MP in Vista

[griphos 0]

Hey all,

 

Okay, so I'm a noob at this multiplayer business, and I hope those who know more will correct any errors in this thread. But I thought it might help to post about settings for MP in Vista. Might want to do a sticky at some point when we've got it all hammered out.

 

Anyway, it took me quite a bit of troubleshooting, but here's how I finally had to set things up to run MP in Vista.

 

First, it doesn't work for me from the OFF Manager. I get to the place where the manager launches CFS3.exe and it gives me an error message. I know some people can run MP from the OFF Manager, but I think they are running XP, and besides, when you get dumped out of a game while in Manager, it takes more steps to get back in.

 

So, I think it is best, and I have to run MP from a shortcut on my desktop which points to my CFS3MP.exe (NOT my CFS3.exe) file in my CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields folder. Once this shortcut is created, right click and select Properties and then the Compatibility tab. Check the box for "Run this program in compatibility mode:" and make sure that "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)" is in the dialog box. I also checked the box for "Run this program as an administrator."

 

If you try to launch MP directly from the CFS3.exe or by a shortcut to that, it will seem to work fine from your end, I think, but you won't be able to connect. You will probably get a "Can't connect to the internet" error message. You may also get a mismatch planes error message, even if you don't in fact have mismatched planes.

 

In Vista, if you also want to use TrackIR in MP mode, you have to make sure that you launch TrackIR with "Run this program as an administrator" also selected in Properties/Compatibility. (Or at least I do.)

 

Just to be safe, you may want to make sure that CFS3.exe and Off manager.exe (both in CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields) are also set to Run as administrator.

 

You should also make sure that you have allowed CFS3MP.exe, CFS3.exe, and Off Manager.exe as exceptions to your firewall. It wouldn't hurt anything to make TrackIR.exe and Teamspeak.exe as exceptions allowed through the firewall as well. You can set these by clicking on Control Panel and then Security or Security Center (depending on which Control Panel view you are using). There should be an "Allow a program through Windows Firewall" link, and when the box opens, make sure you're on the Exceptions tab and you can select the program from the list or add it by clicking the "Add program" button and searching for the executable.

 

Finally, you should make sure you are running the same patch as everyone else. Also, you will need to have the same DM model installed.

 

One other issue. Sometimes, when you start up MP through the desktop shortcut, you will see the little "Hanger" drop-down tab and a medal for "Missions" but not a medal for "Multiplayer." I don't know why. When this happens, you will need to close out and open the OFF Manager and try to start up the Multiplayer session through it. Once you get to the MP screen, or as far as the Manager will let you, you can close out of the manager and reopen through the desktop shortcut and both the medals will be there.

 

I have a .doc file with pictures of how to navigate the menus once you're in MP. I stole this from someone on the SOH site and just tweaked it a bit. The pics are from Phase 2, but everything is basically the same. It's too big to attach, so if you'd like a copy, PM me.