall.

cf.

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/ics/icsconfig_maps_pg2.htm

2. Both machines should have the XP uPnP client and the Discovery GDI installed. Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Add/Remove Windows Components, Networking Services, check both the Internet Device Discovery and Control, and the Universal Plug and Play boxes. OK your way back to the desktop.

3. Both machines should have the latest DirextX client from Microsoft Update site. This is not just for video or sound reasons, the DirectX package contains some core APIs for handling NAT traversal.

Best.
Bill Castner

 

[olderrocker]

Bill...thanks for the prompt reply - no firewalls and machines are at your criteria to no avail - any other suggestions

Thanks ...

 

[bcastner]

Often the trick on a local lan is to respect the port assignments.

(all ports mentioned are articifical from here on)

User1 is assigned in the configuration of the program to user #1 UDP and TCP common 1900, out 19002, in 19001
user #2 UDP and TCP common 1900, out 19001, in 19002

 

[olderrocker]

Thanks - had some progress - setup ip addresses on both machines and managed to ping them OK
Some games worked but there are a couple that refuse to let us join a game in the LAN lobby. (both players can be seen ok)
Games forums do not offer much help -
Do all games use LAN IP settings ? - I distinctly remember win95/98 using IPX connections and NETBUI (which is not supported by XP, I believe).
Any help from anyone is greatly appreciated - Thanks

 

[bcastner]

Netbui and IPX are not routable, so while it is an alternative to using straight Netbios it would not help if the game had an internet component.

As you can be seen in the "Lobby", and you apparantly can see each other in your local area network, neither Netbui nor IPX is an issue, although both could be used under Windows XP.

It just is not a source of the problem. One thing that you should explore is that if the Games are running under MSN, you need to redo your .NET passwords because of changes made by MSN to the the .NET password facility used in their Game Zones. You have to re-register your .NET passwords for these zones. I do not recall why, but there was a deadline to re-register, and it might well have been September 1, 2003.