If you start FreeCol without command line options, the game will first open a dialog that allows you to start a new game, to open a saved game, to open the map editor, to set various Client optionsoptions, and to quit.
If you decide to start a new game, you will be presented with another
dialog, which enables you to start a single-player game, to retrieve a
list of servers from meta.freecol.org
,
to join a multi-player gamemulti-player game, or to start a new multi-player
game.
If you wish to join a multi-player game, you must enter the
IP addressIP address of a server that is running a FreeCol game as
well as the port it is running on. The default port is
. If you wish to start a multi-player game,
then the IP address of the server will be that of your computer, but
you must still select a port to run the server on. Again, the default
port is
. You must also decide whether you want to run a public
server or a private server. By default, you start a private game.
If you choose to retrieve a list of running games from the metaserver,
your computer will attempt to establish a connection to
meta.freecol.org
, port . You will be
presented with a list of games, from which you can select one to
connect to. Please note that the list will frequently be empty, since
not that many public multi-player games are being run.
FreeCol is a client-server game. The game server takes care of the game logic, and the client provides the graphical user interface. One or several clients can connect to the game server via the network. In the case of a single-player game, all other players are handled by the game server. At the moment, however, your client uses a network connection even if the server is running on the same computer.
This means that you can only run FreeCol if you have the necessary
privileges to bind an unprivileged port. If you use a
personal firewallpersonal firewall that blocks the port you wish to use, you
will need to configure your firewall accordingly. If you wish to
retrieve a list of games from the metaserver, you also need to
configure your firewall to permit connections to that server, port
. In order to connect to a server, your client also needs to
bind a port. Which port depends on the operating system you use.
If you are running a public game server, then your firewall must also permit the clients to connect to the port of the game server.
Game options