Multiserver 2.0

[ayalx]

Hello!
I am pleased to announce a new version for the old Multiserver.
The new version is based on a server, and a little plugin that all the players have to add to their LF2.

Features
Play with up to 8 players!
Real nicknames are shown in the game
Order of connection to the server is not important
Full support of new versions of windows
Multiserver is listening on all the ip addresses of the computer.
you can connect via Hamachi, port forwarding, and from the same computer by leaving the address blank.
The codes lf2.net and herofighter.com can be used.
A player can disconnect without causing the game to end.

Update 2.01:
A new ping command, that should work better.
"random" command, prints the players list in a random order. For choosing teams etc.
Multiserver can be enabled for a single player. If a player wants to check that his controls work, he can run the server for himself.

Download
Download Multiserver here:
http://lf2-global.com/Downloads/ShowDownload.asp?id=136
(LF2 Global is not maintained anymore, but I upload it there for convenience)

How to use
All the players have to:
Add Multi Plugin to LF2 folder.
Take the file in the folder MultiPlugin ("ddraw.dll") and put it in the same folder of LF2.EXE.
The plugin activates only when you play with Multiserver, you can continue using LF2 like always.

Set the controls
Set your nickname and controls for player number 1 (the most left).
The nickname will appear in the game.

And now one player runs Multiserver to host the game, and the others just connect to his IP address like always.
The order of connections to the server is not important.

About the plugin
The plugin activates only when you play with Multiserver 2.0.
You can continue use LF2 offline, with normal network games and with Multi Server 1.0 without problems.
If you use LF2 Lobby the plugin can do problems, I haven't checked it.

The plugin is loaded with the same method of the AI plugin, so you can't install these plugins together.

You must use LF2_2.0a.

Supported platforms
Windows
WindowsXP to Windows10 are fully supported.

Linux
Read the section about Multiserver in MangaD's guide:
http://www.lf-empire.de/forum/showthread.php?tid=10042

Credits
Many thanks to the AI Plugin project!
I used the base source code of this plugin to build the Multi Plugin.

Source code
LF2 Multi server v2.01
I am using Visual Studio 2013 Express.
Multiserver is written in C#, Multiplugin is written in C++.

http://lf2.co.il/Downloads/LF2MultiServer2_source.rar

LF2 Multi server 2 C++ version
A version of Multiserver by MangaD, translated into C++.
Can be compiled for Linux and Windows.

https://bitbucket.org/MangaD/lf2-multi-server-2.0

[A-Man]

Nice!

The plugin is loaded with the same method of the AI plugin, so you can't install these plugins together.

Check this out: http://www.lf-empire.de/forum/showthread.php?tid=9238

[STM1993]

BluePhoenix, Ramond, MangaD (host) and I tried it out, so far so good! Haven't tried >4 players though.
* A player can disconnect without causing the game to end, but he won't be able to rejoin. His character will still be ingame.
* Remember to set your controls to Player 1.

Apparently not suitable if the host is using Linux instead of Windows; causes only the 1st player to join to have controls while everyone else has no controls.

For those wondering how to install/use alongside with SomeoneElse's dll:
1) Download and install Multiserver. Don't use the ddraw.dll provided just yet.
2) Download the Release version of SomeoneElse's 2 dlls: ddraw.dll(1st link) and LF2 AI Plugin(2nd link)
3) Now, move SomeoneElse's ddraw.dll into the main LF2 folder.
4) Create a new folder named "dlls" in the main LF2 folder.
5) Move the Multiserver's ddraw.dll and SomeoneElse's LF2AI.dll into the "dlls" folder.

If you are simply playing rather than hosting, then all you have to do is connect after installing the dlls, you don't have to open the multiserver exe itself.'

Edit:
We actually managed to get 7 people to join for livestream, though ultimately only 6 played and we later had to kick 2 out, but the game still goes on!

[ayalx]

Good to here it works for you, and thanks for the detailed explanation!
If all the players install also the AI plugin as you explained, and use the same AI scripts, I believe it should work.

At lf2.co.il we have already done a 6 players game.
I hope that soon we will manage to assemble 8 players for a fight

I haven't tried running Multiserver on Linux, but if it succeeds to run and you manage to connect, the bug you described is very strange. I don't know what causes it.

[MangaD]

On linux I first tried with Wine. It opened but we couldn't connect. Then I tried mono and we could connect, but only one person could control the game (the one with higher ping). Did you wrote the program in C#?

Another bug, this time on windows, is the ping command. Apparently it gives incorrect results (if some player left the game?).

E.g.:
Analyzing connections, plaese wait...
Connection times for players, starting from the slowest player:
1 - 5292
MangaD - 275
STM1993 - 25
zort - 1
Phoenix - 0
Bambs - 0
Ramond - 0

I was the host so I should have 1 ping? And the others should definitely have higher ping. Anyway, thank you very much for this awesome program!

[ayalx]

Multiserver is written in C#, and Multiplugin in C++.
Yes, the ping command has issues. It currently will "suspect" most of the time the first player.
I will work on a solution for it.

And thanks!

[MangaD]

Man if this could be rewritten in C++ to work on Linux too that would be awesome. But if you make it open source someone else may take the initiative. Waiting for it.

Edit: Forgot to mention that the cheat "herofighter.com" also seems to work.

[HibariKyoya]

That's awesome.
you made it very well
already tried it like 2 weeks ago, works perfect
(sorry for my bad english lolz)

[mfc]

I would love to hear about what multiplugin does and how, good wrok! And can't wait to see open source version of it!

[Neuro]

Wow, it is so nice to see LF2 still being developed in 2016 by the community

I believe this can make great 4vs4 or FFA competetive games. Are you thinking of further development? Maybe share the source with Chiko and improve the lobby for 8-man games with a chat? But LF2 lagg sucks, eh, it is nice only when people play within the same country