I was being sarcastic.

My comments were for the benefit of the newcomers.

ahh but the point is im ok with all the mini MP updates like that i just despise things like dwiggs and brave new world

Have you ever tried the Dwiggs or BNW mods? They're a lot of fun. I especially like the variety of new units you get with each installment of the BNW series.

yep, i have, its not the principle i have a prob with, i have tried them but i dont like the way the units are made to look and the little move animation is baddly done, and attack-damage-blood timeing is just random, the only unit that compares is the old age blade dancer

http://www.gameranger.com/

its the best way to play online....

Swolte, could you update the top post to make it a little more - well - up to date?
As far as I can tell, the few existing online players now mainly use either Microsoft Messenger or a Hamachi network to find each other, although the Gamespy AOW:SM lobby IS actually functioning. Provided that Roger's guide to Gamespy is good as is, there should be a post explaining how to find players using Messenger and Hamachi. I can write one if needed, but would you then please put it on the top post?
Also, would you reply to my e-mail (mikkelkc@ruc.dk)?
Thanks a lot - and hope you're enjoying the summer holidays

Thanks Gandalf, that sounds great. Please do write it, as I have never used Hamachi myself (nor used messenger).

I haven't received your email. Do send it to my gmail (hotmail I rarely check and the junk-mail often gets out of hand).

Best and most easy to play online is hamachi.
Itīs really easy to use.
No need to gamespy. Even gameranger looks easyer.

But the best way to find players just in time would be a chatroom here on HG.
the player would see each other and then they would use the most easy tool to play online MP games.
I only use hamachi but what I miss is to find players.

A CHATROOM would be fantastic.
I asked for this many months ago.
Is there a light at the end of the tunnel.
I donīt know Forum softwar but I think it must be possible to use or implement a chatroom to it.

I really would like to play more online MP games with more players.
So far we only meet on MSN but this are only two players and I.

Groll maybe you could add me

but I heard that you aren't that much on messenger so :/

but here's my e-mail notmyrealmsn_1@hotmail.com

I found GameRanger very easy to setup and pay.

What I liked about GameRanger:
- easy signup and install
- easy to find AoWSM rooms
- took care of IP routing
- easy interface that runs in the background and shows a little message when a room is created

With other products, I experienced the following issues:
- Himachi was confusing to download and install; I don't know if I did it correclty
- On Himachi, never figured out how to find rooms
- For gathering places like GameSpy and Tunngle, direct IP connects are difficult to establish. I use my apartment complex's free wireless and my brother uses a wireless router. The IP points to the router; hence, the direct computer IP is hidden. We never got it to work.
- Never seen anyone logged onto GameSpy or Tunngle

NOTE: GameRanger does not like Himachi installed. I uninstalled Himachi because I constantly forgot to turn it off.

[This message has been edited by Gilafron (edited 10-26-2010 @ 03:25 PM).]

Best and most easy to play online is hamachi.

I only use hamachi but what I miss is to find players.

A CHATROOM would be fantastic.

Gamespy provides a chatroom. Tunngle provides a chatroom. Gameranger provides a chatroom. Yes, let's make it even more complicated to find players, by making another chatroom here!

Hamachi has various drawbacks, because it doesn't work for everyone, you need to all be in the same room for it to work reliably and there is a limit (with the free version) on how many members you can have for one room. It also doesn't have a chatroom. You need to turn Hamachi off for some other systems to work properly.

Surely it's more practical simply to add people on MSN Messenger, then when you have enough players online for a game, haggle over which hosting system works for all the players, or if necessary the majority of players?

http://aow.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=30,5278,,20

There is no one system which works for everybody, regardless of how many come here trying to tell us that one system is better than all the others. Spamming the same post in different threads is not really constructive, either.

Yeas, I must agree with RogerRabid, the best way to play an ONLINE game of AoW is with Hamachi.

Using AoW's built-in "IP address" online connection feature is frustrating and fraught with hassles; especially in our modern world where many people use a router.

I've also encountered several bugs using Gamespy, and getting a solid connection is inconsistent.

To use Hamachi, just download it from this site: https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi2/download.aspx

Install it. Make sure any firewall you have "allows" Hamachi's activity. Once you've done that, you can create your own virtual LAN with you friends, or join an existing one. Look around this forum to find the public Hamachi networks dedicated to AoW.

Once you have all the players on the same Hamachi netwrok, run the game and select LAN game. it should go off without a hitch.

Yeas, I must agree with RogerRabid, the best way to play an ONLINE game of AoW is with Hamachi.

Heh, I do not see where Roger said that, lol. It seemed to me he was saying it was best to use msn messenger to meet and then decide what program was best to use to play. Quite often this might be none at all and just play through normal IP if noone has any problems.

However, when comparing some of the programs people can use, Tunngle is superior to Hamachi in every way in my opinion. You do select the lan option when playing through Tunngle just as you would with Hamachi, but you don't need any password for a room as you simply join the shadow magic room, which can hold up to 255 people and has a chat area as well. I think the only reason people still use hamachi is that it has been around a while and some just got used to it.

Cheers!

Kirky

A weeks later update from someone new to AoWSM and trying to facilitate online gaming:

Direct IP: Works fairly well if the host is not behind the IP. Agree that 2010 and beyond, routers are the norm and this option won't be practical. I, for one, don't even have a paid network access, but rather use my apartment complex's free net connection.

Hamachi: Has the largest community. Thanks to users I found on other networks, I found my way to Hamachi and rooms/passwords. Hence, it is not user friendly. By not user friendly, I mean there is not an easily findable forum for users to install hamachi, find a room with the appropriate password, and so forth. In addition, hosts and participants have had to reboot machines and "try again" to connect. Unfortunately, these seems the most stable program.

GameRanger: Nice that it has rooms a host can create. Although, I've seen where a couple of users could not connect to games via GameRanger. Not sure why and not confident on GameRanger support to help (i.e. not even tried due to my lack of confidence).

Tunngle: Not much traffic so far. I've played only one game so far over there. It may work, although the "beta" version of Tunngle gots me scared.

GameSpy: Dead, no activity observed whatsoever. Also, it appears to be strictly a meeting ground, not a LAN (via VPN) or game initiation site (like GameRanger).

MSN: Well, MSN is actually MSN Messengar. It took me two weeks to figure this out. Seems simple, but it ends up frustrating for a newbie when trying to find a game. In addition, I'm dubious how much activity is on there and, hence, I've not delved into it.

This post is strictly my findings over the past month. My next post is addressing the way forward.



Okay, heavengames won't allow me back-to-back posts. So, my proposal for way forward:

NOTE: please consider this a new post. The first is merely documenting findings. This "second" post is exploring what to do now.

I think it is vital to establish a universal standard for online AoWSM. Starcraft has BattleNet. It is straight forward and that, my friends, is the key to success. KISS! Keep It Simple Silly.

There are going to be pros and cons for each and every option. No question or dispute. In addition, an informal community like this one will have difficulty making a decision. Nonetheless, I think a decision on one standard forum is vital for the hordes that are flocking to AoWSM with it's re-release. It's a cool game. TriumphStudios, dare I say, appears unresponsive to the resurgence of interest. Therefore, it's up to us.

My proposal is narrow down to one selection for "unofficial" online gaming. That is, we need a simple, detailed guide on online gaming so users can follow a step-by-step instruction on how to get up and running. I see several potential implementations ranging from preset & advertised Hamachi networks to Tunngle rooms to GameRanger postings and so on.

The Olympic Selection process takes 4-5 choices and conducts a series a voting to eliminate one choice each round. Of course, they have scandals regarding monetary and prostitution bribes. (I will note I'm not opposed to either.) Anyway, I propose conducting rounds of selection votes to isolate on one and only one "unofficial" online gaming selection. I foresee a sticky thread with details on the "unofficial" online gaming option and potentially another sticky thread with "other" online gaming options.

In the Olympic Selection process each city makes a bid. Therefore, I also suggest, prior to any voting (and bribes), that a single representative makes a proposal on their particular choice.

This proposal will only work if the majority of the community agrees to it.

Let me know what you think.

[This message has been edited by Gilafron (edited 11-17-2010 @ 04:39 AM).]

I started a new thread in the online section of the forum to discuss the question that you raised:

http://aow.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=30,5405,,20

Yeas, I must agree with RogerRabid, the best way to play an ONLINE game of AoW is with Hamachi.
In multiplayer, several people can meet up, mine, build, slay monsters, and in general play together.