Gusanos, with Cortex sprites and weapons.
There, I solved your problem.

Or you could do it tetris stlye, eg sending AI units to the other guy and communnicating scores.

Ok, there's an idea (bad idea probably - but still) what if the only data, which are to be sent to the other computer, were controls (for example that the other player hold A for 2,25 seconds and clicked at [123,221]) and both computers would computed the psysics.
This of course means there mustn't be any random number used.

Could this do the trick or am I completely wrong?

The problem is that nearly everything in Cortex Command uses random numbers; the game would be extremely different otherwise.

This conjecture is all utterly pointless!
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10846
Why is this topic still open?!
Why wasn't the OP warned for making it?!

Right, but as Lord Tim proved with his IRC map, tetris stlye will work.

411570N3: Well, instead of random numbers some other technique could be used which would give different result each time - it's called pseudorandomness. Than it may be possible, doesn't it?

metal chao: I know, I know - but I suppose it has a reason - probably that it's technically too difficult (also know as "impossible"). If this reason can be proved wrong, and I believe it can be, multiplayer is possible.

Almost all computers use seed random number generators, only with a device driver level random generator(eg, mesuring the exact temp, clicks, ect) for cryptographic reasons.

The issue is time sync.

I'm sure that CC's rng is affectede by time.

Along with other things.

mail2345: I know that, what I meant is that Data can modify his random numbers, so two computers could work with the exact same numbers -> there wouldn't be no need to transfer so much informations. Both computer would do the exact same math just based on what both players do.
I'm just a humble PHP programmer though, I don't have any real experience in this field... I just speculate.

They're not random, as far as I know. They're deterministic, but calculated on a timescale so small that any discrepancy will multiply like rabbits made of coathangers.
Just think: one humble MOPixel travels two CC meters in 100ms (a pretty good ping for cross-country) and impacts a coalition head. The coalition had received several wounds before, and this kills him. HOWEVER, on another client, a player was fast enough on the crouch button that he dodged that MOPixel in the intervening 100ms. On the second client computer, you now have one more Coalition than on the first client. Said coalition raises his rifle and shoots a dummy in the face, killing it. You now have one more coalition and one less dummy on the second client than the first. No random numbers were involved.

EDIT:Because apparently this just doesn't sink in unless you say it 6.022E23 times...
Realtime Cortex Command Multiplayer IS NOT FEASIBLE AT THIS TIME and WILL NOT BE FEASIBLE for a LONG TIME TO COME.

^ post is a better explanation of what I meant by time sync.

Anyway, if you just do it in the stlye of send down AI units to the other guy, you do not have to worry about rng and time sync.

All you need is score sync.

And besides getting the win screen a few ms later, there are no issues.

Thanks... that's just something I didn't think of

But that idea of some alternative multiplayer modes isn't bad (i mean mail2345's).

Somehow this reminds me of my friend's attempt to use gameshark while playing on the Mario vs Luigi 2 player thing on New Super Mario bros. The other player did not see the effects of the cheats and the two games split off into alternate universes, since the game never bothered to check if the two games were doing the same thing. I think halfway through they kind of... Gave up and the opposite player (player 1 in player 2's game and player 2 in player 1's game) just stopped moving altogether.

It was awesome and confusing as hell.


Wait a second. There are random numbers in CC; the skirmish AI! Think about it, if two guys go on the same team, the troops that come down are randomly chosen from a group, and then the location is randomly chosen (unless there is Lua involved).

That's just 1. random spawn locations and 2. random selection from the lists. Lua, I'm afraid.

CC does have a random number table somewhere, but it's almost assuredly generated each time and quite different, or at least enough that it'd mess you up playing online.

Hey guys we've been having threads about online play for like ten years now. Stop making them please.

It doesn't seem uncommon to have the single player portion of the game then the multiplayer with it's own separate client and toned down effects for performance reasons (Bioshock2, Crysis Warhead/Crysis Wars, Dark Messiah, some with entirely separate dev studios).I looked at Gusanos/Liero and then I looked at Soldat. So Soldat with CC actors, weapons, and bunker building with the random numbers replaced with something that can be reliably sent between two computers. That means simplified digging and body physics probably, but I really think it would be worth it to design your own fort and go at your enemy over the internet with mod weapons (if possible, probably need some tweaking with randomness their too). Data said no multiplayer in CC so unless he considers making (and possibly selling >_>) the separately developed client as a new game it would have to be a community project. Or we could ask Data nicely to let us mod CC stuff into Soldat but I don't think that would give us the bunker building, which is what I really want

PUBLIC DISCLAIMER: This message is a discussion about POSSIBLE Multiplayer using a simplified CC engine without ANY expectations of content or changes being made to the main CC releases, and without ANY expectation it will be made separately. It's there. For discussion. No angry man on a soapbox flaming please.(I'm not saying names, as I have none right now)