Are true LAN servers possible with Doomsday

Hi,
I have a question about setting up multiplayer LAN servers.

I've tried to set up a LAN server that is broadcast from my Mac's local network; creating a computer to computer network, using the Mac as a router. But this doesn't work; the server doesn't start up at all. Do I actually need to be connected to the internet? Or is this happening for another reason?

I've set up other servers, which appear as LAN in the multiplayer menu of Doomsday. But these servers don't seem to be LAN, as I experience fair amounts of latency playing on them and this shouldn't be the case if they are LAN (presumably the latency occurs because the wifi in my area is not fibre optic).

This is why I'm wondering if it's possible to set up a true LAN server. Do you think my Mac may be blocking the Doomsday Shell somehow? It's running MacOS Sierra, 10.12.6.

If I got a wifi router and used it to create a local network, do you think it would be possible to broadcast a LAN server that way?
Cheers.

On the whole, I'm enjoying the ease of installation and the UI is amazing.
I'd love to do some big LAN parties so it would be awesome to have a stable set-up that I can use anywhere.
I've had trouble with certain wifi networks not broadcasting servers properly, hence the desire for LAN. But I don't want to spend money on a router if it won't work, so if anyone can be of any help it would be much appreciated.

Comments

  • TL/DR
    try the 3 dots on the top of multiplayer section and connect to server manually with the lan ip. Or click the button on the bottom right while in the main menu screen, and pick the connect to server option.

    My thoughts:

    I don't know if the "server list" scans for lan servers separately, but if it fetches them from the online master server list this is what happens.

    Your LAN server would announce it is running to the master server on the internet, this one detects and saves your Internet's public IP. When you clients fetch the master list, they get your "public" ip.

    The other computer on your network would get a public ip, which in most cases won't work. It's really up to how your router is designed/configured. But in most cases it's the equivalent of picking your phone and calling your own number, you get a busy signal. in the case of routing, you getting an "unreachable" error.

    Some routers can actually forward traffic that is generated from the lan side, back to the lan side, but in my experience these are the exception not the norm. They are designed to forward wan traffic to lan traffic.
  • Yes, LAN servers are supported, and no you don't have to be connected to the internet. As @Makaki says, you can always do a manual connection by entering the server's local IP address.

    I don't recall doing much testing with a direct computer-to-computer network, though.

    Doomsday clients attempt to discover servers on the LAN by broadcasting UDP packets using a network determined from your local IP address. It is possible that this discovery doesn't work on computer-to-computer network.

    Have you enabled the firewall on the Mac? (Try disabling it.)

    In the Multiplayer server list, you can check the server ping time if you right-click the server or click on the [...] button. See if this is in line with how much latency gameplay seems to have.
    If I got a wifi router and used it to create a local network, do you think it would be possible to broadcast a LAN server that way?
    Yes, you can set up a LAN that way. However, the network quality of the wifi is still dependent on external factors such as other interfering wifi networks and any physical obstacles between the router and your computers.
  • Hi both,
    Thanks so much for your replies. These are useful things to know.

    The firewall is off. But I tried to start a server via my computer-to-computer network again and got this error message:

    0.5 <= view-cross-width <= 5

    Any idea what this means?
    Cheers.
  • The "view-cross-width" cvar specifies line width for drawing the HUD crosshair. Previously, a zero value was allowed, but now it needs to be nonzero. The warning is mostly benign, but you may want to check the crosshair width setting in the menus.

    (Or just type "view-cross-width 1" in the console.)
  • Cheers very much. I'll try that. It seems strange though, as the only change that I made was attempting to use a computer-to-computer network
Sign In or Register to comment.