Tidalis:Network Play

Introduction To Network Play

Important! You can play multiplayer in Tidalis without ever having to get into network play at all. One player simply uses the mouse, and the other uses the keyboard, and you can play absolutely every part of Tidalis in this way with just a single computer. The Network Play section is for when you have two computers that you want to use to play together.

Also Important! Before you read this section, it would probably be a good idea to read the Multiplayer Basics section, which covers all the actual multiplayer functionality (for playing on one or two computers, it's the same). This section is purely concerned with connecting multiple computers together.

With those caveats out of the way, let's move on. The basic idea here is that you have two players each with their own computer and their own copy of Tidalis, and they want to play together. These two players might be in the same room, or on different continents. It doesn't matter which. Only two computers at a time can be networked together with Tidalis, but there can be two players on each of those two computers, so you can have anywhere from two to four players actually playing together.

Finding Other Players

Playing With Another Player On Your Local Network

Suppose you have a specific other person you want to play with, and they are sitting in the same house/office/dorm/coffeehouse/etc as you? Here's how you would go about connecting the two of you:

• 1. To play with another player on your local network, you will both need to start Tidalis on your computers, and then go into the Network Play section of the main menu.

• 2. One player will be the host. They simply click the "Host Private Game - Wait For Other Player To Join" button, and then wait.

• 3. Once the host has started the game, the other player can then connect as the client. There are two ways to do this on your local network:
  • A. The easiest way is simply to hit the "Find Game On Local Network" button. Pretty much immediately, a tone should play and the client should see the host's game in the list of found games. Click on the game, and you should connect and be ready to play!
  • B. If the above does not work for some reason, the client will probably need to type in the local IP address of the host directly. Simply hit the "Connect To Network Address" button, type in the address, and hit Connect. If you don't know the local IP address of the host, or you still aren't able to connect, please see the Network Troubleshooting section, below, for more information.

Playing Directly With Another Player Across The Internet

Suppose you have a specific other person you want to play with, but you are not in the same geographic location, or are otherwise not on the same network? Here's how you would go about connecting the two of you:

• 1. To play with another player across the Internet, you will both need to start Tidalis on your computers, and then go into the Network Play section of the main menu.

• 2. One player will be the host. They simply click the "Host Private Game - Wait For Other Player To Join" button, and then wait.

• 3. Once the host has started the game, the other player can then connect as the client. There is only one way to do this across the Internet:
  • The client will need to type in the public IP address of the host directly. Simply hit the "Connect To Network Address" button, type in the address, and hit Connect. If you don't know the local IP address of the host, or you still aren't able to connect, please see the Network Troubleshooting section, below, for more information.

Finding Internet Games

Suppose you don't have anyone in particular in mind to play with, and you just want to find someone else with similar interests to yours to play with for a while? Here's how you would go about that:

• 1. Start Tidalis on your computer, and then go into the Network Play section of the main menu.

• 2. Click "Find Internet Games."

• 3. Make sure your player name and handicap is what you want, and then fill out the questionnaire about your interests, skill level, etc. The answers you fill in here will not exclude any other players, but these answers will be used for sorting the list of other players to give you the most relevant matches.

• 4. When you are ready, either:
  • A. Hit "Post and Search." This will publicly post your search data on the master server list at Arcen. You'll then see other players that match some or all of what you are looking for, and you can choose one to connect to. However, they will also see you, and someone might connect to you first.
  • B. Hit "Search Only." This will not post anything to the master server list, and no other players will be able to connect to you, but you'll see the games that other players are advertising and can connect to them. Granted, if everyone does "Search Only," no one will see anything.

• 5. When you see a game that you like, you can try to connect, and if no one else has already connected to that same player, then you'll be able to connect and can play. Otherwise, the connection may fail and you will have to choose a different game.
  • The connection may also fail if the other player is not properly configured to host games.
  • If you're advertising your own game and no one ever seems to connect to you, then that might also be the problem for you -- that you're not properly configured for hosting. Please see the Network Troubleshooting section, below, for more info on both these cases.