HI guys. I just bought GC2 here at GOG. I like it alot, even though it is crazy hard.
I have a network question. I tried going on Massgate multilayer just out of curiosity since everyone has been saying that Massgate doesn't support online multiplayer anymore. Anyway, I found a game in progress. And when the game ended I asked the people in the chat room about it and they confirmed that Massgate works fine. But then I tried to make a game with my friend and he could not see the game that I hosted, and I could not see his. One of the guys who had just played a game told me that I need to open certain ports on my router, but I did not understand.
By the way, my friend and I also had the same problem seeing each others games when we tried Game Ranger. Can anyone here confirm that they have successfully played on Game Ranger? Maybe it is a difference in versions of the game. I know the one I got here was version 1.0.0.8. So is my friend's version, but he did not get it here. Does that make a difference?
Another question is how come I did not receive a serial code when I bought the game and I was not asked to input the code when I installed the game? Is this a version of the game violate any copyright laws?
Thanks guys,
Pete

Before you got opening ports on your router are you sure whatever firewall you are using is not blocking the game?
Also all the games on gog are DRM free which means that they don't need the serials or anything like that at least for the single player. If you find you need a key for the multiplayer you can email gog support and they will beable to issue one.

Thanks. My firewall is not blocking the game. I actually turn off my firewall when I game. And I was able log in to Massgate without a problem. No key was asked for. That's another reason why I thought it was strange.
Has this happened to anyone else? Did anyone else reading this have to open any ports on their router? If so, can you give me advice?

What OS are you using?

Windows Vista 64-bit.

I had a guide for xp but I found a better one. Just pick the router you have and then any game or just the normal ground control as they don't have ground control 2 at this site.
[url=]http://portforward.com/[/url]
The following UDP ports need to be opened:
6500 to 6520
13139
29910
42000 to 42200
The following TCP ports need to be opened:
80
6667
27900
28910
29900
29920
42000 to 42020
Taken from
http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/groundcontrol2operationexodus/patch/274.html?details=1
network troubleshooting close to the bottom.
I looked at a few of the guides and they all seem fine. Not used the automatic software myself so can't advise using that plus they don't have ground control 2 on there anway so best off just doing this all manually. Hopefully this will get the game running for you.

Thanks. Just one more question. I logged in to my router and I assume you are referring to port forwarding. Should I select in incoming or outgoing for forwarding these ports?

Should be both incoming and outgoing. If you don't have an option for both directions on your router then just do the ranges twice, one for outgoing and then one for incoming.

Hey, thanks for the help. I tried forwarding all those ports - internal and external - but I am still not able to play multiplayer. In Game Ranger I am able to host and join another person's game. But when the game starts, my screen constantly flickers between the game and the Esc menu. it is as if I were rapidly pressing Esc key. But I am sure my button is not stuck, because my keyboard works fine with everything else. And It can't be game ranger because I am able to play Age of Empires 2 and Starcraft Broodwar with other people.
Another thing is that I can log on to Massgate and see my friend in the lobby but we cannot see each others games when we host.
My router is Linksys, and I believe I followed those instructions correctly. for the IP Adress that I did the port forwarding on, I typed 192.168.0.101 for all of them.
Any other suggestions? I would really like to play this game with other people. That's why I got the game.