Hosting for Absolute Beginners

tinkthank · #1 March 29th, 2004, 03:51 PM

Would anyone be kind enough to either post here or post a link to some information on what an
Absolute Beginner (such as: myself) needs to know to "host" MP games on a Windows computer? I found the information posted here by very helpful people to be fascinating, but not explicit enough for the Absolutely Computer Illiterate (such as yours truly).

Some of the Things I Would Like to Know:
- The Obvious (Is Not Obvious To Me): How do I figure out my IP address? (I dont need that if it is PBEM, right?) Someone told me this changes from day to day, how do I find it out? How do I figure out which "Port" to use?
- Safety: Someone told me that if others find out my IP address and port information, they can "hack" my computer, that I should never let others know this. Is this true? So when hosting a DII game, I am making an exception for nice DomII players who will never hack me because they are per definitionem cute and cuddly and friendly etc., or is there some trick I must know? Does somehow a "router" come into play here, and can that cause problems?

Thanks very much.

Tuna-Fish · #2 March 29th, 2004, 04:06 PM

To find out your ip-address, start/run "cmd", then when the black window pops out type "ipconfig". The second value should be ip-address.

Port can be anyhting as long as all players are using the same port. Also, as ports under 1024 are reserved for special use, it's customary to pick a (considerable) higher one, like 20000.

And for safety: Think of your ip-address as your home-address. If no-one knows it, no-one can ever come throw stones at your windows. Also, if no-one knows it you will never recieve mail or have anyone visit.

For you to ever get anything from the web you have to send in your address. For example your ip-address will be visible to the webmasters of every web-page you ever view. When you loaded this page your computer sent your ip-address and a page request to shrapnelgames.com (69.56.133.50), that then processed the request and sent a reply to your address.

So, trying to hide your ip-address is rather futile...

Minrhael · #3 March 29th, 2004, 04:35 PM

Not to hijack the thread, but since it's here, I think I finally got mine set up host but as I really don't know what I'm doing, anyone want to try to connect to 192.168.1.100 6060 and tell me if it's working? Thanks!

Minrhael · #4 March 29th, 2004, 04:55 PM

Bleh, just realized I can't have DHCP going for that, can I? Have to play around a bit more I guess, don't bother trying to connect

ywl · #5 March 29th, 2004, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tuna-Fish:

And for safety: Think of your ip-address as your home-address. If no-one knows it, no-one can ever come throw stones at your windows. Also, if no-one knows it you will never recieve mail or have anyone visit.

To further the analogy, some people just drive around and throw rock to every window they see. So, even hiding your address (real or ip) won't save you as long as your house is facing the road or on the internet.

Minrhael · #6 March 29th, 2004, 05:05 PM

Ok, think I finally got it, if anyone is feeling generous with their time, please try 24.197.202.97 6060 and let me know, thanks very much!