Here is the situation. 2 years ago I created a LAN in my home for gaming. It consisted of 4 computers networked using a Linksys Etherfast Wired Router with a 4-port switch. It worked great and all computers could play networked games as well as share other resources such as files, printers, internet, etc. Later I added a Linksys Etherfast Wired 8 port switch to the mix so when friends came over they could join in the gaming. That also worked very well and using this set-up we daily used 4 or more computers and played several network capable games such as StarCraft, Mechwarrior, Diablo II, etc. using the IPX protocols with no problems or glitches. I custom built each of the computers on my 4 computer LAN. Some of the specs are these: Computer 1-Pentium 4-2.8ghz-2gb ram-256mb nVidia video card-SoundBlaster Live sound card-Dlink PCI Ethernet card-XP Home Edition SP2, Computer 2-Same, Computer 3-Pentium 4-2.4ghz-1gb ram-128mb ATI video card-SoundBlaster Pro sound card-Dlink PCI Ethernet card-XP Home Edition SP2, Computer 4-AMD Athlon 1800+-1.4ghz-512mb ram-64mb nVidia video card-onboard sound-Dlink PCI Ethernet card-XP Home Edition SP2. This worked great for my entire network gaming and other needs with no problems. Recently I remarried and moved into a new home which is significantly bigger than my old home. My new wife did not want me to string network cables all through our new home so I decided to go wireless. I stuck with Linksys because it has served me so well in the past. I purchased a Linksys WRT54GX4 with SRX400 Wireless G Broadband Router/Switch/Access Point. I also purchased 3 Linksys WMP54GX with SRX Wireless G PCI cards. I hard wired Computer 1 to the Router since it was going to remain in the same room. Computer 2 received a wireless PCI card and at that point I tested the small 2 computer LAN and it worked fine. I was able to network StarCraft over the IPX and play with no problem. Computer 4 received the next wireless PCI card and instantly found the network and registered itself using the shared Internet connection and printed on the shared printer but when it came testing time with StarCraft I got the error message “Unable to Join Game”. It could see the game but not join it. If the game was created on Computer 4 then the other two computers on the network could not even see it. I did the forum search as well as checking Blizzard (makers of StarCraft) and Linksys web sites. I have tried all the tips I have found on these sites including switching to 802.3, creating the unique 8 digit IPX network Identifier, use of TCP/IP, turning off firewalls, NetBios, NetBui, etc. to no avail. None of these things did I have to do when it was a wired network. It always auto-detected the settings and worked perfectly. I am using the same version of StarCraft on all machines as I did when it was a wired network. My puzzle is it worked as a wired network on these 4 machines but it is not working as a wireless network. What am I missing? All 3 machines were set-up and configured the same and two work fine but the third does not. As a curiosity test I used an old laptop I had laying around with an old wireless card and it was able to network and game using StarCraft with the other two but not the third. In the next day or so I am going to add the Wireless PCI card into the last machine and see if it has the same problem or if it works error free. Meanwhile does anyone have any suggestions on what I can try or check to get the outcast computer to join my gaming loop? TIA, Lost.

For me, windows xp has had the tendancy to enable the firewall on new network cards installed in a system. Check and make sure the windows firewall is off (or any other firewall for that matter). Or have the apropriate ports opened for starcraft, I believe it is just port 4000 TCP.

Man I love starcraft, it is good to hear someone else out there is still playing it
I wish they would make a new one sometime. Keep all the game play the same but slap a new shiny graphics package on it, lol. If starcraft had AOEIII graphics it would be ridiculously awsome.

Yup, i've been there done that one with C&C RA. What I think fixed it for me was some of the pcs needed to be 802.3, and others set to auto.

Another problem that I had is that if you have more than one nic, it gets pissed off about it. If you disable all other ways out, like a second nic or a built in 1394 lan interface, that will most likely help as well. I know that in C&C RA2 it gave me the option to choose which card to use, and it listed a few even though only 1 worked.

You can try the network thing again, I think you need to set them up as 10000001, 10000002, 10000003 to make that part happy. I'm not sure if I had to mess with that though, it probably wouldn't hurt.

If none of that solves the problem, I'm not exactly sure what else causes it, but I've had the same thing happen. You may even be able to get the game to launch if you switch who is hosting it, as some computers can see each other, and others can only see certain ones. Good luck though.

I too have had wierd problems with certain machines not being able to see others on Windows XP using IPX game (RA2).

The way I eventually solved it was by creating a VPN with Hamachi (www.hamachi.cc) and adding the IPX protocol to that

What about doing udp instead of ipx? I'm pretty sure starcraft has that option, been a while since I did a network game though.

if it helps i've used ethernet II as the frame type

and i've got a wireless laptop, and two wired desktops in a successful starcraft LAN .. all running win XP

I've given each pc the same external network number and unique internal numbers. In my case i've used
10000002
10000003
10000004 .. for the internal numbers

and

22222222 as the external number on all pcs

I've tried 802.2, 802.3 and autodetect, all of which i can't get working with the wireless laptop


this was the only help i could find on the net, so hope i've made a useful contribution

cheers

IT DOES HELP!!!!!
I spent about 6 hours yesterday and 2 hours today trying stuff to get Command and Conquer: Red Alert 1 to work over IPX/SPX in Windows XP and this is the first time it's worked! I haven't tried wireless yet, but thank you so much!

no worries, buddy
i've been playing starcraft on a laptop ever since, works like a charm

I had the same problem like the rest of you guys.

This is what I did to make my wireless connection on laptop and cable connection with desktop using wireless router connect thru IPX.

Game used : Starcraft
OS: WINXP
Router: Linksys WRT54GC
Laptop: wireless connection wifi
PC Desktop: direct lan connection cable

It took me awhile and tweaked the NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol properties here and there and resulted to this configuration that worked well with IPX games using wired and wireless connection.

DESKTOP CONFIGURATION:
I've setup the Internal network number to: 10000001
Then change the Adapter(Frame type) to : Ethernet II
Then change the Network number to: 22222222

LAPTOP CONFIGURATION:
I've setup the Internal network number to: 10000002
Then change the Adapter(Frame type) to : Ethernet II
Then change the Network number to: 22222222

I had the same problem as everyone else here, except I was trying to get Diablo 1 going on a LAN using IPX / SPX. Mikaztro's solution worked perfectly on my two laptops, which are both wireless. One laptop is running XP and the other is running 2000, both have different brands of network cards.

All the laptops can see and join any Diablo 1 LAN game, no matter who created them. Thanks guys, you saved me a bunch of time!

thank you bman212121 - disabling the other NICs worked on Windows 2003. yay

aourus, thanks a lot!!!