Direct Connect GP2, ICR2

Hello. I had just brought my computer to my friends house, and we tried to play Direct Connect, but it didnt work. How do we go about making this work? We just connected a phone line from his modem to mine, and then dialed using the direct connect option in ICR2. After my friend dialed, it said, "Both computer are dialing, one must answer", but we are doing this. Somebody please help. Thanks. (If you can, please send me a reply by E-Mail) -- - Henrik

Quoted text (9 lines)

> Hello. I had just brought my computer to my friends house, and we tried to > play Direct Connect, but it didnt work. How do we go about making this > work? We just connected a phone line from his modem to mine, and then > dialed using the direct connect option in ICR2. After my friend dialed, it > said, "Both computer are dialing, one must answer", but we are doing this. > Somebody please help. Thanks. (If you can, please send me a reply by > E-Mail) > -- > - Henrik

Direct connect doesn't us modems it uses com ports on the back of your computer. First you must get a null modem cable(ask for one at your local comp. store). Then find out which comport is which is which number and configure it that way in the game. You can't go wrong. P.S. my friend and I have done this and it worked very well, except in windows where there was some glitch that made his joystick turn left at random times. Pretty funny, but it worked fine under dos. I mean win95.

You can't do it by connecting modem leads -- there is no point MODulating the signal to only DEModulate it three feet away! Modems dial an exchange not other modems. You need a Null Modem cable connecting to serial port. (usually COM2) Only 3 wires are needed, pins 2 and 3 crossed, and pin 7 You could get ripped off and buy it from Tandy or something but it's better to make your own (I have one 30m long! (ooer)) Jim

Quoted text (7 lines)

>Hello. I had just brought my computer to my friends house, and we tried to >play Direct Connect, but it didnt work. How do we go about making this >work? We just connected a phone line from his modem to mine, and then >dialed using the direct connect option in ICR2. After my friend dialed, it >said, "Both computer are dialing, one must answer", but we are doing this. >Somebody please help. Thanks. (If you can, please send me a reply by >E-Mail)

The problem is probably that, with modems, if you haven't made one of them dial and another answer, they'll be sitting in local echo mode - so as far as ICR2 can tell, it's seeing "dial" packets coming back to it on the dial machine, and "answer" packets coming back on the answering machine. You can probably work around this by going into a terminal program on each machine before you run ICR2; on one machine, type "ATD", and on the other, type "ATA". After that, you should have a "direct connection" established between the two machines. THEN you can start ICR2 and use the "direct connect" option to establish a connection. The more typical way to use "Direct connect" is by hooking up a NULL MODEM serial cable between the two computers, bypassing the modems completely- Charlie Heath Papyrus Design Group

Quoted text (19 lines)

> > Hello. I had just brought my computer to my friends house, and we tried to > > play Direct Connect, but it didnt work. How do we go about making this > > work? We just connected a phone line from his modem to mine, and then > > dialed using the direct connect option in ICR2. After my friend dialed, it > > said, "Both computer are dialing, one must answer", but we are doing this. > > Somebody please help. Thanks. (If you can, please send me a reply by > > E-Mail) > > -- > > - Henrik > Direct connect doesn't us modems it uses com ports on the back of your > computer. > First you must get a null modem cable(ask for one at your local comp. > store). Then find out which comport is which is which number and > configure it that way in the game. You can't go wrong. > P.S. my friend and I have done this and it worked very well, except in > windows where there was some glitch that made his joystick turn left at > random times. Pretty funny, but it worked fine under dos. I mean win95.

In the weekend I succesfully hooked-up 2 PC's with GP2. Here are my results regarding direct-connecting 2PC's: - Don't run from W95. Start GP2 from DOS - Find a free serial COM-port on both PC's. One 'puter had only COM1 (old motherboard) with a mouse on it. I removed the mouse and also DISABLED THE MOUSE-DRIVER! - I used a null-modem cable: take 2 9-pin FEMALE D-connectors and a stereo-audio-cable (shield + 2 signals) about 5 meters (15 feet) in length. Solder the shield on pin 5 on both female's, next cross-wire pin 2 and 3 (that is, solder pin 2 from one connector to pin 3 on the other and vice-versa). That's it!!!! Here's a brief ascii-representation of the signals: 9-pin 25-pin TRANSMIT 3 2 RECEIVE 2 3 GROUND 5 7 (PS: 25-pin-types use the ground on pin 7!!) As you can see, the 25-connector has it's TX en RX-pins reversed in comparison with the 9-pin. So if you would connect a 9-pin-type to a 25-pin type, you must connect pin 2 with 2 and 3 with 3. Another option is to build a 9-9-pin cable (most modern PC's have those) and buy a separate 9 -> 25 pin converter. This is what I did... The only thing to remember is that you have to cross-connect TX and RX on both PC's and interconnect the GROUND. If you're uncertain, ask your wizzkid-brother. I will not take responsibilities for any damage which might occur regarding this post. - Connect the cable (best is to switch off power when doing so) and start GP2. Go to the link-options and install one PC as master and the other as slave (for controlling). Now, don't forget that the game might slow down in curves when you are hooking up you're fast Pentium with a slower 486. The poor guy cannot catch up... Harrie Gulikers

Quoted text (11 lines)

> You can't do it by connecting modem leads -- there is no point > MODulating the signal to only DEModulate it three feet away! > Modems dial an exchange not other modems. > You need a Null Modem cable connecting to serial port. (usually > COM2) > Only 3 wires are needed, pins 2 and 3 crossed, and pin 7 > You could get ripped off and buy it from Tandy or something > but it's better to make your own (I have one 30m long! (ooer)) > Jim

Jim, you forgot to mention that pin 7 is the ground-signal for 25-D-connectors. In the case of 9-D-connectors pin 5 is the ground-signal. See next ascii-representation: 9 pin 25 pin TRANSMIT (TxD) = 3 2 RECEIVE (RxD) = 2 3 GROUND (GND) = 5 7 Note: the TxD and RxD are already reversed between 9 and 25-pin types. The only thing to remember is to cross-connect the TxD and RxD between 2 computers and to interconnect the GND-signal. That's it! You're correct about building your own. It's so simple... Have fun all,