SBRelay
Help

Problems connecting:  If you're having problems connecting Squawkbox or FS2004 to SBRelay, users have reported various ways of solving the problem:
  • Enter the IP address "127.0.0.1", instead of leaving the field blank.  This is a special IP that always points back to your machine.
  • Turn off your firewall.  Note: some firewalls have to be actually turned off -- sometimes setting them to "allow everything" isn't enough. Be sure to turn off both the Windows XP firewall (if you have XP) and any other firewalls you may be running.
  • Disable all network cards before connecting SB and FS2004 to SBRelay, then re-enable it afterward. This can sometimes solve a problem with SB disconnecting from SBRelay after 2 minutes.
  • Disable Universal Plug-n-Play (UPnP) in your router.
  • Disable the UPnP "SSDP Discovery Service" in Windows XP.  Details here.
  • If you have a router, set the "DMZ" to use your PC's internal IP address.  The internal IP is usually something like 192.168.x.x.  Open a DOS or Command Prompt window (from Start / Programs / Accessories) and type "ipconfig" to find the IP.  Or in Win95/98/ME, go to Start / Run, enter "winipcfg" and click OK.
  • If you have a router or firewall, try forwarding the following ports to your PC's internal IP address (see above for help locating your PC's internal IP, see your router or firewall's manual for help with forwarding ports):
    • TCP 47624
    • UDP 2300 to 2400
    • UDP 6073
  • Change FS2004's "Connect" port.  On the Multiplayer connect screen (where you type the IP address), click "Client Settings" and change the "Connect" port to any other number -- it doesn't really matter, but try things like 23457, 23458, 24000, 1000, etc.
  • Disconnect from the internet before connecting SB and FS2004 to SBRelay, then reconnect to the internet afterward.
  • Host a session in FS2004, then close the session and try to join the one in SBRelay again.

Error numbers reported by SBRelay:  If SBRelay is hanging or reporting long error numbers such as 0x80004000, it's most likely related to DirectPlay (part of DirectX) on your machine. Go to the Windows "Start" button, select "Run", type "dxdiag", and click OK.  Verify that you have at least DirectX version 9.  Then change to the Network tab and see if any errors are reported in the Notes section at the bottom.  Then click the "Test DirectPlay" button to see if things are working ok.  Select the TCP/IP service provider, select "Create New Session", and click OK.  It should start a session.  If that works ok, you can try pressing the "Test DirectPlay" button again, but this time join the session you created in the other window, or better yet, get someone else on the internet to do the same.  Many times DirectX errors can be solved by upgrading or reinstalling DirectX (some of the older versions would let you reinstall it -- as of 9.0C, this appears to no longer be possible).  You can download the latest version of DirectX for free at www.microsoft.com/directx/

SBRelay hangs:  Be sure both the Windows XP firewall (if you have XP) and any other firewalls you have installed are all disabled.  Also, try the dxdiag test program mentioned above (in the section "Error numbers reported by SBRelay"), to see if it's a problem specifically in SBRelay, or something in DirectPlay.

Error message:  "This beta version has expired."  Please download the latest version.

Error message: "Failed Enumerating the Hosts".  This error can happen when you haven't first started either the "SB Host.exe" program that comes with Squawkbox, or the "HostSB.dll" module that can be downloaded separately.  Be sure you're running one of those programs before you start Squawkbox.exe.  See the Readme.txt file for more details.

FS2002 support:  SBRelay only relays players from FS2002 to FS2004, so it can't be used as a full server for both versions.  However, I have another program called FSHost, which supports both FS2002 and FS2004 in the same session: www.chocolatesoftware.com/fshost/

Squawkbox crashing:  Some users have reported that the new Pentium 4 Hyper Threading causes Squawkbox to crash. Apparently disabling this in the BIOS setup solves the problem.  For help with getting to the BIOS setup screen in your computer, try here.

Try the online forums:  Sometimes the best place to ask for help is in the online forums, where other people might have a similar setup to yours.  Try posting to one of these:

 

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