IPX protocol support

This page describes a feature currently under development that is not yet in release versions.

IPX protocol support allows Chocolate Doom to play multiplayer games with DOS vanilla Doom.

IPX protocol support is implemented via DOSBox's IPX network tunneling protocol, allowing Chocolate Doom to connect to a DOSBox IPX server. Chocolate Doom is able to set up games with the DOS IPXSETUP tool that originally shipped with Doom, and games can contain a mixture of vanilla and Chocolate clients.

Configuration modes

Diagram of how IPX games may be set up with IPX protocol support.

Different configuration modes are supported:

1. Chocolate Doom connects to a DOSBox IPX server:

• The server itself can act as a vanilla Doom peer running IPXSETUP
• Other DOSBox clients can connect to the server and join the game
• Other Chocolate Doom peers can connect to the server and join the game.

2. Chocolate Doom connects to an ipxbox server:

• DOSBox clients can connect to the server and join the game
• Other Chocolate Doom peers can connect to the server and join the game.
• The server can be bridged to a physical IPX network, and real DOS machines on the same network can join the game.

Setup instructions

Connecting to a DOSBox IPX server

Start DOSBox and set up an IPX server with the following commands (in this example the server listens on port 9000):

C:\>config -set ipx true

C:\>ipxnet startserver 9000
IPX Tunneling utility for DosBox

IPX Tunneling Server started

C:\>

Then start IPXSETUP; the following example is for three players:

C:\>cd doom
C:\DOOM>ipxsetup -nodes 3

To connect another DOSBox instance on IP address 10.0.0.1 do the following:

C:\>config -set ipx true

C:\>ipxnet connect 10.0.0.1 9000
IPX Tunneling utility for DosBox

IPX Tunneling Client connected to server at 10.0.0.1.

C:\>cd doom
C:\DOOM>ipxsetup -nodes 3

Then to connect a Chocolate Doom client do the following:

$ chocolate-doom -dbconnect 10.0.0.1:9000 -nodes 3

Setting up an ipxbox server

Follow the instructions on the ipxbox page for how to build a server and particularly, how to bridge the server to a physical network.

Once the server is running, DOSBox clients can connect to the server using the instructions above. Then on any DOS machines (emulated or real), invoke IPXSETUP:

C:\DOOM>ipxsetup -nodes 3

To connect Chocolate Doom clients do the following:

$ chocolate-doom -dbconnect 10.0.0.1:9000 -nodes 3

External links

• Youtube video demonstration.