can't specify private IP address, so can't host LAN game

[deadgames]

Using the latest Lackey version, both on Mac OS X and Windows, I can't specify my computer's IP address in the game hosting menu. The "Your IP:" field initially contains question marks; if I click the "Refresh" button, the field is populated with the public IP address of my firewall. Nothing I type in that field has any effect.

I want to be able to play a direct LAN-to-LAN game so I can play games against my roommate, and test a plugin I'm working on, but without being able to specify my private IP address I can't do this. How does Lackey determine my IP address? Is there some setting that will let me change the address?

[Trevor]

You can't change your IP with a program. All it is doing is reporting your WAN IP, in case you want to tell someone. If you have a LAN IP, tell your friend on your LAN what it is.

[Saethori]

Note that, if you do not know what your local IP address is (for the network), you can usually find out by typing "ipconfig" into the run command. (For Windows; Mac program running differs in a way I don't know about, though the command is the same.) It's the IP address provided under "Local Area Network".

[Nava]

Note that, if you do not know what your local IP address is (for the network), you can usually find out by typing "ipconfig" into the run command. (For Windows; Mac program running differs in a way I don't know about, though the command is the same.) It's the IP address provided under "Local Area Network".

For Mac OSX it is either

• open the Terminal and type "ifconfig" (like other unix systems)
• or open the System Preferences application go to the Network pane: You'll find your LAN IP there

Nava

[deadgames]

The IP address field threw me off. Of course the game binds to a port on the computer's local IP address; that field is what someone outside the LAN would see. I don't need to tell Lackey what the computer's own IP address is. Once I realized that, I started hosting one computer, used a second to connect to the first's private IP, and I was able to start a game.

When searching the forum for information hosting local games, I came across the bug report re the inability to turn off proxy games. Will having that option on affect LAN games? If the LAN's connection to the Internet were lost, would that disconnect the client from the local server.

In Mac OS X, the easiest way to find the local IP address is in the Network pane of System Preferences. (I'm familiar with ifconfig, but people not used to terminal would be thrown off by all the interfaces ifconfig displays.)

[Saethori]

Yeah, I only mentioned IPConfig because, for Windows, there is no immediately obvious way to locate the system's LAN Address. (Either you use ipconfig (or winipcfg, for some versions), which isn't mentioned anywhere in Windows Help and most people wouldn't even realize they had it on their system, or you find out by checking your router's settings, if it lets you.)

IP connected games ignore proxy conditions; you don't need an internet connection for it at all, so whether internet goes offline or online during it is inconsequential. However, game states do not appear to be saved by either host or client, so if a computer crashes, that's it for that particular game.