© 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Developed by Digital Illusions for Microsoft Corporation.
In a typical rally race, you can’t race head-to-head against other cars on the same track, but with RalliSport Challenge, you can race directly against your family and friends. The multiplayer feature makes it possible for you to host games or join someone else’s game at home or on the Internet. You can race any of the cars that are in RalliSport Challenge on a wide range of tracks.
· Gamers must join a race before the host starts it. After the race starts, no one else can join.
· The host selects the track used in the race.
· If a racer leaves during a race, then that racer’s vehicle disappears from every participant’s screen.
· If the host disconnects during a game, then the game ends.
· All cars are human-controlled. There are no computer-controlled opponents.
· The Results screen appears at the end of the race and contains the same race time information as it does in single-player races.
· No trophies are awarded.
· All cars and tracks are available to all players regardless of their profile.
· All tracks/events are available to play.
To play a multiplayer game with other people, you must establish communication with their computers. There are two types of connections and three rates or speeds at which to connect. The two connection types are Local (LAN) and Internet. The three speeds are 56.6 KBps modem, DSL, and LAN. It is important to set the correct speed for your connection type in the multiplayer application.
LAN games are games that run on the same network. These games typically give you the best performance.
Games can be played across the Internet. All players must know the IP address (see How to Find Your IP Address) of the host. The faster the connection you have to the Internet, the better the performance will be.
You have different options for multiplayer play, depending on whether you are hosting or joining a game. If you are the host, you control the following:
· The game’s password, which makes it possible for you to keep unwanted players out of your game. Entering a password is optional.
· The number of players (between 1 and 4).
· The game mode.
· The track or event on which you are racing.
· The choice to have collisions on or off. Disabling collisions can improve performance.
· The race options, such as total laps.
· The option to remove and ban other players from the game (see Removing and Banning Players for more information).
If you are joining a game you control the following:
· The car you drive.
· The speed at which you connect.
Before you host a race over the Internet , you must give your IP address to your opponents, so they can connect to your computer.
To determine your computer’s IP address
1. Connect to your Internet Service Provider (ISP); otherwise, your IP address might not be displayed.
2. On a computer running Microsoft® Windows® XP or Windows 2000, from a command prompt type ipconfig. If your computer is running Windows 98 or Windows Me, type Winipcfg.
3. Make a note of the IP address.
4. Click OK.
5. Communicate your IP address to the people against whom you want to race.
Note: This IP address might change the next time you connect to your ISP.
RalliSport Challenge automatically searches your local network for a game being hosted. If you are playing over the Internet, you must click Add Server and enter the IP address of the host’s game.
To host a game, click the Host button in the Lobby. Make sure to set your connection speed accordingly.
Find a game you want to join from the Address Book in the Lobby. Highlight the server hosting the game you want to join, and click Join. Set your connection rate for your connection type after you have entered the server lobby.
The multiplayer feature of RalliSport Challenge provides a chat window that you can use to talk with other players before and after a game.
The following are some chat commands:
· /admin <password>
Gain administrator status.
· /broadcast <message>
Allows the administrator to send a message to all players on that server.
· /msg <Player ID> <message>
Sends a private message to the player of your choosing
· /users
Lists the connected clients together with their ID numbers.
· /kick <Player ID>
Remove and ban (for 10 minutes) a client from the server.
· /topic <text>Change the topic in the main lobby.
· /help
Get a list of commands used by hosts and clients.
The host can remove and ban a player from the Lobby at any time. To do this, either right-click the Player you want to ban in the Players box or use the /kick command in the chat window. In addition, a player is banned if they are text flooding the lobby. A warning is displayed prior to a player being banned because of text flooding. A banned player is prevented from joining the game for 10 minutes.
The multiplayer races have two game modes: Events and Single Track Races. The differences between these two types are described below.
As with the Single Player mode, you can compete in a wide range of events. Events are comprised of a series of tracks, with points awarded at the completion of each track. The winner of the event is the one with the most points when all tracks in the event have been raced. The events are based on the events from the game’s Career mode, with a few extras added in.
A single-track race is one track, one race, and the winner takes all. These tracks include the Rally tracks, the Hill Climb tracks, the Ice Racing tracks, and the Rallycross tracks.
Try the following strategies to increase performance:
· Before starting RalliSport Challenge, quit all unnecessary applications.
· Decrease the demands for drawing graphics on the Graphics Options screen.
Your options include:
o Decrease Resolution
o Decrease View Distance
o Decrease Player Car Quality
o Decrease Opponent Car Quality
o Decrease Car Shadows
o Turn off High Track Detail
o Turn off Particle Effects
o Turn off 3D Trees
o Turn off Weather
o Turn off Skid Marks
o Turn off Lens Flare
· Play multiplayer games with fewer participants. If you have a 56.6 KBps modem, it is recommended that you limit your game to two players.
· Turn off background music, and decrease the quality of sound effects.
· Use a cable modem, DSL modem, an ISDN connection, or a LAN connection to get faster performance.
· Turn Collisions off in the multiplayer application.
The file, Server.cfg, has all the settings for the RalliSport Challenge multiplayer game server. The default settings are supported. Modifications of this file are not supported and can impact game performance.
· Name <31 char string>
The name of the server that is shown when pinging the server.
· Topic <127 char string>
The main Lobby topic — usually server news.
· Password <15 char string>
The server password.
· AdminPassword <15 char string>
The admin password.
· IPAddress <Internet address>
The local IP address, used for multi-homed computers (with more than one IP address).
· Port <port number>
The main server port — default 17500.
· MaxPlayers <number>
The maximum connections to the RalliSport Challenge Lobby.
· MaxGames <number>
The maximum games/game rooms on the RalliSport Challenge Lobby.
· MaxRaceTime <time>
The maximum race time in minutes.
· Ban <dotted IP address>
Add an IP address in the ban list.
· ServerInfo <keyname> <string>
The server information that is shown when pinging the server.
· GameSetting <name>
The game specific settings to be listed in the Lobby (usually, it is not a good idea to change this setting).
The "lobbyserver.exe" uses only the main connection UDP port defined in "server.cfg".
Any launched "gameserver.exe" will use any available UDP port just above the main connection port number.
Example(main port 17500):
lobbyserver.exe port = 17500
gameserver.exe #1 port = 17501
gameserver.exe #2 port = 17502
gameserver.exe #3 port = 17503
gameserver.exe #4 port = 17504
These ports must be opened up on the proxy for this to work in the above example.
RalliSport Challenge does not have built-in functionality to support firewalls, Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), or hardware devices that provide Network Address Translations (NAT). These networking solutions can block the necessary ports that are required to play RalliSport Challenge. The host uses ports 17,500-17,501, and clients use a port between 1024 and 5000. For secured networks, it is not recommended that you open a large range of TCP/IP ports.
GREGORG13