Lord_Chris

I am very sorry for my absence yesterday, I was unexpectedly taken seriously ill so was unable to start the game or get onto the site. Once again, I apologise. I will gladly do today if anyone else can. If anyone has any other questions, feel free to shoot me a PM.

That's why I like stronghold 2 so much, it's so easy to change almost anything - I think it's firefly's best game purely because it's so mod-friendly. What we know is only very basic technically as there is a lot of the files which I know I've never touched - stronghold 2 still has some great secrets. Think of what we have yet to learn! ** Edit ** Could you upload the crest as well, I'd love to add that in my game?

Wow, very impressive indeed, very good artwork once again :) - that would look very good in our Gallery - if you'd like to upload it there? Where would you like the other post moving to? Never mind.

Post removed. It's ok, just try to pay more attention to where you post - next time edit rather than post again :) If you tell me where you'd like the other one, I'll move it for you.

Everyone can see each player's crest, I've never actually tried playing multiplayer with a custom crest, but I guess it would just work for you - the other files get loaded from the other player's game, so you would have to modify it on their PC as well. As long as you follow our tutorial, depend when you join the game as to which crest you get.you should be fine as the game should not notice any difference between the two files - but, it does The later you join, the higher the number of your crest. The host always has the default crest.

How effective are our separate sites for each game? Would people rather just have the main site to display articles or do you prefer to have separate sections for each game?

There have been many recent reports and claims of Stronghold Legends multiplayer crashing halfway through a game. I have researched this issue, and can tell you that is has been going on for several years now. There is much evidence to prove this, such as this thread from fireflyworlds in 2010. Another thread can be found here with similar issues. These, along with this recent thread and first-hand experience have led me to conduct my own investigation as to whether the issue lies on our end or in fact, is an issue with connectivity, the game or connecting to the GameSpy server. It appears that the crashing issues can be caused by a variety of actions, triggered within the game itself as well as general connectivity issues, as confirmed by one of Firefly's administrators, Daz01 here. There is no way to detect if and when the game will crash and it appears completely normal until this point, however, I have several suggestions that may postpone or temporarily help with the crashing situation. Make sure you have the latest patch (version 1.2). If you do not already have this, you can download it from our download central Do not use the guard command. Using the guard command will immediately 'freeze crash' the game, meaning that everyone has to leave Do not message often, depending on the distance it could take a long time for the connection to send them message which will increase the chance of crashing. There are several other software that you can use to chat with instead, a good example being TeamSpeak Peace Time does not appear to make a difference, along with random events and most of the game configuration. Using special units' powers does not affect the game Pausing the game (via escape) does not have any effect You can recruit most types of units, they do not appear to affect this Your game itself may crash, in which case the game will freeze for all other players because it affects the information sent to the next player. I have come to the conclusion that the issue does not lie within the game, but rather connectivity between the server and the players' PC. What I believe is happening is that the connection is breaking off at a node (in the middle of the GameSpy server and at least one player's PC). Because of this, the next player in the chain is unable to receive the connection and the game freezes. It does not appear to make a difference which countries the players are from, the only difference this makes is that there appears to be more lag. If anybody has any other things they believe may cause crashing please post them below and I will check them out.

Very nice work indeed, I'm torn as to who will get my vote :)

@Charles of Tours: You need to add your username to your signature :) That is another great entry too.

Yes, I'm taking part. I'll probably just use the signature I created and currently have as I don't have time to try and create a better one this month, but next month I will. That would be very useful, I know I'd find that useful - I bet you can already tell by now I have absolutely no artistic skill :) I'm not sure whether you can post in this forum off hand, if you can't post elsewhere and I'll move and stick your tutorial here. I think the smaller one looks better than the bigger one as it's less distorted.

That would be an improvement for my artwork ;)

Rather than shutting down the servers on the 31st, I think they are shutting them down from the 31st. The good news being that we do not need to use a completely different software (I take it that you set games up differently, I've never tried?) currently.

If you feel that steam is better for you, then choose that option. My personal opinion shouldn't influence you there. The main thing I do with any game is modify it, that's why I don't like steam, it makes it less mod friendly. But if you don't intend to modify it or just want to modify it lightly it shouldn't be a issue. However, I can't vouch as only played the version not on steam. I would take it that you can install it on two PCs from steam, but again I can't vouch as I've never done it. I've only ever played one steam game (SH3). All I know is that you definitely can without.

You can buy the stronghold collection off steam. Once bought, you can download the game any time you like. Do note that this is all the games, not just SH2.

You should install the Game Ranger client, however, I have attempted a game earlier this morning and it appeared to work via GameSpy. So for tonight we'll play as normal and take it game by game as to whether we play by Game Ranger.

I personally suggest you get it from amazon. The deluxe version is better as it has more functionality, and I would try to make sure you get a copy not on steam if you intend to modify it as steam just over-complicates things. You can use the same copy of stronghold 2 on any computer - I have it installed on my windows 8, windows 7 and windows XP machines. You can connect via LAN or just with a password which stops other people from joining. All I do is load the game with the disc on one PC, then take it out and put it in another and load it from there.

Looks like someone knows his history! ;) Yes, I have to say I agree with that, I'll add that in the main signature of the month thread.

Hopefully :) Looking forward to getting a full game in now! I'm not sure as to whether you need to install the GameRanger client, I would guess so but I'll look into it more and post back here.

That's not a bad idea, but how would I decide what a 'better' map is? By the amount of downloads, the rating, views, etc? Articles can be ordered by views so that shouldn't be too hard.

Today it my pleasure and duty to inform you that after several months of work, the StrongholdNation Members Area is now open! Though I am currently working on editing articles, everything else is working so far. Enjoy adding your own articles for the site as well as gaining access to StrongholdNation's TeamSpeak 3 channel (thanks to Charles of Tours) If you have any further requests as to what content you would like in the members area please post them below and I will try to accommodate them.

Well, this is certainly some excellent news! It's too bad I've finally installed my mods again though :/ We can certainly play SHL for a bit while I create a few maps and scenarios though. Speaking of which... http://forums.stronghold-nation.com/topic/157-stronghold-legends-8th-9th-14th-june/

As a result of multiplayer now working again, we will be playing several SHL matches once more! This event will take place at 6 PM GMT all times. Please post if you intend to join as unlike stronghold 2, the stronghold legends matches have much less users per lobby. We must know how many lobbies to setup!

Last Month, the winner was EaglePrince for our "Firefly Studios" themed contest. EaglePrince has thought about, and decided upon the following theme: kingdoms and empires of medieval Europe and Middle East Your signature will have to contain some kind of symbol or icon depicting some kingdom or empire from middle east or medieval Europe. Flag, Coat of Arms, anything that represents this. An image such as a king, emperor.etc. And if you are considering joining in, it wouldn't hurt to drop in a note so I hurry along those "last minute" sort of people. The contest will run until the 20th of June, and after this date the voting will begin. But do remember... the longer you have your signature posted, the more likely people will notice it! Basic Rules: http://forums.stronghold-nation.com/topic/94-announcing-signature-of-the-month/ Good luck! **Voting** Lord_Chris EaglePrince Charles of Tours

Poll closed. As it is a draw, this month's winner is EaglePrince. Congratulations! Feel free to shoot me a PM with your theme for this month at any time :)

We have recently installed a new feature in our download central. All users who upload files have a 'files page' in which they can promote their files via several means and get subscribers. Subscribers in our download central are people who get notified about future files you upload. Users can individually choose whether to display a subscriber button on their page as well as display a slideshow gallery with screenshots of their maps to show other users when they are browsing through. To change your settings for this, once logged in click the "my files" heading in a site sidebar. You will then be redirected to your page, where if you click the "edit" button" you can change yours. Users who do not set any options will be given the default ones. These are that the subscribe button appears as well as the gallery but with several wallpapers such as space backgrounds and those from planet Earth. Users can have a total of 12 slides to show off their map making skills. We are currently looking for ways to increase the number of settings so if anyone has any ideas please share them below.