• To host a game you'll need a registered version of Kali that has detected Outlaws 2.01 installed on your system.
• Run Kali. You can join the Kali Outlaws server to chat if you want.
• Hit the rocket icon at the left end of the Game Toolbar, or right-click in the Game window found by default in the lower left of your screen and select "Create a Game" from the pop-up menu.
• The "Game Options" window appears. Select "Outlaws 2.0" from the game drop-down list. Most of the controls here you won't need to set, but the following are handy:
  • Check "Leave open for others to join after game starts" if you want people to be able to join in after launch.
  • In the "Comment" field you should enter the name of the level you're going to play on and the type of game, ie: "Junction teams." This will show up in the game's description in the Game window.
  • "Maximum Ping Allowed" is a very handy item for preventing excessively laggy players from ruining your game. I'd set this to around 550 or 600.
• Hit "OK." The "Launching Outlaws..." window appears and after a few seconds your game will appear under "Outlaws 1d61" in the Kali Game window. If people join before you launch they will appear in this mini-chat room. You can kick or ban people you don't want in the game.
• Many people in Kali's Outlaws chat channel don't leave their Game Window open so they may not see your game. You can create a hyperlink to your game in the chat window by typing
  game://hostname
  where "hostname" is the exact name of the player hosting the game that you want to make a link to. Of course if it's your own game you would put your name, but you can also put up links to other peoples games with this command.
• When you're ready to go, hit the launch button (the one with the four colored arrows). If the launch button is greyed out then one of the players in the pre-launch window needs to check their "Ready to Launch" box. Kali will shut down all active windows and close chat. Outlaws loads.
• Select "Multiplayer" from the Outlaws main menu.
• On the Multiplayer screen select "Windows Sockets" in the "Drivers" window and "TCP/IP (INTERNET/LAN)" in the "Connection" window.
• Click the "HOST GAME" button. Select level and game type from the "Multiplayer Start" screen and hit the "START GAME" button.
• The "Multiplayer Options" screen appears. Configure the game as desired. Here is where you should set any desired password or player limit (rather than in the Kali "Game Options" window).
• Click the "ACCEPT" button. The level loads and you appear in the Outlaws Lobby awaiting the arrival of other players. From here on in yer on yer own!

• Make sure you've upgraded yer Outlaws to version 2.01.
• You don't need a registered version of Kali to join Kali-launched Outlaws games, an' yer time won't be limited ta 15 minutes. Look in the Kali Game window for listings of "Outlaws 1d61." If you don't see any make sure that Kali has detected your installation of Outlaws and that you've set your filtering options in the Game window correctly (right click in the game window and select "Filter."
• You should have the same Kali version as the host or you might not be able to join the game successfully.
• Find an Outlaws game listed. Games already in progress have brackets around the name, and passworded games have an asterix before the name. To the right of "Outlaws 1d61" you'll find the name of the host, number of players in the game (not always accurate), ping time and whatever comment they decided to display.
• Right-click the game you want to join and select "Join Game" from the pop-up menu (or double-click the game listing).
• If the game has not been launched by the host yet you will appear in the "Launching Outlaws..." window. Make sure that the "Ready to Launch" box is CHECKED, otherwise the host won't be able to start the game.
• Once the host launches, or if the game was already in progress, Kali will shut down active windows, close any open chat and launch Outlaws.
• At the Outlaws main menu select "Multiplayer."
• On the Multiplayer screen select "Windows Sockets" in the "Drivers" window and "TCP/IP (INTERNET/LAN)" in the "Connection" window.
• Click the "JOIN GAME" button. On the "Configuring Winsock" screen leave the "GAME SERVER ADDRESS" field blank. Hit the "ACCEPT" button.
• On the Multiplayer Join screen, if the host just launched the game they may not have finished configuring the game options yet, and you will see "NO GAMES FOUND". In that case just wait a little bit and then hit the "RESCAN" button. You may have to repeat this a few times if the host is slow. Once a game shows up, hit the "MORE INFO" button a few times. If the game is full, if you don't have the map or if the ping time is over 600 or so you should leave and go back to Kali to find another game. Otherwise hit the "JOIN GAME" button.
• If all goes well you'll appear in the game lobby. If not, make sure the game is still up, that you have the right version of the right map, that you aren't using Windows 98 (see the file page, that you've upgraded your Outlaws to version 2.0 and that the game isn't full.

> -Is this plain winsock tcp/ip, or is it running through Kali's
> IPX emulator (or whatever the correct term is)?

Straight Winsock TCP.  Kali simply ignores these packets so there is no
overhead or change in the normal processing (except that Kali is using up
some memory).

> -Is there any data passing between the host and the Kali server
> other than the simple game data that appears in the game window?
> Is there data passing between the non-host players and the kali
> server?

Only the host sends game data to the tracker to keep the game listed, but
the host also pings each client regularly to make sure they are still
connected.  All clients running Kali have to report to the tracker or
server every 10 seconds with a very small packet saying "I'm still here!"
and every few minutes another packet asking the tracker if it's still alive.

Jay

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Th' "Outlaws Sunday" section above has logs from typical sessions in Kali an' IRC. However, since Kali lists th' Outlaws server on their server list, once in a while an idiot or ravin' looney will stumble inta th' Outlaws chat room.

That is precisely

what happened in th' early a.m. hours of February 18^th, 1998. Killercraig, Webby an' I were havin' a harmless, typical conversation about, surprise surprise, 3D accelerator cards when this fella who named himself (in what in retrospect must have been an extraordinary moment of self-awareness) "stupid" stumbled in an' made a complete ass of himself. Repeatedly. It really was quite incredible that someone could be so dumb an' if ya think about it it's a rather sad comment on th' human condition. But then again on a much more immediate level it's freakin' hilarious!

After th' conversation ended I copied th' text to a file which I present here fer yer perusal. If ya have any experience in Kali or just internet chat in general I think you'll find this priceless.

DISCLAIMER This log contains a lot of strong language and particularly disparaging remarks about gay people. If you are easily offended by such you won't want to read this. "stupid" initiated most of these remarks and we played along because it obviously riled him. But let me make it clear that I have no problem with people bein' straight, gay, or whatever th' heck they feel like bein'. What I do have a problem with is people trying to force their views on others. "stupid" makes a shining example of the kind of ignorance and hatred that accompanies such bigotry.

log of conversation between Paleface, Webby, Killercraig and "stupid" (20k)
copied from a chat session on the Kali Outlaws server at around 2:00 a.m. PST, 2/19/98