CnCNet 4.0 open for testers!

[hifi]

It's been a long time, Commander!

 

Finally, CnCNet 4.0 is at least partially done.

 

So what's new? The main focus of 4.0 was to rewrite the network so it can have p2p and tunneled clients side-by-side. This now works and anyone without the possibility to forward a port can keep using the tunneled mode like 3.2 was but those who can forward a port can now enjoy the speed benefits of p2p connections.

 

Playing from the same ip (same LAN) is limited to one p2p client only, others needs to use tunneled mode. Better than v2 where you couldn't play from the same ip at all, aye? 4.0 will also discontinue the US server and will focus on a single server only. This was done to save money and simplify the server and client software. Fast games far away from the UK are possible by using p2p connection so I'm not pulling the rug from under your feet completely.

 

The client software doesn't have much changes. The settings dialog was cleaned up from old features and a new checkbox for the p2p mode was added. More features will come after the initial release (like automatic port checker).

 

Now, we need to test this. I've only done limited testing on my own but it doesn't yet show how well it will scale and work with mixed p2p and tunneled clients.

 

TL;DR

 

Download the 4.0 development client from here: http://cncnet.org/files/cncnet-dev.exe and place it in your game directory where your current cncnet.exe is.

 

The beta client does NOT AUTO-UPDATE. So when the beta period is over or a fatal bug is found in the client executable or dll, a new one needs to be downloaded by hand. New cncnet-dev.exe does auto-update to the latest development release.

 

When you go to p2p mode, remember to forward your UDP port 8054. There is no welcome message yet so the only way to know if it works is to talk to people in the lobby.

 

Any feedback can be posted to this thread.

 

Thank you!

 

EDIT:

 

The client was updated with these changes:

* completely rewritten UI (not much visual changes though)

* p2p auto-detection

* server online detection, it doesn't launch the game if the server is down

* auto-updater is now also available in the "development channel" (cncnet-dev.exe)