If you want the feel of a light weight and efficient network protocol, then you can start a multi-player game of DOOM via the Ultimate DOOM Setup utility on one machine and the corresponding IPX setup tool on the other machine. The easiest way to do this is to use the Windows 98 protocol stack with the following components installed:

1. Client for Microsoft Networks
2. Appropriate network adapter
3. IPX/SPX-compatible Protocol
4. NetBEUI
5. TCP/IP (you won’t need this for DOOM, but you probably will want it)
6. File and printer sharing for Microsoft Networks

I have read that you may need to enable both file and printer sharing, but personally I haven’t verified that, and I don’t really see how the components are related. If by some chance they are required, the NetBEUI protocol seems to be a requirement for the sharing to work reliably on networks between two Windows 98 machines or a Windows 98 to a Windows XP machine. I was also running this over a wired network on the same router, so if you have one or more wireless routers, make sure that machines can see each other on the network (one reason to get file sharing working between the two machines). A couple of things to keep in mind:

1. Make sure they are on the same Gateway (mine is 192.168.1.1, which is just my router)
2. Make sure they are using the same sub-net mask (I use 255.255.255.0)

A few notes on the IPX configuration:

1. Make sure the frame type is set to “Auto”
2. Make sure the network address is the same on both machines, I use the default address “0”

I have been trying off and on for a few days to get two machines using DOS-compatible IPX protocol stacks to talk to one another, and it has not been easy. I will post about that once I get them working.

Categories: DOS, Games, Multiplayer, PC
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