Multiplayer Hints/Tips/etc

[Planky]

Starting a Server With the Launcher

NOTE: In my (rellik) experience running a server in software mode can make it more stable on lower end machines or machines with older vidcards. Even a fairly slow computer can run a server fine in software at 320x200 resolution. Sometimes you just need to expirement to find what works best for your machine.

Click the Multiplayer... button which will take you to the multiplayer set up screen. Here's an explaination of what you'll see:

Protocol
Tcp/Ip This protocol is what most LAN's run on and is what the Internet is running on.
IPX IPX is fine for lan play, it's nice and fast - but due to the popularity of TCP/IP - you won't find many people with their systems setup to use IPX. Your safest and best bet is TCP/IP.

Your IP address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
This tells you your current IP address so you can tell the other players for those who wish to manually connect.

Number of computers: X
This determines how many computers will be allowed to connect to your server, think maximum players.

Local options:
Record demo - records a demo of the game. It stops recording only when the server shuts down legacy or the game itself.
Split screen ( 2 persons will play on this computer ) - This option is for people who wish to have two players playing from the server computer in split screen mode.

Server options:
Skill - choose the difficulty level the game will be started at.
Game mode - Your choices are: Cooperative where it's you and the others players against the monsters, Old Deathmatch which is deathmatch using the original DOOM characteristics, Deathmatch 2.0 or Deathmatch 3.0.
Team play - Where players can form teams in deathmatch to battle other teams. Teams are decided by which color a player is using. To join a team just adopt their color.
Start Map - This determines which level the game is launcher to.
Time limit - This determines how long a level will run before it ends automatically.
Frag limit - this determines how many frags a player has to get before the game is won.
Team damage - determines whether or not you can hurt your own teammates with your fire.
No monsters - determines if there are any monsters present in the levels.
respawn monsters - determines if monsters will be reborn a short time after being killed.
Additional files
Here you can add other files to be played like maps, sounds, dehacked patches, etc. NOTE: For this to work you need to REMOVE the quotation marks (") from around the files. This bug in the launcher will be fixed in the future.
No file checksum checking - determines if the game checks joining players to make sure their files are exactly the same as the servers. With this checked cheaters can use hacked versions of the wads being played to gain an unfair advantage.
Additional options ( prefix console commands with a '+' )
Here you can add other command line parameters and console commands. Check the manual for a list of available parameters and commands.


Starting a Server From The Command Line

More advanced users may find it easier to launch games from the commandline using shortcuts or batchfiles. Here's some tips and tricks:

Setting up the parameters:

There are a couple options here. For running it purely from the command line:

legacy -opengl -file <wads> -warp 01 -skill 1 -mb 128 -server +deathmatch 3 +fraglimit 40 +map map01

is one of the lines I run. The reason I add the "map map01" is so that it's starts up clean on MAP01.

You can also use a combination of command line parameters and editing the autoexec.cfg file:

legacy -opengl -file <wads> -warp 01 -skill 1 -mb 128 -server

Then add stuff like:

deathmatch 3
fraglimit 40
map map01

to your autoexec.cfg.

Finding Games

First of all, if the master server is up you should be able to just go into the multiplayer / join server menu and find available games but if it isn't there are other great options:

First of all there's Player Connector (http://playerconnector.com), a multiplayer lobby for games such as Legacy.

You can join the legacy IRC chatroom:

irc.freenode.net:6667 #legacy

using your favorite IRC program or you can use the handy dandy java client (http://pages.quicksilver.net.nz/druids/chat1.html)

Important Note:

If you are starting a public server and are using extra pwad files please put the name of the file in your server name so it shows up on the list as:

IP: 000.000.000.000 Port: 5029 Name: brit11 server Version: 1.42.21

or:

IP: 000.000.000.000 Port: 5029 Name: bob's dwango5! Version: 1.42.21

etc. This will stop people from trying to join and slowing your game down because they're downloading the files from you. Thanks.

[Planky]

Deathmatch and Coop bot FAQ and info

Q: Does Legacy have bots that I can play Cooperatively with or DeathMatch against?

A: Why yes it certainly does!

Q: Okay then how do I play a Coop with them?

A: To play a coop game just start the level you wish to start playing at and then drop the console (~ key, right below the Esc key) and type addbot and hit Enter. Your coop bot will pop into the game and start fraggin those naughty hellspawn. You can repeat the addbot proceedure as many times as you'd like, Legacy supports up to 32 bots in a map. Jsut remember that most maps only have 4 coop starts.

Q: Okay then how do I play a Deathmatch game against them?

A: Using the launcher, go into the Single map menu and start a game making sure to set the difficulty to the level you want to play at. Unfortunately once you start your first game at a certain difficulty level you cannot change it without shutting Legacy down and restarting it. So start a game at the difficulty level you want and start the game. You will be in a Single Player game. Go back into the menu, choose Single Player and then choose End Game. Now it'll take you back to the title screen where you choose Multiplayer and then Start Server. Now just specify the settings you want and start your game. Once in the game drop the console (~ key, right below the Esc key) and type addbot and hit enter. You DM bot will pop into the game. You can repeat the addbot proceedure as many times as you'd like, Legacy supports up to 32 bots in a map. Just remember that most maps only have 4 to 8 start positions.

Q: When I add bots and then a human joins my game server the game crashes. What's happening?

A: This problem will hopefully be addressed in the future. For now just make sure all your human players are in the game before you add any bots.

Q: Uhm, I put too many bots in. Is there any way to get them out without having to restart Legacy?

A: Absolutely. Drop the console and type kick X where X is the player number. The player who started the Legacy game is 'player0' not player one. So if it's just you and a bunch of bots type kick 1 to get rid of the first bot you added. If there is 3 bots and you want to get rid of the last one you added type kick 3.

Q: Can I change the skin / color / name of a bot?

A: No, that stuff is all hard coded for now.

Q: How come sometimes when I add bots the game gets really choppy?

A: This seems to be a random and unpredicatable occurance. It does seem to happen on super detailed or very complex maps more often than relatively simple maps. In my (rellik) experience it seems to be related to the bots having a hard time figuring out how to get where they want to go.

Q: Why does the bot sometimes run in circles around an item it's trying to pick up?

A: Because the bot wants to keep moving at maximum speed and isn't smart enough to slow down for a sec to pick up the item. So instead it's circle strafing at max speed trying to turn and pick up the item and instead ends up doing laps around it. Occasionally a bot will perfectly circle strafe with another bot and the two end up doing a kind of dance with each other. It looks very cool when they're both shooting plasma at each other. :)

Q: Why does the bot sometimes end up running against a wall?

A: The bot can 'see' an item it wants (a weapon or powerup) and isn't smart enough to realize: 1. the ledge it's running against is too tall for it to walk or jump up on or 2. it's trying to run through a solid wall because it's running towards an item it can't otherwise figure out how to get.

Q: How can I get the bots to stop running around in the lava / acid?

A: You can't for now. I imagine this will be fixed in the future but for now there are lots of other things that take priority.

Q: This stupid bot keep stelefragging me in coop! How do I make it stop?

A: Hard to answer. Sometimes you need to be tricky and lead the bot away so you can run back to the teleport before it gets there. This is also something that will hopefully be fixed in the future. :)



Post questions and I'll answer / add them to the list. Thanks.

[Heidi]

Is there a command for kicking all of the bots out at the same time?.

[MR_ROCKET]

exec kickbot.cfg :D

And I'd say it would go something like this:

//bot remover config

kick 1
kick 2
kick 3
kick 4
Seems how you would be player 0 as first player in the game.

[Heidi]

Wow, thank you, that did it :D

[bloodroot pirate]

Where do I find the master server?

[Planky]

Looks like it's down at the moment.

[bloodroot pirate]

ahh thanks

So when I click on the multiplayer and choose my settings (on either client or server), Should I click on OK and just wait at the green screen for people to join my server/wait for it to find a server?

[Jemy]

Hi all !

I was just lookin' for informations about the MP server.

So it's down ... damn !

My friends was just starting to play Doom again ...

I hope it will be up soon !

Wating for that, let's have fun against bots in DM games !

By the way, is there a way to change the bots names ?

I mean, an easy way, 'cause I succed in changing the names by editing the "Legacy.exe" file but ...

It's not really cool for many reasons (risk, respect, ...) !

My bots are now :

- Sarge
- Reaper
- TheKid
...

Bye !

Have fun !

DooM Legacy Rulez !

[Jemy]

The master server still down ... snif !

Well it's an opportunity to look for stuff.

The Zombie-e3.wad found here is just incredible : http://sublimis.sytes.net/zdoom/wads/

Is you love G.A. Romero, get it quick !

Bye !

[bloodroot pirate]

I have 2 computers with legacy on them, i had one of them start a server and the other join one(i put in the same IP address), but one of them gets kicked off for no reason before you can play. What's up with it?

[bloodroot pirate]

yeah now I have a new problem. While Im playing Doom 2 it freezes. It was working fine all the other times I played. It may just be that level.

[Jemy]

Hi all, Hi you,

I'm not sure to understand your problem, you say "i put in the same IP address" ... err ... it can't be, on a network each computer must have its own IP address ...

It's basic but, could you, please, just check all your network parameters and be sure your 2 computers can ping each other without any trouble ?

When it's OK, check your firewall parameters (UDP:5029 must be open for "legacy.exe").

When it's OK, check the DooM parameters (TCP/IP, first map to be sure, same parameters on server and client, ...).

If the second computer still being kicked ... errr ... what about voodoo stuff ?

About the freezing stuff, have you another file of your "doom2.wad" (from a CD for exemple) ?

It could be a way to be sure it's not just corrupt ?

NB : If you bought and download you DooM 2 game on "http://www.idsoftware.com/" you can download it again buy the URL they gave you on the "Order Confirmation" email.

You also can start to the next level with Legacy parameters if you thing it's just this level.

Good luck.

Bye.

[iceman57]

Current issues on MULTIPLAYER :

I looked on many boards but didn't found a correct tutorial on "How to play DOOM over the internet ?"...
One of the teammate made tests on DoomLegacy (using "Launcher") and Doomsday (in game).

This freezed our computer during tests... and was not really efficient.
He only succeded once on Legacy with his brother.

We tried too using the launcher and typing our IP on the console, but the game didn't find the other player, no crash, but new possible join...

Could you please tell me a valid procedure, program or any other tool able to start Doom on internet in a multiplayer.
We'd like to find the way to play it using our own machine hosting and not things as Zdaemon, could it be possible ?

Many thanks for your advices.

Regards from Paris, France.
Benoit, webmaster of http://www.icemanpage.com
Manager of the "Hokuto No Doom" project

[MR_ROCKET]

If your using a router, you'll have to forward port 5029 udp in and out for legacy.
If you have a software firewall, you will need to either allow the engine executable eg. legacy.exe or disable the firewall, same goes for windows software firewall.

Other than that, everything else is explained at the top of the page. ;)

[King]

typing in addbot does nothing for me. I use a mac OS X.5 if that is important and legacy 1.43b. it says, unknown command when I type in addbot. any help? I tried on single, coop, and did the deathmatch thing you said?
sorry for bad grammar. I'm a little sick and distracted right now.:(
thanks in advance for any help!