A routing question

[th0rn]

At the moment I have setup a connection using routing rather than bridging between my two WRT54G.

I am unable to setup a successful transparent bridge between them without using WDS. WDS runs well except for the speed which is half the speed of the connection between the AP iv been told, but I find it slower than that. The general opinion about WDS that iv seen on the internet is dont use it unless you really need it.

So now I have two networks 192.168.0.0/24 & 192.168.1.0/24. These two networks are connected to each other using dynamic routing. I have a perfect connection between the two networks (Pinging, filesharing and some games).

The problem comes with games that can not be told the IP they need to connect to. For example Warcraft III. As routing splits up the broadcast domain.

How can I allow the join broadcast domains, or do something else that will allow the games to work?

 

[savage]

bridging... You can't route broadcast packets.

 

[Obelix]

use wds - u wont notice the difference, unless youre copying massive files accross the link

 

[TheRoDent]

Unfortunately "lan" games use a broadcast discovery packet to find other machines within the same subnet, and these won't be passed along by the routers. Even if they were, the game would probably complain that the other party wasn't on the "same subnet"...

The moment you move from bridging to routing, your machines are effectively not on the same subnet anymore.

You could try playing using online matchmaking tools such as gamespy, but for that all copies of the game would probably have to be legitimate, and registered.

As for the bridging, unfortunately, WDS is the only way to go. Transparent bridging won't work between a client, and an AP, due to the addressing differences (3 vs 4 address notation).

If you really need to get this going, then unfortunately, WDS is going to be your only option, unless you are a serious linux administrator.

It is possible to create a bridged network, using non-wds, and higher level linux bridging functionality by combining interfaces and using proxy arp, but it's something that's not easily achieved, or that I'm willing to go into.

 

[daffy]

Here's a horrible temporary work-around

Set up Routing and Remote access on the one PC. (I assume you've got Windows XP or 2000)
Set it up so it accepts connections.

On the other PC, set up a VPN to the other PC.

Essentially, this will create another interface on which the 2 PC's can send broadcast packets needed for playing some of those nasty games.

I've managed this horrible workaround before, and been able to play War3 over 3 subnets.

If you're really into it, set up a pptpd box somewhere and get everyone to "dial-in" to that when you want to play games.

 

[th0rn]

I like the idea of the VPN, just looking for a server now.

Also heard about a program called QTracker, mayby that will also do the trick