So - I heard somewhere that DirectPlay is now deprecated. Is that true, because that would explain the lack of any recent tutorials on the subject. If DirectPlay is deprecated is there any way to write networked games with C++ (not XNA), and would anyone have any tutorials on that? Also, even if DirectPlay is deprecated, does anyone know where I could find a good tutorial for it?
Thanks.

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Viri qui habent nullum, timent nullum.
Men who have nothing, fear nothing.

DirectPlay is deprecated. It will not receive any development or support, except for possible security updates.

To do networking in C++, you should either use plain WinSock, or use Windows Live! (which requires your players to have a Live! subscription), or use one of a zillion available third-party networking libraries. Some good ones are listed in the Forum FAQ for the Multiplayer and Networking forum at gamedev.net.

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Jon Watte, Direct3D MVP
kW X-port 3ds Max .X exporter
14 days after getting my RROD box back, it's going back for service again. Grr.

Allright, thanks. I'll check out the links and tutorials. What method would you recommend for someone who hasn't done any netowrking programming before (i.e. me)?

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Viri qui habent nullum, timent nullum.
Men who have nothing, fear nothing.

If your goals are educational, I'd suggest reading up on network programming fundimentals.  Then move on to game networking, since the comlications of underlying tech is nothing compared to the the scope of the problems of game networking.  Having that strong foundation will save you a lot of grief later when trying to find solutions to top-down game development issues.

If your goal is oriented around developing the game itself  -- particularly a game for which data security, throughput, and latency aren't big problems (for example, a turn based game), then a networking library might be a better solution.  They tend to solve the problems of maintaining individual client connections and further abstracting them into rational "players".  A word of warning though, many of these libraries will be documented in terms of fundimental network programming constructs, and understanding some of the fundimentals of distributed programming will help you with these as well.

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Rick Hoskinson
Microsoft XNA Developer Connection

"use Windows Live!"

I'd love to.  Where's the API for native win32 apps?  Or if it only exists in CLR, how can I use it from just plain old win32 app?  We're a big developer of games and currently have projects on 6 platforms, one of which is PC.  Networking is becoming a necessity for us.  I'm looking for a win32 solution (pc target is minimum XP SP2) similar to what DirectPlay offered a few years back.  I hope writing on top of WinSock is not our only non-outsourced solution.

I should mention that our code is C++ and will not have plans for hundereds of years to be anything else.  No C# (of course).  How does a native C++ win32 app tap Windows LIVE stuff?

Live for windows is not an API that is just availalbe. I think you have to register to get it. This talk from gamefest should help http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4207DCE7-3750-4171-87E8-79AD285763F5. Note that there is a cost associated with being on LIve for Windows. If thats not something you are interested in then you could look at Steam - I think they provide some similar functionality.

The Live API is all native APIs... the managed stuff in XNA just happens to be a layer over the top and happens to be visible at the moment.

As for DirectPlay a good response that Chuck from the DX team uses can be read in this newsgroup post.

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The ZBuffer - News and information for XNA and Managed DirectX

Thank you for the link.  Page 11 of the power point tells me that the SDK is gotten through our account manager.  We may or may not have one, I'll have to find out.

So I guess you have to have a title in the works in order to get the SDK?--which we do.  Wondering about indie devs though, they're stuck to the XNA path then?  No win32 solutions for them, unless they have a publisher?

Even XNA GS developers cannot publish a game using Live for Windows. Making a LfW game requires you go through a cert process which costs $$$. XNA Devs can play on L4W as long as they have XNA GS installed. There is not L4W runtime component.

So indie game developers are in much the same boat either way - to publish you need to go through the account manager. XNA GS devs have a slight advantage that they can at least dev against it.

However from what I remember getting the SDK is not as arduous as getting published on xbox for example. I dont knwow how far a title needs to be to get access to it. L4W is more open than XBL.

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The ZBuffer - News and information for XNA and Managed DirectX