Q: What is XBOXGW?
A: XBOXGW is an application that was developed to expand the capabilities
of
System Link games for the Microsoft XBOX. The basic functionality of
this program is very similar to an ethernet bridge. This one just happens
to be smart enough to only bridge XBOX game traffic, and to split it up
to the right players as to not take unnecessary bandwidth.
Q: What are System Link Games?
A: System Link Games are XBOX Games which support Multiplayer on Local
Area
Networks. These games usually have a "System Link Play" option under
the multiplayer menu.
Q: What can I do with this software?
A: If you and someone else you know have a broadband Internet connection,
a PC, and a Microsoft XBOX with one of the System Link games,
you can play each other over the Internet
Q: Is this software Microsoft Certified/Approved?
A: No we are not affiliated with Microsoft. XBoxGW is just a temporary
work around
until Microsoft releases their own network service. If you don't want to use
an unoffical
version of software, wait till Summer 2002 for Microsofts release.
Q: What is required to use it?
A: Well, for starters, a Microsoft XBOX. This software also currently runs
on just Linux, so you must also have a Linux server or a PC with our boot disk
install
on the same network as your XBOX. This network must also be connected with
a hub, not an ethernet switch. We do have work arounds for this, please see
our
HOWTO section of our documentation. A Broadband Internet connection
is also a must.
Q: Can I use an ethernet hub or a switch?
A: Depends on your network configuration. If you have 1 ethernet card, then
YES
you must use a HUB. In a 2 network card configuration you do not need a
hub. A switch will do the job fine. See the network pics on our site under
documentation.
Q: Can I use a PCMCIA ethernet card?
A: Currently the bootdisk version does not have support the PCMCIA ethernet.
Q: Do you have support for USB Ethernet?
A: Linux does have support for some USB Ethernet devices but it is not
currently enabled
on this release.
Q: What Linux versions do the RPM install currently work on?
A: We have tested it in Redhat 7.0 and Redhat 7.2, though should work
on any distro that includes a Linux kernel 2.1 or higher, and supports
RPM packages.
Q: What is the Boot Disk version of XBoxGW software for?
A: With the boot disk version there is no need to install Linux on your
computer.
Create the boot disks, reboot your computer and your PC will load off the floppy.
Again, no need to install Linux or even know anything about it.
Q: Is there a Windows version of XBoxGW?
A: We are working on a port to Win32 (2000/ME/XP/etc). For now just
use the boot disc version for now. It will bypass your Windows boot and load
XBoxGW on startup.
Q: What other platforms will be supported?
A: We are currently working on solutions for PowerPC based Linux,
MAC OS X (BSD), and Windows.
Q: Does it work behind NAT?
A: Yes. Even with NAT on both the client and server sides.
Q: What ports do I need to configure for NAT/FIREWALL?
A: Inbound: TCP port 7601 (Only required for server mode)
A: Inbound: UDP port 7602 (Required for client and server)
A: Outbound: TCP port 7601 (Only required for client mode)
A: Outbound: UDP port 7602 (Required for client and sever)
Q: What games are currently working?
A: So far, we have only tested HALO and Tony Hawk 2X in System Link mode
over the Internet.
Q: Is my cable modem fast enough?
A: We were able to connect two boxes with no lag. As soon as the third
box joined, it was overwhelming the uplink of the cable modem, and produced
lag
during the game. There have been reports of 3 consoles working with no lag.
This
all depends on the servers upstream bandwidth.
Q: Is my DSL connection fast enough?
A: We were able to successfully connect all four boxes with the server
being n a DSL connection, and very rarely seen lag.
Q: Why are my ping times so high?
A: The ping times are higher on XBoxGW because these are TCP pings, not
ICMP pings like in most other games. If you like you can turn off the pings
completely
by setting the ping interval to 0.
Q: Do both people need a copy of the game?
A: Yes. It just think of it as playing the game with both consoles
on the same physical ethernet, just having that physical ethernet
extended.
Q: Why did it fail when I tried to join the game?
A: There are primarily two causes of this: One being a misconfigured
firewall, or there is an ethernet switch, not an ethernet hub
on one side. There are easy ways to troubleshoot these things.
For detailed instructions, please see the TROUBLESHOOTING section
of our documentation.
Q: Do you plan on releasing source code?
A: Yes! We are all for open source. We would like to get the code
base very stable before opening it up. We plan on, with in the
next month, setting up a public rsync'd cvs (and/or bitkeeper) tree
of the source code.
Q: Do you need help writing code?
A: We could definitely use help in the area of porting it to Other
platforms. If you are interested in seeing the requirements for
this, please send an e-mail to info@xboxgw.com, letting us know
which platform you have your expertise in.
Q: Why is XBOXGW a better solution over VPN?
A: Many people have stated that you can just set up VPN between several
computers to get this to work. There are two very big issues with
doing so, compared to using this software:
1) You would need to run BCP (Bridge Control Protocol) over the
top of PPP, which would then need to run in L2TP (Layer 2
tunnel protocol), and then that would then be encapsulated
in some type of VPN packet (ECP or something).
The major drawback here, is that I do not know of any
freeware VPN solutions that support L2TP, let alone
BCP inside of PPP (which requires L2TP). You would have to
buy a VPN solution to do this. Plus, the knowledge required
to setup a VPN tunnel is a nightmare.
2) The next big reason this isn't a great idea, is because of
bandwidth utilization. First off, with all of these extra
headers, each XBOX game packet would take up double its
current size (around 130 - 160 bytes). Also, if you attempted to
play more than two (1 to 1) players, then it would really kill
Jbandwidth, as it would mesh (bridge to everywhere) all traffic.
This isn't needed, since with the "System Link" games, one console
is a server, and all other clients only need to talk to that
one server, not to eachother. Thus, this would be another
huge waste of bandwith.
And this is why we created XBOXGW. It does something very
similar, but in a much cleaner and more efficient fashion.