I can't get lan mode to work. On the host computer the bar loads and the game starts for 1 second and then I get an instant game over. On the joined computer the progress bar never loads.

I have tried turning off the firewalls on both computers and it makes no difference. I'm using the offline installer #27 for armies and #4 for hordes that I just downloaded this morning.

I have also tried booting up both computers with armies and using only armies factions, nothing I do makes any difference. I searched the forums and could not find anything.

I have 3 total computers at my house and have tried every 2-computer combination. 2 computers are windows 8.1, and one is windows 7. Same result. Can not get lan mode to function.

I will download it tomorrow morning and give it a try. As that is my off-peak internet time that is good for downloading.

It still doesn't work. Test info below...

Upstair's PC: Windows 8.1 Pro
Basement Laptop: Windows 8.1

1. Downloaded newest offline installer for armies "setup_8bit_armies_2.24.0.28.exe"
2. Uninstalled current armies and hordes installations
3. Verified that the armies and hordes install directories were completely gone. No files left behind.
4. Installed new 8-Bit Armies install to default directory on both computers. (C:\GOG Games\8-bit Armies)
5. Pulled out the network cord on my satellite modem. Because turning off firewalls is dangerous.
6. Turned off "public" and "private" windows firewalls on both computers.
7. Launched 8-Bit Armies on both computers by right-clicking the desktop icon and selecting "run as administrator"
8. Hosted a lan multiplayer game on my upstairs computer with default settings.
9. Joined the lan multiplayer game from my basement laptop and clicked ready.
10. Clicked START on host.
12. The host computer's progress bar loaded within 5 seconds and waited. The basement computer's progress never moves at all. I let both computers sit for roughly 5 minutes before stopping the game with ALT+F4.

Other test Results and Random Info:
My above listed test had no ai's. When I add a beginner AI to the match and retest it, the AI's name is different on each computer. (HAVOC on the upstairs pc, JUST SETH on the downstairs pc) This seems to result in one of the computer's being disconnected.

I also have a Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium computer downstairs, and also tried using that to join the game hosted on my upstair's pc. Also didn't work.

A day or two ago, on the previous armies version, I hosted the game on my Windows 7 computer and tried to join with my basement laptop. Still didn't work.

If it makes any difference, I leave my windows updates turned off on all computers, because of internet bandwidth limits. But I saw no errors messages to indicate I needed anything. So that's probably fine.

My upstairs pc has the GOG galaxy client installed and the game automatically fills in my name "Kingofanime", even when GOG Galaxy is not open. The other two pc's don't have GOG Galaxy installed and use the computer's pc name.

Okay, so I looked through the settings on my router and the only option for opening ports is "port forwarding" which should only apply to traffic coming from the internet into my local network. But I tested it anyways, I added a UDP 16000 exception to it. The game still didn't work, and the port exception I added was not listed in the routers logs as ever being used. The router also has no parental controls, no services blocked, no websites blocked.

These are my pcs...
Upstairs PC - Win 8.1 Pro - network cord directly plugged into router
Basement PC - Win 7 SP1 - network cord directly plugged into router
BasementLaptop - Win 8.1 - Wireless connection

The two computers directly connected by cat5 are the ones I did my earlier posted test on, and the majority of my testing. They're the two better computers for gaming.

I have another theory. I have noticed that 8-bit armies uses my gog login, that it acquires from my GOG galaxy install. And 8-bit armies does a silent background login, even when the Galaxy client is not open. I can tell because the co-op button lights up. Is it possible that LAN mode in this game requires the GOG Galaxy client to be installed on both computers, even if GOG Galaxy is not opened? The game seems to want to use the computer's name in the absence of a GOG galaxy install, which makes me believe that you want lan mode to work without GOG Galaxy installed? Unfortunately I do not have two GOG logins in order to test if it works this way, and I'm not too interested in creating a free email and 2nd gog account in order to test a theory.

But, I did test installing the GOG Galaxy client on two of my computers and logging in to both of them, then closing galaxy. I then launched 8-bit armies and hosted on one computer and joined with the other. The result is that both clients occupied the same player slot and name. But I couldn't attempt to start the match due to the ready button not letting me click it.

I'm not sure if running a lan game from 1 game purchase and 2 installs is something that GOG or the Game Devs want or intend for me to be doing? I am aware that this game had a notification on it that said that it required GOG Galaxy for multiplayer, but that notification pre-dates the addition of LAN mode, and is not on the newer Hordes page. It is my assumption that lan mode should be functional when it's using the computer's name as the player's name? Otherwise I should have just purchased this on steam.


Edit:
The only way I can think of to completely eliminate any router problems is to create or purchase a crossover cable and run it between 2 of my pc's and set static addresses. But I do not have the tools for terminating cat5 cable at home.

No need if they are both gig NICs, Auto MDI-X. Normal patch cable will work.

That's convenient, maybe I will test that then.

Okay, so I feel like I did my last test that I'll do for a while. Or at least until I discover or think of something new to try.

My final test was my two windows 8 computers directly connected with a lan cable and static addresses. There is no router or anything between them. I disabled windows firewall and windows defender on both pc's. I reinstalled 8-bit armies while windows defender real time protection was disabled. I also logged out of GOG Galaxy so they were both using the computer names.

The two computers were able to ping each other and connect to each other's hosted games. But it keeps acting like the client computer won't load after clicking the start button on the host computer, which is probably waiting on the 2nd computer.

I had already gone through the advanced firewall settings and cleaned up some the rules that did not need to be there anymore (on my main, host computer). Looking in there right now the only inbound blocking rule left is "Microsoft DirectPlay Helper" (UDP 17, TCP6). I could have probably deleted that rule too, but it should have been disabled with the firewall. My firewall exceptions does list"instanceserverg.exe" and "clientg.exe" under inbound exceptions.

Whatever my issue is, I feel like it's on all of my computers. I lan mode a variety of games and sometimes lan mode some really old games. So it's possible there is another game or program installed on all my computers that has messed with whatever 8-bit armies uses for lan multiplayer.

Well, thanks anyways for the help, I'm done messing with it for now.

I know this is an old post, but I just wanted to add something, in case PG_Ren sees this. I bought Grey Goo a while back on steam and so did my nephew, and we were also never able to run lan mode on that either. (another Petroglyph game)

when I play lan games I use an 8 port switch. turn firewalls off. there is no internet or router to deal with this way. I do not own the 8 bit armies games but, id like too someday, so i don't know if this will help but I hope it does