Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:12 pm Post subject:
CnCNet updates! Dedicated servers, RA2 support and more!
Greetings Command & Conquer Community! It has been a long time since there has been any announcement from CnCNet spread around the community. Our last announcement was CnCNet v2, but today we announce something much greater: CnCNet v3! (3.1a to be exact as of this writing)
A lot has happened since our last announcement. For instance CnCNet now uses dedicated servers instead of relying on peer to peer (P2P), this means that the old portforwarding requirement is gone, further advancing our goal of just install and play. P2P functionality is still there if you wish to use it. It is useful if ever our servers should go down or you have high latency to our servers (housed in the United States and the United Kingdom) and your opponent is close to you geographically. CnCNet also got a permanent home at www.cncnet.org!
Using dedicated servers has many advantages: No portforwarding, no router or firewall setup (unless your firewall is very restrictive), It just works™ even in restrictive networks such as schools. (remember you are there to study, not to play C&C sadly enough).
CnCNet now fully supports all classic C&C games, yes that means Command & Conquer (Covert Operations), Red Alert (Counterstrike, Aftermath), Tiberian Sun (Firestorm) and a newcomer Red Alert 2 (Yuri's Revenge).
[The Red Alert lobby is pretty active as illustrated below]
To get started simply give CnCNet.org a visit! Days of C&C online gaming are waiting! _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Long as this doesn't drop my network card after a game, this will be an epic place to test mods! _________________ KGR | AT
AZUR
Discord: theastronomer1836
Steam QUICK_EDIT
Oh wow wait this doesn't work with Ares. Disappointing.
It's in your full right to go http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=cncnet (or join #cncnet @ irc.freenode.net if you use have a IRC client) and complain to hifi if something doesn't work _________________ QUICK_EDIT
I'll go mention it, but the whole fact you need a no-CD to use CnCNet to remove copy protection (for just YR from what I read and understood) is pretty odd. QUICK_EDIT
Yes but the CnCNet launcher doesn't accept .bat files or non-yr exes. I tested using Project Phantom's specialized install package as well as the Ares batch file I use to launch my mod. QUICK_EDIT
Yes but the CnCNet launcher doesn't accept .bat files or non-yr exes.
Oh, I see. Well thats not good. Everything I do is Ares related.
So that explains why NP works cause its an exe hack and not a .dll injection. _________________
The enemy shall be injected with toxic poison - Venom QUICK_EDIT
Yes but the CnCNet launcher doesn't accept .bat files or non-yr exes.
I don't think it should be that hard to make it work (unless Ares has no way of passing command-line parameters to gamemd.exe), as everything CnCNet needs to connect to the servers is a specific command-line parameter for gamemd.exe.
For example, with DTA, our Launcher has a button labeled "Play on CnCNet", which launches our equivalent of Game.exe with the parameter "tsdta:v4serv=open.cncnet.org:9000". That's all we need to do.
With YR I guess it should be "ra2yr:v4serv=open.cncnet.org:9000".
So, this m7 guy comes to the CnCNet IRC, says that I don't care about modders when I'm not even around, puts words into my mouth and leaves. When I get back, I'm stunned.
Where the hell did you get that impression? We even have DTA in our stats and are expecting more.
What I didn't know that you had problems with Ares. What you should've done instead of mocking me is to ask me to help and fix it. You were an ass.
Technically there shouldn't be any problems with Ares as CnCNet loader doesn't touch the game in any way. The nocd requirement shouldn't be such a big surprise as Ares requires an unencrypted exe to work anyway?
Yes, cncnet.exe expects you to have a known game exe in the directory (C&C95.exe, RA95.exe, SUN.EXE, RA2.EXE or YURI.EXE) but you could fake one and it would launch and you could set the executable even to a .bat file.
What I did based on your insults is that I removed the requirement on the same night but you weren't there as you just came to mock me.
And no, Tunngle ain't as easy as starting cncnet.exe and being online on the spot. Also CnCNet doesn't require any port forwarding with the current setup, Tunngle still needs a lot of setting up. Not saying that Tunngle is bad but the point of CnCNet is to be easier and closer to the C&C community.
If anyone else actually WANTS to work with me to get Ares and their mod working without problems, don't hesitate to talk to me. Insulting me while I'm away doesn't really help things.
Yes, we want mods. We even have the knowledge how to make mods (like DTA) to have it's own networking protocol so you won't see other mods or vanilla game in the LAN lobby. QUICK_EDIT
The issue with Ares is that you have to launch it separately, it does not directly edit the exe (unlike NPatch). You need to launch Syringe which injects the Ares dll into the YR code. For CNCNet to work with that you'd need an option to launch Syringe instead of YR or possibly even communicate with the Ares team to have proper inclusion (perhaps that way modders could even choose to have a CnCNet button on the main menu). Note that Ares development has been suspended until December or January IIRC. QUICK_EDIT
The issue with Ares is that you have to launch it separately, it does not directly edit the exe (unlike NPatch). You need to launch Syringe which injects the Ares dll into the YR code. For CNCNet to work with that you'd need an option to launch Syringe instead of YR or possibly even communicate with the Ares team to have proper inclusion (perhaps that way modders could even choose to have a CnCNet button on the main menu). Note that Ares development has been suspended until December or January IIRC.
CnCNet can launch any .exe or .bat. There should be no issues with Ares. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 22 Nov 2010 Location: Iszkaszentgyorgy, Hungary
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:42 pm Post subject:
This is true, we have tested this with 3.0.
EDIT: Oh wait, let me think about it. We used a special Syringe version which hardcodes to syringe gamemd.exe. If there's no way to launch an exe with parameters from the CnCNet executable then yes, it's an issue. _________________ "If you didn't get angry and mad and frustrated, that means you don't care about the end result, and are doing something wrong." - Greg Kroah-Hartman
=======================
Past C&C projects: Attacque Supérior (2010-2019); Valiant Shades (2019-2021)
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WeiDU mods: Random Graion Tweaks | Graion's Soundsets
Maintainance: Extra Expanded Enhanced Encounters! | BGEESpawn
Contributions: EE Fixpack | Enhanced Edition Trilogy | DSotSC (Trilogy) | UB_IWD | SotSC & a lot more... QUICK_EDIT
EDIT: Oh wait, let me think about it. We used a special Syringe version which hardcodes to syringe gamemd.exe. If there's no way to launch an exe with parameters from the CnCNet executable then yes, it's an issue.
Yes there is. You can select the executable and the arguments to it. QUICK_EDIT
So how do I get cncnet.exe to read the .bat file? When I click on cncnet.exe it automatically picks up RA2.exe and not gamemd.exe, Is there a way to tell it which game to load?
[edit]- Nevermind, I got it. Just a brain malfunction on my behalf. _________________
The enemy shall be injected with toxic poison - Venom Last edited by Cranium on Thu Nov 24, 2011 3:01 am; edited 1 time in total QUICK_EDIT
Syringe passes all command line arguments to the game. Transferring the settings should work already by just launching Syringe in a standard way (Batch, ShellExecute, CreateProcess without passing lpEnvironment). If there is anything else needed to better support CnCNet in YR, there might be ways to do it.
The Ares hiatus should end December 1st.
On a sidenote: Don't use a customized Syringe. Ares only supports Syringe, not Syringish. As I said before, it is a stupid idea and will possibly break with future updates. And it certainly minimizes the chances I'm going to support it in any way, no matter what kind of customization is done for whatever reason. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Syringe passes all command line arguments to the game. Transferring the settings should work already by just launching Syringe in a standard way (Batch, ShellExecute, CreateProcess without passing lpEnvironment). If there is anything else needed to better support CnCNet in YR, there might be ways to do it.
CnCNet just uses CreateProcess to start whatever you want to start and sets and environment variable to pass some options to cncnet's wsock32.dll so it should just work. The latest (3.1b) released yesterday has some small fixes that should help getting non-standard exes to work (does not force you to have ra2.exe or yuri.exe in the directory).
Note to modders: if you use cncnet.exe it will replace your wsock32.dll, however, that wsock32.dll should also work in LAN, Hamachi and even Tunngle. It works in LAN mode if not launched through cncnet.exe. It's not compatible with other wsock32.dll versions because of various reasons. QUICK_EDIT
Well, I can get RA2 and YR working with cncnet.exe, however trying to run RunAres.bat "My mod" with the cncnet.exe is a no go. It launches my mod but the YR cncnet lobby will not show up.
I know this is already an issue, just letting you know.
cncnet.png
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The enemy shall be injected with toxic poison - Venom QUICK_EDIT
It launches my mod but the YR cncnet lobby will not show up.
Can you be more specific? YR lobby doesn't show any welcome message with CnCNet currently so how do you know it's not working? I mean, does the game refuse to go to LAN lobby completely? Is the final game executable and our wsock32.dll in the same directory? Also, what does RunAres.bat contain?
Edit:
I tested with vanilla Yuri's Revenge and the Ares download from their site, selected RunAres.bat with cncnet.exe and it connected me online just fine in LAN lobby.
I looked at the online stats on the page while doing it to get a hint when I'm online. The problem ain't with stock Ares at least. QUICK_EDIT
.bat file only contains, Syringe "gamemd.exe" -log -cd
and yes the winsock.dll is there. you can see it in my pic i posted.
But like you say, if the YR cncnet dosent show a welcome screen like RA2 does, then maybe it is working. I thought maybe it was supposed to take me to a lobby like xwis or something. _________________
The enemy shall be injected with toxic poison - Venom QUICK_EDIT
.bat file only contains, Syringe "gamemd.exe" -log -cd
and yes the winsock.dll is there. you can see it in my pic i posted.
But like you say, if the YR cncnet dosent show a welcome screen like RA2 does, then maybe it is working. I thought maybe it was supposed to take me to a lobby like xwis or something.
No, it doesn't. You join a Network game and that's CnCNet, like LAN but online. There ain't even a welcome message with YR but RA2 should have (TODO).
So I think it actually works for you. Get a second player to confirm or something. QUICK_EDIT
Finally had a chance to network my mod with cncnet. Ares does indeed work. And we actually played thru without a recon. _________________
The enemy shall be injected with toxic poison - Venom QUICK_EDIT
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CnCNet updates! Dedicated servers, RA2 support and more!
