For education purposes only · no game files included · bring your own THUG2
Guide 12

Online play

GameSpy switched off in 2014 and took THUG2's online mode with it. The menus never left: the logo, the lobbies, the homie list, the pager. The port plugs them into a small service of its own, online2.epicmaxim.net, and the retail screens work as they did in 2004, down to "You have lost connection to GameSpy".

GoalMultiplayer › Online Play does what it says: make a profile, chat in a lobby, add homies, page them, host a game, join one, and land on the Online Stats boards, with THUG2's own menus and no port forwarding.

1Going online

From the main menu wheel: Multiplayer › Online Play, pick a skater, then Ready on the THUG 2 Online screen. The game fetches the message of the day, asks to make a profile (an email and a password, created the first time you log in, like GameSpy did), and lands on Internet Options.

Menus · what each screen asks the service
  1. INReadyTHUG 2 Online screen
  2. 01MOTDGET /v1/hellomessage
  3. 02ProfilePOST /v1/session/loginyou
  4. 03StatsGET /v1/stats/merating
  5. 04Lobby/v1/lobbies, /v1/lobby/joinchat
The message of the day box: Welcome to THUG2 Online!, with the ESRB online play notice.
The message of the day, from the service's motd.txt (this one from a local test server).
The Login/Profile panel: email address, password, confirm password, Login/Create.
Login/Create: a new email makes a new profile.

Without a profile you can still play as a guest, but homies, the pager and the stats need one.

2The lobby

Play Online lists the regions (North America, Europe, Asia / Oceania, South America, and Beginners for ratings up to 1200). Inside one, the Actions menu has it all:

The lobby's Actions menu with two users, the GameSpy logo and a pager icon next to it. 1Powered by GameSpy. Still. Nobody had the heart 2The pager: a homie sent you a message 3Everyone chatting in this lobby 4View Messages: THUG2's pager, new since THUG1 5Games hosted in this lobby
The lobby, two players in, one message waiting.
  1. The GameSpy logo is part of the retail screen and stays.
  2. The pager icon pops up when a homie messages you.
  3. Users: pick one in User List to add them as a homie.
  4. View Messages opens the pager: read, reply, next.
  5. Games: Refresh, then Join Game or Observe Game.

3Homies and the pager

Homie List shows your homies, where they are and what they do ("Chatting : North America"). Pick one to send a message: it goes to them if they're online now, and they can reply even if you aren't on their list yet. Messages aren't kept for later: an offline homie doesn't get it, as with GameSpy.

The Motorola pager: Message from ProSkater, yo wanna skate berlin, with Reply and Exit.
THUG2's Motorola pager, with a message from another player.

4Host, join, play

Host Game takes you through Host Options (name, level, players, skill, rank restriction, password) and straight into the level; the game shows up in the lobby's list. Join Game connects to it. Neither side needs to open ports: before the join, the service tells each side where the other one is, and both send a few UDP packets to each other, which opens the way through most home routers.

A join · how two players find each other
  1. INHostposts the game
  2. 01RegisterUDP nat2.epicmaxim.net:27902both
  3. 02JoinPOST /v1/nat/connectyou
  4. 03Punchhost and player ping each otherUDP
  5. 04Skatethe game's own netcode, as on a LANgo
The lobby with one game listed: Beenox.
A hosted game in the list (the default name is Beenox, THUG2 PC's porting studio).
Boston, two skaters' names in the corner.
Boston, host and player in the same game.

5Ranked games and Online Stats

A game counts when it's on one of THUG2's 15 levels (Training, Boston, Barcelona, Berlin, Australia, New Orleans, Skatopia, Pro Skater, The Triangle, School, Philly, Downhill Jam, Los Angeles, Canada, Airport), with no cheats. Each player with a profile confirms they're in it; the host reports the final scores. Online Stats then has the best scores and combos, all time and this month, the top players, and your own bests.

RatingUp to
Games played with 2+ players, 10 each500
Best score on each level, relative to that level's best15 × 100
Best combo on each level, the same way15 × 100
Total, shown as rank 0–103500
Online Stats, Best Scores: Boston, two players, 2,300 and 1,994.
Best Scores after one Trick Attack in Boston.
Online Stats, Personal Stats: ProSkater, Boston 2,300.
Personal Stats, loaded at login (as in retail: log in again to refresh them).

6Another server

The game connects to https://online2.epicmaxim.net. A test server goes in config.ini (Game/config.ini for a dev build, ~/Library/Application Support/THUG2/config.ini for the app):

excerptconfig.ini

The built-in address is the CMake option THUG2_ONLINE_URL; -DTHUG_ONLINE=OFF builds the game without online play. The service is its own repository, thug2online (Go, PostgreSQL, one binary behind nginx), a sibling of the THUG1 port's: same protocol, its own profiles, its own levels.

diffCMakeLists.txt · ec938de

When it goes wrong

You seeWhat happened
"You have lost connection to GameSpy"The session ended: the service restarted, or the connection dropped for a while. OK, then Ready again.
The message of the day never comesNo answer from the server: the internet, or a wrong [Online] Server=. Cancel works.
"The host has quit"The host left; you're back in the lobby after OK.
A homie message goes nowhereThey're offline. Messages aren't stored.
Personal Stats look oldThey're read at login, as in retail. Change GameSpy Login and log in again.
Error: You have lost connection to GameSpy. Check your network cables and reconnect.
The retail text. The cables are fine; GameSpy is the one that's gone.

The whole story of how this came back, with the bugs: Chapter 7, Lost Connection to GameSpy.