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Theme HospitalOnline multiplayer?(22 posts)solved(22 posts)solved
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Posted April 13, 2012
Is it possible to play theme hospital with online multiplayer or does it only work as a local setup with computers connecting to the same router? I've tried connecting to a host over the internet but it just comes back to me with "connection timed out".

Has anyone got it working online yet?
This question / problem has been solved by Metallordimage
Posted April 13, 2012
I tried to get a network game running using Tunngle (virtual network) with a friend but we can't even see each others games. We are using Windows 7. Any Ideas anyone?
Posted April 13, 2012
avatar
Grziwatzki: I tried to get a network game running using Tunngle (virtual network) with a friend but we can't even see each others games. We are using Windows 7. Any Ideas anyone?
I've also tried a virtual network with Hamachi and had no luck.
Posted April 14, 2012
Are you using DosBox?

Theme Hospital won't run online without IPX; enable that before launching the game:

Server(Host)
ipxnet startserver
ipxnet connect 127.0.0.1

Client
ipxnet connect %SERVERIP%

In the case you are playing without DosBox, there is an IPX wrapper, tunneling IPX packets over IP using a UDP connection on port 54792. This can be used in combination with a VPN like Hamachi.

http://www.solemnwarning.net/ipxwrapper/

Download the latest binary version and unpack the four included DLLs into the game's root directory.

Secondly, make sure to assign highest priority to your VPN's connection (e.g. Hamachi) for all applications. This way, IPXWrapper will be forced to wrap this one for the tunnelling process.
For an illustrated guidance, have a look there: http://1radpc.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95%3Adiablo-1-windows-vista--7-color-and-lan-issues-resolved&catid=43%3Aannouncements#Part3

Kind Regards
Posted April 14, 2012
Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I'm using DosBox. The GOG version of Theme Hospital comes with 2 seperate DosBox files, a server exe and and client exe and those automatically sort the commands you mentioned.

If I open them both at the same time, I'm able to connect to myself by typing in the IP 127.0.0.1 but I can't connect to my own real IP. Also my friends can't connect to me over the internet or I to them.
avatar
Invisibalist: Are you using DosBox?

Theme Hospital won't run online without IPX; enable that before launching the game:

Server(Host)
ipxnet startserver
ipxnet connect 127.0.0.1

Client
ipxnet connect %SERVERIP%

In the case you are playing without DosBox, there is an IPX wrapper, tunneling IPX packets over IP using a UDP connection on port 54792. This can be used in combination with a VPN like Hamachi.

http://www.solemnwarning.net/ipxwrapper/

Download the latest binary version and unpack the four included DLLs into the game's root directory.

Secondly, make sure to assign highest priority to your VPN's connection (e.g. Hamachi) for all applications. This way, IPXWrapper will be forced to wrap this one for the tunnelling process.
For an illustrated guidance, have a look there: http://1radpc.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95%3Adiablo-1-windows-vista--7-color-and-lan-issues-resolved&catid=43%3Aannouncements#Part3

Kind Regards
Posted April 14, 2012
I have just managed to play an online game of theme hospital. My brother started a server on windows xp and I connected to it from my linux. We connected over lan. If you want to connect over the internet you need either a public ip for the server (if you're not sure you have one, you probably don't), or something like hamachi to emulate the lan.

We didn't set anything manually. I just used the provided dosbox client conf file and typed the lan address of my brother's machine. He just started the server.exe.

Is there anything more you'd like to know?

EDIT: Note that windows may ask you to unlock networking privilages for dosbox before allowing connection. Just minimize the game and check if there is a prompt about that if you can't connect.
Post edited April 14, 2012 by Metallord
Posted April 14, 2012
avatar
Metallord: I have just managed to play an online game of theme hospital. My brother started a server on windows xp and I connected to it from my linux. We connected over lan. If you want to connect over the internet you need either a public ip for the server (if you're not sure you have one, you probably don't), or something like hamachi to emulate the lan.

We didn't set anything manually. I just used the provided dosbox client conf file and typed the lan address of my brother's machine. He just started the server.exe.

Is there anything more you'd like to know?

EDIT: Note that windows may ask you to unlock networking privilages for dosbox before allowing connection. Just minimize the game and check if there is a prompt about that if you can't connect.
Pretty much exactly what we've been trying to do but I'm on Windows 7, she's on vista. Whenever we try it, it just comes up with "connection timed out" on the DosBox window. We've both accepted the network privileges and added to firewall exceptions but still no luck.
Posted April 14, 2012
Yeah but are you on a lan, internet over public ip or hamachi?

EDIT:
Also - do you choose the IPX connection in-game?
Post edited April 14, 2012 by Metallord
Posted April 14, 2012
I'm trying to get it working over internet, not LAN. I've tried using Hamachi also but not had any luck with that either. And yes I'm choosing IPX connection ingame.
avatar
Metallord: Yeah but are you on a lan, internet over public ip or hamachi?

EDIT:
Also - do you choose the IPX connection in-game?
Posted April 14, 2012
Ok I think I figured it out. There were no problems when my brother on xp hosted the game, but for some reason he couldn't connect to my server, when I tried to host (which seems to replicate your issue).

It turns out that the server can fail to start, but you won't see the error message, because the sequence of commands in the conf file will just go on, clear the screen and start the game.

The issue was probably caused by that it couldn't start on the default port. In your server config file in the IPX section (at the bottom of the file) you should have the command: IPXNET STARTSERVER. Just add a high port number after that. I used 3001, so IPXNET STARTSERVER 3001

There was however a second issue. The client is prompted to type CONNECT <IP ADDRESS OF THE SERVER> <PORT>(note that when you change the port on the server you also have to specify the port on the client when connecting). That didn't work for us. The connect command also has to be prefixed with ipxnet, so: IPXNET CONNECT IP PORT

Let me know if this helped.

P.S. Unfortunately the forum doesn't allow me to upload the conf files directly. I will "docomment" the changes I made in them and upload it tomorrow on dropbox and share the public links here. Feel free to pm me if I forget though ;)

EDIT:
You also have to specify the port even when you use hamachi. I will also mention that when using hamachi the client has to specify the ip that hamachi assigned to the server. You probably know that hamachi has it's own addressing scheme, but there are no obvious things when trying to resolve such problems ;)

And you have to be actually connected over hamachi, there are some sort of rooms/subnetworks - I don't quite remember the hamachi terminology, because I resolved all such problems that I had in the past by purchasing a public ip ;D

EDIT 2:
You may also need to forward the port the server is supposed to accept incoming connections as priestley21 stated. You should be able to find information regarding port forwarding in your router's manual. There also is plenty information on that on the internet so I won't get into details.

If, like me, you have a public ip you shouldn't have to do this (I am actually behind a router, but I have the DMZ host option set to my local address and it works).
Post edited April 21, 2012 by Metallord
Posted April 14, 2012
avatar
Metallord: Ok I think I figured it out. There were no problems when my brother on xp hosted the game, but for some reason he couldn't connect to my server, when I tried to host (which seems to replicate your issue).

It turns out that the server can fail to start, but you won't see the error message, because the sequence of commands in the conf file will just go on, clear the screen and start the game.

The issue was probably caused by that it couldn't start on the default port. In your server config file in the IPX section (at the bottom of the file) you should have the command: IPXNET STARTSERVER. Just add a high port number after that. I used 3001, so IPXNET STARTSERVER 3001

There was however a second issue. The client is prompted to type CONNECT <IP ADDRESS OF THE SERVER> <PORT>(note that when you change the port on the server you also have to specify the port on the client when connecting). That didn't work for us. The connect command also has to be prefixed with ipxnet, so: IPXNET CONNECT IP PORT

Let me know if this helped.

P.S. Unfortunately the forum doesn't allow me to upload the conf files directly. I will "docomment" the changes I made in them and upload it tomorrow on dropbox and share the public links here. Feel free to pm me if I forget though ;)

EDIT:
You also have to specify the port even when you use hamachi. I will also mention that when using hamachi the client has to specify the ip that hamachi assigned to the server. You probably know that hamachi has it's own addressing scheme, but there are no obvious things when trying to resolve such problems ;)

And you have to be actually connected over hamachi, there are some sort of rooms/subnetworks - I don't quite remember the hamachi terminology, because I resolved all such problems that I had in the past by purchasing a public ip ;D
Either it's not working for me or I'm misunderstanding you. I've added the port 3001 to the end of the line as you did, (will that port number work for me also?) then when I open client I type in the ip and port of the server, for example:

IPXNET CONNECT 30.165.154.234 3001

Is that correct or have I missed something?
Posted April 14, 2012
3001 should work for you. Is the address you posted here an actual address you use? Because it's definitely not a hamachi address.
Posted April 14, 2012
No, it's just a random number. When I follow your instructions it just hits back with "Connection timed out". Do I need to forward the port?
Posted April 14, 2012
You don't need any sort of forwarding when using hamachi from what I know. Maybe it's an issue with hamachi itself. Did you use it for playing other games? Are you both connected inside hamachi (I think hamachi calls it "networks" - you have to create a network and the other person has to connect to it inside hamachi).
Posted April 14, 2012
Yea, I used it for a cracked server for Minecraft a while back and it worked perfectly. Have you actually got Theme Hospital working online?
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Theme HospitalOnline multiplayer?(22 posts)solved(22 posts)solved
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