Windows XP to 98 - Original Rott?

[Elvisish]

Is it possible to play ROTT via IPX/SPX from XP to 98 under the original? The reason I ask is because the 98 laptop I have can't run WinRott as its way too slow for it, and the original runs perfectly. I've heard that XP can't communicate very well via IPX/SPX to 98 beacause of direct port access... is there any way of doing this?

[jbailey]

I'm not sure, but net play between winrott & the original dos
version of rott might be a little ify, a lot of the net code
was re-done during development, however, it might work
ok also as I never tested net code between the original
rott & winrott. To add the ipx/spx protocol under windowsxp,
do the following:
------------------
Add the IPX/SPX Protocol: IPX/SPX is fully supported in XP and is my prefered "safe" protocol which is used on networks set up as in Painless Networking. The name is slightly different with NW (for Netware) in the front.

* Click Start, click Control Panel, and then Open Network Connections.
* Right-click the LAN Connection and then click Properties.
* On the General tab, click Install.
* Click Protocol, and then click Add.
* Click NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol and click OK.
Two NWLink items are added to the connection's Properties
* Restart your computer even if not requested and The IPX/SPX protocol should now be installed and working.

-------------

Let me know how this works out!

[Elvisish]

Unfortunatly, all it did was say "attempting to find server" and never did! When I try to run original ROTT in XP it gives me...

"IPX Network Initialized
Using socket number 0xabcde

Server mode:
Attempting to find clients for 2 player NETROTT
.SendPacket: 0x10"

Then it bombs to dos prompt. What exactly does sendpacket 0x10 mean?

[jbailey]

How exactly are you running the original rott under xp?
Everytime I've tried doing that all it does is lock up whenever
a sound effect was being played, are you using dosbox or
vdmsound? The packet number 0x10 is simply a packet
number (the id of the currently sent packet). Actually though I'm not that surprised that you're
having trouble with doing this sort of thing, As I've stated,
the netcode was re-written a lot during development, and
not much thought was given to backward compatability
with the original dos version of rott. In your earlier post
you stated that your computer had trouble running winrott
because it ran to slow, have you tried adjusting the
resolution all the way back down to 320x200 (original
res of dos rott) and see if it will run ok then? This potential
problem was discussed between myself and birger a long
time ago, but we both agreed that once winrott was at a
point where it was stable and playable for most people
that very few (if any) people would bother with the
original dos version of rott, that's why you're having
compatability problems with the net play. Try me
suggestion and let me know how it goes.

[Elvisish]

By Geroge, your right, it IS very slow to play under XP. I guess I expected it run like Duke3d under XP, but I guess thats build. The 98 system is a 120mhz system I believe, which is why WinRott creeps slowly on it, but it also creeps a little under XP I found... having said that, WinRott did work rather well via IPX. Do you know how I could speed WinRott up a little? Both are running at 320x240 btw.

[jbailey]

Unfortunatly, how well winrott runs (at any resolution)
depends quite a bit on how much memory you have,
(most systems today don't have memory-capacity problems)
and more importantly, how fast your processor is. You
stated 120Mhz, that's *really* slow, I wouldn't recommend
anything slower then about 600-700 Mhz. You could try
overclocking your processor if your bios/system supports
that, you could also try shutting down all un-necessary
background programs that are usually running. With a
system running at that speed, your options are almost
non-existant (sorry). Your best overall option is to upgrade
to a better computer (translation: faster processor).
Glad you got it running otherwise!

[Elvisish]

I think your right about the processor, I'll just play thru Windows 98 on the fast computer, bit of a pain but at least it means I get super fast speeds going! Played some tag last night on the high and low bridge combatt level... most excellent!!

Thanks for all your help!

[jbailey]

Glad to help!