MissionRisk Networking

MissionRisk 3 Networking Manual 

1. Overview

MissionRisk multiplayer wars can be fought against remote players through a direct dial-up connection, across a Local Area Network (LAN) or on the Internet.

Anyone can decide to create and host a new multiplayer war, or to join an existing multiplayer war.

Individual multiplayer wars are called sessions. Sessions have one host and up to twenty connected terminals, up to six of who can participate in the war.

Active sessions are automatically located by MissionRisk and listed for players to select from. MissionRisk will automatically find all session hosts on a Local Area Network. If you have an Internet connection, MissionRisk will connect to an Internet game server and locate any active sessions hosts on the World Wide Web.

Remote players can easily communicate with each other via MissionRisk’s messaging system once connected to a session.

MissionRisk has multiplayer connection wizards called Queue Cards to simplify hosting, finding and connecting to multiplayer sessions.

2. Internet Connection, Routers And Firewalls

To host or join an Internet session, you must first, of course, have a connection to the Internet. Any connection will be sufficient, be it a direct connection, or dialup or ASDL connection through an ISP.

Personal firewalls need to have a rule added for MissionRisk, or be deactivated. If you are using a third party firewall, you need to add a rule allowing TCP and UDP traffic in both directions for MissionRisk. See your firewall's documentation for information on how to do this.

Windows XP's default firewall needs to be deactivated because it will prevent MissionRisk from communicating with other terminals. If you are using Win XP’s default firewall, go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections and right-click the icon used to connect to the Internet. Select Properties and select the Advanced tab. Un-select the check box in the Internet Connection Firewall section.

Hardware firewalls will need to have a series of ports opened up for MissionRisk. The port range can be entered into the Settings tab in MissionRisk’s Network Setup box. The greater the port range, the better the results. A range covering five sockets is the suggested minimum.

If you don't have a firewall or you have deactivated Win XP's default firewall, for your own protection, download and install Kerio Personal Firewall by Kerio Technologies Inc. Kerio Personal Firewall is free for home and personal use, and provides more than adequate protection against attacks from the Internet. Make sure that MD5 signature checking is enabled and the rule created for MissionRisk allows TCP and UDP traffic in both directions for any port and any address. You will need to modify this rule if it was automatically created by the firewall during its learning stage.

If you connect to the Internet through a router or some sort of gateway, you should add a NAT Redirection Rule (RDR) for port 4813 UDP and TCP, allowing MissionRisk to be visible to the Internet. More information about setting up RDR rules can be found in your router's documentation under NAT Translation Rules or NAT Port Forwarding. If you don't add an RDR for port 4813, MissionRisk will still connect to Internet sessions, however it will not receive any ping statistics in the Session Locator, nor will you be able to host an Internet session.

3. Finding Sessions

Start MissionRisk. From the Multiplayer dropdown menu, select Find Multiplayer War. Select Find LAN War or Find Internet War. The Session Locator will appear with a list of any sessions that it finds. To connect to a session, select the session that you want to connect to and click the Connect button.

The Session Locator displays available sessions in three columns:

1. Session Name: The name that the host has given the session.

2. Vacant: The number of unclaimed armies available to choose from.

3. Ping: The time in seconds for a packet to make a round trip from your terminal to the host and back. If this entry is dashed-out, your terminal cannot reach that session’s host.

4. Joining Sessions

Select the session that you wish to join from the Session Locator and click Connect. MissionRisk’s Set-Up screen will list all available and claimed armies. Armies that are already claimed will be greyed-out and will show the controlling terminal’s name. Armies available for you to claim will not be greyed-out and will show Unclaimed as its controller. You must claim one of these unclaimed armies to join the war. If you don’t claim an army, you will only be a spectator.

To claim an army, change its controller from Remote Player to Human Player. Other terminals will see that army greyed-out and your terminal’s name listed as its controller.

If you are joining a session in the middle of a war, click Join War. If not, the war will start automatically when the host clicks Declare War.

5. Create and Host a New Session

The easiest way to create and host a new session is to use the Queue Cards. The Queue Cards will take you through the steps required to set-up and begin a new LAN or Internet session. Go to the Multiplayer dropdown menu, Host Multiplayer War and select Queue Cards.

Once you have started a new session, go to the Set-Up screen and change the army controllers to Unclaimed for armies to be available to other terminals. Remember to select an army for yourself by changing its controller to Human Player. If you don’t claim an army, you will only be an observer.

You can wait until other players join your session, or you can decide to begin the war immediately. The computer will control any unclaimed armies until they are picked up by another terminal.

6. The Network Administration Panel

The Networking Administration Panel can be accessed from the Multiplayer dropdown menu. 

Session History is the large textbox on the bottom-left corner and displays networking events and administration messages.

Connection Options can be found on the top-right corner and determines if you want to host a session or connect to a session that is already in progress.

Connection Type can be found on the middle-right and determines if you want to connect to or start a local area network (LAN) session, or if you want to connect to or start an Internet session.

Refresh Rate (middle-right) enables you to select the refresh frequency between remote terminals.

Find Multiplayer War (bottom-right) opens the Session Locator, which finds and lists available sessions that you can connect to.

Connect/Begin (bottom-right) connects to a session using the current settings, or begins a new session with the current settings.

Terminal Name is the name used to identify your terminal.

Session Name (Settings tab) is the name of the session and is used by remote players to identify your session. When joining a session, this box is filled out automatically by the Session Locator.

Name or IP address of host (Settings tab) is automatically filled out by the Session Locator when joining a session. Session hosts need not worry about this field.

Main Port (Settings tab) is the TCP port used by the server to listen for incoming connections. When joining a session, this field is automatically filled out by the Session Locator.

Broadcast (Settings tab) is the UDP port used by the Session Locator to find available sessions. This field is automatically filled out for Internet sessions, however only LAN sessions using the same broadcast port will be found. MissionRisk’s default broadcast port is 4813.

Local Port Range (Settings tab) lists a range of ports available for MissionRisk to use when port selection is restricted by a firewall. It is advisable to have a range of at least 5 ports. Any less and you could start to experience networking errors. Setting these two fields to zero will enable MissionRisk to select ports at random.

Log network activity (Settings tab) writes a log file containing all MissionRisk network traffic. Used to analyze networking problems.

Restore Defaults (Settings tab) resets most of the above settings.

Maximum number of armies each terminal can claim (Host Options tab) restricts the number of armies that each client can take control of. This does not apply to the session host.

Maximum number of connections per IP address (Host Options tab) restricts the number of different MissionRisks connecting from the same computer... believe me, I have had complaints about it.

Forfeit turn after 3 minutes inactivity (Host Options tab) will cause the player to loose his turn after three minutes of inactivity.

Require password to connect (Host Options tab) restricts who can connect to your session to only those with the password.

All connected terminals are listed Connections tab. If you have joined a session, only the host and you will appear in this box. If you are hosting the session, all connected terminals, including yours will be listed in this box. To force a terminal to disconnect, select the terminal and click the Kill Connection button. If you want to prevent the terminal from ever connecting again, click the Kill & Ban button instead. The list of banned IP addresses is stored in a file named “BannedList.dat” which can be found in the MissionRisk home directory.

IP Config tab lists various Internet Protocol (IP) configuration values.

7. Communicating With Other Players

From the Multiplayer dropdown menu, select Compose Message to open the message box. Type your message directly into the box and press Enter to send (or click the Send button). A message box will open on all connected terminals showing your terminal name and your message.

To send a private message, select the Private option and select the destination player's color. Only the terminal that controls the army of that color will see your message.

8. Disconnecting and Closing Sessions

To disconnect from a session or to close a session that you are hosting, go to the Multiplayer dropdown menu and select Disconnect.

The computer will take control of disclaimed armies if any player disconnects from a session that you are hosting.

9. Troubleshooting

No Internet sessions found: Make sure that you have a connection to the Internet, and make sure that you can reach www.missionrisk.com with a web browser.

Internet sessions are listed but all Player and Ping stats remain dashed-out and a connection cannot be established with any of them: There is a firewall between your terminal and the Internet stopping connections to other computers. See section 2 above.

You could also try pinging the IP addresses listed. Open a DOS prompt (Start > Run and type either cmd or command) and type "ping nn.nn.nn.nn", where nn.nn.nn.nn is the IP address listed in the Name or IP Address of Host box on the Network Setup screen.

Internet sessions are listed but one or more Player and Ping stats remain dashed-out: Whoever is hosting that session is either behind a firewall and cannot be reached from your computer or does not have the correct NAT rule in their router .

Connections to other sessions can be established but Player and Ping stats remain dashed-out and remote players cannot connect to session that I am hosting: There is a router between you and the Internet that does not have the correct NAT rule which allows external access to your computer. See section 2 above.