Worms2 Router Instructions

Router Instructions

In 2002, I stopped playing Worms2. It was not by choice that I stopped playing, but because of technical reasons. Worms2 was not designed to be friendly with routers. In order to host games (and in some cases even to join games), a Public IP Address was required. This ruled out people with routers, including myself. Also, Windows 2000 and XP were not too Worms2 friendly. There are DirectX problems that prevent playing network games even if you have a Public IP; even local LAN games would not work.

Well, late in November 2005, I had to fire up an old system of mine to retrieve some files. It was my old K6-III 450 with Windows 98. It also happend to have a modem and Worms2 installed, so I decided to dial up and see if anyone still played. To my amazement, not only did people still play, but there were several patches and workarounds to enable playing behind a router and on modern operating systems.

Most of the information described described below is taking from the following page (Unfortunately it looks as if spadger's page is no longer online), as are some of my downloads (directx patch, IP switcher).

http://www.spadger.uk.ro/

In order to get Worms2 working you need to do the following.

Install Worms2 Normally, apply the update patch (required) and the no cd patch (optional but reccommended).
Make sure you have DirectX 9.0c. If you do not, either upgrade or download and install the DirectX patch from the downloads section of my front page. If the automatic patch does not work, follow the instructions for loading the patch manually.
At this point, you should be able to join games created by others (unless your router is crappy like mine and needs DMZ host even to join games). The rest of the instructions will tell you what to do to be able to host games.
You need to configure your router to forward traffic from port 47624 to your local machine. The above web site has more detailed instructions, but all router manufacturers and models are a bit different, so you will need to consult your documentation or get someone to help you if you do not know how to configure your router. Alternately, you may configure the DMZ host option in your router rather than port forwarding (this may be the only way to get it to work with certaion routers). DMZ can be a greater security risk though since it essentially turns the router's firewall off.
Download the IP Switcher utility from the above site or my front page.
To host a game, make sure the IP Switcher utility is opened before you create a game. In the utility, make sure you select the correct worms2 version (usually Worms2 Full 1.005) and have your correct IP address typed into the provided location. You can get your current IP address by going here http://www.whatismyip.com/. Now in the IP Switcher Utility, press "Refresh Information" and then "Set New IP." The IP you typed should appear to the left. Now in Worms2 click on "Create Game" and others should be able to join.