XP LAN Gaming using Cross-over Cable, can't see servers in games like CoD/MoH:AA

[=assassin=]

Hi All,

I've had two machines connected with a cross-over cable, set with static IP's, using XP Service Pack 2 for years and years, and old games like MOHAA and Call of Duty were fine on it; I never had any issues. Then, about a week ago, the hard drive on one of the PC's failed, so I found an even older hard drive, painfully slow, but stuck XP on that, updated to the same Service Pack, and configured the network card as before. Initially I had a few issues with them seeing each others folders/files, but I've got that sorted now (I had to go into local security policy, and add Users, Admin, local user account etc..)

So in terms of seeing shared folders and each other, everything is fine and dandy. They have their own IP of 192,168.0.8 and 192.168.0.9 respectively, using TCP/IP (just IP4, no IP6 since that's borked on XP from what I've read), user accounts have Admin rights too, and all of this worked fine before the hard drive failure, but for some bizarre reason, when I load a MP game to play over LAN, no servers show up, no matter what way round I try it. I've tried disabling Firewalls completely, and tried making things as open as I possible can, since these machines will never ever access internet, and they are kept entirely separate on purpose. I tried enabling XP Firewall too, and allowing the games, just in case some group policy was controlling things, but still no joy.

Any suggestions/Ideas as to why they can see each other/connect fine/swap files fine, yet games don't see each other? Games are all same versions too, and there's little options for any kind of advanced MP setup; everything just simply worked before anyway, even when I added new games. Never come across this issue before as things just worked with the minimal of fuss, so it has got me really stumped.

As a side note, pings to and from each are fine, no packets lost at all. I've even tried a different network card.

Thanks for any help. :-)

[Agent]

Are you using Windows firewall or something like Zonealarm?
If it's the latter I've seen this many times - uninstall it (not disable) and see if it works then.

[=assassin=]

I've tried both with and without the Windows Firewall being enabled. Both PC's have ancient copies of McAfee Firewall, but those have been disabled, and their respective entries in the network card settings unticked.

[Zak33]

would it be cheating to buy a cheap network switch and use that?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-S...network+switch

they're £6 delivered!

[Biscuit]

do you even really need a crossover cable? Haven't network adaptors been able to automatically detect and swap the pins internally for years?

Only time i have needed one is connecting to specific broadcast equipment from specific manufacturers.

[=assassin=]

Thanks for replying.

Thing is, what I had before worked just fine with the crossover cable, and I have no guarantee that whatever issue is blocking those games is going to be fixed just by using a hub/switch? :S
I also tried a normal patch cable, and that didn't work at all - keep in mind the two PC's are from 2005/2006 era, so that might be why.

I thought I'd try an ancient game today, Quake 3 Arena Demo, and amazingly, that works perfectly, so I'm guessing it's using IPX or something.

I played around with different gateway and DNS settings, and different IP's, none effected the connection: normal file transfer across the cable is fine, but those other games still don't work. I've also created identical accounts with passwords, and that has made no difference. It's probably something really simple...

[Zak33]

I thought I'd try an ancient game today, Quake 3 Arena Demo, and amazingly, that works perfectly, so I'm guessing it's using IPX or something.
..... It's probably something really simple...

it will be and so save the £6 purcahse.. you're right..

but I don't know what it is

sorry

[Zak33]

OH.. hold up!

Are they patched to the same version?

Not the XP installs... the GAMES?

[Splash]

Which exact games aren't working? Once you know this can you find out which ports are required, then try telnetting from one machine to the other on those ports and see if you get a response?

Zak has a point though.

[=assassin=]

Thanks for your replies.

They seem to be the correct versions, I know one is definitely correct (MOH:AA), the other shows the same version number in game (both are Call of Duty ver 1.5b) but I've not yet installed United Offensive on one machine; whether that would change the original Call of Duty files, I do not know, but it's from a Deluxe Edition edition that has the patches pre-applied anyway. I guess I could re-try a seperate 1.5 patch in case i had to do that on my other PC, since in the olden days I used to use it for MP online before it was 'retired'. I didn't start installing any more after that since I assumed whatever problem was affecting them would affect the other Call of Duty's I have too. I'll give CoD 2 and 4 an install at the weekend when I get more time again.

I'll try the telnet thing too, but really not sure how those ports could be blocked with firewall turned off, but I guess it's best to check.

[Splash]

I'll try the telnet thing too, but really not sure how those ports could be blocked with firewall turned off, but I guess it's best to check.

2 reasons: firstly (as Agent mentioned too) I've seen ports blocked by a firewall when it's installed but disabled rather than fully uninstalled and secondly it proves that the executable on the other computer is actually listening.

[Agent]

2 reasons: firstly (as Agent mentioned too) I've seen ports blocked by a firewall when it's installed but disabled rather than fully uninstalled and secondly it proves that the executable on the other computer is actually listening.

Yup. So. Many. Times.

I've no idea why they think this is a good idea. Zonealarm used to cause this issue all the time.

If your machines are not connected to the internet though, you don't really need a firewall.

[shaithis]

It's odd. If it was firewall, I would expect file sharing to not work.

If your trying to access via a dns/netbios name I would verify via IP in case there is an incorrect host entry.

[=assassin=]

Final update: I have been messing about uninstalling the firewalls, changing registry settings for NetBT and TCP/IP, enabling WINS proxy and IPRouting, basically trying different combinations of options everywhere, and somewhere amongst all of that, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault had started working. Last weekend I had tried both that game and Call of Duty, and neither worked, so I just stuck with trying CoD since it booted faster without all the intro stuff, and that has been my mistake, since for some reason that failed to work, but I gave MOH:AA another go today, and it worked fine. I then thought I'd install the United Offensive addon for Call of Duty, and that also seems to be working fine. So something was fixed along the way, but hidden by some bizarre extra issue with CoD vanilla, so I'll never know what exactly fixed it; perhaps it was a range of things!

Anyway, thankyou very much to all who responded, I am a very happy man again!

[directhex]

do you even really need a crossover cable? Haven't network adaptors been able to automatically detect and swap the pins internally for years?

It is a requirement for the gigabit ethernet spec.

10/100 cards, basically only Netgear.

[bouncy]

why dont you use a £5 switch, no cross over needed!