Dungeon Keeper multiplayer

Linc

Winfrey shows us how to get Dungeon Keeper multiplayer running on Vista and XP using DOSBOX.

In our boredom, we began thinking of games we'd always wanted to play in a multiplayer setting but, for whatever reason, never had the chance. We settled on Dungeon Keeper, a personal favorite of all involved.

Thrax

As a note, following all the steps <i>except</i> for the ones related to CD images and drives will teach you how to run any DOS app in DOSBox. The process is the same for other games/progs.

Hawk

Nice write up Winfrey.
DOSBOX is pretty cool.
I've been using it for about a yr now and it makes it pretty easy to play the old games.
It ran DIG perfectly.
With just a quick scan of features and game play.
Dungeon Keeper seems a little like Travian, only you get to see the action.
Is the game down loadable anywhere?
Or do we still have to buy it?

Winfrey

Thanks Hawk!

Dungeon Keeper is not abandonware so you will have to purchase it. You can find it at a lot of places, especially online game stores. It was a unique game of its time because you are playing as the "bad guys" i.e. demons and imps and are trying to create a dungeon to defeat Heroes and other dungeon keepers.

the Home of the Underdogs is probably has one of the largest selections of games that are now offered as abandonware and can be downloaded for free. Most of them are old 16-bit games that you can get to work on DOSBox.

Orior

sup'

there is no other way to make DK run on LAN? i mean, like hamachi or something?
the DOSbox guide was amazing but is too boring write all that stuff everytime to play...


greetings

Winfrey

You don't have to rewrite that stuff everytime if you use D.O.G. as a frontend to run Dungeon Keeper. Besides, I don't think you can do LAN without using some kind of frontend to utilize IPX while running dosbox. I haven't tried hamatchi, but I don't see why it won't work as long as you use the correct IPs.

Orior

nice one man, by the way, i told a friend to do this so we can play, but when he is starting DK, it crashes over and over again in the introduction movie or after cd check, what could that be?

Winfrey

Orior wrote:

nice one man, by the way, i told a friend to do this so we can play, but when he is starting DK, it crashes over and over again in the introduction movie or after cd check, what could that be?

What OS do you have?

Orior

XP like him, but i run it exelent

Winfrey

Is it crashing to windows or is it just showing the loading screen and stops working? Make sure you haven't messed with video settings in D.O.G. or that the ISO is still mounted in daemon tools or whatever virtual drive software you use.

Orior

it stops working, the dosbox screen just stops, and no, he dont mess up with the video settings on dog, yes, the image is mounted on daemon.
in the instalation happened when he was in the sound selector or just for much time spent in the instalation, so i dont know what could that be........

Winfrey

Orior wrote:

in the instalation happened when he was in the sound selector or just for much time spent in the instalation, so i dont know what could that be........

What?!

Orior

in the setup, after completes, you have to select your sound card compatible with ur pc, after that it stops, i attached a picture showing the error, so in the game just happen the same thing

Winfrey

I would try reinstalling the game to see if you get the same error during setup. You are installing through dosbox correct?

Orior

yes, i'll try to reinstall, but if i get the same error, what could i do??

Winfrey

Try installing into just Windows XP to see if there is a problem with the disc or not.

Taso

I have been trying to make dungeon keeper work over two vista 32 bit computers but i can't seem to make the match appear on the list of ipx matches. I have followed all of the instructions except for the make one computer host and the a client becuase i failed to see the option in dog, could u please tell me how to do this in more depth

Winfrey

You should see an option in D.O.G. in the Data Communications tab for IPX. And in that part you should see options for being either a client or host machine. If you don't you may have had a problem installing the IPX protocol onto your machine.

Make sure you followed the IPX installation steps in the guide, let me know if that doesn't work.

Taso

Instead of doing the automatic install i did the manual to see if that made a difference. I managed to get the ipx protocol to appear in the options tab of my network connection but still there is no option in D.O.G. to make me either a host or a client, all i can see is the enable ipx check box, the hint and which port ipx uses.

Taso

After a bit of research I just ended up using dos box to create the ipx tunneling service by typing ipx=true on both machines then the server computer typing ipxnet startserver and the other client comps typing ipxnet connect then my ip address. This way seemed to work and i was able to start a multiplayer match over hamatachi

belladonna

thank you! his is the best guide/solution for solving that lame ipx problem i ever read!
tiny problem, though: i tried it several times (up-to-date PCs, ethernet and/or lan, xp and/or vista, with/without patches) and it LAGS after some playing. painstakingly. Does anybody have an idea why this could be happening? please? it would be so very sweet to be able to multiplay DK!

mike

Whomever is hosting should pick “Server” and enter their IP address. For everyone else at the party, select “Client” and enter the host’s IP into the given field.

where is this part i cant find it anywhere and i want to play dungeon keeper really bad. please help

Winfrey

You can't find it in D.O.G.? Or in my guide? Make sure you have the IPX protocol installed on your machine

Now go to the “Data Communications” category. Select “Enable IPX” and determine which one of your buddies is going to be the host. Whomever is hosting should pick “Server” and enter their IP address. For everyone else at the party, select “Client” and enter the host’s IP into the given field.

leishi85

sweet, there is a os x version of dosbox, now i can play dungeon keeper even in os x.

mike

is it in the data communications tab because all that is in there is a checkbox to enable the ipx protocol. could the version i have be different then yours? i follow your links and it gives me version 1.53. can i run the original dungeon keeper or do i need to use gold? thankyou

Winfrey

Dungeon Keeper Gold should work fine. Here is a pic of how my Data Communications tab looks in D.O.G.

I notice that my version is not 1.53 but 1.54. I have been looking for 1.54. but have not been able to find a link. You can try Taso's fix through dosbox though. I will continue to search for a patch updated install. But it looks like D.O.G. creator has stopped hosting file versions beyond 1.53

After a bit of research I just ended up using dos box to create the ipx tunneling service by typing ipx=true on both machines then the server computer typing ipxnet startserver and the other client comps typing ipxnet connect then my ip address. This way seemed to work and i was able to start a multiplayer match over hamatachi

Edit// Looks like he is going to get things back rolling (Scroll to bottom post)

georgeo

Hi guys i just install dungeon keeper (gold) on my pc (Vista 32) and it doesnt work so i managed to install dk through the DOSbox.Everything works fine except that when i start new game and enter the first lvl it crush in about 2 seconds and i dont know why.i tried to figure out through the google and i didnt find any result on this problem.Does anybody know where is the problem ?:(

..Thanks (btw sorry for my english)

floppybootstomp

How odd, I just picked up Dungeon Keeper 2 for a fiver after searching for a few years for it.

It's been modified to run in Vista (it doesn't) but it does run nicely in XP. And yes, I've tried all the settings, it still won't work in Vista (Home Premium).

After all these years I've forgotten what you supposed to do, I just got soundly thrashed by some lord or other in level 4. Dig, get gold, cast spells, I guess.

This DOS_Box - could I run Little Big Adventure 2 in it? LBA2 was made for Win 95 and I used to love that game but never did finish it.

Emsarrev

Hey Winfrey, my friend and me can connect and stuff using the "fix" provided by Taso, but when we have chosen a level and it's about to start the secondary DOSBox windows goes crazy with "Illegal Read : followed by alot of numbers or Illegal Write: followed by alot of numbers. This happens when it displays the CD read screen. We have both tried hosting but that didn't fix our issue. Any clue what's going on? Bad .ISO file?

Winfrey

Does it work fine when you do not play networked? Have you or your friend messed with any other settings in D.O.G.?

Joel

Cheers for the tips, I used them to get Doom and Star Control 3 working last Christmas. Strangely Doom caused the serving machine to slow down significantly despite the machines having identical specifications (same laptop make and model except the server had 1gb more ram). Have you experienced this?