Multiplayer FAQ?

[Guest]

Anybody know of a FAQ that goes over muliplayer operation?Thanks.

[Guest russell]

I don't know if an FAQ already exists, but here's an attempt at a tutorial for getting started flying in multiplayer games...The easiest way to get started flying with other people is to go to the MSN "Zone" (http://zone.msn.com/flightsim2002/). (there's also a zone for FS2000 -- just change the URL -- but you have to have the right game for the right zone -- you can't connect to someone else in another version) Change the view to "List View" and find a game with a fairly good Latency time (green bars vs. yellow or red). This will show games closer to you, and you'll have fewer problems.There are two ways to connect... One is with the traditional Zone Launch, where you click Join on a Zone game room, and then wait for the host of the game to click the Launch button. Then everyone joined will have their FS2002 launched automatically, and should connect up. For this method, note that FS2002 should not be running before the host launches. But this method is slow, and often doesn't work well. It's also a problem for people using add-on programs such as FSNavigator (a great map program that lets you see where all the other players are -- http://www.fsnavigator.com), since they need to be connected directly via an IP address.A better way is to look for a game where the host lists the IP address in the Zone game info (an IP address is the unique address of the host's computer on the internet -- something like 11.22.33.44). To connect to an IP game, start FS2002 yourself and click "Multiplayer" on the left side of the start screen (or if you're already in the plane, click the Flights menu, then Multiplayer, and then Connect -- press the Alt key if you don't see the Flights menu at the top left). Enter your player name, select TCP/IP, and enter the IP address listed for that game. Click Search and wait a couple seconds, then you should see a session name listed. Click Join to connect to the session. If you don't see a session name listed within a few seconds of clicking Search, it could be that your connection across the internet to the host is too slow, or the game has moved to another IP address (this happens when the original host leaves the game, and it automatically transfers to the next player in the game). If you get stuck, send a Zone Message to the game host, or just try another game.I should also mention at this point that if you're using a router, or you're on a network with a shared internet connection, it's possible that you'll have problems either connecting to the game, or seeing all of the other planes in the game. Getting FS2002 to run on a network is a tough problem, and probably worthy of an entire tutorial of its own. But just briefly, I'll say that the network ports required for multiplayer games are TCP 47624 and TCP/UDP 2300-2400.If you connected with an IP address...After connecting, you'll be back at the same Multiplayer start page again. Click the "Chat" button to open the Chat window (or if you're already in the plane, press the Enter key to open the chat window). Ask the other players for a starting airport "ID". This is usually a 3- or 4-letter code, such as KLAX for Los Angeles.Then click "Create A Flight" on the left side of the Multiplayer start page, and setup your flight. You'll probably want to change the airport to whatever airport ID the other players told you. To do that, click the "Change" button under "Current Location", and then enter the ID in the "Airport ID" box. Note that the ID box is the second box, not the first. If you know the name, you can use the first box instead, but many people find it easier to refer to airports by ID. After you type in the airport ID, it should show the name of the airport at the top of the "Search Results" list -- this is how you know you've typed it in correctly. If it doesn't find it, make sure you don't have a particular region or country specified (you want it to use all regions and all countries as you type in the airport ID). If the airport is a large one, it may have gates you can start at. This is always a good idea to check, because it means you don't have to start on the runway, where someone might be in the middle of taking off! :-) In the bottom left of the window, there's a box called "Runway / Starting Position". Click the arrow next to that box, and see if there are any gates or ramps you can start at. You may need to scroll down a bit to get past the runways, which usually look like "25" or "18R", etc.After you've set the airport id, and possibly a gate or ramp to start on, click OK, and you'll be back at the Multiplayer start page. You can also change your aircraft, weather, and date/time. You may want to be sure that the time is during the day, unless you specifically want to fly at night. When everything's setup, click "Fly Now!" to go to the plane. Once there, if there are other planes nearby, you should see them, with the pilot's name over the top of the plane. If the airport wasn't big enough to have gates or ramps, then you'll now be sitting on the runway, and you should attempt to clear it as soon as possible, in case someone's waiting to take off or land. Once you see who's in the area, you can taxi back onto the runway and take off. To open the chat window from inside the plane, just press the Enter key.If you connected via a Zone Launch...When the Zone host launches the game for you, the game starts up with you already in the plane, most likely sitting on the runway at Meigs airport in Chicago. Press the Enter key to open the chat window, and ask the other players for a starting airport "ID". Then go to the World menu (press the Alt key if you don't see the menus) and change to the correct airport, using the instructions I mentioned above for the direct IP case.When you're ready to disconnect from the game, you can either just close FS2002, or you can go to the Flights menu and select Multiplayer, and then Disconnect.Other notes...If you want to host your own game on the Zone, you can find out your own IP by just going to this web site: http://www.whatismyip.comThere's a bug with the chat window in FS2002 that didn't exist in FS2000. It doesn't scroll correctly, and you have to keep scrolling it manually to make it stay at the bottom. Also, the window keeps disappearing unless you turn off "Full Screen" from the View menu in FS2002. I made a little program called FSChatScroll that fixes this scrolling problem, and you can download it from several sites including Avsim's file library. At the time of this writing, the latest version is 1.6, available at Avsim here: http://205.252.89.41/library/esearch.php?C...Root&DLID=12742 (if you don't find it here, then try searching by filename to get the latest version).You can actually talk with the other pilots with a voice program called "Roger Wilco" (usually referred to as "RW"). Someone (can be anyone, not just the game host) starts a Roger Wilco session, and then gives out the IP for everyone else to connect to. Some games will say "RW required", especially if they have ATC (Air Traffic Control), where someone in the game directs all the traffic by giving voice commands over RW. You can get RW for free from http://www.rogerwilco.com. I'd suggest getting a headset with a built-in microphone, and be sure to set RW to use "press to talk" mode instead of the "voice activated" mode.If you really get into hosting games on the net, you might want to check out my "FSHost" program, which is a replacement multiplayer server for FS2002 games. It has tons of new features, including the ability to have more than 16 players in a game, kick and ban, Chat Commands, Pilot Logs, Flight Plans, and lots more. You can download it for free from http://www.chocolatesoftware.com/fshost/If you want to try a more structured game, check out the VATSIM network, where you can fly with other players in a very controlled environment with live ATC provided by people using Roger Wilco. VATSIM is a pretty big world, but a lot of people like it because the pilots are generally more experienced than on the Zone, and the games are more realistic. You'll find what you need to get started at http://www.vatsim.net/Happy multiplayer flying...Russell ("OzzieYank", in the Zone)(Note that anyone is welcome to re-post this article elsewhere if they find it helpful)

[Guest]

Well im only here to say a very informative and constructive answer to a post. Well done Russell.Im only just starting to fly online again for the first time in a couple of years and am enjoying it a great deal.Cheers Pete (In Oz)