Alternative flat file package 'installers' for original Cavedog stuff

Units not included in any patch or expansion

flat file package with six last units published by Cavedog

(0.22 MB)

Additonal maps released by Cavedog

Note Some of the maps in the package won't work if you don't have the Core Contingency expansion installed

flat file package with stand alone maps published by Cavedog

(49.9 MB)

TA Demo Recoder

Finally I should mention the people who made this (in my opinion) most important addon for TA - the Swedish Yankspankers. I belive the recorder is even more important than the official TA expansion TA:CC which just introduced some new units while the recorder helped hundreds of TA players (including me) to learn how to play this game. And it's still the one and only tool allowing to detect at least some of the cheating programs available for TA.

NOTE If you have a slow system, like an Pentium II 233 MHz you should not install the recorder. At least switch the option that allows to record every game on default off. The recorder consumes additional CPU time to process the data and that will noticably slow down the game for all players in the game.

TA Recorder commands working on computers without the recorder

The TA Recorder files

Note that the Swedish Yankspankers have relased the source code for the TA recorder so you might run into 'inofficial' versions elsewhere on the Internet.

Third party maps

Grand Canyon V1	(1.29 MB)
Great Divide 2	(0.98 MB)
Painted Desert Marathon	(3.71 MB)

You also may want to check the section containing additional Maps created by CD

TATunnel

You can verify the origin of the two programs by calculating their MD5 fingerprint with a MD5 calculator. If the checksums differ from those documented in the manifest.txt file shipped with each program files Zip archiv then the programs have not been compiled by me but someone else and may contain changes which are not documented in the sources to be found on this site.
If you think that the MD5 program above may already contain backdoor hacks itself then get the MD5 sources and compile the executable yourself.
Alternatively you can use the PGP signature files referred in the version overview section to verify the origin of the respective Zip Archiv containing the executable or source files for a particular distribution.

Anyone who either wants to compile the programs himself in order to make absolutely sure that they contain no backdoors and hacks or who is just curious to learn how TATunnel works will need the source code which can be obtained from the version overview section as well.
The program has been developed using Microsoft's Visual C++ 6.0 IDE so don't expect to find any makefiles among the sources. All I can offer are the project files for the IDE mentioned above. To create your own set of executables with another compiler/linker in a different development environment you'll have to create your own set of makefiles/project files suiting the environment you prefer.
If you plan to take a serious look at the program code then you should start with section V. Code documentation in the project's documentation before you take a look at the comments within the source files. The information to be found in the documentation will hopefully give you an idea about the 'big picture' behind the the tunnel program.

TATunnel call syntax

TATunnel exit codes

TATunnelClient.exe will terminate with an exit code of zero except a severe error occured during code execution of its game manager thread (which is the application's main thread).
If the game manager thread itself gets interrupted by an exception then the program will terminate with an exit code set to the TATunnel internal id of the exception thrown in response to the error condition.

A documentation of all TATunnel internal exception ids can be found in the files TATunnelServer_exception_codes.txt, TATunnelClient_exception_codes.txt and shared_exception_codes.txt shipped with the source file Zip Archiv of the respective TATunnel distribution.

TATunnel versions

DirectPlay registry patcher

For people who want to make sure they got the orignal taregfix2.exe program: You can check the list with the version/MD5 information at the end of this section. You can download md5.exe if you need a program to check MD5 fingerprints. The MD5 sources are also available.

The pranoids amongst us may prefer to compile taregfix2.exe's source code themselves after making sure it contains no hacks or backdoors. The source is suited for use with Microsoft's Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition.

Registry patcher call syntax

taregfix2	[-c] [-a] [-n] [-d <absolute TA path>]
	[-b <binary>] [-l <command line>] [-f <front end>]
	[-i <IP address> -p <TCP port>]

All parameters are otional and the simplest call format is without any parameter given. This format addresses people who don't want to fiddle around with the command line parameters. For example, if you have only one TA installation on your drive and want a quick Registry fix for it than just call taregfix2 without any switch or parameter. It will automatically locate your TA directory and update the Registry without any further user interaction if the following conditions to be true:

• The switch -a (description see below) was omitted
• Only one TA directory was found on the fixed disk drives (the expansion installation backup folders are excluded from the search by default)
• The totala.exe file in that particular directory could be identified by a well known MD5 fingerprint

-c will cause the explicitly given, implicitly selected or interactively picked TA directory to be checked against the current Registry settings rather than updating the Registry data.

-a is only of interest when <absolute TA path> is omitted. When set directories with the same folder name as the standard backup folders created by the TA expansions installers are not ignored when searching for TA installations. The only two values on the ignore list are currently backup (created by TA:CC) and btbackup(created by TA:BT). So if you have a TA installation residing in a folder named C:\STRANGE\BACKUP you need to use this flag otherwise the search algorithm will ignore a totala.exe file found there. On the other hand sub folders of ignored folders are not excluded from the search. If a TA installation resides in C:\STRANGE\BACKUP\MYTA then the folder is recognized as a valid TA directory even without using the -a switch.

-n avoids the 10 second delay before exiting the program. The dealy is active by default in order to give the user enough time to read error or success messages.

-b will put the value <binary> rather totala.exe in the registry field 'File'. If you omitt this switch then taregfix2 will put the default value totala.exe in the registry. A prerequisite is that <binary> resides in the same directory as indicated by the -d switch respective as picked from the TA directory list in interactive mode. A TA game service client program will then run <binary> instead of totala.exe when a game session is launched.
Although you can theoretically configure whatever executable file you want for the 'File' registy entry you have to keep in mind that the binary has to be a Lobby-Aware Application thus it must call IDirectPlayLobby3::GetConnectionSettings at program startup and has to establish communication with the game service client via the DirectPlay7 Lobby Interface once it became aware of a lobby launch.
You may want to use this function if you have at least two different versions of totala.exe in the same TA directory under different names and want to switch between them before playing a game service game. For instance if there is a hacked totala_hacked.exe and an original totala.exe in the TA directory d:\games\ta and you want the game service lobby launcher to use totala_hacked.exe rather than totala.exe then call taregfix2 as follows:

taregfix2 -d d:\games\ta -b totala_hacked.exe

-l will put he value <command line> rather than the targefix2 default -c into the registry field 'CommandLine'. The command line value -c will skip the intro movie when TA is launched. Basically the -l switch allows to configure any command line for <binary> you want.

-f will create a registry entry for Ripple DirectPlay7 Lobby launching. <front end> refers to a program residing in the same directory as indicated by the switch -d respective as picked in interactive mode from the TA directory list. Once the value is set in the registry the game service client program won't launch <binary> (or totala.exe) but <front end>. The difference is that <front end> doesn't need to be a Lobby-Aware Application, it can be any simple executable file excuting whatever operations you want. As soon as <front end> is done with its prae launch operations it has to call the actual application, which would usally be totala.exe. For launching the actual application <front end> can use a simple CreateProcess() API call thus it doesn't need to setup any DirectPlay7 communication link between the game service program which started it and the actual application to start. The only prerequisite is that <front end> passes all command line parameters it was launched with to the actual application to be launched except the first one which is its own program name. Passing those parameters is so important because one of them is a special value that will allow the Lobby-Aware Application to establish a direct link to the game service client program thus bypassing <front end> completely. Once the actual application runs it's save to terminate <front end>.
For example I use the Ripple Launching on my dual CPU computer for runnign a <front end> that starts totala.exe pinned to one CPU.

-i and -p allow to send the output the program generates to an echo server that runs on another computer via a TCP/IP connection. This is intended to be used for remote support. It's a one way street (as you will see when you study the source files), there is no way for the echo server to send any data into the other direction. I added this option because I learned that some people have problems to interpret the program output and need to be talked thru the process of fixing the registry, especially if more than one TA installation was found and they get stuck at the selection screen.
To display the echo output on the other computer you need to launch an echo server program that can handle the echoed output taregfix2 streams to that IP and TCP port number. I provided a very simple EchoStream server which should be sufficient for use with taregfix2.
Since activating the echo interface requires to launch taregfix2.exe with command line switches I also decided to add the option to put the IP echo server address and the TCP/IP port number in a simple textfile named taregfix2.cfg. The first line has to contain the IP address, the second line the TCP/IP port number. The file must be placed in the same folder where taregfix2.exe resides in order to be reconized by taregfix2.exe. Do not add the switches -i and -p to the lines in the configuration file, just put the actual values in.
The command line parameters -i and -p have a higher priority than the entries in the configuration file, thus the file is ignored if the programm was called with these two prameter.

Be aware that game service client programs may override any of the values in the registry. The PhoeniX WorkX client for example seems to empty registry entry assocciated with <command line> every time before it starts a game.

Registry patcher interactive mode commands

Option	Key(s)	Effect
Enter position	Two digit wide number	Selects one of the directories for further processing. You can use any number in the range of the whole list size even if it refers to a line not visible right know.
f(orward)	f	Displays the next page of the directory list.
b(ackwards)	b	Displays the previous page of the directory list.
trim l(eft)	l	Displays the maximum possible part of a path name too long to fit into a display line beginning at the left end. The left trim truncate indicator '>>>' will appear at the end of the path to state the fact it has been cut off for display purpose. The left trim option is the default truncate policy and you can use this command to restore it.
trim r(ight)	r	This is the counter part to the left trim option. Displays the maximum possible part of a path name too long to fit into a display line beginning at the position that allows to output the path from there to its right end. The right trim truncate indicator '<<<' will appear at the begin of the path to state the the fact it has been cut off for display purpose.
a(bort)	a	Exits taregfix2 without taking any further actions like checking or updating the DirectPlay registry entries for TA.

Registry patcher well known TA versions

Registry patcher exit codes

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectPlay\Applications\Total Annihilation

The documented exit codes are only valid for the latest version. Previous versions may return different values.

Value	Used By	Meaning
0	both	No error occured.
1	taregfix2_setup.exe	The operating system call GetWindowsDirectory() failed with an OS error. The program wasn't able to retrieve the path of the operating system software root directory. Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
2	taregfix2_setup.exe	The operating system call CreateFile() failed with an OS error. The program couldn't open the source file taregfix2_setup.exe when trying to create a copy of that file with the name taregfix2.exe in the windows operating system root folder. Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
3	taregfix2_setup.exe	The operating system call CreateFile() failed with an OS error. The program couldn't open the destination file taregfix2.exe when trying to create a copy of taregfix2_setup.exe in the windows operating system root folder. Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
4	taregfix2_setup.exe	One of the operating system calla ReadFile() or WriteFile() failed with an OS error. taregfix2_setup.exe could open the source and destination file but wasn't able to copy the complete file over to the windows operating system root folder. Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
51	taregfix2.exe	An operating system error occured when the program tried to initialise the TCP/IP interface on the local computer. This error can only occure if the switches -i and -p have been used in order to attempt to redirect the program output to an remote echo server. The error indicates a problem with your local operating system network installation or that taregfix2 requested support for network functions which the socket interface on the local computer can't provide. Your computer may not support such a high level of windows socket support (especially on Windows95) and I may have to lower the minimum version number taregfix2 is requesting. Send me an email to tcbw@tcbw.net in case the OS error part of the message points into this direction.
52	taregfix2.exe	The switch -i was followed by an IP address parameter that dosn't reperesent a vlid IPv4 internet address in dotted format. Check the command line for typos.
53	taregfix2.exe	The operating system call socket() failed with an OS error. This can only occure when the switches -i and -p have been provided to contact a remote echo server. As with error code 13 above this may indicate a problem with your network installation on the local computer. Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
54	taregfix2.exe	The operating system call connect() failed with an OS error. This can only occure when the switches -i and -p have been provided to contact a remote echo server. This indicates a problem with the remote host represented by the IP address and TCP port you used for the two switches. Check the OS error part of the message for hints why the remote machine could not be connected. If you misstyped the IP address or TCP port at the command line and try to connect the void (in other words there was no remote server listining at that IP address and on that TCP port number) you will get an according message after a little timeout elapsed and the client TCP interface finally gave up on trying to connect this 'ghost' server.
55	taregfix2.exe	The operating system call send() failed with an OS error. This can only occure when the switches -i and -p have been provided to contact a remote echo server. This error means that a connection was made and even some data could be sent already but then the connection between the two endpoints suddenly failed. Possible reasons for this error are: The remote echo server is operating with a restriction for the client IP address and the IP address of the computer executing taregfix2 differs from the allowed address. In this scenario the echo server accepted the connection first in order to retrieve the address of the client and closed the connection immediatly after recognising that client has no connect right. The earliest point in time when the client becomes aware of a disconnect on the server end is with the first send() call. The remote server is no EchoStream server at all but a completely different program that is listening on that IP address and TCP port number for a diferent purpose. This sever program will disconnect its end point once it recognised the data taregfix2 sent so far makes no sense for it at all. The remote echo server was stopped by the user at the other end. Either the program was terminated by accident or on purpose while the taregfix2 client was still sending output data. The network route between the client executing taregfix2 and the remote echo server is broken. This includes failing routers and tansportation problems via the network route at hardware level as well as a possible disconnect from your ISP.
101	both	The operating system call GetModuleFile() failed with an OS error. The program wasn't able to retrieve the path from where the program was launched. Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
102	both	The program was called by using the wrong syntax. The order of the prameter dosn't matter but certain combinations are not allowed.
103	taregfix2.exe	An attempt to open the echo server configuration file taregfix2.cfg lead to an error other than the file not existing. Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
104	taregfix2.exe	A read operation on the successfully opened configiration file taregfix2.cfg failed with an error other than end of file. Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
105	taregfix2.exe	Unexpected end of file for the successfully opened configiration file taregfix2.cfg occured. The file doesn't conatin all necessary entries.
201	taregfix2.exe	An Operating System error occured when trying to retrieve the fixed drive list. Check the OS error part of the error message for possible reasons.
202	taregfix2.exe	The fixed drive list was too long to fit in the buffer taregfix2 provides. This should not occure since the buffer is big enough to take up to 27 drive letters.
203	taregfix2.exe	An Operating System error occured when taregfix2 requested access to a directory first time. Check the OS error part of the error message for possible reasons. deprecated from version 1.0.4.0 onwards
204	taregfix2.exe	An Operating System error occured when taregfix2 requested access to a single entry of a directory. Check the OS error part of the error message for possible reasons. deprecated from version 1.0.4.0 onwards
205	taregfix2.exe	No directory containing a totla.exe file could be found when searching the fixed drives. This error can only occure when <absolute TA path> is omitted. Maybe the -a switch has to be used to make taregfix2 recognise additional directories.
301	taregfix2.exe	An Operating System error occured when taregfix2 tried to open a totala.exe file for MD5 fingerprint verification. Using the <absolute TA path> call syntax with a directory containing no totala.exe file will cause this error too. Check the OS error part of the error message for more details.
401	taregfix2.exe	The program can only maintain up to 99 directories containing a totala.exe file. This boundary has been crossed.
402	taregfix2.exe	The program switched to interactive mode because the user had to make choice between different possible TA directories and the user picked the abort option.
501	taregfix2.exe	CreateFile() failed when probing existance of <absolute TA path>\<binary> Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
502	taregfix2.exe	CreateFile() failed when probing existance of <absolute TA path>\<front end> Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
503	taregfix2.exe	An operating system error occured in check mode (switch -c set) when the program tried to access the registry key object itself (not one of it's value strings). Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
504	taregfix2.exe	An operating system error occured when trying to access one of the registry values Guid File CommandLine Path CurrentDirectory Launcher and the program was in check mode. This does not cover non existant entries, those would report exit code 505 (see below). Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
505	taregfix2.exe	A logical error occured when checking the entries with the -c flag. That means at least one of the entries does not exist, is not of type type string, contains an unexpected value or, in case of the value 'Launcher' exists although it shouldn't be there.
506	taregfix2.exe	An operating system error occured in update mode when the program tried to create (if it did not exist before) or access the registry key object itself (not one of it's value strings). Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
507	taregfix2.exe	An operating system error occured in update mode when trying to create or update one of the registry values Guid File CommandLine Path CurrentDirectory Launcher Check the OS error part of the message for more details.
508	taregfix2.exe	An operating system error occured in update mode when trying to delete an existing value entry for Launcher The program attempts to remove an existing value entry for 'Launcher' if no -f switch was given and such an entry already exists. Check the OS error part of the message for more details.

Registry patcher version overview

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectPlay\Applications\Total Annihilation

Build Date	File Version	MD5 fingerprint	Changes / Bug Fixes
2010/12/28	1,0,4,1	8a1b893b8aaaa5035ca9268291c1ac2d	Fixed a bug in installer instance code that caused the program to crash when running under Windows Vista or Windows 7. Binary now linked against static libraries to avoid problems with missing Microsoft DLLs. Added Project files for Microsoft Visual C++ 2010.
2009/10/11	1,0,4,0	8ac20374165ba7f171710cc0a2f4a7c7	TA installation search process is now more error tolerant: the program will no longer abort execution when a dirctory entry can't be accessed. Instead such an entry is skipped and processing continues with the next one. At the end of the search process the names of the skipped entries and the reasons why they have been skipped (i.e. the operating system error encounterd when trying to access the entry's data) are displayed. Source code adapted so it can be compiled using Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition.
2003/05/11	1,0,3,1	1ebe33db59c03cb8d7fa3d3d9f5122d7	Call parameter processing is skipped for the installer front end manifestation now. Fixed severe bug in EchoStream interface that could cause the program to hang in cdiag output. Althought the bug could theoretically affect any application using the cdiag stream template it seems that certain timing conditions had to be fulfilled as well to trigger it. Exit codes changed due to revision of shared sources for the Installer and EchoManager classes.
2003/05/04	1,0,3,0	731b80e3ac486ee2f1c19295bd14ca89	The registry entries File, CommandLine and Launcher can now be customized too by using the new switches -b, -l and -f Missing registry values are treated as 'logical' errors now and won't lead to an exception throw until all entries are checked.
2002/06/01	1,0,2,1	e67612122934de6a6bff60c7c47f4f04	When running under WindowsME taregfix2_setup.exe reported 'file does not exist' after copying the program into the windows operating system folder when no previous version was found. It turned out that WindowsME dosn't reset the GetLastError() state state before calling ReadFile() while Windows2000 does. This lead to a wrong interpretation of the current error state after leaving the copy loop. Fixed by using the API call result values of ReadFile() and WriteFile() rather than relying on GetLasterror().
2002/06/01	1,0,2,0	e5a04e3a4ec787f65c583251cc61c6b0	Split program into installer and run time manifestation. Actually it's the same binary file but different program names will make it act different. -i and -p switches for echo server can be replaced by entries in the file taregfix2.cfg. The IP address has to be placed in dotted format in the first line of the text file, the TCP/IP port number in the second line of the file. The switches -i and -p must not appear in this file.
2002/05/31	1,0,1,0	d2fb3b463e4faedc8fb960227fd6eba5	Added echo output interface over TCP/IP. Running instance is copying its own binary file into the windows system folder now if no binary of taregfix2 can be found there. If such a file exists and if it's regonised as an older version of taregfix2 it will become woverwritten by the running version.
2002/01/20	1,0,0,3	ee95372c0e977e9a8dc96e586b9f8d8d	Replaced for( ... ) loops in md5.c by memcpy() and memset() as recommended (though calculation speed of md5 fingerprints wasn't a performance issue even with the loops). Removed superfluous totala.exe string from registry command line entry. The command line contains only the -c switch to supress the intro movie when TA is launched by Zone now. Using more accureate term 3.1c in patch identfy string rather than the fuzzy 3.1 label which is likely to get mixed up with Boneyards patch versions. Removed last wait counter output from screen before exiting the program.
2002/01/09	1,0,0,2	eb3bd6cea4b53ce23c9ba9e9e19e9d4a	For Windows 2000: Excluding directory System Volume Information owned by user system from directory search in order to avoid program abortion due to access denied error.
2001/12/11	1,0,0,1	e1e06b23bec89b62b5f380b40c7f91c7	File Version info added by providing a resource file Rebuilt binary by using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 SP5. Since 6.0 SP5 makes the C++ style stream implementation finally work as supposed to I got rid of the C style stream read access.
2001/12/10	n/a	9136ee0b8b2809772d2f46e6df5f1990	Initial build

TA Consistency Checker

TAConsistencyChecker is a Windows GUI application that comes without an installer. To run the program you need to download the zip archive containing the executable program and the subfolder with the reference set definitions. The zip archive is a self extracting one so after having it downloaded just click on the file to start the unpack process. I recomend to unpack the files into a dedicated subfolder (the zip archive self extractor sugggests C:\tatools\TAConsistencyChecker).
Keep in mind that the MODLOCATOR.DLL must reside in the same folder as the TAConsistencyChecker.exe in order to be able to run the program, except you decide to extract the files straight into the Windows system folder. Also, TAConsistencChecker always assumes that the reference set files are to be found in a subfolder named modinfo.So if you decide to move the files then move the subfolder to the new location as well.

The list with the version/MD5 information is located at the end of this section so you can check if you actually got the original version or a modifed one. If you have no md5 checksum test program yet you can download md5.exe. The MD5 sources are also available.

The TAConsistencyChecker source code and the MODLOCATOR source code is available for download as well. Just in case you enjoy to follow another programers's mind twisting think patterns. Or maybe you are paranoid and want to compile this stuff yourself.

TA Consistency Checker processing order

1. Load the reference set definitions from the modinfo sub folder.

   Every time you click on the 'Run Check' button the sets are re-loaded from the disk which allows to change/add sets between check runs without re-starting the application.

2. Search for potential TA folders.

   A folder is considered a potential TA folder if a file named totala.exe can be found in it. The backup folders created by the installers of the TA expansions and folders with the system attribute set are excluded from the search process.

3. Check the potential TA folders found against the set definitions.

   The folders are processed in the order they have been found. The processing order of the sets is determined by their size: a set with more file fingerprints is considered to be more precise than one sporting less entries, thus it's checked against a folder before all sets with less entries.
   In normal processing mode a check of a potential TA folder stops as soon as the first set in the processing order fits the files in the folder completely. See the options explanation below to learn how to change this behavior. The check of a folder ends in any case once all available sets have been exhausted.
   Once a check for a particular potential TA folder is finished an entry with the folder name will appear in the 'Installations found' list box. Selecting such an entry will update the 'Description' and 'Report' windows below, showing the detailed check results for this folder. You can select entries immediatly after they appear, the program will continue to check the remaining folders in the background.
   If you enable the option to continue checking against the remaining sets even after a folder fit the first set in the processing order then multiple entries of the same folder may appear in the 'Installations found' list box, one for each alternative set that fit the folder as well. The report for these entries is shared between them meaning that they will all show the same report that gets constantly updated with each alternative set that fit the folder too.
   

TA Consistency Checker interactive options

• If an installation fit a set then check it against the remaining sets as well

  This may help if the check result comes up with an unexpected version. Sets may be defined ambiguous in way that one set is a super set of another. The program tries to avoid this kind of ambiguity by processing the larger sets before the smaller ones though.
  So a real ambiguity issue should only exist for the rare case that two set definitions with the same number of files but different file names fit both the contents of a single TA folder.
  If you enable the option described below this option becomes mandatory and gets autmatically enabled.

• File missing in set passes check

  This may help if a folder couldn't be identfied at all. In normal check mode any file of a set that can't be found in a potential TA folder is a reason to consider the check against this set having failed. With this option enabled a file that is actually part of a set but was not found in a TA folder is considered existing with a MD5 checksum fitting the set defintion. The effect of this option is that each set defintion gets reduced to the files actually exsiting in the folder currently being checked. Since enabling this option increases the probabilty for ambiguities between set definitions considerable the option described above gets enabled with it mandatory.

TA Consistency Checker call syntax

taconsistencychecker

Since the program is supposed to run interactively it doesn't sport any command line parameters right now.

TA Consistency Checker exit codes

TA Consistency Checker version overview

TA DirectPlay7 port scanner

Important hint regarding UPnP In case your cable/DSL modem offers a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) port mapping option which you decided to switch on you shouldn't need to fiddle around with manual port forwarding and thus there is really no point in checking the ports a TA game instance uses on the computer it runs on. Let alone the fact that the ports gettalistenports returns in such a scenario are not the ports the TA instance will be visible under for other TA instances running on the Internet: The UPnP entity will map those computer local TA listen ports to some arbitrary choosen ports it'll then listen on on behalf of the TA instance. So the the only way to figure out the listen ports that are actually of relevance for other Internet TA instances when the local TA instance runs in a UPnP enabled environment is to retrieve the information from the UPnP entity. Every UPnP entity should have a status overview screen in its configuration menu showing the current UPnP port mappings. Be aware though that the ports a UPnP entity chooses for the listening process on the Internet side of its network interface may fluctuate from game to game. There is no gurantee that the same port mappings used during TA game number n and game number n+1 are the same. Also don't assume that UPnP entities of another brand or even of the same brand but with a different firmware/software version will use the same mapping schema you have observed in your particular environment.

gettalistenports is an windows console application. Download the program's installer front end gettalistenports_setup.exe and run it either from within a Windows command console window or from the Windows desktop Start->Run menu or by double clicking on it in the Windows Explorer.
The installer will create a copy of the program in the windows operating system root folder using its runtime name gettalistenports.exe. If such a file already exists gettalistenports_setup.exe will overwrite that file only if the existing version can be identified as an earlier version of gettalistenports.exe. If that MD5 check against the earlier versions fails gettalistenports_setup.exe assumes that the file in the windows system folder is either no original gettalistenports.exe program at all or it assumes it's an original gettalistenports.exe file but at the same or higher version as included in gettalistenports_setup.exe and won't overwrite it.
After gettalistenports_setup.exe ran once on the computer you can call the run time program manifestation gettalistenports.exe either directly from the Windows desktop menu by using Start->Run or from any open Windows command console window.

The list with the version/MD5 information is located at the end of this section so you can check if you actually got the original version or a modifed one. If you have no md5 checksum test program yet you can download md5.exe. The MD5 sources are also available.

The gettalistenports's source code is available for download as well to allow paranoids like me to compile their own version of the program after checking it for hacks and backdoors. The source and project files are suited for use with Microsoft's Visual C++ 6.0 or higher.

TA DirectPlay7 port scanner call syntax

gettalistenports

In the current version the program doesn't require any parameters or switches. You should make sure that TA is running in host mode already before you launch gettalistenports though. Host mode means you are at the battle room screen waiting for someone to join. It's not necessary to get someone into the game at this point, just being as host in he battleroom will do the job.

TA DirectPlay7 port scanner exit codes

TA DirectPlay7 port scanner version overview

TA Reporter DLL resolve IP to hostname fix

You can use represfix.exe to overcome this problem or just to verify if it exists at all. represfix is a windows console application. Just download it and start it either from within a Windows command console window or from Start->Run menu or by double clicking on it in the Windows Explorer (you can't provide command line switches then though).

As usual, I provided a list with the version/MD5 information at the end of this section in order to allow you to check if you actually got the original version or a modifed one. If you have no md5 checksum test program yet you can download md5.exe. The MD5 sources are also available.

I made represfix's source code available for download so paranoids like me can compile their own version of the program after checking it for hacks and backdoors. The source and project files are suited for use with Microsoft's Visual C++ 6.0 or higher.

TA Reporter DLL resolve fix call syntax

represfix [-c] [-n]

The -c switch causes represfix just to check if it's possible to resolve IP 127.0.0.1 to hostname. If the resolution fails no action to fix the problem will be taken.

Setting the -n switch avoids the 10 second delay before exiting the program. The dealy is active by default in order to give the user enough time to read error or success messages.

If the switch -c is omitted represfix will try to solve the problem by placing an entry for IP 127.0.0.1 in the hosts file on the local computer. The location of the hosts file depends on the operating system. For the NT based family (NT, Windows2000, XP) it's %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and for the legacy branch (Windows95, Windows98, windowsME) it's %winbootdir%\hosts. represfix will figure out the operating system version automatically and build an according file path. If the hosts file dosn't exist yet represfix will create it and add the required entry. If it already exists the required entry will just be added at the end of the file. After putting the entry into the hosts file a second resolve request will be issued in order to check whether the problem has been fixed or not.

TA Reporter DLL resolve fix exit codes

TA Reporter DLL resolve fix version overview

EchoStream server

You can verify the origin of this program by calculating it's MD5 fingerprint with a MD5 calculator. Any checksum not appearing on the list with valid MD5 fingerprints means the file has not been compiled by me but someone else and may contain changes that are not documented here. If you think that this MD5 program may already contain backdoor hacks itself then get the MD5 sources and compile it yourself.

Since programs providing network connections between two computers always have the potential to be abused for unwanted remote access and manipulation it's even more important than for any other type of program to provide the EchoStream server source code. Compile your own version of the program after checking it for hacks and backdoors if you don't trust the compiled versions. The source and project files are suited for use with Microsoft's Visual C++ 6.0 or higher.

EchoStream server call syntax

EchoServer -p <port number> [-a <peer IP allowed>]

-p is the TCP listen port number the echo server will listen on for conenction requests of remote output stream sources. Basically you can pick any <port number> that is not already bound by another apllication running on the echo server computer. If you pick an already bound port you will get an according error message when EchoServer fails to bind that port.

-a is an optional parameter that allows to restrict the access to the echo server to a single peer IP. When set EchoServer checks the IP address of the remote computer the first time it connects. If the peer IP differs from <peer IP allowed> then the server closes its end of the connection immediatly without reading any data from the connection.

Keep in mind that you have to forward connection requests on <port number> to the computer of the inner network you run EchoServer on if you are behind a router. You have to open any firewall between the echo server computer and the remote client for <port number> as well otherwise no connection will be possible.

You can terminate EchoServer by closing the console window or hitting the CTRL-C key kombination.

EchoStream server exit codes

EchoStream server version overview