DUN and Serial Port Settings for GPL

Here's a general description of the DUN and serial port settings found to work most effectively for GPL so far. These help optimize the number of players that can join a game hosted over a serial port. (Note cable modem users will need to look at other settings to optimise performance).

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1. Install Win98 or DUN 1.2.

If you have Win98, you don't need to install DUN 1.2 because it comes with Win98.

Note: I don't have Win98 so Win98 users will have to make the appropriate amendments they see fit:

2. Optimize your FIFO buffers.

Right click on your DUN connection and do the following:

• Properties
  • General tab
  • Configure button
    • Connection tab
    • Port Settings button
      • Use FIFO Buffers = checked
      • Transmit Buffer = one click from the left
      • Receive Buffer = one click from the left

Having small buffers means the data is sent and recieved in a timely manner. This helps prevent lost packets on the receive side, and uses more of the available bandwidth on the send side.

3. Turn off error control and use Hardware flow control.

After setting the above, return to the Connection tab and turn off error control. Be sure to use Hardware flow control, not Software.

• Properties
  • General tab
  • Configure button
    • Connection tab
    • Advanced button
      • Use error control = UNchecked
      • Use flow control = checked
        • Hardware radio button is pressed

Error control apparently adds an overhead to the cpu that slows things down when sending lots of time-critical packets, so we eliminate it. It's more efficient to let the hardware do the flow control.

4. Turn off software compression.

Right click on your DUN connection and do the following:

• Properties
  • Server Types tab
  • Enable Software Compression = UNchecked

I believe it's an advantage to not attempt the compression of packetsc of data for games. For Web surfing and Downloading, compression makes sense, but since GPL's packets are already highly compressed, there's no point in having Windows try to compress them further. Turning this off can save some CPU cycles.

5. Differing requirements for Web Surfing and Gaming

Since using smaller buffers and eliminating compression and error control is not necessarily optimal for Web surfing and downloading, it might be handy to set up two DUN connections, one for racing and one for normal Web stuff.

However, note that the modem FIFO buffer settings apply to all modems and all DUN connections on your machine.

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