The Communication window is shown whenever Netacquire starts or Reinitialize is selected from the Communication menu item. It indicates that a) there is no established communication and b) NetAcquire is ready to initiate communication (become a host or connect to a host).
To initiate communication and start a NetAcquire session, fields are completed and the Go button is pressed.
Nickname - Input area to enter the user/player name to be used. The initial default value is your computer's internal network name.
Connection Type - Option button for choosing whether to be a host or connect to a host. Changing this selection will enable/disable related items on the window.
Connect-To Host - Input area to specify the required communication information when connecting to a host. There are 3 fields in this area.
IP/URL is used to enter the identifier of the host to which you are connecting. It can be entered either as an IP address (a four part number, each part delimited by a period) OR as a URL (a text-base web address). The field is a drop-down text combo-box. Each host you connect to will be added to the drop-down list, with the most recent one used always being moved to the top. To the right of the field is a push-button to remove obsolete or invalid entries from the list.
Host Port is used to enter the host's port number. Normally, this value does not have to be changed from the default value of 1001. See Using Port Numbers below for more info.
Local Port is used to enter the port number to be used on your own computer. Normally, this value does not have to be changed from the default value of 0. A 0 value tells NetAcquire to randomly select an open port on your computer to use. See Using Port Numbers below for more info.
Hosting Port - Input field for specifying the network port number on your computer when becoming a host. Normally, this value does not have to be changed from the default value of 1001. See Using Port Numbers below for more info.
Go - Push button to be clicked when your communication options have been selected and you wish to initiate communications and start a session.
As a general rule, users should not have to override the default port numbers used by NetAcquire.
When hosting, connecting users will expect the host to be using the default Host Port of 1001. Using a different value will make it necessary to let users know of the non-default value that is being used.
When connecting to a host, using the default of 0 for Local Port will select a random port that is not in use already. Using a different value will work as long as the port is available for use. This proves to be problematic, especially when a user restarts NetAcquire (after it crashes or is closed uncleanly) and wants to reconnect right away using the same port number as before. The Operating System on the computer may not have finished releasing the port for use and the attempt to reconnect will result in a TCP error message. Also, when using a specific Local Port, NetAcquire has to ensure that the port is closed for reuse when a user reinitializes or closes NetAcquire. For this reason, NetAcquire needs to display a message to ensure the close is carried out.
Overriding the defaults may be necessary and is typically done to address use of firewalls and/or routers and home networks.