Customizing Units

Download this file: https://sourceforge.net/p/zedonline/code/ci/default/tree/resources/unit_stats.txt

Description of the .zmap file format: [zmap_file_format]

Map Creation

Description of the ZED Online Lua API: [lua]

Online Multiplayer - Port Forwarding

In order to connect online the player who creates the game needs to enable port forwarding on their network router/NAT.

The game will use port 8000 TCP. If the game can not bind the server to port 8000 it will try the next port until 8009.

We recommend to forward all ports 8000-8009 TCP or at least ports 8000-8002.

Server-side Connection Test

When creating a game online the gateway will try to connect to you. You will see a message if the connection could be established.

If the gateway could connect to you this means that port-forwarding is set up correctly. If you get an error message, there is a high change that port-forwarding in not set up correctly and people can not connect to you.

In short: If you want to play with a friend, let the person who does not get an error message create the game and the other connect to him.

UPnP (Universal Plug&Play) Support

When starting the game the program makes a list of all network interfaces, takes the first one, tries to find the router and enable port forwarding on port 8000 to your machine.

This means if you are connected to only one network where the router has UPnP enabled and you can open port 8000 on your machine you don't need to setup port forwarding manually anymore.

If the game could open port 8000 sucessfully you will see the message "UPNP: Enabled" in the game lobby.

URL Scheme

ZED Online supports a custom URL scheme that is registered with Window after installation automatically. The protocol has the following form:

zed:ACTION/PARMETER1/PARMETER2/PARMETER3

ACTION can be one of the following strings

• "open"  opens a map file and starts it in "quick star mode" i.e. a match against purely bots.
•  "join"   connects to a game server. The game will then directly transition to the lobby.
• "edit"    open a map file in the map editor.

"open" Command

If ACTION is "open" then the first parameter will be interpreted as the short file name of a map. I.e. the filename without the path and without extension.

Example: zed:open/orig02  will start the second level in quickstart mode.

If the map file could not be found.The parameter will be interpreted as the CRC32 checksum of a map file given is hex form. Example: zed:open/ff042501

If a map file with the given CRC32 could not be found the game connects to the default gateway and tries to download a map with the given CRC32.

It that fails as well the parameter is interpreted as the full filename of a map file. Example zed:open/C:\path\to\map.zmap

The second parameter is optional. If not set the player will join the red team. To change that behavior set the second parameter to one of the following values:

"blue", "green", "yellow", "purple", "teal", pink", brown", "null". Example:  zed:open/orig03/blue   open the third single player map in quickstart mode and joins as the blue player.

"join" command

The first parameter must be string of the format "IPv4 port" of the game server to connect to. Example:  zed:join/127.0.0.1 8000

Note that ZED Online will utilize port 8000. If port 8000 can not be used the game will use ports 8001, 8002 and so on.

You may also use zed:join/127.0.0.1  the game will then try to connect using the default port (8000).

"edit" command

If ACTION is "edit" then the first parameter will be interpreted as the short file name of a map. I.e. the filename without the path and without extension.

Example: zed:edit/orig02  will open the second level in the map editor.

If the map file could not be found.The parameter will be interpreted as the CRC32 checksum of a map file given is hex form. Example: zed:edit/ff042501

It that fails as well the parameter is interpreted as the full filename of a map file. Example zed:edit/C:\path\to\map.zmap