Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Hello,

Hosting and joining games works bad in Red Alert 3 especially for computers
that have multiple IP addresses, or networks like hamachi where there is
possibly lots of packet loss.

Symptoms a

1. Not being able to host games.
2. Not being able to join games.
3. Getting kicked out of games.
4. Players appearing and disappearing in the game lobby.
5. CD-Key in use... the host still thinks you are in the game so your
conflicting with your own cd key.
6. Connection timed out message.

All six are because of faulty network code in the game.

This is something you should know before you pirate this game, or buy this
game...

I took a quick look at EA Forums and the info from the patches, it seems
people are aware of these problems... it seems these problems are not only
related to pirated copies... the retail/sold copies have the same problem.

Some questions:

1. Is it conceiled incompetence ? or
2. Is it conceiled deliberate ?

The most interesting question is:

3. Will it ever be fixed ?

For me it's kind of a problem... I do want to play this game (but slowly
losing interest)... but mostly against other people so I can beat them up :)

But if the game is not working properly... then people can't really train
against each other... ofcourse they could play skirmisch... but what's the
point they might wonder if the game is not working properly.

Another problem is that people don't believe there is actually a bug in the
game code. They also don't understand the problem... so telling them quick
work arounds is pretty useless... the average player doesn't understand
these kinds of problems/flaws in the internet protocol and the windows stack
and software in general. This is not the first time I have seen software
with these kinds of problems. Civilization 3 Conquest for example had more
or less the same kind of networking problems for computers with multiple IP
addresses.

A good programmer can program around it and solve it...

But apperently the programmer for Red Alert 3 couldn't or wouldn't... ;)
shame for such a great game.

What can you do as a gamer that wants to play LAN games over for example
Hamachi ?

Return your product ! Demand your money back ! ;)

Tell them it's faulty... tell them I said so ;) :):):):)

If they don't believe that, tell them to shove it up their asses... because
not only did I tell them to do that.. but you also saw the misery yourself !
;) :)

Finally a word for the pirates out there... don't give up on this game just
yet... even without the source code for the game I do believe there are
possible ways around it that will work better than hamachi...

Creating such a tool/work around will require some time... I for one am not
getting payed for it... so I feel little for making this tool... kinda sucks
if I have to clean up the dirty mess in this way...

So for now I am taking it easy... being lazy.. and waiting to see what will
happen ;) :)

Bye,
Skybuck =D

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Hmm...

I just realized something... right after I pressed the post button and read
my own message ;)

I have the pirated version of the game... I patched it to 1.03... then
applied a crack...

But the crack is still 1.00.

So it's kind of a fake crack.

This can be seen in the settings window... it says 1.00.

So for now I am giving EA the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe these network bugs are solved in 1.03.

If so then all we need is a cracked version of 1.03 ;)

If not then we all f*cked :) ;)

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 01:11:06 +0100, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

If so then all we need is a cracked version of 1.03 ;)

If not then we all f*cked :) ;)

You're f*cked already. if EA is reading this post they have the IP
address of your post and can trace to your computer and you, and hold
you for one stolen game.

Buy the damn game if you like playing it.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

I was considering it for the first time in my life... shortly...

However... the copy protection put me off...

As well as the risk of damaging CD's and DVD's.

I'll be just wasting my money !

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

"Skybuck Flying" wrote in message
b.home.nl...
I was considering it for the first time in my life... shortly...

However... the copy protection put me off...

As well as the risk of damaging CD's and DVD's.

I'll be just wasting my money !

Bye,
Skybuck.


You are openly promoting software piracy ?

I don't think that is very wise.
We all know who you a your name is Harald Houppermans, and your website
can be found he http://members.home.nl/hbthouppermans/.

Hasta la vista, baby.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

"Skybuck Flying" wrote in message
.home.nl...
Hmm...

I just realized something... right after I pressed the post button and
read my own message ;)

I have the pirated version of the game...

You also have the root-kit it surely deeply embedded into your system.

[...]

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

If anybody asks where is the CD/DVD I say:

In the trash... it got damaged, ok.

So **** you too :)

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 22:28:51 +0100, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

If anybody asks where is the CD/DVD I say:

In the trash... it got damaged, ok.

So **** you too :)

Bye,
Skybuck.


No reciept? No proof of ownership?

if you don't like the CD protection, you could look for a No CD crack
and apply it, then put your original disc away in a safe place. Only
moron lets a CD or DVD get damaged beyond use.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Today I made a tool, which uses the ndisprot driver to carry the broadcasts
over the internet.

It should work... but I have nobody test with at the moment... so it will
have to wait until "tomorrow"...

Then the tool has to be fixed up a bit... and a nice distribution made and a
nice manual...

And then some more testing... and a little bit of extra save/load code...

And then in the near future maybe even a peer exchanger... for automatic
peer list exchanging... and then I could even add more features... like
automatic detection of all kinds of stuff for automatic configuration...
(it's already pretty simple though... but for cluesless people maybe still
to hard ;)) and maybe even a nice installer for the driver ! ;)

But for now I just want a basic version to be done... with no peer
exchanger... incase that goes overboard ;) like too many peers etc...

For now it will probably be a closed-alpha/beta... that means only people in
my msn messenger list get it ;)

So get on my msn messenger list if you want to receive and test it !

(Only for Red Alert 3 players though ! ;))

(It has a GUI, and it needs the ndisprot driver etc)

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Gravity will destroy the CD/DVD get a clue you moron.

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

After you read up on gravity you might also want to learn about heat,
centrifugal forces, acid, and gamma particles ;)

And keep a close eye on that LHC... it might even discover new particles
that are "playing with the pits"

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

"Impmon" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 22:28:51 +0100, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

If anybody asks where is the CD/DVD I say:

In the trash... it got damaged, ok.

So **** you too :)

Bye,
Skybuck.


No reciept? No proof of ownership?

No, do I need to keep those ?

I already said, it's in the trash can.

if you don't like the CD protection, you could look for a No CD crack
and apply it,

You filthy pirate you ! ;)

then put your original disc away in a safe place.

Let me know when you find one !

moron lets a CD or DVD get damaged beyond use.

It's moron technology it always gets damaged.

4 points for me, 0 points for you.

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

It's not a matter of not liking copy protection.

It's a matter of keeping my pc alive and well.

I don't want to become the next Sony-victim.

Go read up on that too.

You have a looooonnnggggggg way to go little man.

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

What about the digital office ?

Do I now have to keep all these manuals and receipts around ?!

No ****ing way man !

I want everything digital to safe the rain forest and keep my house clean !

Also easy transport to somewhere else ;)

Have you read about the missing digits in the Red Alert 3 manual for the cd
keys ?!

Oh my god the stupidity is of the richter scale !

Not to mention the ecology disaster of all those plastic cd's polluting our
environment and costing oil and such leading to war and such !

Wow so much wasting ! time, oil, paper, energy, ink, tree's, water, and so
forrrrttthhh :P*

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Don't put the CD/DVD up side down into the drive !

I repeat.

Don't put the CD/DVD up side down into the drive !

I repeat.

Don't put the CD/DVD up side down into the drive !

I warned you !

Don't put the CD/DVD up side down into the drive !

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Buy special boxes to place all these CD's/DVD's in !

Don't break the jewel cases !

Buy a special knife to open the plastic ****ty wrappers ! ;)

Have you spent enough yet ?

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Do try and make backups of it !

Do try and make backups of it !

Do try and make backups of it !

Do try and make backups of it !

Just in case it does get damaged ! ;)

Oooops.

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

No don't make backups of it !

No don't make backups of it !

No don't make backups of it !

Spent big bucks and time calling them !

You love them don't you !

Call them !

Call them !

Call them !

Call them !

Ask for replacement !

Have you spent enough time yet ?

Bye,
Skybuck ;)

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

What's that ?

There is no phone number and no information ?

Try their website !

Try their website !

Try their website !

Try their website !

Try their website !

Did you surf enough yet ?

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Website not working ?

Ofcourse not !

You must have the latest FLASH junk !

Go download flash first !

Go on !

Go get it !

Go get that flash junk !

It's good for you !

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Did you get infected because of a flash or adobe exploit ?!

No problem !

Go get that virus scanner !

Go get that virus scanner !

You know you need it !

Go get it !

You really wanna that cd don't you ?

Go get that virus scanner CD !

And you be back at square 1 again !

Nice... !

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Couldn't get that CD working did ya ? ;)

That virus ****ed you up a bit didn't it !

But it's ok... you formatted everything and re-installed everything...

And now finally you manage to get to their website...

But it's a mess... you can't find nothing...

Fortunately there are people on the forum...

And finally you find a phone number lol !

Had enough yet ? LOL.

Bye,
Skybuck ;)

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

What you say ?

The replacement only works for windows vista ?

Ah that's just to bad...

Go ditch in the waste basket ;)

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Lol,

You installed Vista ?

And now you find out Gamespy not working on Vista ?!? LOL.

Dude when you gonna wise up ?

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Hold on Hold on Hold on.

It has EA Servers but they always down ?

Oh man that's too bad !

Fortunately Skybuck is working on this nice tool which is hopefully gonna be
damn good in the near future ;)

There is still hope for you yet...

Don't give up yet...

Bye,
Skybuck ;)

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

What you say ?

You don't wanna install all that or don't wanna use it or don't trust it ?

You rather wait for patches that probably don't work ?

How are you liking those menu issue's ?!

Nice black screen with red star isn't it !

It's so great !

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

What you say ?

You tried setting the ip but it never worked ?

Oh man... so much time wasting....

Maybe you should just dump up in the waste basket ! ;)

Oh man you always getting kicked out of that room because of wacky timeouts
?!

Oh man that sux !

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

What you say ?

You couldn't stand the CD/DVD drive spinning up all the time and the ****ing
CD/DVD changing all the time and then the waiting all the time ?

What you say ?

You did finally apply that crack ?

Maybe you should give your money to the crackers instead !!! ;)

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

On Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:20:22 +0100, Skybuck Flying wrote:

From: "Skybuck Flying"

Your incoherent ranting just promoted you from my killfile to a permanent
filter on my newsserver.

Bye!

M4

(Hopefully you reflect on filling threads on your own, however I will
never see the result)

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Tool is on the ftp...

It's working but so far no success...

Maybe other people have network issue's or maybe not oh well.

At least I had a little newby game today via hamachi ;)

Wanted to close done some stuff first before I started playing.

I still won though... I catched up ;)... :)

Other dude gave up...

I think he was newb... he was building mc's everywhere...

Then late in the game another one of his mc's got destroyed and then he
decided to quit :)

It got killed by a single zapping unit of mine ;) :)

LOL :)

That's a bit funny :)

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

"Chris M. Thomasson" wrote in message
...

"Skybuck Flying" wrote in message
.home.nl...
Hmm...

I just realized something... right after I pressed the post button and
read my own message ;)

I have the pirated version of the game...

You also have the root-kit it surely deeply embedded into your system.

[...]

read here; NOW:


http://www.rootkit.com


your programming skills might be able to clear your infected system!

:^|

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Wow talk about a raving idiot. Someone gets upset when he admits to
pirating and everyone harps on him And managed to find the time to
spam 50 useless drivels.

Get a life! *PLONK*

PS I have a number of games on CDs I bought over 15 years ago, they
all still works. I have a number of games on floppy disks that are
over 30 years old and are still working. Only moron destroys the CD
through carelessness.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Impmon wrote:

PS I have a number of games on CDs I bought over 15 years ago, they
all still works. I have a number of games on floppy disks that are
over 30 years old and are still working. Only moron destroys the CD
through carelessness.

Considdering his record of unexplained computer deaths it's not that
surprising though.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

What happened to the rest ?

All kaputt ? ;)

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

Overheat caused the deaths last couple of times...

That problem should now be solved thanks to the great new antec 1200 case I
have !

(And the Scythe Zipang cpu super cooler ! ;))

Loving it ! ;)

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

And I also removed one graphics cards... they were tooo much sandwhiched !
;)

Bye,
Skybuck :)

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi.
 

On Nov 7, 4:37*pm, "Skybuck Flying" wrote:
What you say ?

You don't wanna install all that or don't wanna use it or don't trust it ?

You rather wait for patches that probably don't work ?

How are you liking those menu issue's ?!

Nice black screen with red star isn't it !

It's so great !

Bye,
* Skybuck.

Skybuck.... you are legend...

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi. (Total weirdness)
 

16 november 2008:

Today I tested Red Alert 3 Broadcast Forwarder version 0.04 with somebody
who had Windows Vista, Windows XP and a NAT router (3Com Office Connect
Wireless ADSL 11G).

Egyptian dude, muslim, says he is cisco student ;) didn't know this router,
it's friends router... he borrowing internet... because so expensive.

We can play pretty decently over hamachi.

However when trying my quickly made tool we ran into all kinds of problems:

1. The supplied drivers didn't seem to work on his Vista... it complained
about access denied, invalid service name, and finally nothing showed up in
the public adapters list... tried downloading the latest windows drivers
kit... 2008 build him a new driver for vista... but still nothing
prottest.exe crashed too... weird.

However I think one other person did get the drivers working not sure
though...

2. Vista failing "we" switched to xp. The original/older drivers were
working just fine there.

So far everything was working and setup was ok... we could see each other in
lobby and chat, and create and join game.

However one of us could not talk in the game lobby... the one behind NAT.

He was behind NAT... I could not see his chat... he would also get kicked
out and we can not start the game.

3. Finally analyzing captured wireshark and ethereal logs strange things are
happening to the ip/udp packets:

The game listens and sends from port 8086.

All packets should look like:

ip.udp.source port: 8086
ip.udp.dest port: 8086

At least that's what I believe...

But for some reason his computer is suddenly changing these packets to for
example:

ip.udp.source port: 8085
ip.udp.dest port: 8095

Very strange.

At this point it could be anything:

1. Normal game operation.
2. Malfunction in game network code, there are many so wouldn't be to
surprising.
3. Malfunction in tool or driver... seems unlikely since it's happening to
non-intercepted packets as well, unless
maybe driver mess with normal packets too ?! seems very unlikely but ok...
4. Router might have something to do with it... first I believe this was the
case but now I am not so sure any more... since this was a direct capture
from the PC itself.
5. His older computer was a pentium 4 I think... he also had a newer core
duo... since game was running on older computer this could rule out any
multi threading/multi core related issue's ?...
6. Maybe his cpu/hardware/network card just damaged ?
7. Maybe infected with something nasty... seems unlikely...
8. Maybe virus scanner is messing with the ports.
9. Maybe windows bug.

Further investigation is needed on none-nat-systems.

Most likely cause is bad game-network-code or bad pc or bad nat
router/technology in general.

Further thoughts:

10. My tool could correct all these weird port problems and simply modify
the packets so they always use port 8086. This assumes the game only needs
port 8086. Not yet sure if that's valid assumption.

Further problem is ndisprot probably not suited for modifieing incoming
packets... so that the game will finally receive them since the game is
listen on port 8086 and will only respond to anything that comes into port
8086.

One possibility might be to use pass-thru driver... to fix these kind of
problems.

The dude was very helpfull... the cracks are all fakes... they all use 1.00
probably...

Anybody trying to get their nat routers to work correctly with this game and
version 1.00... is probably wasting their time ! ;)

Another remarkable discovery:

For some reason hamachi is working correctly so this makes it even more
mystifieing.

Why is hamachi working ?

We didn't actually test hamachi on his old computer.

So we should do this as well to test if hamachi will fail on his older
computer as well..

It should fail... if it doesn't... then that makes it even more mystifieing.

I used 1.03 but was in reality 1.00 and he used 1.00 all compatibility... so
I do not believe that has anything to do with it.

He also tried to "open" port 8086 on this 3com router... I do not know what
"open" means in this context... it helped little...

We are looking into documentation for this router to see if it's maybe a
router problem... but to me it didn't seem like that... when I look at the
logs...

Maybe the logs are just wrong that's another possibility... but I don't
think so... because I was using ethereal and he wireshark... unless winpcap
has weird bug... but why would that show up now ? doesn't seem to make much
sense..

I did notice some drops in packets because of alt-tabbing or so... this
resulted into icmp's...

Maybe the game reacts to icmp's and switches to different port ? but then it
never switches back again or too anything else...

Also he could launch... somehow... he shouldn't have been able to launch...
but I dropped anyway.

All in all pretty weird stuff.

Most likely reason:

Buggy buggy buggy game network code.

However if this is really true... then why is it working over hamachi ?

This contradicts each other so it can't be true... very very very strange.

This would mean some kind of pc problem or router problem ?!

But why would that show up in his direct pc log ?

Maybe plug and play is communicating with router and thus changing the game
ports ?

Very weird...

Bye,
Skybuck.

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi. (Total weirdness)
 

Ok lessons learned:

NAT is retarded... if everybody has NAT then everybody is retarded... and
nobody can recgonize the retards any more.

Normal internet is needed to tell if something is badly working or not.

Well today I tested on "normal" internet once again... on the local area
network... without nat.

Some lessons learned:

1. It's not a NAT router problem.

2. The game uses port 8086 for lobby communication.

3. The game switches to port 8084 and 8085 when launching the game.

This is as far as I got because there is another bug in the game:

4. The game loading/connecting has a problem with fast vs slow systems.

The fast system loads from 0 to 100% in under one second.

The slow system is still switching to the load/connection screen.

I think the following is happening:

The fast systems sends a packet: "I am done loading, I am at 100%".

But this packet never reaches the slow system... because the slow system
didn't open the socket yet.

So the slow system will see the fast system as still being at %0.

The games will then hang/freeze.

And the slow system might even crash completely... with blue screen of death
and a reboot !

Fixing all these problems with an external tool is gonna be nasty but it's
possible.

I might implement a winsock api and completely bypass winsock and simply use
an ethernet driver... or maybe even a passthru driver in case I need further
modifications.. though I never used passthru driver... but I did use
ethernet driver...

So for now I could give the ethernet driver a try.

To me it's quite amazing that I was able to play this game over hamachi...
because it depends on so many things going just right...

For example people need to have about the same kind of performance...

Super fast computers won't be able to play because they load too fast !

Go figure !

I also tried vice versa... the fast system hosting the game... and the slow
system joining it...

The same thing happens... the fast system will still send 100% done.. but
slow system will never get it... so then hang again...

This could even happen if the packet is lost in internet..

So all very shaky... at least the 1.00 game version and fake cracks 1.00 to
1.04 which are all 1.00.

Question is if 1.03 or 1.04 actually solved any of these bugs...

Well's there my load for you ! :)

Also... I still haven't figure out... why my system during the internet/nat
test didn't go to the load screen... or why he wasn't able to communicate
with me...

The only possibility seems that my system bound to the wrong adapter
somehow...

It could send packets... but it wasn't receiving some ? or not at all ?

But that seems strange...I could see him chat in the lobby... but not in the
game ?

What explanation is there for that ?

That's very strange... since ports 8086 were still being used.

My system was complaining/sending icmp's that 8086 was not reachable on my
system.

Maybe this was because dexplore.exe (Delphi crap) was still loaded and
running in the system...

Maybe this was still occupieing some port...

Or maybe it was from a previous hang/crash or whatever. But I don't recall
that any application crashed or whatever...

Maybe I had to terminate Red Alert 3... and port 8086 was somehow still
being used in the system... or the stack ****ed up.

Best idea for now is dump winsock, dump windows network technology and
implement own stack to circumvent the crap.

Bye,
Skybuck =D

Red Alert 3 has problems with multiple IP's and Hamachi. (Total weirdness)
 

Maybe this was reason why ms-dos never had tcp/ip stack... ofcourse one
could argued it didn't exist back then.. or they didn't know about it...

But anyway... the idea of excluding a stack from an operating system is
interesting.

It reduces vunerablities to the operating system itself.

The only thing the operating system needs is drivers for packets in packets
out....

So an alternative solution for internet is to embed the tcp/ip stacks into
the applications themselfes.

If the stack ****s up... then only the internet application is affected and
not the operating system.

This also makes it possible for applications to implement alternative
stacks... maybe better stacks or different stack for different needs.

Bye,
Skybuck.