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I just found out this website while trying to play MTG on my lan, I searched the forum but couldn't actally find anything about it... Can someone tell me if it works? And if it does, how it works?

playing Manalink over the LAN/Internet worked out with Mok's final release back in the days. i didn't try it with the latest releases. so let's give it a try:

follow this installation-guide http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1307&sid=b475c17a1e76a619889c42654c24854c#p16363.

start magic. there should be a little "gem" ("NONET") in the upper right corner. right-click on it. click on "preferences" "otions".
"Use AutoStart", "Show System Messages" should be enabled; "Use Autoconnect" should be disabled. klick "Apply". right-click on the gem and choose "Exit". close Magic.

go to the "XY:\...\Magic the Gathering\Program" directory. open the "Manalink.ini" with an editor and you will see something like this:

Code: Select all

[Manalink]
Server=sture.dyndns.org
Port=27500
AutoHost=0

"Server"= ip of the host (in order to play online, you can check your current ip at http://www.whatismyip.com/ or simply use services like dyndns. in your LAN use fixed Ip's (192.168.0.*).
"Port"= choose a port here (same port for both machines!). it should be forwarded in your (software-)firewall(-s).
set "AutoHost" to "0".

now run your magic.exe once again. right-click on the "gem" and choose "Open". in the "Choose a connection type:"-tab, choose Internet (TCP/IP) and click "Connect". choose "Host". now there has to appear a message on the top of the screen "Screenname "XYZ" has been created..." and in the Status-window of Manalink there should be your "Player Name" and "Status" "Available". in the "gem" there should be the word "NET" now.

now "Join" with the other machine (LAN/Inet) and enter the IP of the host. after the two players appeared in the status windows, you should be able to "Invite" your opponent. choose "Duel Opponent", make your settings and start playing!

oh and btw, i'm ready to test this with you if you want to!

cheers,
sture

today i installed Manalink 2.0 and Jatill's latest update on my 2nd computer (following my guide http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1307#p16363).
finally i managed it to connect the two machines with Manalink and i played a duel with the latest cardpool!!

it would be very nice to find some guys to help me testing the connection via the internet. you can find my contacts (ICQ, MSN) in my profile. or just answer in this thread / write a pm.

I'm a network noob. Is your LAN all wired together, or is there a wireless router involved? So basically, is it possible for me to have 2 laptops in my house both on my wireless network, and then have them play against each other? That would be phenominal, not to mention how cool internet play would be. Good luck!

jatill wrote:Is your LAN all wired together, or is there a wireless router involved?

basically it doesn't matter how you connect your machines. there are many ways of connecting two pc. i connected a laptop (wireless) with a desktop pc (wired) using my router that supports both wireless/wired connection.

jatill wrote:So basically, is it possible for me to have 2 laptops in my house both on my wireless network, and then have them play against each other?

jep, thats absolutely possible! all you need is to set static ip's in your lan (192.168.0.*), forward the port you specify in the Manalink.ini in your firewall(-s) and then host and join a game

jatill wrote:That would be phenominal, not to mention how cool internet play would be. Good luck!

thanks! in principle playing Manalink over the inet works just like playing in a LAN (same basic structure). i will test this in the near future.

Multiplayer Dueling now available in the Wiki: http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/Multiplayer_Dueling

Awesome. I have a couple questions already

1) To plan a LAN game, do I just make up whatever ip I want in the server section?
ex: 192.168.0.141

And then I use that same ip for both computers?

2) Again, can I just make up any number for port?

3) I have generic broadband internet with a wireless router. Can I ignore the instructions about firewall, and things will just work out OK?

4) The wiki seems to imply that internet play will work too. Have you successfully tested that?

Thanks.

1) To plan a LAN game, do I just make up whatever ip I want in the server section?
ex: 192.168.0.141

no, you have to type the host's ip here!

And then I use that same ip for both computers?

no, each machine needs its own ip in your LAN. lets say you got two machines running. your router is set to 192.168.0.1 so one PC could be 192.168.0.2 and the 2nd 192.168.0.3. but you could also use different ip ranges.

2) Again, can I just make up any number for port?

yes and no. some programs or protocols (e.g. ftp, http) need their own ports. you can use all "empty" ports.

3) I have generic broadband internet with a wireless router. Can I ignore the instructions about firewall, and things will just work out OK?

if your router comes with a hardware firewall, you need to forward the port you specified in the "Manalink.ini" in order to play Manalink in your LAN / over the internet

4) The wiki seems to imply that internet play will work too. Have you successfully tested that?

nope. the title says "Multiplayer Dueling". we will see if this includes the internet. i'm searching for some volunteers to test the internet connection with. i already played a couple of duels with Orion, but he's offline most of the time. but as i already said, TCP/IP connection should both work in LAN and over the internet, so i'm very optimistic

/edit:

i just considered your thoughts in the Wiki!

Does this game with this jatill stuff even work in multiplayer? If nobody knows, is there somebody who could try it with me?

Hey guys, you cannot imagine how happy I am that I found this game on the web. I think is great and me and my girlfriend love to play it. However, we have been only able to finish a couple of games because most of the time one of us crashes to desktop. Are there any people with the same problem? Is there anything we may do to fix this?

Hi
Unfortunately, this game is very unstable (like most of Windows 95's games ) and little can be made to help...
It seems to really dislike Windows Vista, even with XP compatibility mode.
I use Windows 7 64bits and it run pretty good, with some tweaks.

hmmm, tweaks sound interesting! could you be more specific? My girlfriend and I ended up dusting some old XP laptops (our current laptops use vista) and things improve a whole lot. So the problem seems to be vista itself. If you know of any tricks we may use it would be good to know them.

It's just some minor tweaks with the windows compatibility mode
They were made under windows 7 but (if I remenber well) it's the same options under Vista. Just check this post.
But you can trust my unlucky expreriments with Vista : most of the time, this OS don't know how to run older application . IMHO, the best tweak you can do is to reinstall XP or try Seven

Yep my experience exactly, I toyed with all the options in the compatibility section in different combinations and failed. Switching to XP is the only thing that worked.

I don't know if this helps but me and some guys are playing online successfully now. Multiplayer Dueling is updated in wiki. Also there is an IRC channel for people who wants to play multiplayer meet.

Hope that helps!

Thank you