This repository has been archived by the owner on Nov 14, 2024. It is now read-only.
-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 0
/
Copy pathtcp-faq.txt
748 lines (641 loc) · 34.2 KB
/
tcp-faq.txt
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
The TCP/IP Internet DOOM FAQ
by Scott Coleman ([email protected])
and Jay Cotton ([email protected])
updated 10/23/95
Introduction
The popularity of id Software's DOOM, DOOM II,
Heretic, and the new sequel Hexen are so immense, it has
been estimated that DOOM is installed on more PCs than
OS/2 and Windows NT combined. So many copies of these
games have been sold that the idGuys can commute to work
in Ferarris. Interest in these games has been so great
that they have been hacked, reverse-engineered,
dissected, and enhanced more than any other games in PC
history. And now, as more and more people become hooked
into the Internet, DOOM-engine games are rapidly becoming
the Killer Apps of the 'net, as well. Although the
remainder of this document will refer exclusively to
DOOM, the procedures outlined here will work equally well
for either DOOM II or Heretic, as well.
DOOM, as released by id, only supports IPX network
or modem/direct serial link play; TCP/IP networks are not
supported. As a result, the DOOM documentation doesn't
include any information about DOOMing across the
Internet, and obviously DOOMers can't call id for help.
As a result, the following question is asked at least
once per week in the DOOM newsgroups: "How do I play DOOM
over the Internet?" In the pages that follow, we will
attempt to answer the most frequently asked questions
about Internet DOOM, including what you need, how to set
it up, and how to find new fragbait - er, I mean,
opponents.
DOOM across the Internet is made possible by a
freeware program called iFrag (formerly called iDOOM).
iFrag uses the UDP protocol to send DOOM game information
between multiple machines on the Internet. By some
strange coincidence, the authors of this document are
also the creators of iFrag, and we have used the program
to play Internet DOOM sessions with opponents from as far
away as Estonia. In writing this FAQ, we hope that
sharing some of our experience will make it easier for
you to get connected in your own Internet DOOM sessions.
The Frag Tracker
The Frag Tracker is a major new enhancement to the
Internet DOOMing experience. Based on the premise that
the ability to play DOOM over the 'net isn't much good
unless you have other people with whom to play, the Frag
Tracker serves as a virtual meeting place for Internet
DOOMers. Frag Tracker support is built right into iFrag -
its use is completely transparent. People looking for
games run iFrag in client mode, which automatically
queries the Frag Tracker for a listing of registered
games. The type of game (DOOM, DOOM II, or Heretic), the
names of the players, the game parameters (episode, map,
skill level, etc.), and other information is displayed on
the iFrag screen. The player picks a game from this list
and she is instantly connected to that game. If there are
no games waiting, or the existing games aren't
sufficiently interesting, a player can register a new
iFrag game on the Frag Tracker which others can then
join.
Getting Prepared
Q1: I want to play DOOM over the Internet using
iFrag. What hardware do I need?
To successfully play DOOM across the Internet, you
will need the following hardware:
* A machine capable of playing DOOM (D'OHH!)
* If your site is directly connected to the
Internet, you'll need a network interface card (NIC)
for your machine. And not just any old NIC, mind you
- your NIC must be supported by a packet driver if
you wish to use it to play Internet DOOM. Usually
this means that your NIC must be an ethernet card,
although iFrag has been successfully played over
token ring. We will assume that your PC is already
equipped with a suitable NIC, although it may
currently be in use for some other non-TCP/IP
function (such as a node on a Novell network). As
long as your NIC is supported by a standard packet
driver, your machine can be readily converted into
an iFrag "playstation."
* If you are not directly connected, you'll need a
28.8Kbps modem (V.34 or V.FC) as well as an ISP
(Internet Service Provider) with suitable dialup
facilities. NOTE: If you have a 14.4Kbps (V.32bis)
or slower modem, don't waste your time trying to
play DOOM over it via a SLIP connection. It is,
quite simply, unplayable. Go invest in a faster
modem or, better still, an ISDN connection.
Q2: OK, I've got all the hardware. What software do
I need?
In addition to the hardware requirements, some
software is also required to complete your setup. Before
you can play, you'll need to pick up the following:
* The latest version of DOOM. At the time of this
writing, the latest version of DOOM is 1.9, DOOM II
is 1.9, Heretic is 1.0, and Hexen is in a 4-level
beta release. It's always best to use the latest
version of each game because that is what the
majority of other iFraggers will be using, and
different versions of each game cannot be used in
the same network game. Additionally, DOOM versions
1.1 and below are incapable of using iFrag.
* A packet driver written specifically for your
hardware. The Packet Driver is a standardized
interface that lets iFrag (and therefore DOOM)
"talk" to your NIC. If you're connecting via modem,
you'll need a SLIP or PPP packet driver.
* iFrag, the TCP/IP network driver for DOOM.
* Some basic network diagnostic tools, such as a
PING or TRACEROUTE program. These are not absolutely
necessary, but can definitely be useful for
debugging and testing your setup.
Q3: Hold on - I don't have some of this software!
Where can I get it?
* To obtain iFrag: Log on to tracker.vet.uga.edu via
anonymous ftp. Change to directory /pub/asre.
Download the file iFrag22.ZIP. This is version 2.2
of iFrag, the latest as of this writing.
* Many ethernet cards come with the appropriate
packet drivers on a utilities diskette packaged with
the card. If your card does not come with a packet
driver, there is an excellent collection of freely
available packet drivers called the Crynwr (nee
Clarkson) Packet Driver collection. You can obtain
it via anonymous ftp from oak.oakland.edu. Change to
the /pub/msdos/pktdrvr subdirectory and download
PKTD11.ZIP and PKTD11C.ZIP. You need not download
the files PKTD11A.ZIP and PKTD11B.ZIP; these contain
source code and example programs for the packet
drivers - while interesting (especially to
programmer types), you won't need these in order to
play iFrag. Modem users should grab the file
slippr15.zip from this directory. NOTE: Make sure
that you do NOT get "slipr15d.zip" by mistake!
* If you need basic network diagnostic utilities,
the WATTCP applications are freely available and
include a PING program. To get them, anonymous ftp
to dorm.rutgers.edu, change to the
/pub/msdos/wattcp/ subdirectory, and download the
file APPS.ZIP.
Q4: OK, I've got everything, now what do I do to set
it up?
Setting your computer up to use the TCP/IP protocol
suite via a packet driver is very straightforward. This
next section will illustrate the procedure for setting up
a PC with an SMC ethernet card and the IP address
128.192.23.5. Modem+SLIP users can skip ahead to the next
section, which describes the analogous procedure for
dialup SLIP users. You'll of course need to substitute
your own specific information in place of the examples
given here. All set? OK, let's get started.
Ethernet Setup Procedure
Step 0: START WITH A CLEAN DOS BOOT!!!!! Set up your
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to load as few drivers
as possible. Some definite things to EXclude are memory
managers (HIMEM, EMM386, QEMM, etc.) and network drivers
(e.g. LSL, IPXODI). DOOM doesn't need the former, and the
latter will probably conflict with the packet driver. We
recommend that you prepare an alternate configuration
(using the multiple configuration facility built into MS-
DOS; see your DOS manual for details) specifically for
Internet DOOM with a CONFIG.SYS portion containing only a
FILES=20 line, and an AUTOEXEC.BAT portion containing
only the line "prompt=$p$g". Be sure to include the line
which loads your mouse driver (if you play DOOM using a
mouse).
Step 1: Set up the packet driver. If you do not
already have a suitable packet driver installed on your
machine, now is the time to install one. Start by
determining your ethernet card's IRQ setting, it's base
I/O port setting, and it's memory address setting (if
any). You should be able to determine this by looking at
the card itself and consulting the user manual. You'll
need some if not all of this information, depending upon
which packet driver you use and/or type of hardware you
have (for example, some IBM computers with the
MicroChannel bus can determine the settings on the card
automatically without you having to supply them on the
packet driver command line). Unzip the appropriate driver
from Crynwr Packet Driver collection archive. In our
example, the packet driver is called SMC_WD.COM. By
looking at the jumpers on the card and consulting the
manual, I determined that the card has been set to IRQ 7,
Base I/O port address 300h, and the base memory address
is at segment d800h. For this example, I have chosen to
use interrupt 60h for the packet driver. Packet drivers
typically operate on an interrupt in the range of 60h to
80h inclusive; since nothing else in my sample system
happens to be using the first available interrupt (INT
60h), I chose that. Thus, to load my packet driver, I use
the command line
SMC_WD 0x60 0x7 0x300 0xd800
where 0x60 is the packet driver interrupt, 0x7 is the IRQ
setting on the card, 0x300 is the I/O port base address,
and 0xd800 is the memory base address (NOTE: all numbers
are in C-style HEX notation). Don't worry if you don't
understand what all this stuff means - as long as you use
the correct numbers, your packet driver should work.
NOTE: If your PC is currently part of a Novell network
(e.g. Netware, Netware Lite, Personal Netware) the
parameters you need can be found in a file called
NET.CFG, usually located in your \NOVELL, \NWLITE or
\NWCLIENT subdirectories (along with all the other
drivers needed by Novell). Add the proper command line to
the AUTOEXEC.BAT for your iFrag configuration so that the
packet driver will be loaded automatically whenever you
boot using the iFrag partition.
When successfully loaded, the packet driver should
give a sign on message and report the ethernet address of
your NIC when you load it. Chances are that if your NIC
has been functioning properly for other tasks (e.g. as a
node on a Novell network) then you'll have no problems
here. If not, or if there are any error or warning
messages, something is wrong. One possibility is that one
of the settings on your NIC is in conflict with those of
another expansion card in your system. No two cards can
have the same IRQ, I/O port, or memory address settings,
nor can the memory areas of two cards overlap. Whatever
the cause, you'll need to find and correct the problem
before continuing.
Step 2: Set up a new directory where iFrag and all
its configuration files will be kept. You can name this
directory anything you like (I suggest c:\iFrag). UnZIP
the ifrag22.zip file into this new directory, and make it
the default (chdir to it). We will refer to this
directory as the "iFrag directory."
Step 3: Set up your WATTCP.CFG file. Your WATTCP.CFG
file contains important parameters used by the WATTCP
TCP/IP kernel built into iFrag. These values MUST be
entered correctly if you wish to make a connection with
another DOOM PC. In preparation for this, you'll need
several bits of information. Contact the network
administrator for your site and find out the IP address
for your machine, the IP address for your gateway or
router, the IP address of at least one Domain Name Server
local to your site, and your netmask value. The three IP
addresses will each consist of four groups of digits
separated by periods. In our example, the machine's IP
address is 128.192.23.5, the gateway is 128.192.23.1, the
netmask is 255.255.255.0, and the nameserver address is
128.192.44.67. NOTE: it is important to use the numeric
IP addresses, not the actual host names. NOTE: If you
have other Internet programs currently installed on your
machine, such as a Gopher client or the Trumpet
newsreader, you can probably find the information you
need in the configuration files used for those programs.
If the application is based on the Waterloo TCP package,
it will have it's own WATTCP.CFG, in which case you can
simply copy it over to your iFrag directory. When you
have collected all this information, use your favorite
ASCII text editor to edit the WATTCP.CFG file in your
iFrag directory. Edit or add the lines beginning with
my_ip=, gateway=, nameserver=, and netmask=. On our
example machine, the WATTCP.CFG file looks like this:
my_ip=128.192.23.5
gateway=128.192.23.1
netmask=255.255.255.0
nameserver=128.192.44.67
Save the changed file and exit back to DOS.
Some sites run what is called a BOOTP server. If
yours is such a site, you can put "BOOTP" on the "my_ip="
line and leave the other lines out. iFrag can contact the
BOOTP server and determine all the settings it needs to
communicate with other machines on the Internet. If your
site is not running a BOOTP server, then your task is a
little more difficult (but not impossible!)
If you know your machine's IP address, but you can't
determine the other values, you can often get away with
some educated guesswork. For instance, the gateway for a
subnet usually has an IP address ending in .1, as is the
case with our example. Thus, if your IP address is
xxx.yyy.zzz.www, try setting your gateway's IP address to
xxx.yyy.zzz.1. As for the subnet mask, a common value for
this parameter is 255.255.255.0. In some cases, the
gateway value can be something like xxx.yyy.1.1 with a
corresponding netmask value of 255.255.0.0 - if one
doesn't work, it can't hurt to try the other. Finally, if
you don't know your nameserver's IP address, you can
probably get by without it for the purposes of DOOM
playing. Since you'll be specifying IP addresses for all
of your opponents' machines, a nameserver lookup won't be
necessary to resolve their addresses.
Your basic setup is now complete. Please skip ahead
to the section on testing your TCP/IP setup.
SLIP Setup Procedure
This procedure assumes that you are using the
cslipper SLIP driver mentioned earlier. If you are using
a different driver, you'll need to change the commands
which follow accordingly.
Step 0: Obtain Internet access from a service
provider who allows SLIP/PPP connections on their
terminal server. A "shell account" (where you log in to a
remote UNIX host and type commands such as "telnet" and
"ftp") will NOT work. How to obtain this type of service
from such a provider is beyond the scope of this
document.
Step 1: Using your favorite serial communications
package, dial in to your service provider, log in, and
issue whatever commands are required to change their
terminal server to SLIP mode. How this is done varies
from service provider to service provider and is beyond
the scope of this document. Check with your service
provider for more details.
Once you have logged on and enabled SLIP mode, exit
your telecommunications software WITHOUT HANGING UP -
this is VERY IMPORTANT! Any telecommunications package
worth the floppy it comes on will have a "save without
hangup" command, or will prompt you when you exit to ask
whether it should hang up or not.
Change to the directory where you have installed
your packet driver and load it. An example command line
for CSLIPPER is
CSLIPPER com1 vec=0x60 baud=57600
where com1 is the serial port to which your modem is
connected, 0x60 is the interrupt vector the packet driver
should use, and 57600 is the baud rate. The packet driver
will display a signon message and load itself into
memory.
Your SLIP packet driver is now loaded and ready for
testing.
Testing your TCP/IP Setup
Step 1: Reboot your machine and select your new
iFrag configuration. Next, use your network diagnostic
programs to test the connection. For example, if you are
using the WATTCP application suite mentioned earlier,
unzip the TCPINFO and PING programs from the WATTCP apps
archive into your iFrag directory. At the DOS prompt,
type:
TCPINFO
and press the <Enter> key. If your WATTCP.CFG values are
set up correctly, and if your packet driver and net
connection are functional, you'll see a couple of screens
of information about your system, including your ethernet
address and the parameters you specified in the
WATTCP.CFG file.
If everything looks OK, the next step is to use the
PING program to attempt to establish contact with your
subnet gateway. At the DOS prompt, type
PING <yourgateway's.numeric.ip.address>
and press the <Enter> key. After a brief delay, you
should see a message telling you that the host is
responding, as well as the round trip time for PING's
test packets. If you see the "Timeout" error message,
then something is wrong with your setup; if your PC is
unable to reach your gateway, it will be unable to reach
the rest of the Internet as well, since all network
packets which are sent to nodes outside of your local
area network must pass through your gateway. For our
sample system, we would type:
ping 128.192.23.1
If your gateway PING was successful, try PINGing your
Domain Name Server (at the IP address you specified in
WATTCP.CFG) as well as some well-known site on the
internet (e.g. the Frag Tracker, which is at IP address
128.174.134.150). These will test your machine's ability
to connect with other machines outside of your subnet as
well as those outside of your site. All of these PINGs
should result in a "host responding" message with a round
trip time. If any of these attempts fails, recheck your
entries in WATTCP.CFG and/or get some help from your
network administrator. Examples for our test system:
ping 128.192.44.67
and
ping 128.174.134.150
Step 2: Set up your iFrag.CFG. Again using your
preferred ASCII text editor, modify the iFrag.CFG file in
your iFrag directory so that all entries are correct for
your system. You will need to specify the paths to your
game and patch WAD directories, your chosen nickname (the
name by which other iFrag players will know you), the
number of lines you want on your video display (25 or
50), whether or not you want stealth (no sound) mode,
etc. As an example, let's suppose Joe Ayedume has chosen
the nickname FragLord, and that he has installed DOOM,
DOOM II, and Heretic into their standard directories on
his hard disk. The iFrag.CFG file for Joe's system will
look something like this:
;
; Sample iFrag Configuration File
;
; stealth
nick=FragLord
realname=Joe Ayedume
location=Redmond, WA, USA
password=secret
tracker=128.174.134.150,6666
doom=c:\doom
doom2=c:\doom2
heretic=c:\heretic
hexen=c:\hexen
doompwads=c:\doom\wads
doom2pwads=c:\doom2\wads
hereticpwads=c:\heretic\wads
hexenpwads=c:\hexen\wads
videolines=50
Edit your iFrag.CFG file to reflect your nickname as
well as the locations of your games and PWADs. If you
don't have one of the games installed, just leave the
corresponding entries blank. Save the changed file back
to disk.
Put Me in, Coach - I'm Ready to Play!
All right! iFrag is now installed and ready for
carnage! Now all I need are some more players to sink my
rockets into. From my iFrag directory, I start iFrag by
typing
iFrag
and pressing the <ENTER> key. The iFrag client-mode
screen comes up, and iFrag contacts the Internet Frag
Tracker to see which games are waiting for players at the
moment. Once iFrag has successfully contacted the Frag
Tracker and downloaded the list of available games, a
pop-up dialog box appears on the screen. Using the PgUp
and PgDn keys, I can view a summary of each available
game. This game summary includes the type of game (DOOM,
DOOM II, or Heretic), the nicknames of all the players
currently in the game, the location of the machine
hosting the game, a brief description, as well as the
current game settings (skill, episode, map, etc.). I
notice that my friend (who is known only as "ArchVile")
is currently hosting a game of Heretic. Since it's been a
while since I have turned him into a chicken, I press the
<ENTER> key to select his game. iFrag immediately
contacts ArchVile's machine and I join the game.
ArchVile is running iFrag in server mode. This makes
ArchVile the coordinator for this particular game - he is
the "boss," and gets to decide which game will be played
(DOOM, DOOM II, or Heretic as in this case) as well as
which parameters to set (such as episode, map, skill
level, which PWADs to use, and so forth). ArchVile also
decides who may be allowed to join the game and when the
game will begin. Although the other players in the game
may voice their opinions, only the server has the ability
to actually make changes to the game settings. In a sense
it's just like watching TV - although there may be four
people watching, only one person can have the remote
control.
Now that I have successfully joined a game, the
iFrag chat mode screen appears. This screen is divided
into several sections: the credits, the output window,
the status bar, and the input line. At the top of the
screen is the name of the program, its version number,
and the copyright notice. The large area beginning with
the second screen line is the output window. Here is
where iFrag will display all status messages as well as
the chat text entered by the other players. Below the
output window is the status bar, where the current game
settings are displayed. Below the status bar is the input
line where all the text I type on my keyboard will
appear. Finally, the bottom line of the screen lists
significant contributors to iFrag. During this phase of
the game setup, all players who have connected thus far
can type messages to each other using iFrag's built-in
chat facility. To send a message to the other players in
the game, I simply type a message on the keyboard. My
keystrokes appear in the input line at the bottom of the
screen, and when I press <ENTER>, the text will be echoed
to the screens of all players (along with my nickname to
indicate that I sent the message). The server itself will
also send messages. Messages from the server will begin
with three asterisks ("***") to distinguish them from
messages typed by other players.
In addition to sending text messages, iFrag's chat
facility also understands several commands, each
beginning with a slash '/' character. Some examples of
iFrag chat mode commands are /who, /quit, and /help.
When my iFrag client connects to the iFrag server,
it automatically receives the game parameters which will
be used during this session. These game settings are
displayed on the status bar in an abbreviated form to
ensure that they will all fit within the available space.
The server announces my arrival, and ArchVile greets
me by typing "re" (short for "re Hi," i.e. "Hi again"). I
reply with a "re" of my own. Gazing down at my status
bar, I notice that he has selected E1M8 as the default
episode and map for our game. I remind him that we've
been playing that one a lot lately, and suggest that we
play something else. "How about hl9.wad?" he asks,
referring to the PWAD (user-written level) which is a
Heretic DEATHMATCH level based on the famous DOOM
"Ledges" PWAD. I agree, and he issues the commands and
"/map 1" and "/pwads hl9.wad" to incorporate the new
level. Our status lines are immediately updated to
reflect these changes.
Once all players have joined the game and all
parameters have been set, ArchVile presses the F10 key.
The iFrag server signals the clients that the game is
beginning, the chat facility is shut down, and iFrag sets
up the connections which will be used for the actual
game. Once these network links are established between
all the machines, the message "Prepare to meet your
DOOM!" is displayed, and iFrag launches the appropriate
game. We see the usual Heretic startup information, and
then there we are, in HL9.WAD, crystal wands charged and
ready!
After dining heartily on Chicken Flambe' (courtesy
of a Morph Ovum, a Phoenix Rod, and a Tome of Power), I
decide to fire up my own game with a little scenario I
call "Carnage-DOOM." From the DOS prompt, I type
iFrag -server
and press <ENTER>. Since I like this particular scenario
quite a bit, I created a standard DOOM response file
called "carnage.rsp" containing the parameters -doom2, -
warp 1, -deathmatch, -nomonsters, and -skill 5. I use
iFrag's /load command to load the response file by typing
/load carnage.rsp, and my status bar is updated with the
new settings. After a few moments, NoOne, Caitiff, and
FragMastr join my game. After exchanging a few
jocularities, I confirm that everyone is ready to begin
and then I press the F10 key. DOOM II loads, and I grab
the rocket launcher for the first of many fabulously fun
frags.
That's all there is to it! Gone are the days of long
command lines with 4 IP addresses and tons of other
parameters, setting up games via email, and other
frustrations. Now getting into a game of Internet DOOM is
as easy as getting fragged with a BFG-9000!
iFrag/Frag Tracker Etiquette
The Frag Tracker was intended to provide a pleasant
meeting place for DOOM players from all over the
Internet. However, there is an unfortunate human tendency
to behave both more aggressively and less politely
towards others over a cyberspace link than one would
behave face-to-face. In an attempt to help counteract
this tendency, we urge you to employ the following
guidelines in your use of the Frag Tracker. These
guidelines stem from the common courtesies and politeness
we extend to each other in everyday life. Think of the
server of an iFrag game as being the host of a small get-
together. This person has invited you into their home
(virtual home in the case of iFrag) for a game of DOOM.
While connected to their iFrag server, behave as you
would if you were a guest in their home (and as you would
like others to behave in your own home). Have some
consideration for the other players and everyone will
enjoy their gaming even more. On the other hand, severe
and/or repeated violations of these guidelines may result
in revocation of Tracker access privileges.
1. Do NOT use abusive or vulgar language in public.
Type /freeze or /notrack (or both) if you want a private
chat. Do not put vulgar or abusive language in your game
description.
2. Do NOT falsify information in ifrag.cfg. Anyone
not reporting their real name, location, or email address
may have their Tracker access privileges revoked.
3. Do not kick someone out of your game before first
asking that person to leave. One exception to this is if
they don't respond to your "hello" within several seconds
(in violation of item 7 below); in that case, feel free
to kick or ban them at will. ;-)
4. If you are in an iFrag game setup on the tracker
and you are asked to leave, do so. While the server
player should be polite in his request, he is under no
obligation to allow any particular player to join or
remain in his game. Usually the server player will ask
another player to leave because that player's packet
latency, or "ping" time, is high enough that it would
cause playability of the game to suffer. Don't take it
personally; just find another game involving machines to
which you are better connected.
5. If you decide you do not want to play a game
after it has been launched, do not press alt-x to get out
of the game - this will prevent ALL the players from
loading. It's a simple courtesy to wait for the game to
begin before leaving; at that point, your departure will
not prevent the other players from continuing their game.
6. If the game appears to be hung while loading, be
sure to wait at least 60 seconds before aborting. Some
computers are slower than others when loading all the
doom data at the start of the game. This may be caused by
something as simple as a fragmented hard drive. In any
case, aborting too soon is decidedly uncool (just as it
is in item 5).
7. It is rude to join a game and then leave without
saying something. If you join a game, and see that your
connection is poor, at least say something like "Oops!
Sorry, I was looking for a better connection than I have
with you. Later!" Think how you would feel if someone
walked up to your home, rang your doorbell, then when you
opened the door they simply looked at you, turned, and
walked away without saying a word. It's enough to make
Judith Martin shudder.
8. If you are serving a game in which you want only
certain players to join, be sure to put that info in the
game description (use the "/desc" command).
9. When enough players have joined a game, give some
time to be sure that:
- Everyone has a chance to see and comment on the game
parameters;
- Everyone has or has successfully transferred the
PWAD (if one is selected);
- All players have a pretty good idea of what their
ping time is;
- All discussions related to the pending game are
concluded.
10. Make sure you know where you are in the ping
time "pecking order." If the game lags and you have the
worst ping, leave the game. Slowing a game down is very
bad form! There will always be other games for you to
play; don't be selfish and ruin things for the other
players.
Other Pointers and Tips
First, try not to use the "pause" key. Do NOT use
the pause key just so you can type a message. Do NOT use
the pause key if you have to answer the phone; either
find a hiding place to hole up, or if you are fragged,
just stay dead (don't hit the spacebar) until your call
is completed. It's inconsiderate to make everyone else
wait just because *you* decided to stop playing and take
a phone call. If someone else has paused the game, do NOT
release the pause - let the person who paused release it.
Before releasing pause, the original pauser should first
check to make sure everyone else is ready to begin
playing again. People tend to get angry when an
unexpected pause release causes them to become easy
fragbait for another player. It's also really annoying to
play against people who like to pause just when they're
about to be shot. Argh!
Second, DO type messages. If you notice a sudden
increase in game speed, another player may have aborted
or crashed. You might end up playing by yourself if you
are not alert... Type a message and see if your opponents
are still in the game. If you can monitor network traffic
(I have a repeater nearby that gets very busy when I
play), notice the difference between the amount of
traffic when connected and disconnected.
Third, Internet games will sometimes self abort with
error messages. Don't panic, just restart iFrag.
Sometimes one of the computers will lock up - again, just
restart. If you get tired of restarting (this doesn't
happen much), just walk away! It's just a game!
Last, hope for a fast connection. This isn't always
a problem, but when the connection is slow, the game
sucks! There's nothing you can do about it. Sometimes the
game will speed up and slow down throughout the match.
Such is the Internet. Re-connection will not help. Every
packet that is sent back and forth picks a new path;
sometimes it's a fast path, and sometimes not.
A Final Thought
Fragging your friends across the Internet with DOOM,
DOOM II, and Heretic can be VERY addictive. Have fun, but
don't lose your "real" life just to play a game!