108 lines
4.2 KiB
HTML
108 lines
4.2 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>Setting up a connection</title>
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<link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
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</head>
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<body background="images/back.gif">
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<!--START-->
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<h3>Setting up a connection</h3>
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For two computer to communicate they will need some connection protocol.
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Like most games, <i>Game Maker</i> offers four different types of connections:
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IPX, TCP/IP, Modem, and Serial. The IPX connection (to be more precise,
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it is a protocol) is almost completely transparent. It can be used to
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play games with other people on the same local area network. It needs to
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be installed on your computer to be used. (If it does not work, consult
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the documentation of Windows. Or go to the Network item in the control
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panel of Windows and add the IPX protocol.) TCP/IP is the internet protocol.
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It can be used to play with other players anywhere on the internet,
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assuming you know their IP address. On a local network you can use it
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without providing addresses. A modem connection is made through the
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modem. You have to provide some modem settings (an initialization
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string and a phone number) to use it. Finally, when using a serial
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line (a direct connection between the computers) you need to provide
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a number of port settings. There are four GML functions that can be
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used for initializing these connections:
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<p>
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<blockquote>
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<tt><b>mplay_init_ipx()</b></tt>
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initializes an IPX connection.<br>
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<tt><b>mplay_init_tcpip(addr)</b></tt>
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initializes a TCP/IP connection. addr is a string containing the web
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address or IP address, e.g. 'www.gameplay.com' or '123.123.123.12',
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possibly followed by a port number (e.g. ':12'). Only when joining a
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session (see below) do you need to provide an address. On a local
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area network no addresses are necessary.<br>
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<tt><b>mplay_init_modem(initstr,phonenr)</b></tt>
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initializes a modem connection. initstr is the initialization
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string for the modem (can be empty). phonenr is a string that
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contains the phone number to ring (e.g. '0201234567'). Only when
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joining a session (see below) do you need to provide a phone number.<br>
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<tt><b>mplay_init_serial(portno,baudrate,stopbits,parity,flow)</b></tt>
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initializes a serial connection. portno is the port number (1-4).
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baudrate is the baudrate to be used (100-256K). stopbits indicates
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the number of stopbits (0 = 1 bit, 1 = 1.5 bit, 2 = 2 bits). parity
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indicates the parity (0=none, 1=odd, 2=even, 3=mark). And flow indicates
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the type of flow control (0=none, 1=xon/xoff, 2=rts, 3=dtr, 4=rts and dtr).
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Returns whether successful. A typical call is mplay_init_serial(1,57600,0,0,4).
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Give 0 as a first argument to open a dialog for the user to change the settings.<br>
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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Your game should call one of these functions exactly once. All functions report
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whether they were successful. They are not successful if the particular protocol
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is not installed or supported by your machine. To check whether there is a
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successful connection available you can use the following function
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<p>
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<blockquote>
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<tt><b>mplay_connect_status()</b></tt>
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returns the status of the current connection. 0 = no connection,
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1 = IPX connection, 2 = TCP/IP connection, 3 = modem connection,
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and 4 = serial connection.<br>
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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To end the connection call
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<p>
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<blockquote>
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<tt><b>mplay_end()</b></tt>
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ends the current connection.<br>
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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When using a TCP/IP connection you might want to tell the person you want to play
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the game with what the ip address of your computer is. The following function helps you here:
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<p>
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<blockquote>
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<tt><b>mplay_ipaddress()</b></tt>
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returns the IP address of your machine (e.g. '123.123.123.12') as a
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string. You can e.g. display this somewhere on the screen. Note that
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this routine is slow so don't call it all the time.<br>
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</blockquote>
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<!--END-->
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</body>
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</html>
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<!-- KEYWORDS
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connections
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modem connections
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ip address
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ipx
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mplay_init_ipx()
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mplay_init_tcpip()
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mplay_init_modem()
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mplay_init_serial()
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mplay_connect_status()
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mplay_end()
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mplay_ipaddress()
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--> |