   DirectPlay goes DOWN!!
  YESSS!! I finally got "machine A" to send a packet to "machine B"!!!  And no STUPID DIRECT PLAY DIALOGS!! In case you haven''t tried it, DirectPlay is really $##$^ nasty to learn, but I finally did it!  Ten years of programming WinSock, CASyncSocket, etc and you think it''d be easy.  NOPE!  Four days to send a stinking packet.  But now DPlay is mine BABY MINE!NO STUPID DIALOG BOXES!did I mengtion that I don''t have ANY STUPID DIRECT PLAY DILOG BOXES!!Anyway, if any of you out there are trying to bash your way through DirectPlay, I just thought I''d offer some help, just ask.Of course, I hear that DPlay is being "completely overhauled" in DX 8. 
  The question is what ISN''T being "completely overhauled" in DX 8..  ;  So which would you recommend using? WinSock or DirectPlay?  ;  Winsock -- it''s much more powerful, and it''s easier to learn IMO.    ----------------------------------------"Before criticizing someone, walk a mile in their shoes.Then, when you do criticize them, you will be a mile away and have their shoes." -- Deep Thoughts  ;  DirectPlay is network agnostic (it doesn''t care whether you are using TCP/IP, IPX, or Direct Serial Connection), whereas winsock does. So once you know DirectPlay, people can play your game over the Internet, across a TCP/IP network, across an IPX LAN, between two modems or across a serial cable without you having to change your code. That is the benefit of DirectPlay.Please state the nature of the debugging emergency.sharewaregames.20m.com ;  And you don''t send packets, you send ''messages''. This is because there is a fundemental difference between using a null modem cable or modem to modem, and using a TCP/IP or IPX network.    Please state the nature of the debugging emergency.sharewaregames.20m.com ;  So what''s the price for it?Packet Overhead? Platform Dependency...cya,Phil Visit  Rarebyte!  and no!, there are NO kangaroos in Austria (I got this questions a few times over in the states ;  I definately recommend DPlay, now that I have it working.  There are several reasons, but here are the big ones.1.  In a peer-peer game, your "server" goes down.  Big deal, somebody becomes the server.2.  My packets can be guaranteed with NO CODE on my part.3.  I can "broadcast" packets. (!!!)4.  I don''t really care if you''re playing TCP or IPX.5.  Packets can be automatically encrypted.Anyway... we''re testing performance right now and it so far it looks just as fast as any WinSock app I''ve ever written.  ;  DPlay has some network overhead built into it, and MS has yet seen fit to release the DPlay protocol so you can only use it on Windows. (No Max or *nix)Again the plus point is that it works happily with things like modems and serial connections without modification. (There isn''t much advantage of DPlay over Winsock2 if you''re talking IPX compatability. In that case you just change the socket initialization to the IPX protocol and address family, a whole two constants difference in the code.)  ;  Yeah and BTW i did it in 2 days in ASM and did not get any Dialogs because i use IPX....speed is however another problem...  i used to hope its not optimal.. but now if u tell is the same with Winsock.. OMG must be something in my code And beware of "guaranteed with no code" its not true....because u will SURE loose packets over REAL networks...(like internet and modem to modem) so u have to think of something and that invalidates the TCP/IP allmost completly...thatas why MOST multiplayer games over the internet use UDP.....and IPX on local network.... (but i think that "NO Dialogs" stuff makes the IPX the winner on local lan  )Direct Play looks easy to use even from my ASM point of view...  but sometimes in the future i will like to know everything UNDER the hood on network ...Bogdan