Multiplayer: Network & Internet

The first part is about Multiplayer in general, how to get to work, and the second part is concerning Internet play. Choose the rant of your choice.


 One Must Fall 2097 Multi Player

Multiplayer supported with the version 2.1 patch is: Network, Null Modem, Modem Call, Bullet Board System (BBS)

Revived this info from my old page, have not updated it.


Network: Simple as long as you have a Network card with IPX protocol loaded then OMF will automatically find it and log on, just to enter name and you will be brought to the OMF CHAT. You will see everyone that have logged on to the Chat and you can send messages and challenge people, as well as accepting once you have been challenged by another. notice that the YELL function will also bee seen by people that are playing, it will appear as text up in one of the corners.


Null Modem: Often also called Null Link, is in reality a cable from the COM port of one computer to the other, then go to SETTINGS and select which COM port you are using (COM1,COM2,COM3,or COM4) and set the baud-rate, this should in most cases just be left where it stands, as maximum is usually the best for most games (192000 baud). For those with any problems try to reduce the Baud/speed transfer-rate, just remember to set it to the same on both computers. You will enter the OMF CHAT just like in network, except that now it can only be 2 persons there at a time as you cant connect any more to a Null Link cable.


Modem Call: If you have a Modem and want to play someone, hopefully in the neighbourhood or not to far away as this is the same rate as a phone call, you will first have to set up the modem in the SETTINGS and check if your modem is on the list, If not then you have to custom it with the specs of your Modem. I have never had a Modem myself, so i haven't tried this, but i know a lot of persons have tried it and they even say that the speed isn't that bad, not much worse than the Null Link, which is more than enough to play.


BBS: Bullet Board Systems, seriously i haven't even a remote clue how this works, Always wanted to try it thought, someone if you know how this works please tell me.


One Must Fall 2097 Internet Play

There are now 3 ways of internet multiplayer with ONE MUST FALL 2097, Kali, Kahn, and Zone

Revived this info from my old page, have only updated the little section about lag on the bottom.


KALI: is a program that makes windows or other OS emulate the IPX network protocol over internet's IP protocol system. You download it from WWW.KALI.COM You have to install the program which is for nearly all mayor operation systems, and when online you will get at test period with unlimited gaming time. Or you can REGISTER and pay 20$ and you have free gaming all life out. As i have heard this far KALI is supposed to be the best alternative, but i haven't met that many persons with KALI to play yet, so my experiences are quite limited.


KAHN: is very similar to KALI in nearly everything, except that it is not as big, at least not yet, and it is completely free. Just to download the program, install, and ready to run. Of course by being for free it lacks some of the support features, and the many OS versions of the program that KALI have, but its an good alternative for those that just want to play in their little Windows 95/98. One notable thing is that KAHN don't check the network stability as much as the others do before a game, therefor it sometimes or quite often crashes in game, and KAHN always crashes in game if it crashes at all, unlike ZONE.


ZONE: is a Internet web page that offers pretty much the same as KALI except that this is free and online, as well as being owned by Microsoft which happens to be a very bad thing for the gaming experience. When you come to the page select IPX GAMING and it will start downloading a lot of Microsoft stuff. When done you can choose to enter different "room's" as you do in a chat normally, the one most used for OMF is the room called "action". Then you will see all the people to the right, and all the gaming sessions to the left, if there is one saying OMF or ONE MUST FALL or anything similar then just join, or you can make your own session. Once a game is launched you will be represented with a DOS PROMPT, a windowed DOS, where you are supposed to find the game folder (C:\OMF for example) and type OMF to start, from there you select IPX game just as you would in a normal IPX game. Note that its actually quite uncommon that you actually get to select a robot, as the game usually crashes, by PLAYER NOT RESPONDING, or DAMAGED ARENA, or DAMAGED FIGHTRXX.AF or OTHER PLAYER STOPPED RESPONDING, this is due that ZONE checks the network stability before you enter the game. Therefor i have only once in my life seen the game crash once you enter the arena, this is the major advantage of ZONE, if you CAN select a pilot and bot, and enters the arena you are almost guaranteed that you will be able to finish the round.


The big summary: Speed, that seems to be the general problem. Most games usually will go very slow, some on the edge to the extreme. I have played against ChaosBlackMajik (CBM) my ISDN VS his 56K modem, at a round would have been close to 30 minutes. on the other hand i have played against vulture where a round was only about half the speed of a round in normal IPX play. The speed of the game will be set by how good the two areas the players are located in, and how good the connection are between them. Some believe its the Speed of the internet connection, and some even say its the computers fault that the game will not run as fast as it should online, WRONG! I have played on a 400 MHz against a 500 MHz with one 2 Mbit line and the other an 100Mbit line, and it was just as slow as when i played on my ISDN against someone with a 56K modem with both somewhere around 100-200 MHz computers. i noticed especially when i played on the 2Mbit and couldn't even connect to half the persons i wanted to play with, but when i got back home to my ISDN i could play for hours. in short. You don't need a giant huge cable on several Mbit a sec, all you need is a 56K or a ISDN line and some luck in who you are playing.

The lag in OMF2097 over internet is package loss, because the IP and IPX protocols re-send packages that did not reach the destination, this means that the game cant go on until it get the package. so if you have a bad ping, you also have a lot of lost packages, and the game have to send those packages again so the other player knows what your HAR is doing. If your ping is extremely bad it will usually just crash.

Hint: a good ping is a good sign that you can have a relatively fast game.