GTA2 Multiplayer FAQ

There are 3 methods to play GTA2 Multiplayer. 1. VPN method 2. Port forward method 3. LAN method (only locally) We recommend to play it by VPN method. For more info check its FAQ category for each method.

No. It is not possible to combine the two methods. You must remember that when using the VPN method, all the players you play with must check *Force Blank IP for VPN* in Game Hunter options. When using port forward method all the players you play with must uncheck it.

Yes, we recommend it. You should Install it in a different location than the original version. The best location will be My documents to avoid permission issues. Then in Game Hunter -> Options set the location to the 11.44 version (If it wouldn't set itself after the installation). Example location: C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\GTA2

You can get it here.

There are no servers. You need to find opponents. The best choice will be logging into GTA2 Game Hunter, Create game and ask anyone from there. If it's empty you can join discord and ask anyone. On GTA2 Discord Server, choose your continent from Channels & Roles section, then mention this continent in #who-wanna-play-gta channel to find anyone and to minimalize the lag. For more check FAQ channel in HOW-TO-PLAY category on discord.

Copy the link with a map to your web browser and download it. Then unpack it and copy the extracted files into GTA2/data/. The best option will be joining GTA2 Discord and checking the #download channel. There are all the updated links, maps, map packs. You can also browse maps here: https://gtamp.com/mapscript/maplump/

It depends from the map. While creating a game in Game Hunter you can choose: - Frag Game – players fight each other to get as many frags as possible, the first person to reach the set limit of frags wins. - Points Game – the player or team which scores the most points ($) wins; - Tag Game – one person is a fugitive (he also has no weapons and cannot collect them) and the other players chase him. If a given player destroys the escapee, then he is deprived of his weapon and runs away. The player who is running away has a certain difficulty: the car he is driving in is destroyed faster. The player with the longest escape time wins.

-Frag Game - Boid Arena, CoolBaseTrain, CoolBaseWater, EptownYearsAgo, EpZooka, IslandTown,MultiSlayer Cage, Pure Zooka Arena,RA2 - Zooka Game ,Tinył Town Arena, Unreal: Phobos Frags, LilElection - Points Game - [Rest vs. 1] Capture the Van [Co-op maps] Zombie Survival v1.1.2 , Army Base [Team maps] Unreal: Mazon Assault, Unreal: Coret Capture, Jailbreak: Army Base [Race maps] RA2 - Extreme race, MultiSlayer Race (If you are not sure how many points to set and the time limit refer to the website you downloaded the map from, read readme.txt of the map or ask on GTA2 Discord) - Tag Game - RA2 - Zooka no fence, NoParking, Wario Town, EpTown

GTA2 only supports a maximum of 6 players per game and most people play with less players due to crashes and lag.

Press F10 to chat. Note that you cannot change weapons with Z/X while the chat bar is active.

gta2.exe -n , this goes straight to the gta2 network screen, -r attempts to play test\replay.rep, -r red.rep (plays test\red.rep), -q constant replay save. v11.3 and newer supports -j for joining and -c for creating.

The manual is referring to menus within the game that aren't actually present. Use GTA2 Manager or GTA2 Game Hunter to setup a multiplayer game.

IMPORTANT: Unlike the VPN method - using this method you must UNCHECK "Force blank IP for VPN" in GTA2 Game Hunter Options. Otherwise you won't join a game. This is because at least one of the computers trying to play (it could be your PC, the host's or both) does not have the required network ports open. If other players can join the host's games, then it's your PC that doesn't have the correct ports open.

Your router should have an admin page. This is where you can forward the ports. Every router is different, so you must find the make and model of your one. It's usually written on a label, stuck to the bottom of the router.

Find your router on this portforward.com page and follow its instructions. Do not download their software (click skip in top right corner if it appears). If your exact router isn't there, choose a similar one and try to figure it out from there.

You need to forward some ports from your PC to your router. This is really technical and could take a while but it's good to learn since it can help you with many games.

Changing router settings can disconnect everyone on your local network, so make sure you have permission from all users.

For hosting and joining, you need to forward these ports to the internal IP address of the PC running GTA2:

Port 47624 UDP and TCP
Port range 2300-2400 UDP and TCP

Example router rules 1:
47624 -> 47624 Both
2300-2400 -> 2300-2400 Both

Example router rules 2:
47624 -> 47624 TCP
47624 -> 47624 UDP
2300-2400 -> 2300-2400 TCP
2300-2400 -> 2300-2400 UDP

GTA2 uses ports in the 2300-2400 range. If your router doesn't support forwarding port ranges then forget port forwarding and use a software VPN.

You can try asking your ISP to disable CGNAT. If they won't disable CGNAT then you'll need to use radmin-vpn.

If everyone has all ports open then this can be caused by Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). This is a technology that tries to automatically forward ports but it's very common for it to fail and cause problems. If you run GTA2 Game Hunter as admin then it should disable UPnP on your local PC automatically. If that doesn't work, you can disable it on your router, there's usually a checkbox next to UPnP. There's also UPnP in Windows with this simple program but GTA2 Game Hunter running as admin already does the same thing as this program, just silently.

IMPORTANT: Unlike the Port forward method - using this method you must CHECK "Force blank IP for VPN" in GTA2 Game Hunter Options. Otherwise you won't join a game. - Radmin VPN guide - Radmin VPN video tutorial

All the players open Radmin VPN and go to System > Firewall Exceptions -> Allow All Apps. If it still fails, you may need to manually disable your antivirus/firewall (ESET, McAfee, Windows Defender etc.)

If you are using an older GH version (1.5992 or older) all the players download UPnP.exe, right click on it, open it as admin and select "Disable UPnP". For GH 1.5993+, ensure you are running GH as Administrator (Then GH should disable UPnP on your local PC automatically).

Try toggling Radmin VPN OFF and then ON again. Try it a few times. Each time check if it helped.

You can use the VPN method for LAN (it will solve some problems): 1. Follow the instructions in this guide. If you don't use Radmin VPN - you can play only by the local network: 1. Uncheck Force blank IP for VPN in Game Hunter Options 2. Click Create Game in GTA2 Game Hunter 3. On the other PC click once at this game at the top. The other way to join: 1. Open Game Hunter 2. Go to GTA2 Manager -> Network. 3. In Protocol connection type the IP address of the PC which is creating game. To check the IP address in Game Hunter click Help -> Port forward help. You will see this line: Forward 47624 TCP and 2300-2400 TCP/UDP to HERE_IS_THE_IP 4. Click Start network game and Join. If it doesn't work try to disable UPnP in your router or by the program linked here (Right click on unpnp.exe, open it as admin and click Disable UPnP). Also disable Windows firewalls and make sure your PCs have the same workgroup names.

It means there are different debug options selected in GTA2 Manager debug tab. Make sure to tick the same as your opponents (cheat settings are ignored, so they don't have to be the same). Debug flags should sync when you click the game at the top. If you still see the problem tell all the players you want to play with to restart Game Hunter.

Potential quick solution: All the players set "Display Mode : Window" in the Video tab in GTA2 Manager. It's normal for GTA2 to display a black screen while it is loading and waiting for all players to load but if it takes longer than 30 seconds and then GTA2 quits or it says that some players disconnected then something is wrong. In Port forward method, this usually means one of the players has some of the ports open but not all of them. It can also happen if a player gets bored of waiting and quits while GTA2 is loading or they have a random connection issue. There are other reasons. Make sure everyone has all the right ports open and/or uses the same method to play, then try again.

Open GTA2 Game Hunter -> Manager -> Video. Set "Display Mode: Window". If that doesn’t work try running GTA2 Manager in Windows 98 compatibility mode (right click gta2manager.exe and go to compatibility tab). You could also try fullscreen instead of window mode. Sometimes a reboot will fix it. Also you can try to set a different resolution in Video Tab of GTA2 Manager

Run GTA2 Manager, click on the debug tab and untick “Play Replay”. You also need to make sure your GTA2 folder is writable. It is best not to install in Program Files since Windows often protects that folder. The best location could be My documents.

Install GTA2 v11.44 or set your desktop colour depth to 16bit.

Right-click gta2manager.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Run in Windows 98 compatibility and As Admin. Do the same for GTA2 Game Hunter.

Download dgVoodoo2. Copy the .DLL and other files into your GTA2 folder (where gta2.exe is located). This should force resolutions to appear.

Open regedit (Start -> Run ->Type regedit and press Enter) and navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\DMA Design Ltd\GTA2\screen

Modify window_height and window_width (set base to Decimal). Recommended 4:3 ratios: 800x600, 1024x768, or 1280x960.

You can either run the game fullscreen or go to your Windows display settings and make sure the font scaling is set at 100%.

Potential quick solution: Uninstall GTA2 widescreen fix or install GTA2 without it. You can't stop it completely but you can reduce the chance of it happening. Never push alt tab or alt enter during the game. Use the same GTA2 version as your opponent and make sure you both have identical files. The more players in a game, the more chance of at least one player going out of sync. Some sync problems are caused by excessive network packet loss, the further away your opponent, the more chance of packet loss and the slower the game will be.

Some custom scripts will go out of sync. Check the GTA2 scripting page for scripting advice.

Potential quick solution: Uninstall GTA2 widescreen fix or install GTA2 without it. Maybe they just stuck or maybe the game is out of sync. If the game is out of sync, it's like you are both playing completely different games. If you have confirmed that the game is out of sync, you will have to quit since there is no way to fix it.

Update to the latest version.

If your device has flood protection, try disabling it. Some routers are just really stupid. Self termination is a dumb solution to suspected flooding/DoS.

GTA2 has simple network code that delays the game until everyone receives all the packets. This is great for accuracy but it means the game will slow down if there is even a single network delay.

GTA2 wasn't made for high latency connections. Even if both users have broadband the game can be really slow if you are far away from your opponent (Europe vs Australia or USA in GTA2 will be too slow for a fun game). You should close any programs using lots of bandwidth, especially peer to peer programs like BitTorrent and if someone is on your LAN, sharing your bandwidth, kick them off or tell them not to download during your game. There is a GTA2 Discord Server where you can find an opponent from the same continent to minimalize the lag.

Whichever method you choose, the distance between you and your opponent and the internet infrastructure between the countries will matter the most. In general, it's best to find an opponent from the same country or at most a nearby one. Longer distance means higher ping, and a ping ≥ 80 ms means no smooth gameplay. The higher the ping, the more lag. Using a VPN won't reduce it.

It can be caused by mobile internet (router with a SIM card). Changing to land ISP could help (for example fiber optic internet). It can be also caused by an unfriendly ISP on both sides. Only 1 player with high ping = lag for all players: - ping 1-80 ms smooth game - ping 80-120 ms playable game - ping 120-160 ms lag game - ping 160 ms and above unplayable game

- Get low latency broadband. - Close all apps that could possibly use bandwidth. - Kick your colleagues/friends/relatives off your LAN or tell them not to download. - Get a router that supports QoS and give GTA2 priority. - Avoid using wireless and make sure no one is leeching your bandwidth. - Play against people on the same continent or country as you. The closer the better. - Play late at night or at whatever time both of your ISPs have the least traffic.

Open any youtube video and pause it, leave it in the background. Tell it to your opponents. Now it should run at full speed(30 FPS). This problem may be related to the HPET in Windows.

GTA2 Game Hunter still uses GTA2's buggy built-in multiplayer that was originally only intended for LANs. It slows the game down until all players have received all packets. This makes for perfect sync, so that when you are shooting someone you know you are really hitting them but it means the frame rate won't be any higher than network latency allows. Other games hide lag but that means they don’t have perfect sync.

Get $50,000 and then go to the church. It is usually in the middle of the map. It has a Jesus Saves sign. TV vans point the way. You start there at the start of the level or when you load a game.

This is a problem with the game detecting the CD. I recommend switching to a free version that doesn’t require a CD

Import this registry key. That registry key creates HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DMA Design Ltd\GTA2\Screen and the key min_frame_rate with value to 1. It also creates a key for GTA2 v11.3 and newer: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\DMA Design Ltd\GTA2\Screen and the key min_frame_rate with value to 1.

Push F1 to cycle the radio stations one way and F2 to cycle the other.

Push F3 to decrease volume, push F4 to increase volume. *In multiplayer games, any player changing this setting to their client also changes the other players Radio Station attributes.

Look at this trailer kill frenzy fix