I posted this awhile back on the Sierra web site and thought it might be
useful here too.
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SOLUTION: Nascar2 with plug-and-play modems
Its possible to play Nascar2 with plug-and-play modems *without* changing
jumpers to disable plug-and-play and wreaking havoc on your Windows system.
All that is needed is a Dial-Up Networking (DUN) connection between the two
machines.
Use the following instructions to establish a DUN connection between two
machines. Have your Windows 95 or Windows 98 CD ready and reboot each
machine each time Windows asks you to. The basic steps (and sub-steps) are:
1. Set up one machine to be a DUN server
a. Install the "Windows Dial-Up Server" component (may require
purchasing Plus! for Windows).
b. Install networking components.
2. Set up one machine to be a DUN client
a. Install the "Windows Dial-Up Networking" component.
b. Install networking components.
c. Create a new connection to the server.
3. Notes and suggestions:
a. Make sure any Ethernet network cards are disabled
b. Disable ICQ
c. Start and Exit Nascar2 on both machines before step 4
4. Establish a DUN connection
5. Start Nascar2 on both machines and connect via multiplayer
a. Set the server to Network Play -> Answer and hit connect
b. Set the client to Network Play -> Dial and hit connect
c. Wait until you see the client connect then hit race
Here are more details on each of the steps:
1. To establish a DUN connection one machine must serve as the host, or
server. The host machine must have the "Windows Dial-Up Server" installed.
This component only comes as part of Microsoft's Plus! add-on for Windows
(It may already be included with Windows98). To check if you already have
it, open the Add/Remove Programs control panel and click on the "Windows
Setup" tab. Click on "Communications" and then hit the "Details..." button.
If you see "Dial-Up Server" and it is not checked then check it and let
Windows install it for you. If you don't see it then you need Plus! 95 for
Windows 95 or Plus! 98 for Windows 98.
1(b), 2(b): You will also need some networking components installed before
you can make a DUN connection between the two machines. You can install
these from the Network control panel in the "Configuration" tab. Hit the
"Add" button to add the following components:
Client -> Microsoft -> Client for Microsoft Networks
Client -> Microsoft -> Client for Netware Networks
Adapter -> Microsoft -> Microsoft Dial-up Adapter
Protocol -> Microsoft -> IPX/SPX Compatible protocol
After you install these and reboot you can set everything up. Note that not
all of the following settings may be necessary but I'm showing you how my
machines are set up so that you know of at least one working configuration.
If you find other working configurations please post them to this thread.
2. The machine that dials the host must have the "Windows Dial-Up
Networking" component installed. This comes standard with Windows 95 and
Windows 98. To see if it installed, open the Add/Remove Programs control
panel and click on the "Windows Setup" tab. Click on "Communications" and
then hit the "Details..." button. If "Dial-Up Networking" is not checked
then check it and let Windows install it for you.
2(c). Now set up one machine to be the client (the one dialing). First we
must make a new connection to the machine that is acting as the server. To
do this, open My Computer -> Dial-Up Networking. Double-click on "Make a
New Connection" and follow the dialog boxes. After you've created your new
connection, right-click on it and select "Properties". Click on "Server
Types". Under "Type", leave it set to "PPP: Internet, Windows NT Server,
Windows 95/98", then uncheck everything but "Log on to network" and the
"IPX/SPX Compatible" protocol. I'm not sure you need to uncheck software
compression but that's how I have it now.
3(a). Note: if you have a network card in any of the machines (e.g.
Ethernet cards) you *must* disable them and reboot. This kept me scratching
my head for awhile. I believe the problem stems from the subnets that are
assigned. When using both the dial-up adapter and an Ethernet adapter one
machine may pick the subnet for the Ethernet card while the other picks the
one for the dial-up adapter. To disable your Ethernet card, right click on
"My Computer" and select "Properties". Click on the "Device Manager" tab
and then double-click on "Network Adapters". Select your Ethernet card
(e.g. Linksys LNEPCI II) and hit the "Properties" button. Under "Device
usage" select "Disable in this hardware profile". Hit "OK" a couple of
times and reboot.
3(b). Note: If you have ICQ running in the lower right-hand taskbar, disable
it before establishing a DUN connection. ICQ will sense the connection and
launch itself thinking you are connecting to the Internet and it will mess
up your Nascar2 game in the process.
3(c). Suggestion: sometimes, after getting a successful connection I will
start Nascar2 only to find that my machine locks up. If I start and exit
Nascar2 before making the connection things seem to work every time.
4. Set up one machine to be the Dial-up Networking Server. To do this,
open My Computer -> Dial-Up Networking. Click on the "Connections" menu and
select "Dial-up Server". Click on "Allow caller access". Leave the default
"Server Type" settings:
Server Type: Default
Advanced Options:
[X] Enable Software Compression
[X] Require encrypted password
If you accidentally hit OK you can get the Dial-up Server window back by
double-clicking on the computer with the blue screen in the task bar on the
lower right hand corner of your desktop.
On the client side, open My Computer -> Dial-Up Networking. Double-click on
the new connection you made in step 2c and connect to the host. I
sometimes had to try three or four times before I could get a connection so
dont be discouraged.
On the server side you should eventually see the Status change from
monitoring to <so-and-so> connected since <time>. Now the two PCs are
connected via the IPX protocol and you are ready to start Nascar2.
5. Make sure each computer has a Nascar2 CD in the CD-ROM drive (necessary
for multiplayer) and start Nascar2 on each machine. Select Multiplayer on
each machine.
5(a). On the server/host PC, click on Network Play, select the Answer
option then hit Connect. Then patiently wait for your opponent to start
Nascar2 and hit connect too. You can set the race options while you wait.
5(b). On the client/dialing PC click on Network Play, select the Dial
option (your not really dialing anything) then hit Connect. You should
see a host computer listed under host. If not then patiently wait for
your opponent to start Nascar2 and hit connect too. Once you see them
appear, double-click on the host name and you will connect to that race.
5(c). Once you see the client connect on the server side, set the race
options and then hit Race. If everything has worked then you can both
qualify and race all night. You can also hit the chat button that is on the
race screen and your opponent will see whatever you type no matter where
they are.
I hope all this helps. Im sure these steps wont work for everyone (every
computer has its own problems) but hopefully they will work for most. If
you have any problems I would make sure there is no other software or
hardware that might be conflicting. In my case it was my Ethernet card (see
step 3a). The client computer name would eventually come on but when I
tried to race the client machine would lock-up. If you are sure you have
everything set up right you may want to do some searches on DejaNews
(www.dejanews.com) for help on Nascar2 multiplayer network problems. You
can also post questions to this thread and hopefully someone will be able to
help.
