truelight@786: Multiplayer Manual for OpenTTD (0.3.5) truelight@786: ======================================= signde@224: signde@224: 1. Starting a Server truelight@786: --------------------- signde@224: truelight@786: - Click "multiplayer" on the startup screen truelight@786: - Click "start server" truelight@786: - Type in a game name truelight@786: - Select the type of game ('LAN/Internet' or 'Internet (advertise)'. With the last one truelight@786: other people are able to see you online. Else they need your IP and port to join) rubidium@5655: - Click "start game", "load game" or "load scenario" truelight@786: - Start playing truelight@786: truelight@786: signde@224: 2. Connecting to a Server truelight@786: -------------------------- truelight@786: truelight@786: - Click "multiplayer" on the startup screen truelight@786: truelight@786: - If you want to connect to any network game in your LAN click on 'LAN', then on truelight@786: 'Find Server' truelight@786: - If you want to see which servers all online on the Internet, click on 'Internet' truelight@786: and 'Find Server' truelight@786: truelight@786: - If there were more then one server signde@224: - select one in the list below the buttons truelight@786: - click on 'join game' signde@224: truelight@786: - If you want to play and you have the ip or hostname of the game server you want connect to. truelight@543: - click add server signde@224: - type in the ip address or hostname signde@224: - if you want to add a port use : truelight@786: truelight@786: - Now you can select a company and press: "Join company", to help that company truelight@786: - Or you can press "Spectate game", to spectate the game truelight@786: - Or you can press "New company", and start your own company (if there are slots free) truelight@786: truelight@786: - You see a progressbar how far you are with joining the server. truelight@786: truelight@786: - Happy playing truelight@786: truelight@786: signde@224: 3. Connecting to a Server over the Console truelight@786: ------------------------------------------- signde@224: truelight@786: - Open the console and type in the following command: truelight@786: rubidium@5655: connect :# signde@224: signde@224: signde@224: 4. Playing Internet-Games truelight@786: -------------------------- signde@224: truelight@786: - Since OpenTTD 0.3.5 the network protocol has been rewritten and is very stable, even over slow connections. truelight@543: rubidium@5655: - Servers with a red dot behind it have a different version then you have. You will not be able to join those servers. rubidium@5655: rubidium@5655: - Servers with a yellow dot behind it have NewGRFs that you do not have. You will not be able to join those servers. truelight@543: truelight@786: - It can happen that a connection is that slow, or you have that many clients connected to your server, that your clients start to loose their connection. Some things you can do about it: truelight@786: truelight@786: - net_frame_freq: truelight@786: change it in console with: net_frame_freq = truelight@786: the number should be between the 0 and 10, not much higher. It indicates the delay between clicking and showing up. The higher, the more you notice it, but the less bandwidth you use. truelight@786: A good value for Internet-games is 2 or 3. truelight@786: truelight@786: - net_sync_freq: truelight@786: change it in console with: net_sync_freq = truelight@786: the number should be between the 50 and 1000, not much lower, not much higer. It indicates the time between sync-frames. A sync-frame is a frame which checks if all clients are still in sync. When the value it too high, clients can desync in 1960, but the server detects it in 1970. Not really handy. The lower the value, the more bandwidth it uses. truelight@786: truelight@786: NB: changing net_frame_freq has more effect on the bandwidth then net_sync_freq. You should never change net_sync_freq! truelight@786: truelight@786: truelight@786: 5. Tips for servers truelight@786: -------------------- truelight@786: truelight@786: - You can launch a dedicated server by adding -D as parameter truelight@786: - In UNIX like systems, you can fork your dedicated server by adding -f as parameter truelight@786: truelight@786: - You can automaticly clean companies that do not have a client connected to them, for, let's say, truelight@786: 3 years. You can do this via: 'set autoclean_companies' and 'set autoclean_protected' and truelight@786: 'set autoclean_unprotected'. Unprotected removes a password from a company when it is truelight@786: not used for more then the defined amount of months. truelight@786: - You can also do this manually via the console: 'reset_company'. truelight@786: Both ways, the company will go bankrupt. truelight@786: truelight@786: - You can let your server automaticly restart a map when, let's say, year 2030 is reached. truelight@786: See 'set restart_game_date' for detail. truelight@786: - If you want to be on the server-list, enable Advertising. To do this, select 'Internet (advertise)' truelight@786: in the Start Server menu, or type in console: 'set server_advertise 1'. truelight@786: truelight@786: - You can protect your server with a password via the console: 'set server_pw', or via the truelight@786: Start Server menu. truelight@786: truelight@786: - When you have many clients connected to your server via Internet, watch your bandwidth (if truelight@786: you have any limit on it, set by your ISP). 1 client uses +/- 3 kb/s up and down. To decrease truelight@786: this amount, set 'net_frame_freq' to 1 for example. This will reduce it to 1.5 kb/s per client. truelight@786: truelight@786: truelight@786: 6. Some useful things truelight@786: ---------------------- truelight@786: truelight@786: - You can protect your company so nobody else can join uninvited. To do this, check your Company Screen truelight@786: truelight@543: - You can give other players some money via the ClientList (under the 'head' in the mainbar). truelight@786: truelight@786: - You can chat with other players via ENTER or via SHIFT+T or via the ClientList truelight@786: truelight@543: - Servers can now kick players, so don't make them use it! truelight@786: truelight@543: - From 0.3.5, desyncs should not happen anymore truelight@786: truelight@543: - From 0.3.5, patch-settings are also synced. You can now play without deleting openttd.cfg, and with, for example, extra large trains enabled. rubidium@5655: rubidium@5655: 7. Troubleshooting rubidium@5655: ------------------ rubidium@5655: rubidium@5655: - My advertised server does not show up in the 'advertised server list' (servers.openttd.org) rubidium@5655: Run openttd with the '-d net=2' parameter, as this will show whether it receives replies from the master server. rubidium@5655: If it does not receive replies it is most likely that you need to configure your router to forward the OpenTTD ports 3979 (both TCP and UDP) to the computer that is hosting the game.