Realms Beyond Forum

I'm glad to hear that it works!

(April 19th, 2020, 10:34)Gudura Wrote: [ -> ]I haven't thought about this, thanks! Should I do this for all dozen ports that I found for Civ - or only for 2056? In that case I just add 3056 for that IP in the router settings, and of course the .ini file?

Adapting the rule for port '2056-20XX' should be enough. If you want play with 9 other players, XX needs to be at least 64.

The Save files in PB88 getting bigger and will reach 800kb soon. Because some players do not use the BTS_Wrapper I've developed an other solution for the slow login

Edit: Well, I recognized that the programm only runs, if Winfsp is installed. This driver provides the virtual file system.
That is a little drawback…

How it works:

Quote:If you login in Pitboss games, Civ4 still search for the save file locally. If we offer the file at the same place as the server, Civ4 loads it from the local drive.
All games on Zulans server are located on the Z:-drive because this is the default drive for Wine's user files.
→ If we mount a virtual file system on drive Z: we can wait for file opening requests and side-load the save. (Well, this technique is quite similar to the BTS_Wrapper. New is the mounting of Z: similar to an NFS share.)

Advantages of this approach:
• Do not alter Civ4 binary. This avoid problems with anti virus programs, I assume.
• No admin privileges required.
• Less library dependencies as BTS_Wrapper.

Disadvantages:
• Z:-drive letter need to be unused (well, this can be avoided because we can use Z:\[subfolder], too.)
• Maybe not compatible with older Windows versions.
• Not compatible with Linux+Wine (Here, the BTS_Wrapper works fine.)

So, if someone want try it out, I attached a first version/prototype in this post. Tested on Win10Pro, only.

Usage instructions:
1. Unzip the two files (location does not matter.)
2. Click on executable. A terminal window should appear and the Windows Explorer shows the new Z:-drive.
3. Start Civ4 and login into a PB game
4. Close terminal window after the session.


Regards Ramk

P.S. It does not solves the problem with blocking users.   Ideas welcome to fix this last big problem.

Hello friends, a quick question; a large group of friends and I are flirting with the idea of playing a FFH2 game in multiplayer, preferably hotseat/live/whatever and not PBEM that'll be picked up over a few days. What's the hot techniques for that specifically? It's been a w h i l e since I've done it, and the horrors of Civ 4's fairly constant desyncs once you go over, like, five people are still pretty fresh to me.

We don't need pitboss then, direct IP may or may not be useful but we'll see when the time comes. Anything to avoid desyncing a bunch during a live game?

I've never played direct IP FFH2, but from what I read, summoning Hyborem or Basium is almost guaranteed to cause an out of sync. With the high movement, huge attacker's advantage, and annoying spells (blinding light, anyone?), direct IP seems like it could devolve into a contest of who has the fastest clicking finger or lowest latency.

For updating 'wine' I need to restart all PB games.

Edit: Done

(May 2nd, 2015, 11:08)Zulan Wrote: [ -> ](This is supposed to be a successor for this thread as we shifted from NatNeg/PB only to Lobby & NatNeg.)

Since the shutdown of GameSpy, the official Multiplayer of Civilization 4 is to use the Steam Version and Steam Multiplayer. This thread describes and discusses how to use Pitboss smoothly and restore the original lobby using alternative servers. There are two ways to convince Civ4 to use the alternative server.

Option A: hosts-file:
Run a text editor as administrator, and open the file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.

Add the following lines:

Code:

# Redirecting the multiplayer of Civilization 4 to a community hosted server.
# Universal entries
148.251.130.188    motd.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    gmtest.master.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    peerchat.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    gpcm.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    gpsp.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    gamestats.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    master.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    natneg1.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    natneg2.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    natneg3.gamespy.com
# Vanilla specific entries
148.251.130.188    civ4.available.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4.ms18.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4.master.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4.natneg1.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4.natneg2.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4.natneg3.gamespy.com
# BTS specific entries
148.251.130.188    civ4bts.available.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4bts.ms7.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4bts.master.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4bts.natneg1.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4bts.natneg2.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4bts.natneg3.gamespy.com
# additional entries for japan
148.251.130.188    civ4btsjp.available.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4btsjp.ms5.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4btsjp.master.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4btsjp.natneg1.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4btsjp.natneg2.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188    civ4btsjp.natneg3.gamespy.com
#civ4 col
148.251.130.188 civ4colpc.available.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4colpc.ms11.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4colpc.master.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4colpc.natneg1.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4colpc.natneg2.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4colpc.natneg3.gamespy.com
#civ4 col japan version
148.251.130.188 civ4coljp.available.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4colpc.ms11.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4coljp.master.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4coljp.natneg1.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4coljp.natneg2.gamespy.com
148.251.130.188 civ4coljp.natneg3.gamespy.com
#End of file

Here is a prepared hosts-file.


Note: After editing the file you may have to restart your computer for the changes to have effect. If the server ever changes, you will have to update the hosts file to a new IP address. Some Antivirus solutions may interfere with the manipulation of the hosts file. If the IP address of the server changes in the future, you will have to update the hosts file.

Option B: Alternative exe:
Download this alternative exe file into your Civ4 installation folder and replace the original Civ4BeyondSword.exe. You can also keep the '2015' name and update your link (vanilla version). The alternative exe file is obviously not signed and therefore a security warning may show when you try to run it. This version will work even if the IP address of the server changes.

Restoring Direct IP and lobby in the Steam version of Civ4:
Follow the instruction by 2k

Port Forwarding:
It is very important to note, that the GameSpy NAT negotiation was never perfect, neither is our replacement. There are some routers/ISPs that just don't seem to be able to connect to each other. It was and is strongly recommended to setup port forwarding for UDP 2056-2107.

Server Software:
To just play, there is no need to download or run any of the NATNEG/RPMaster exe files (except for the patched Civ4...exe files). The server software is running on my server. If my server it shut down at some point, you can use them and take over.

Contact:
For discussion, bug reports, issues please post in this thread, or send me a private message. I will also build up an overview page at http://civ.zulan.net

Known limitations:
The buddy/friends system of the lobby does not work in the alternative lobby.

Software Development:
All software development is done in an open source fashion on GitHub.
https://github.com/civ4-mp

Credits:
AncientMan2002. Initial GameSpy replacement server for project reality.
Caledorn. hosting the original NatNeg Server.
dingus a.k.a. evillurksinternet. Development of lobby.
Luigi Auriemma. Reverse engineering and documenting the GameSpy protocol and encryption.
novice-rb. Port of NatNeg to Civ4.
Ramkhamhaeng. Development and alternative exe file.
SexIsBad2TheBone. Testing and evangelism
VoW - Voices of War, German Multigaming Clan. Supporting funding of the server until 01/2020.
Several members of https://www.civforum.de/. Supporting funding of the server.
Zulan. Hosting and development.

History:
April 2014: 2k announces that the current multiplayer modes of Civ4 are replaced by the Steam multiplayer.
May 2014: GameSpy shuts down their Servers. The Internet/Lobby non-steam version of Civ4 stops working. Direct IP / Pitboss stops working smoothly due to the lack of Nat Negotiation (NatNeg).
August 2014: novice implemented the alternative NatNeg to avoid bouncing in Pitboss. The server was originally hosted by Caledorn. Zulan hosted an alternative NatNeg as redundancy. See the old thread.
September 2014: To simplify his hosting environment, Caledorn shut down the NatNeg server.
October 2014: dingus started implementing an alternative lobby. Zulan hosted it in addition to the NatNeg. The lobby was originally based on the C# code by AncientMan2002, but due to stability issues, different components were ported to python.
December 2014: 2k provides a way to restore Direct IP / Pitboss for the steam version of Civ4
April 2015: All components except the NatNeg were ported to python, hopefully resolving the stability issues. Improving of the server code is still ongoing.
May 2015: This thread goes online.
May 2015: Updated exe (2015 instead of 2014), now works correctly for the lobby.
July 2016: Updated hosts, IRC and Server browser for Civ4Colonization.
July 2020: Added github organization

Hi Zulan, 

I try to connect to civ4 lobby today and it's impossible. 
a message error pops up :
 
"échec de la connexion avec le navigateur de recherche de parties internet" !

WTF ?! 

It always worked good til today.

(January 21st, 2021, 14:06)CIV4 Wrote: [ -> ]Hi Zulan, 

I try to connect to civ4 lobby today and it's impossible. 
a message error pops up :
 
"échec de la connexion avec le navigateur de recherche de parties internet" !

WTF ?! 

It always worked good til today.

There was an error on the server today. It's back up.

(January 21st, 2021, 15:01)Zulan Wrote: [ -> ]

(January 21st, 2021, 14:06)CIV4 Wrote: [ -> ]Hi Zulan, 

I try to connect to civ4 lobby today and it's impossible. 
a message error pops up :
 
"échec de la connexion avec le navigateur de recherche de parties internet" !

WTF ?! 

It always worked good til today.

There was an error on the server today. It's back up.

Thank you Zulan ! And thank you again for your commitment !

A quick question: how necessary is it to use the other version of Civ4 on Steam for pitbosses now?

I went into 56 with the normal version and got a message saying my version of the game files were different than the host's, but everything still seemed to work.

You are generally not able to log into Pitbosses with the regular (non-beta) version of the Steam version because the Direct IP Connection option to connect to Pitbosses does not exist.