Multiplayer Manual for OpenTTD

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1. Starting a Server

 - click "multiplayer" on the startup screen

 - click "start server"

 - type in a game name

 - click "start game" ,"load game" or "load scenario"

2. Connecting to a Server

 - click "multiplayer" on the startup screen

 - if you want to connect to any network game in your LAN click "find server"

 - if there were more then one server 

   - select one in the list below the buttons

   - click on "join game".

 - if you want to play over the internet you should have the ip of the game server you want connect to.

   - click direct connect

   - type in the ip address or hostname

   - if you want to add a port use :<port>

   - if you want to connect as an special player use #<player-no>

3. Connecting to a Server over the Console

 - open the console and type in the following command:

    ]connect <ip/host>:<port>#<player-no>

4. Playing Internet-Games

 - since OpenTTD 0.3.4 you can also play internet games over higher latency connections.

 - to do this the gameservers sync frequency should be highered to a decent value.

   - open the console [on the server]

   - type in the following command:

    ] *net_sync_freq = <4-80>

    default value: 4

   - this is lowering the sync frequency of the server and your game should be less laggy.

   - this is a server variable: it has nothing to do with the clients

 - you can also change when the clients ready packet is sent if you still have lags.

   - open the console

   - type in the following command:

    ] *net_ready_ahead = <1-8>

    default value: 1

   - in that way your client is sending its "i am ready for next sync" a bit earlier

     thats quite good for games where some players have higher latencies than the others.

   - this is a client variable: it has nothing to do with the server

 - to change the client timeout time

   - open the console [on the server]

   - type in the following command:

    ] *net_client_timeout = <30-x>

    default value: 300

   - warning: a too low value will disconnect your clients if they have a short lag