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> I also fondly remember IPX from when I was a kid. Red Alert 2 and Age of Empires II supported it, and it was truly zero-config on a small LAN. Interestingly,

> I also fondly remember IPX from when I was a kid. Red Alert 2 and Age of Empires II supported it, and it was truly zero-config on a small LAN. Interestingly, I recall Red Alert 2 only supporting IPX, and that causing tons of trouble for us at one LAN party when we tried to play it. Of course I may be remembering this wrong due to the passage of time and the fact that my technical skills were rudimentary at the time.

nortonsdad 2y ago
I can't comment on Red Alert 2 in particular, but many early network multiplayer games predate widespread adoption of the internet so TCP/IP wasn't an option. Early online gaming services like Kali were almost a product built around a TCP/IP wrapper for IPX that allowed internet multiplayer on a platform it wasn't initially designed for. But it wasn't long before most people probably didn't even have the IPX protocol installed anymore.
swozey 2y ago
Yeah I had basically the same system (Celeron 300a overclocked to a blazing 504mhz) and trying to play the same games with my dad over IPX was a huge problem. I don't remember why, just frustration and never wanting to use ipx. Definitely had problems with one of the Warcrafts, I assume 1 but maybe 2
- cyberax 2y ago
  If you used pure DOS with a network driver, it JustWorked(tm)(r)(c). However, Windows 95 had its own implementation of IPX, and it sometimes had issues.
- Aqua_Geek 2y ago
  Warcraft 2 definitely used IPX for multiplayer. I remember struggling to get an IPX driver installed on our family computers so we could play.
IntelMiner 2y ago
Red Alert 2 in retrospect feels like an absolute "perfect storm" of bad luck that still produced a fantastic game RA2 runs on the same engine as Tiberian Sun (with minor modifications) Tiberian Sun was Westwood's first engine in C++ It was also two years behind schedule and pushed out barely functional after EA bought Westwood out in the late 1990's While Westwood was busy putting itself back together under EA they spun off "Westwood Pacific" and tasked them to make Red Alert 2 using this same engine Red Alert 2's engine is the most cantankerous, buggy piece of junk that ran what I would strongly argue was the pinnacle of the RTS genre. Getting it running on modern systems is an exercise in "what directdraw wrapper actually works?" and hoping that the UDP patch doesn't cause random game desyncs, even on a modern LAN
- dcist 2y ago
  AOE2 is the pinnacle of the RTS genre. With the Definitive Edition released in 2019, it's still extremely popular today. In my opinion, no RTS title has surpassed AOE2 before or since in terms of gameplay (and, in my subjective opinion, graphics -- I LOVE the detailed pixel graphics much more than polygons).
  - sgarland 2y ago
    AOE2 is the best-balanced, IMO. I don’t know that it’s necessarily the most fun, though. I love it, but I also love RA2. Agree on the graphics comment: I’ll take the isometric view any day over 3D RTS. RA2 has some grossly OP units that you can crank out en masse and dominate with. A small army of Apocalypse Tanks is game over for the enemy, unless they’re France and have turtled with a bunch of Grand Cannons. Or in Yuri’s Revenge, load Battle Fortresses with a Chrono Legionnaire or two, a Sniper (assuming British), and some GIs. These, and the overall frenetic pace of RA2 makes it more like junk food than the fine dining experience of AOE2. Yes, it’s not the best thing ever, but man is it fun while it lasts.
  - bigstrat2003 2y ago
    I would say that Dawn of War 1 is the pinnacle of the RTS genre. Still has never been topped by any game I've played, even its sequels. DoW 2 was a dumpster fire that removed most of the RTS elements and cut armies down to 1/3 of the size they used to be. DoW 3 was a step back in the right direction, but still was not really at the lofty heights the first game hit. I used to dream that Blizzard would put Jay Wilson (who was the D3 lead while he was with them, but more importantly was the DoW1 lead before that) onto a Warcraft 4. I would've loved to see that. Alas, after D3 had a fairly chilly reception (and Wilson himself sparked outrage through unwise social media posting), Blizzard quietly demoted him (and he eventually left). So it was not to be. But I still wish it had happened.
bombcar 2y ago
IPX on DOS was amazing and easy; IPX on Windows 95 was all sorts of fun configuration hell if it didn't "just work".

nortonsdad 2y ago

I can't comment on Red Alert 2 in particular, but many early network multiplayer games predate widespread adoption of the internet so TCP/IP wasn't an option. Early online gaming services like Kali were almost a product built around a TCP/IP wrapper for IPX that allowed internet multiplayer on a platform it wasn't initially designed for. But it wasn't long before most people probably didn't even have the IPX protocol installed anymore.

swozey 2y ago

Yeah I had basically the same system (Celeron 300a overclocked to a blazing 504mhz) and trying to play the same games with my dad over IPX was a huge problem. I don't remember why, just frustration and never wanting to use ipx. Definitely had problems with one of the Warcrafts, I assume 1 but maybe 2

cyberax 2y ago
If you used pure DOS with a network driver, it JustWorked(tm)(r)(c). However, Windows 95 had its own implementation of IPX, and it sometimes had issues.
Aqua_Geek 2y ago
Warcraft 2 definitely used IPX for multiplayer. I remember struggling to get an IPX driver installed on our family computers so we could play.

IntelMiner 2y ago

Red Alert 2 in retrospect feels like an absolute "perfect storm" of bad luck that still produced a fantastic game RA2 runs on the same engine as Tiberian Sun (with minor modifications) Tiberian Sun was Westwood's first engine in C++ It was also two years behind schedule and pushed out barely functional after EA bought Westwood out in the late 1990's While Westwood was busy putting itself back together under EA they spun off "Westwood Pacific" and tasked them to make Red Alert 2 using this same engine Red Alert 2's engine is the most cantankerous, buggy piece of junk that ran what I would strongly argue was the pinnacle of the RTS genre. Getting it running on modern systems is an exercise in "what directdraw wrapper actually works?" and hoping that the UDP patch doesn't cause random game desyncs, even on a modern LAN

dcist 2y ago
AOE2 is the pinnacle of the RTS genre. With the Definitive Edition released in 2019, it's still extremely popular today. In my opinion, no RTS title has surpassed AOE2 before or since in terms of gameplay (and, in my subjective opinion, graphics -- I LOVE the detailed pixel graphics much more than polygons).
- sgarland 2y ago
  AOE2 is the best-balanced, IMO. I don’t know that it’s necessarily the most fun, though. I love it, but I also love RA2. Agree on the graphics comment: I’ll take the isometric view any day over 3D RTS. RA2 has some grossly OP units that you can crank out en masse and dominate with. A small army of Apocalypse Tanks is game over for the enemy, unless they’re France and have turtled with a bunch of Grand Cannons. Or in Yuri’s Revenge, load Battle Fortresses with a Chrono Legionnaire or two, a Sniper (assuming British), and some GIs. These, and the overall frenetic pace of RA2 makes it more like junk food than the fine dining experience of AOE2. Yes, it’s not the best thing ever, but man is it fun while it lasts.
- bigstrat2003 2y ago
  I would say that Dawn of War 1 is the pinnacle of the RTS genre. Still has never been topped by any game I've played, even its sequels. DoW 2 was a dumpster fire that removed most of the RTS elements and cut armies down to 1/3 of the size they used to be. DoW 3 was a step back in the right direction, but still was not really at the lofty heights the first game hit. I used to dream that Blizzard would put Jay Wilson (who was the D3 lead while he was with them, but more importantly was the DoW1 lead before that) onto a Warcraft 4. I would've loved to see that. Alas, after D3 had a fairly chilly reception (and Wilson himself sparked outrage through unwise social media posting), Blizzard quietly demoted him (and he eventually left). So it was not to be. But I still wish it had happened.

bombcar 2y ago

IPX on DOS was amazing and easy; IPX on Windows 95 was all sorts of fun configuration hell if it didn't "just work".