i found it:

http://www.rakkarsoft.com/raknet/manual/lightweightdatabase.html


also raknet has support for voice communication

i compiled the sample app, here it is to download, its all there all we need is a gui to interface it ans to integrate a chat system(as supplied in another example project..)!

check it out by running two instances of this exe, one server and the other client, then connect the client to 127.0.0.1 and yer in !


http://ja2.h758491.serverkompetenz.net/Multiplayer-haydent/dev/LightweightDatabase.rar

yea i tried the new exe just before. one of us would host, the other person would join and displays the messages about game settings and the hosts gets ID_new_connection or something like that. host goes to press 3 and receives msg "a client must be connected for game to start".

once i hosted my own server and then pressed 2 (same computer), so i joined it. then i pressed 3 and it worked, got mercs and bobby rays, had to use 7 to override so i can deploy and unleash hell on the poorly equipped soldiers. so the placement error didnt come up which is good.

i might go try lan

its that time of the night again here at the end of another day and another release:


rev. 03012008 -- A heap more requested change additions:
* Timed Player Turns is now an option again, and the time allowed is adjustable from the ini ! (TIMED_TURN_SECS_PER_TICK)
* More externalised ini server variables: MAX_MERCS, STARTING_BALANCE, TIMED_TURN_SECS_PER_TICK, DISABLE_BOBBY_RAYS, DISABLE_AIM_AND_MERC_EQUIP
* M.E.R.C. hires now incur nominated daily salary apon hire.
* All Game Options Screen choices are now only taken into effect by the server, and sent to the clients from there...
* 1 day contract length for AIM is now only option


---------------------
Coming Soon, afp's tracer mod to be added !

thanks to RoWa21 for the timed turns suggestion, it was real easy... almost all the code was still there just commented out since ja2 gold ! it really turns the heat on.

as well to redgun for the suggestion to disable equip and booby ray for custom maps..

yes thats something i think i need to make a little clearer or integrate it to happen automatically, i think the later, you have to connect to yourself with the client once the server is running, to play

Im there, when you come home join:P

@haydent: I tested a coop game with 2 clients. I enabled enemies in the ini file.
I noticed some strange behaviour with the enemies in tactical. Let me give you an example:

On client 1 I see an enemy E1 with my merc A. On client 2 I will move my merc B to the enemy E1. But the enemy E1 is not visible on client 2. Later I see a new enemy E2 on client 2 which is not shown on client 1.
Also if I move my merc B from client 2 near the enemy E1 (which is not visible on client 2, but I know it from client 1 where the enemy E1 is located), the enemy E1 does not notice my merc B on client 2. The enemy runs away and do not shoot at the merc B.

Greetings

@haydent:
What about adding a new INI entry for the team-name of each client. You could output the team-name in brackets after the client #number (e.g: "Client 1 (My Team-Name)")
Also if you play coop, and a merc on client 1 kills an enemy, you could output the text string in tactical on the other clients.

e.g: "Client 2 (My Team-name): Shadow killed an enemy."

@Dr-D.

I'm there.

first match played; Dr-D pretty much decimated my team.
well he had a little advantage, he could also shoot during my turns.

so i am the best JA2 MP player of the world?

IM the CHAMPION!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway

major bug when not timed turns

@redgun, dr-d: I would also like to join your multiplayer game. Seems to be fun :-)

@RoWa: #ja-galaxy @ quakenet

make sure to type my name so i get an acustic warning in the chat. otherwise, i might not see it
unluckily i couldn't make any ingame screens, because i was busy trying to use my turns.

Haydent, which development environment do you use?
I tried to compile the multiplayer code, but I did not find any Visual Studio project file.
Please check, if all of your project files, source files and header files are commited to svn. Thanks!

@redgun: Do you have ICQ? It is much more comfortable to me.
My ICQ#: 329-041-713

today the first, right configured MP-game was played: RoWa21 was so kind and took the time to test with me, and these are our experiences:

1. take your time to configure the JA2_MP.ini if you don't it's going to suck. this was what happened to Dr-D and me, i guess we had the same client_num.

2. if you set bside to 0, you can not only play coop, but also play real-time JA2 Deathmatch. but that sucks. big time. so take your time and configur the inis right.

3. there's something wrong with the sync, or the sight. sometimes a opposing merc will jsut appear three tiles in front of you. I don't know if that is lag. but it is something that has to be tested. we'll test more tomorrow.

4. it's so amazingly awesome, its probably one of the most thrilling gaming experiences i've ever had.
we played 2vs2 and so you can't cover a whole 180° field. so constant movement was rather important.

5. haydent you're the very best. this is the most important step for JA2 since 1.13. Thank you so much.

6. or darn, I forgot to make some pictures.

it gets better, im well underway into upgrading the combat system ! Soon the bullet path trajectory will be the same on all clients so you can see the bullet comin' for you or arc'ing off for a miss.

there will be synced ground, window, structure, merc hits! no more seeing the bullet go past your merc only to be damaged after...

ill look into those bugs right away, it sounds since implementing the timed turns mode (and not testing it being off) there is a small check and edit needed

as for the AI sync issues i was sure something would come up, as ive never tested it yet, as never fully integrated the AI's orders to be sent over the net, just some early work from my alpha still there that became relevant when the AI was recently enabled. i will look into this too.

im using vs 2003, https://81.169.133.124/source/ja2/branches/JA2_Multiplayer/Build/JA2.sln is my project file i work with... the svn is out dated at the moment though by several releases due to my copy home becoming corrupted and needing new checkout to commit from, but i have too slow interet to do from home, some day soon...

"so i am the best JA2 MP player of the world?" - well statistically speaking probably pretty close if not the current lead fragger...

the idea of client name i have thought of, and may be done by next release if i can...


im excited though more about the possibility of a game server lobby browser, and master game lobby server for hooking up match's ! all we need is a gui, i got the code, any takers ?? player accounts even stats, though being open source could lead to some issues of cheating, but i think thats impossible to avoid all together...

since there are only about three people who played, you are at least in the top three. to speak of someone being best is a little bit early, especially when the settings were messed up. right now there's still some issues left, that definitely rule out competitive gameplay.

however tt is important to start playing now, so we learn the issues of gameplay and that we can give haydent (and possible other developers) important feedback.


EDIT: IMPORTANT
Please don't make a gui for stats yet, as people won't be interested in playing, but rather in winning. this won't be positive for testing.

@haydent: Is it possible for you to merge the new changes since version 1080 from main svn source code to your mutliplayer code. I know that there are a lot of changes and as long as the project goes on there will be much more. In the future we would like to merge your multiplayer code in the main svn source code. If you need help merging the code, just tell me.

just had a game over the net, worked fine apart from the fact that my mate basically killed nails before i realised - he shot him in real time, not turn time. it only went to turn time once i saw an enemy.

thanks haydent, now i'm off for another game

Probably it's easier to put the multiplayer code into the newest version from svn. In that case only couple of projects need to be changed.

Hi guys,
i have a great problem with starting a mp-game in JA 1.13
i extracted the files ja_mp, the .exe and the "no-intro"-file into my general JA-Folder (next to the other exes). if i want to start a game via ja-mp.exe (version 03.01.08) the following message occurs:
"RUNTIME ERROR"
Asssertion Failure -- Line 527 in c:\.....\jagged alliance 2 v1.13 - source code 1.0.0.1080\built\intro.ccp
Wether English nor German works. Maybe you built English - but have only German or other foreign Disk?

just 4 info: i installed the German version with JA 1.13 (1080). Disk is a German one.

Hope you can help me because i'm a great fan of the JA Series - especially JA2 v1.13.
....and I always wanted to play it against other players.

@Commander: The multiplayer version is only in english for the english JA2 1.13 version.

@lalien: Yes haydent should get the latest svn source code and should merge the multiplayer stuff in. That would be much easier.

is it enough to install version 1.13 on a german version of JA2 or do i need the complete english version? where can i get an english version of JA2 ? the problem is: i am from germany. so i can't buy it...

you need to "buy" JA2 Gold. It's very cheap right now.

@haydent: we tested and played around a bit, here are some things that we discovered:

- bobby rays. acts messy sometimes. (-< screenshot)
- skipping interrupts
- interrupts eding bad (one player realtime, but no APs left message)
- different things need to go into the server file. I won't tell here, i don't want to create abuse.
- can't end turns sometimes
- we couldn't figure out how do move the start sector
- roofs won't crash the game, but can be considered cheating
- sometimes it skips interrupts on the player the is being interrupted. (message: LAN interrupt skipped)
- turn sync - sometimes the others can run in my turns. I see one of his mercs. my turn, i aim, the opposite merc runs away. I'm left in real time with 25 APs left.
- client 1 HAS to get he first turn, otherwise it is messed up.
- impossible hits
- mercs appearing from the air. simply 'materializing' inside of your field of view


Is there anything we should test especially?

@ Redgun

Please remove or make your picture smaller in your above post. Because it makes this thread very hard to read when you have to scroll sideways.

Thanks

pics is removed now.

client1/server has got to have the first turn.
field of view is alittle buggy

explosives and grenades aren'T work.

the mortar does work, but it isn't syncronised, at least so it seems.

You can set the startsector on the airspace map. This works.

haydent, me and redgun just tested the mp a little and heres the bugs I encountered:

In windowed mode(possibly also in full screen) the game will always start at 1024x768 regardless of the option set in Ja2.ini. Resolved, its the editor option, not main game.

Placing a 3rd BR order crashed the game

Placing order after ready crashed the game

At 1st sight, turn based game wont start, only when 2nd player also views enemy. (happened allot)

Turn based game wont end if 2 turns passed with out enemy sight.

All passive damage is not working, grenades, explosives, C4, Rockets, mustard gas. and it will synchronize out, making mercs killed by a grenade appear alive in the owner game and dead in the killer game.
This is also true when you destroy a wall, that player will see no wall, other players will see wall intact.


Some mercs are able to see the enemy in front of them, others will not.

Some enemy mercs will warp around. despairing, and appearing else where.

Drooped items are not visible to enemy

Roof placed mercs can see the enemy, enemy cant see them.

This was with (both of us had the same 1.13 and exe version):
ja2_mp_debug_prebeta-03012008.exe
using Data-1.13 Rev 921

MAX_CLIENTS = 2
MAX_MERCS = 6
DAMAGE_MULTIPLIER = 1
STARTING_BALANCE = 40000
TIMED_TURN_SECS_PER_TICK = 20
INTERRUPTS = 1
SAME_MERC = 1
PLAYER_BSIDE = 1
DISABLE_BOBBY_RAYS = 0
DISABLE_AIM_AND_MERC_EQUIP = 0
ENEMY_ENABLED = 0
CREATURE_ENABLED = 0
MILITIA_ENABLED = 0
CIV_ENABLED = 1

@dr-d:

You have to change the property EDITOR_SCREEN_RESOLUTION in the ja2.ini to change the resoultion for the multiplayer exe.

thanx

Coop works very well in turnbased. basic combat against enemies seems to work.

+ standing, crouching, lying and movement works just the way it should. amazing job done
+ interrupt works also, it didn't cause any problems.
+ shooting generally works good, however the ballistics aren'T synced yet I guess?
+ aiming works after a shot is fired, but manually aiming (L-key) isn't displayed on the other client
+ starting on the same sector-edge in coop works without problems.
+ when the last enemy is killed both clients go back to real time.
+ realtime is unsynced, if one client pauses the game (in order to type in ICQ or IRC); this might also happen in tunbased, we don't know for sure. I think this is the thing that explains suddenly appearing enemies in Deathmatch.
+ switching places (x-key) will lead to unsync also.
+ however the unsync has no affect on stance or damage (hitting a merc that is somewhere else on the other client is possible)

+ playing & testing is a lot of fun.

i was able to place multiple orders, around 5

i don't know what it is; maybe it is item dependant.

I made a screenshot of it.
it's in line 1248 client.cpp

there was a barrett m468, a battle scope and a reflex sight ordered.
everything else was set to default settings.
I guess it might occur, if the laptop is used before connecting to the server, but thats just a wild guess.

yea, i've had it happen a couple of times now. from ammo, ceramic plates and canteen's to what ever. i've got a saved game where i cant buy anything from bobby ray anymore (i've hired mercs, given them gear, saved then tried br and crashed, load and try br = crash).

It seems that you're having a lot of fun, can you please post some screenshots from the action?

Come to play with us afp.

we are on #ja-galaxy on irc.quakenet.org

yea i think i've solved what the prob is with bobby ray, well how to prevent it.

as long as u have an item in the sector in the box* u can order more stuff from bobby ray, if u take everything u cant order again. so my suggestion is to buy a canteen $10, and just leave it there.

that is quite probably true. a way to force the BR failure is to sell an item of one of the mercs equipment and try to order from BRs it will crash everytime.

doors aren't syncronised yet, i guess?
applying auto-first aid crashed the game once.
apart from that the game works fine. keep up the good work.

there was a little sync proplem in O3 meduna (when we played with max clients three, but only two players active.)

we tested coop in orta, but it was messy.

I tested a little bit COOP on one single PC with 2 instances of JA2 1.13. It worked quite good so far.

Some things I noticed:
- Surrender-Dialog is only displayed on the server
- Status progression of opponent move (red title bar on the top) is only displayed on the server
- Interrupt problem: Let me give you an example:
.) Turn based mode
.) Client 2 moves a merc M1 and on its way the merc M1 gets an interrupt by an enemy
.) On Client 1 the merc M1 moves to the destination point and does not stop on the interrupt
-> So the merc M1 is out of sync on client 1
.) On Client 2 the merc M1 shoots at the enemy because the merc uses the interrupt
.) On Client 1 the merc M1 gets "teleported" back to the tile where M1 shoots
-> So we are synchronized again
- Enemies with the same ID look different on each client (eg: man on Client 1 is a woman on Client 2)
- I think enemies with the same ID spawn in different places on each client
- I think enemies move different paths in Real-Time Mode
- If the game switches from Turn-Based Mode to Realtime one client stays in Turn-Based Mode
and could never finish the turn

In turn based mode the multiplayer game works very good. But be sure that you do not switch to other programs while playing JA2 in multiplayer. If you do so, you will get out of synchronisation. This can lead to unexpected behaviour until it is synchronized again.
In real-time mode there seems to be some problems with enemy AI synchronization.

we've tested a lot today and we came across some things that might be interesting:

-> bobby ray crash: happens when you order from BR, remove all the items from sector inventoy, and order again. it willa slo crash when you put an item from AIM into the inventory and remove it, so the inventory is empty.
-> a server option to hide how many mercs are hired by the opponent, might be worth a consideration, when same_merc =1; but this is just cosmetics and a little bit for gameplay.
-> sometimes the sync will have problems in turnbased mode, without anybody pausin g the game.
-> we seemed to have merc placement issues when we used the manual server override ('7').
-> an AR called FR MC51 cost 1$ and is actually pretty good. i don't know if that is MP specific. it looks like there is an error in my XMLö-files. that should be fixed pretty quick. can anyone check that on his MP build?
-> applying auto-first aid after com,bat crashed the game once.
-> loading savegames might creates a crash.
-> enemies weren't visible sometimes on client 2, while playing coop. other teams could be seen. the mercs could be hit by the enemies.
-> all game-dialogs (surrender, mine: place blue flag?) etc. are displayed on server only.

-> shooting with two handguns won't crash the game, but it will take a lot of time.
-> sometimes the moral drops when shooting an opponent's merc.
-> dying/being unconscious is synced yet. so in a 3 player game, if a merc of team 3 is shot unconscious he'll die on client 3 but he'll be unconscious on client 1 and 2, so they'll get stuck on client 3's turn.

-> assertion failure line 877 (merc placement)
-> assertion failure line 11xxx (merc occupation) i was to slow to write the complete number down


Gameplay Observations (for map-builders)
+ there are some excellent spots in the single player maps. whoever holds on of these spots will win the game (e.g. I had scope between a couple of trees and nobody could hit her, but she had free line of fire). avoid to create spots like that.
+ sometimes merc placement is a little bit tricky, starting within range of each other won't be good for gameplay.
+ maps that offer a lot of possible ways are funnier. 'starting on North, taking position behind rock X, running to house Y and waiting there for opponents to turn up around corner Z'-routines will hurt long time playability.
+ the most exciting maps that have a few possibilities for sniper shots, but are generally fought within assault/battle-rifle range.

my first idea for non deathmatch scenario
Hostage rescue: Map Drassen Airport; ideal for three teams, 2-5 mercs each. setting: hideout in the desert/forest.
P1 starts south in the backyard of a building and is considered 'terrorist' faction.
P2 starts north and is consider 'Counter-terrorist team'
P3 starts east or west and is an ally of P2. (optional)

Inside the house there are the NPCs Skyrider, Martha and John: they are the hostages.
P2 and/or P3 have to either eliminate P1 or bring the hostages to teh helicopter.
P1 must defend his position and the hostages.

Can this be done? Can the NPCs Martha, John & Skyrider be placed in Drassen Airport? will the quests work?

-> sometimes the sync will have problems in turnbased mode, without anybody pausin g the game.

Yea, once i came across redgun's merc lying prone > my game went into turn based mode > i started shooting his merc > while in the process of killing him my merc got shot from redgun's sniper - he was also in turnbased mode > so basicly we both were in turn based mode and had our turns at the same time, this was the only example i've seen where i think 2 people had their turns at the same time.

-> an AR called FR MC51 cost 1$ and is actually pretty good. i don't know if that is MP specific. it looks like there is an error in my XMLö-files. that should be fixed pretty quick. can anyone check that on his MP build?

I have also got this

Also there was an out of sync problem when host was killed first in a 3 player battle.

Gameplay Observations (for map-builders)
If u cant design a map yourself, the counterstrike maps would be good to use. they mostly have 3 possible choke points, a couple of flanking opportunities and some sniper positions.

well would u be able to let one person deploy his men anywhere on the map, set up defensive positions and then let another attack them?
ie: p1 and p2 have finished their buying
p1 goes and deploys in tactical mode, setting up a defensive parimiter
p1 finishes and then tells p2 to then deploy (maybe let him deploy next to p1 sector and when p1 is done p2 walks over to p1's sector and engages?)
p2 then must navigate the traps p1 has set up.
of course p1 has a advantage but if u let p2 have more money, so is it possible to set individual amounts of money given to each client?

this is great to have so much feedback !

a friend and i go in a couple of games this evening, it was fun and you soon find the things that need fixing or would make for better code/game...

its hard to comment on all post content, im hoping to set up a bugzilla for this to keep track of it all...

#1- i would consider coop to not be working at this stage, i dont need to hear anymore about whats wrong with it, i will let you know when i fix it up.

#2- the issue of the server being wiped out and causing sync loss for the two remaining players would be real and ill fix it for next release... as this is related to the icq out of window sync loss, if the window isnt selected and in tactical game view the game pauses, as would pausing the game... it is not synced and will more than likely cause sync loss. it really needs a chat function to avoid this, so much to do.... i recommend voice chat running in background till then...

#3- if you read the readme youll see that nothing has been synced apart from shooting guns and moving, nothing has been done relating equipment, inventory , roofs, nades, healing, dialogs, structure damage, status progressions, doors... there's lots here that would be great to have and would be easy to do following my examples, but it is later as im working on more fundamental things now... any takers welcome.

#4- i will fix the prob of player getting interrupt while running and not stopping on remote clients view, easy enough.

#5- npcs would be great, i was only thinking this today myself, i would be easy enough to make it so you can hire some of them through merc, such as ira, dimitri, mike, etc... adding them to any sector is no problem at all...

#6- both teams in turn based at same time, and other unlocked ui issues are hard to replicate and debug, but im sure they're there too, as the code is rough and barely tested... i think internet play would be more prone to this due to higher ping and relay times. i also experienced bug today where on first sight, one player (client) would went into turn based while other(server) did not until the client end turn...

#7- morale drop due to shooting opponent sounds real and its prob in the code and need disable/fix.


#8- energy/moral and health levels arent synced/updated so possible at this stage for one clients merc to be unconcious while not on another or dead but not on another. perhaps will be looked into soon.

#9- there is a to be fixed bug with loading save game on client only when made in tactical, is your save in tactical ??


#10- as for merging the svn , mine into the latest is what i would do, but its not a priority right now...

#11 - i cant say much about the bobby rays orders except to make sure your crate is ok and in the level, i will try and replicate it and debug it...

i know there's more good points brought up i havnt commented on, thankyou again, ive got quite a bit lined up it seems. hopefully i can get some tracking system going.. any offers ???

keep up the good work and im still waiting on thay game lobby gui ...

haydent 1 extra thing:

I think interrupts are not working for player vs player.
players can get interrupts when a AI enemy appears, but not when a enemy player merc apears.

ah, yes , something i forgot to mention...

yes and no they do work but not often enough/at all, to see this change the interrupt setting in the ini to 2, this will give value of always to "if soldier get interrupt", there is some condition obviously in here that needs looking into.

i will look into it... also with the message "skipped lan interrupt" if people get that this is what it is about... (ps let me know if it happens)

at the moment both client and server calculate interrupts, but are only applied(allow to happen) if the merc they are for is owned by that client which is calculating. so there is scenario where one client would give an interrupt while another wont, htis displays that message then, and if it happens enough, i may have to enable it. i was just trying to avoid the hassle of working with more than one interrupt being awarded for the same situation on different machines and figured that the info on the client whos making the interrupt was mroe accurate to go by so giving them preference... but it happened to me today, as i felt the interrupt should have been awarded, so i may look into it...

another thing id like, it to have the interrupt chance to happen configurable from the ini so you can have a match where to the right adjustment you may require being real carefull and not running around too much to avoid interrupts

thanks again,

Hayden.

We already have set up bugzilla for 1.13. Take a look at http://ja2.discusrock.org/bugzilla/
You can write JAPH a mail (craig.dunigan@gmail.com), cause he is the admin for bugzilla for the 1.13 mod. JAPH should add a user for you and an own section for the multiplayer. So we can post bugs and improvements there.

further playtest by Dr-D and me:
-> sector preview before picking a map would be good (enable radarmap in strategicl)
-> there's obiviously a problem when a client has to start @ an unaccessible sector edge (water/cliff), thats a general problem, i don't think it can be solved, maybe except using the predetermined entry points.

Haydent, I cant even imagine how you managed to syncronize all communication... you're doing a great job man. As soon as I finish my weapons obsession I will join this, it seems to be a lot of fun here.

it's a lot of fun, you should definitely join, unless you're still offened.

@haydent:

- i got a few skipped 'lan interrupt messages' when i fired at the client 1/server. interrupts were set to always, i guess.

- is there a way to make the client num automatic, so the server hands out client nums?

- we got more sync problems (turnbased) now. most of the time sync problems are in favor of the server.