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PLEASE NOTE THIS PAGE IS UNDER RE-CONSTRUCTION PLEASE CHECK BACK OFTEN

Get the iFrag executables here

Get The Cool iFrag WAD Package here

The TCP/IP Internet DOOMer's FAQ a Guide to Setting up and Using iFrag

by Scott Coleman (asre@uiuc.edu)
and Jay Cotton (jay@calc.vet.uga.edu)

updated 12/12/1996

HTML version by Christophe Person (chrisp@dirac.bcm.tmc.edu)


The North-American Tracker address is 198.68.238.19

The European Tracker address is 194.51.15.50 (shop.imaginet.fr)

The Aussie Tracker Address is 203.7.198.1

There will soon be a Windows 95/NT Daemon to allow you to monitor who is currently on on ifrag and what games are available. You will also be able to check the games via the web.

I am currently working
on WinFrag that will run on win95 this should be ready for beta in January. For the time being, please check the doom newsgroups
or ask on IRC #doom or #deathmatch or #quake.
You can also find information at this location.
Also log on to iFrag on the hour that is usually the best time to find a game.


I decided to promote the Best Doom Page i have seen so far
This is a good page :-)

PPP & Ifrag

Since i received hundreds of mails asking me about playing IFRAG with PPP.
What you need is PPPSHARE, the simplest way to get around it. (You will also need LSL).


Contents

Introduction

Getting prepared...

Running iFrag...

Oh Oh - It's Not Working! OK, so you've done everything, just like I've shown you, but you're still having problems. The following are some suggestions to try in case of trouble.

Pointers and Tips for More Fragging Enjoyment

We'd like to leave you with a few experiences and opinions about Internet deathmatches.

Finding Other iFrag Players

There are many ways to find opponents for your TCP/IP Internet DOOM games. One is to contact your friends who play DOOM and arrange a time for a game. However, everyone will occasionally find times when nobody they know is available to play. Fortunately, there is a virtual equivalent to walking down to the basketball court and joining a pickup game.

Connecting to the Frag Tracker

Q10. How do I set up my own game on the tracker ?

A Final Though

The TCP/IP Internet DOOM and the IRC can be VERY addictive. Have fun, but don't lose your "real" life just to play a game!


Introduction

id Software's DOOM is truly the Killer App of the MS-DOS world. DOOM's popularity is so immense, it has been estimated that it is installed on more PCs than OS/2 and Windows NT combined, and DOOM's creators commute to work in ferarris. Interest in the game has been so great that it has 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 is rapidly becoming the Killer App of the Internet, as well.

Internet DOOM play is currently at the "clever hack" stage. DOOM, as released by iD, supports only IPX network play and serial play between two machines. As a result, the DOOM documentation doesn't include any information about DOOMing across the Internet. Of course, this also means that DOOMers can't call id for help. The result of all this is many curious people asking the same question: How do I play DOOM over the Internet ? Enter this document. 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 neat little freeware program called iFrag. iFrag uses the UDP protocol (part of the TCP/IP protocol suite) to send DOOM game information between multiple machines on the Internet. It is based on the WATTCP TCP/IP kernel written by Eric Engelke of the University of Waterloo. 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 or South Africa. 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. NOTE: Throughout this document, we will refer specifically to games of DOOM played over the Internet via a DIRECT CONNECTION, i.e. no modems are involved anywhere in the link. Note that IHHD, SLIP and PPP connections all involve modems at some point. Although other methods of connecting two DOOM machines together across the Internet exist, this document will focus on direct net connections using the iFrag network driver program

A quick note on SLIP/PPP: People always ask "can I play iFrag over my SLIP connection?" The answer is "yes, but you won't be happy with the speed." DOOM over a 14.4Kbps SLIP or PPP connection is, quite simply, too slow to be playable. Of course, nobody believes me when I tell them that - whoever coined the phrase "hope springs eternal" obviously knew a lot of SLIP-bound DOOMers. There actually is some hope if you have a 28.8Kbps modem (and your Internet service provider does also). I have played against someone who had a 28.8Kbps SLIP connection, and the game was acceptably playable, although by no means fast. This situation can only improve as connectivity options grow, but for now, a direct Ethernet connection is still the way to go.

Q1.I want to play DOOM 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!)

* A network interface card (NIC). 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).

* A direct connection to the Internet. As noted earlier, if there is a modem somewhere in the link between your PC and your opponent's PC, this FAQ is not for you. Although it is possible to play Internet DOOM over a modem link (either by dialing up to a UNIX machine and using IHHD or via SLIP/PPP), such connection methods are beyond the scope of this document.

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 round out your the package. Before you can play, you'll need to pick up the following:
* DOOM 1.2 or higher (1.666 or higher is strongly recommended, this version seems to have solved some problems related to network games). Note that you can get the patches from ID Software Web Pages. DOOM versions 1.1 and below are incapable of using iFrag. Another reason to upgrade to the latest version of DOOM/DOOM II/Heretic is the fact that you will be unable to play against anyone whose game version is different from yours. Since those already playing Internet DOOM tend to have the latest version, if you want to play with them you'll need the latest also. NOTE: In this document, the term DOOM will refer to DOOM2, HERETIC & HEXEN as well.

* A packet driver written specifically for your NIC. The Packet Driver is a standardized interface that lets iFrag (and therefore DOOM) "talk" to your NIC.

* IFRAG.EXE, the Internet driver for DOOM.

* The WATTCP Applications. 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?

* iFrag 2.21: Click here to receive iFrag, the latest version as of this writing.

* An Ethernet Packet Driver: 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:/simtel/msdos/pktdrvr/. The files PKTD11A.ZIP, PKTD11B.ZIP and PKTD11C.ZIP contain source code and example programs for the packet drivers - you won't need these in order to play iFrag.

* Net Diagnostic Tools You may need some basic network diagnostic utilities. The WATTCP applications are freely available and include a PING program. You can get them in apps.zip

Q4. OK, I've got everything, now what do I do to set it up?

Setting your computer up for TCP/IP access is very straightforward. As an illustration, I'll be taking you through the steps necessary to set up a PC with an SMC ethernet card and the IP address 128.192.23.5. 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.

Step 0: START WITH A CLEAN 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) 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). Also now is a good time to create a new directory on your hard disk which will hold iFrag and all its configuration and data files. C:\IFRAG is recommended. Throughout the remainder of this document, the phrase "iFrag directory" will be used to refer to this directory.

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. 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).

At the very minimum, 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 WATTCP.CFG file in the C:\IFrag directory which you created in step 0. Your WATTCP.CFG file contains important parameters used by the WATTCP TCP/IP kernel. These values MUST be entered correctly if you wish to make a connection with another 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, unzip the iFrag distribution archive (e.g. IFrag11.ZIP) into your DOOM (or DOOM2) directory. Use your favorite ASCII text editor to edit the file called WATTCP.CFG. Edit or add the following lines in WATTCP.CFG:
my_ip=
gateway=
nameserver=
netmask=

On our example machine, the WATTCP.CFG file looks like this:

my_ip=128.192.23.5
gateway=128.192.23.1
nameserver=255.255.255.0
netmask=128.192.44.67
Save the changed file and exit back to DOS.

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.

Step 3: Test your TCP/IP setup. Load your packet driver with the appropriate interrupt, IRQ, I/O and memory addresses. Next, unzip the TCPINFO and PING programs from the WATTCP apps archive into your DOOM 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. infant2, which is at IP address 129.79.234.115). 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 response 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 4: 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 Aydeume 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=SuperNick
tracker=206.126.32.200,6666
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!

Q4. How do I use iFrag ?

First, go find up to three of your most patient frag buddies. Since this is your first attempt at Internet DOOM, it's best to try and find someone on your local network who's willing to put in a little frag time with you. Connections on your local net will be faster and less problematic, whereas if you attempt a long distance connection your first time out, you'll have a hard time discerning problems caused by distance from problems caused by an incorrect configuration.

Decide amongst yourselves which machine will be the "server" (the remaining machines in the game will all be "clients"). The server machine (and there can only be ONE server per game) acts as the coordinator for that session. The player operating the server is in some sense "the boss" - she can decide when to start the game, which parameters (e.g. -altdeath, -nomonsters, -warp, - skill, etc.) will be used, whether to kick a player out, and so on.
The server starts iFrag as follows:

iFrag -server [other game parameters]
Once the server has started iFrag running, the clients (all remaining players) can then connect to the server. Each client invokes iFrag using the command line:

iFrag -client
As an example, consider several computers which are part of a local area network in a computer lab. In this lab there are identical machines sitting side by side, with sequential IP addresses, i.e. 128.192.23.4, 128.192.23.5, and 128.192.23.6. After stepping through the basic configuration process outlined above on all test machines, my frag buddies and I are ready to begin. First, we all agree to play our favorite DEATHMATCH level, DOOM I episode 1 map 5. We also agree to play in -altdeath mode, with -skill 5 and -nomonsters. On my machine, which we decided will be the server, I type:

iFrag -server -warp 1 5 -altdeath -skill 5 -nomonsters
The iFrag screen comes up, and a message is displayed informing me that iFrag is entering server mode. 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 and continuing to the 22nd 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.

Once my iFrag server is up and running, all the other players can connect to it. The other guys type:

iFrag -client 128.192.23.5
Each client's screen layout is identical to that of my server. iFrag displays a message confirming that it is entering client mode and connecting to the server. As each client's connection is established, the arrival of each player is announced by the server.

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 my message on the keyboard. My keystrokes appear in the input line at the bottom of the screen, and when I press , the text will be echoed to the screens of all players (along with an indication of who sent the message). The identical procedure can be used to send messages from each of the client machines. The server itself will also send messages. Messages from the server will begin with three asterisks ("***").

When a client connects to the iFrag server, the client receives a message containing the game parameters which will be used during that session. These game settings will be displayed on the status bar. The settings are abbreviated to ensure that they will all fit within the available space. These game settings may be changed interactively at the server console.

My friend sees that I have selected E1M5 as the default episode and map for our game. He reminds me that we've been playing that one a lot lately, and suggests we change to E2M2 since we haven't played that one in a while. I agree, and issue the commands /episode 2 and /map 2 to change the level. Our status lines are immediately updated to reflect these changes.

Once I have determined (via the chat facility) that everyone is ready to begin the game, I press 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, followed by the usual DOOM startup information. Shortly thereafter, the screen melts away and there we are, in E1M5, pistols at the ready!

Give your buddies a good thrashing - you've earned it! Now, after you've gotten DOOM working on your own subnet, you're ready for the final step. Find a partner who is also capable of playing Internet DOOM. Watch the posts in alt.games.doom, or tune into the #doom, #tcpdoom or #iFrag channels on irc. You and he will negotiate game parameters, such as which map to play, which skill level, and so on. You'll also decide on who will be the server and who will be the clients (experienced DEATHMATCHers will often try very hard to avoid being the server, since that player's uniform is colored day-glo green and is easier to spot in a DEATHMATCH). Now simply add the parameters you've agreed on to the iFrag server command line you used before. A typical command line will look something like

iFrag -server -skill 5 -nomonsters -deathmatch

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.

Q6. When I try to connect to the iFrag server why does it return to DOS saying "Server is not responding" or "Remote reset connection."?

This means that the player on the server machine hasn't yet started the iFrag server. The server must be started before the clients try to connect to it. Try again in a few seconds.

Q7. Why do I keep seeing an "ICMP: port unreachable" message on my screen.?

This message is generated by the other machine when the port being requested by the sender is unavailable on the destination machine. I've seen this happen in some cases when I started iFrag before the other player did. Once the other iFrag was running, the ICMP: messages went away, and the game linked up normally. If you see this message, you might also want to try using a different port (see the iFrag documentation on the -port command line parameter).

Q8. The music starts up fine, but all I see is a BSOD (Black Screen of Death) ?

Same answer as Q9.

Q9. Why does my machine lock up after the "sending network start info" or "listening for network start info" messages are displayed ?

This problem can have several causes. Perhaps the server specified a DOOM II game, but one of the players didn't have DOOM II. (using the /who command will give you information about the players and the version of the game they have). Perhaps one of the other players' machines is slower than the others, or has a fragmented disk and takes a longer time to load DOOM at startup. Or perhaps some packets were lost - iFrag uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packets to exchange game information between all machines in the game. UDP packets are not guaranteed to reach their destination, and there is no mechanism for the sender to even be informed that what it sent never made to the destination machine. iFrag is designed to compensate for these lost packets to the extent possible, and occasionally this detection and correction takes a few extra seconds. You should always wait for at least 30 - 45 seconds for the other DOOM engines to sync up before you abort the setup.


Pointers and Tips for More Fragging Enjoyment

Pausing the game

First, try not to use the "pause" key. Do NOT use the pause key just so you can type a message. DO 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 on you. Do NOT release the pause after someone else pauses. It's hard to yell at someone over an IP connection. It's really annoying to play against people who like to pause just when they're about to be shot. Argh!

Typing messages

Second, DO type messages. A pause at the beginning of the game is OK just to see if the other player is there. 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... 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.

Be patient

Third, Be patient. It sometimes takes 30-60 seconds for the connection to complete. The first phase, finding a node, should be immediate. As mentioned above, if you cannot find a node, something is wrong. The second phase, looking/sending network start info, may take 30 seconds, longer if one of the players has a slow or fragmented hard disk (this is the phase where DOOM loads the info it needs to play from the WAD file(s)). The third phase, sometimes a blank screen just before the game loads, may take another 15-30 seconds. After finding a node, please don't abort until you have waiting a sufficient time for a connect. Also, if your connection doesn't work the first time, try again immediately! If it failed on your end, chances are it failed on the other end, also, and your partner will be back in iFrag trying to connect and wondering where you are.

What to do if your game abort ?

Forth, Internet games will self abort sometimes with errors. 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!

Game speed

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.


The Frag Tracker

The ability to play DOOM over the Internet isn't much good unless you are able to quickly and easily find opponents against whom to test your mettle. The Frag Tracker is a special program (which is always running on a separate UNIX host) which helps players from all over the net find each other. It keeps a list of all the iFrag games which are currently looking for players. When you start it up, iFrag contacts the Frag Tracker machine and downloads this list of active games. It then allows you to select one of these games to join. The Frag Tracker is very similar in concept to the Bolo Tracker used by players of the Macintosh game Bolo.

To play this way, just type:

IFRAG

Then, 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, a brief description / comment, 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 key to select his game. iFrag immediately contacts ArchVile's machine and I join the game.

Sometimes you want to play a private game with a few friends and furthermore dont need to use the tracker. Let's assume you are the server. The server will launch ifrag like this:

IFRAG -notrack -server

All the clients have to run:

IFRAG -notrack -client server_ip

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!

Q10. How do I set up my own game on the tracker ?
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

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!



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