So, do any of you use Hamachi? Is it worth installing? Also, does it solve the router issue and allow anyone to host?

I like Hamachi for a number of old games (especially IPX based), but it's not a popular choice overall. I seem to recall someone said it was bought by a private company, so it will most likely not be free anymore either.

I checked the Hamachi website and it appears they still offer free accounts as well as a pay-for Premium. They have a comparison chart between the two types. I was wondering about security, but Steve Gibson of Gibson Research (grc.com) seemed very impressed with the functionality of the service and security.

Regardless of your opinion of the service, it really is great for a lot of older, more picky games over the net.

Shadow hates it mega, though.

Thanks for that comparison chart. Free version Looks pretty fair and gives plenty of options. Looks pretty easy to use. Why does he hate it(perhaps a buggy older version)?

I'd find it hard to dislike if it proved to be a reliable workaround for the hosting/client compatibility issues we've run into everytime we've tried to get a game going. LB2's finicky connectivity quirks have resulted in far more waiting/testing time than is spent flying on those occasions we've been able to get a quorum of players together.

The big issue is that Hamachi won't run on legacy Win9x, and I think a couple of us here still run Win9x. Otherwise we'd probably all be using it primarily.

I used the latest version when GRAW came out. It worked fine for a couple of days, then it crashed both my modem and my router (they're 2 separate devices) plus rebooting the computer.
So yes, I hate Hamachi and noone can convince me otherwise. I am not installing Hamachi again.

For falcon4-allied forces, our squad saw that hamachi caused jitter compared to direct connects. Its LAN like feature allowed the host to serve and play as a client with one WAN IP.

No problem. I would never try to convince anyone to do anything they already know will cause problems. While I've never tried Hamachi myself, who needs to risk having the same outcome as Shadow? Besides, Franze says it does not work with Win9x OSs and AV8R says there was a performance hit. Both sufficient reasons not to go with Hamachi.

Same thing with games using StarForce...while many report no problems, enough others have to serve as a warning to me. It always kills me to see people who haven't had a problem with something like StarForce allege some incestral shortcoming in those who have had problems as if to say, "I haven't had a problem, so you couldn't possibly have one". I'm sure I would've like LOMAC-FC and SH3, but it isn't worth the potential hassle. Result: Ubi loses sales and I get to hang onto my money and avoid 'puter probs.

It's unfortunate some people cannot successfully connect with others in LB2, but it can't be helped.

I think whether we want to admit it or not, it's highly unlikely that a single program can be the culprit of many major problems.

Of course, a single program can cause a problem that starts the avalanche!

Spectre,

I fly LockOn and IL2 (4.05m) and sub in SH3.
No problems after I ran the StarFarce remover.

Every time I do an update, Starforce tries to raise its ugly head again, but I remove it again.

In regards to Hamachi, the packeting is different than standard TCP and UDP that the games are expecting to use. Hamachi is like a VPN tunnel that may be the source of the induced jitter we saw with FalconAF. Havent tried it with other sims to know first hand how compatible they are to it.

To my knowledge, StarForce was not on the original LOMAC and was introduced with Flaming Cliffs while Sub Hunter III came with it from the beginning. None of the IL-2/FB/AEP/PF releases outside the CIS came with it. The problem that came with the FB/PF 4.05m release was related to the Boonty Box download manager which could be somewhat removed. I didn't want to deal with that, either, plus I had no interest in a paid addon for two aircraft types that had no significance to me. I enjoy simming for recreation and news of software issues that can lead to hours of computer headaches or a possible reformat is simply not worth the hassle in my old age.

In any event, I was hoping there was an alternative that might offer enhanced connection possibilities, but it does not sound like Hamachi is a candidate.

Youre correct on all counts, and I do have Flaming Cliffs. Havent gone to Black Shark.
Theres a huge IL2 download that has 405m w/o boonty.

No problem getting around it and have had no issues since they were dealt with.