How to play D2 multiplayer these days?

spud · Post by **spud** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 7:06 pm

I really want to play D2 mutliplayer again, it's been a long time for me. I have been out of video games for a long time, and am wanting to play again. There are a lot of video games out there these days but I keep saying to myself "I just want to play Descent again."

What advice would you guys give to somebody who wants to get back into D2 multi but has no clue?

When I played it was with D2 3DFX. Nobody has a 3DFX compatable video card anymore do they? Does D2X just work with whatever video card? Do modern USB joysticks work, or do I need to find a 3D pro? Most computers these days don't even have a "gameport", I don't think mine does. Is Kali still where it's at for people playing multi? Or does D2X play over TCP/IP instead of good ole IPX? Oh yeah, I don't even have my D2 CD anymore! Jesus, I know I had bought at least three copies of the game, can you play multi with D2X using the shareware data? Am I annoying anyone yet?

Heh, thanks for any clues guys.

spud

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 7:23 pm

Go follow the d2x-w32 threads. They have everything you need for D2. Join the descent server in kali

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:01 pm

some short quick answers Spud.

No, noone makes a Glide(3DFX) compatable card.

What merlin said. The D2x works with most if not all current vid cards. I have a Nvidia 6600GT and it runs great. You have control over your Framerate so you don't need to worry about ultra high frames making the game outta control.

Need a 3DPro? No, you can use one if you want. A number of people do. These days a Logitech stick or a Saitek are your best options. Both comapanies offer sticks with Twist and make good solid products.

Also check the stickies in the Multiplayer forum as well as here.

btw, welcome back!

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 10:14 pm

kali

D2x-w32 (Check this page atleast once a day since Diedel is constantly releasing updated versions.)

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Sun May 01, 2005 2:13 am

With D2X-W32, you can play multiplayer games directly over the internet w/o the help of KALI. D2X-W32 even contains tracker code, so you don't need to know the game host's IP address.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Sun May 01, 2005 7:56 am

click here

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Sun May 01, 2005 3:23 pm

If you're effectively INSANE... there are Glide wrappers out there. So... you can run D2 3DFX, you probably wouldn't want to.

Hmm. That makes me wonder... would D3 work better through a wrapper? Its Direct3D support frankly sucks.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sun May 01, 2005 4:07 pm

Hmpf! Interesting idea!

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Sun May 01, 2005 4:31 pm

Sirius,

I doubt a Glide wrapper would make D3 look any better, as it simply translates Glide function calls to OpenGL oder Direct3D calls, effectively relying on the drivers rendering capabilities with these gfx APIs.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Sun May 01, 2005 9:50 pm

Diedel wrote:With D2X-W32, you can play multiplayer games directly over the internet w/o the help of KALI. D2X-W32 even contains tracker code, so you don't need to know the game host's IP address.

Yes, but seeing as kali is where the majority of the games are at these days...

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Mon May 02, 2005 12:24 am

It's just because people rarely think of the TCP/IP option. Even though the ping times would be better for me, I've never even been asked - but there we have it I guess. Perhaps people don't know there is a choice now.

Well.

There, of course, are the innumerable people out there still using older versions of D2. Most people I know actually use D2 DOS/3DFX in Win98...

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Mon May 02, 2005 2:28 am

Sirius,

tell them about D2X-W32.

With the tracker code it is really simple to setup and join a UDP/IP multiplayer game with D2X-W32. You don't even need to enter IP addresses or ports.

Just chose the appropriate "via tracker" option in the multiplayer menu.

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Mon May 02, 2005 6:11 am

There is already a tracker running?

Should check that option out soon. Hopefully convince others to try it.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Mon May 02, 2005 7:05 am

Yes. It's located in Germany, but as it only serves for exchanging IP addresses between game hosts and clients, that shouldn't hurt. In-game network traffic is done peer-to-peer between game host and clients.

Riot · Post by **Riot** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:50 pm

How do I get the tracker running?

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 2:34 pm

You don't need to get the tracker running - it is already running. All you need to do is to go to the multiplayer menu and chose start or join UDP/IP game via tracker. D2X-W32 will either tell the tracker that a D2 game host is available, or query the tracker for available game hosts and display them in your game server list.

Riot · Post by **Riot** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 4:08 pm

Diedel wrote:You don't need to get the tracker running - it is already running. All you need to do is to go to the multiplayer menu and chose start or join UDP/IP game via tracker. D2X-W32 will either tell the tracker that a D2 game host is available, or query the tracker for available game hosts and display them in your game server list.

Here's the $1,000,000 question: is anyone playing on the tracker?

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:12 am

As there aren't all that many ppl playing D2 these days, you will need to find a few buddies who are willing to play D2 with you, and then one of you will have to create the game host (using the start UDP/IP tracker game option), and the others will need to connect to it (using the join UDP/IP tracker game option).

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:45 am

If I ever saw any Rangers on I would try to convince them to start using it...

Problem is, they generally close their games off anyway, because most are scored. But for the ones that aren't...