New Sense

How-to Play Starcraft over Hamachi

by Charlie Coutts on Nov.23, 2008, under Content, Gaming, How-To

UPDATE
This walkthough is a little dated and we haven’t played Starcraft in about 6 months but I do have a growing list of people who have contacted me, looking for people to play with. I’m thinking about making a list of Starcraft players. If you are interested please Contact Me.

p.s. sorry for the walkthrough disappearing. My bad. It’s back now. :o ) This is a guide to help people set up their computer to allow them to play Starcraft over the internet by using Hamachi to emulate a local area network (LAN). This is useful if you don’t want to go through the hassle of using BattleNet (Blizzard’s online game service) or if you bought Starcraft so long ago that you lost the key but want to start playing again. This guide deals specifically with setting up Hamachi and the various settings required to get it working properly but the steps listed here should be sufficient for most games. As well as the option to install Skype (for in-game voice communication).

  1. Step 1: Install Starcraft on your system.

    This is fairly self-explanatory: Put the disc in, click on “Install” follow the prompts etc… If you have Broodwars (the expansion) install it too.

  2. Step 2: Install the Latest Patch.

    The latest patch out at the time of this writing is 1.15.2

    • If you have Broodwars you want this one
    • If you are using Starcraft WITHOUT the expansion you want this one

  3. Step 3: Install Hamachi.

    Hamachi is a zero-configuration (in name, not function) VPN appliance. This is a fancy way of saying that you shouldn’t need to change any settings and it just works. While this is mostly true (Hamachi is MUCH simpler than many of the other ways to do this) It is still not quite “zero-configuration”. Hamachi can be installed by going to the website here, choosing your operating system and language preference from the list. somewhere along the line it will ask you if you want to purchase the premium version. The basic is just fine (and free) so stick with that.

  4. Step 4: Configure your Firewall.

    Since Windows Vista and XP vary slightly in the way they are configured this step will be broken down into two sections: one for each. This how-to assumes that you have Windows Firewall. If you have something else: ZoneAlarm, Norton, etc… you should go here

    • Windows XP

      1. Go to “Control Panel” (Start>>Control Panel)
      2. Open up “Network Connections”
      3. Make sure there is a connection entitled “Hamachi” (If it is not there you may need to reboot your system).
      4. Click the “Advanced” drop-down menu at the top of Network Connections
      5. click the “Advanced” tab and select “Advanced Settings…”
      6. We need to tell the system to try to use Hamachi before any other connections you may have, otherwise, Starcraft will not find any games on Hamachi because it will be looking in the wrong place. To do this make sure “Hamachi” is selected in the Connections box and then press the green up arrow until it is the topmost entry in the list.
      7. Go back to Control Panel
      8. Open “Windows Firewall” and click the “Advanced” tab.
      9. Unselect the checkmark next to Hamachi. After this you may need to reboot your computer.

    • Windows Vista

      I don’t have a Vista system at the moment and while I am confident that I could fumble through it if I needed to I could hardly make a very competent walkthrough for others to follow. The basics are the same.

      1. Disable Windows Firewall on the “Hamachi” adapter (or disable it completely if you have issues)
      2. Set adapter priority. Here is a walkthrough for how to get there in Vista. Just make sure Hamachi is first priority (on top of the list)

  5. Step 5: Install Skype (optional)

    This part is optional and there are admittedly better options for voice chat such as Ventrillo but we use Skype because it works on Linux and Mac pretty seamlessly.

    1. Go to Skype’s Website
    2. Download Skype
    3. Install Skype

  6. Create or Join a network

    This part is fairly straightforward. Create a network and give your friends the network name so they can log in to it. If you have issues, the Hamachi Support Website has some good info as well as the Hamachi Getting Started Guide (.pdf).

    Happy Gaming!

:, , ,

22 Comments for this entry

  • hellblazer9261
    June 20th, 2009 on 1:26 am

    hey man i did what u said but when i try hosting a game my friend wont see it on his computer, or when he hostess i wont see his, idk if its cuz im using mac and his using windows but i doubt thats it since i play with my bro on my LAN all the time and he uses windows too…. so idk what should i do???

  • Joe
    June 25th, 2009 on 11:10 am

    Same thing here!! >< I did everything you said, and it dun work.. We used UDP first then tried the direct cable one… Friend did all the stuff also.. =/ Help plz.

  • Joe
    June 25th, 2009 on 12:43 pm

    Nvm i got it to work.

  • Charlie Coutts
    June 25th, 2009 on 1:16 pm

    Joe, what was the problem/solution in case someone else runs into it?

    Thanks!

  • Poo
    June 29th, 2009 on 11:59 am

    how come i can’t see my friend?

  • Joe
    July 1st, 2009 on 3:38 pm

    Well, I think I didn’t follow the steps correctly completely.. :P So, ya.. It should work, if it doesn’t.. I was willing to use DMZ.. (your gateway IP in the internet address.)

  • Jim
    July 7th, 2009 on 2:27 pm

    It worked for me and a friend in different country well and now can play games together, great guide. THANKS Charlie!

  • Jack
    July 11th, 2009 on 7:22 pm

    Hey, This really helped me out and about 10 of my friends. Thank you.

  • Adem
    July 25th, 2009 on 8:53 am

    Ehhh dosent work dont know whats wrong me and my friend did following :/ we couldent find each other on starcraft. We used udp but didnt work :/

  • Chad
    July 25th, 2009 on 4:43 pm

    I followed your instructions, but which multiplayer option do i choose? the ipx or the udp, when i choose the ipx, it says cannot find “unable to initialize network provider”. Udp? it doesn’t show any games.

  • marzzbar
    January 27th, 2010 on 4:26 pm

    Use Tunngle. It’s way easier.
    http://www.tunngle.net

  • Charlie Coutts
    January 27th, 2010 on 8:03 pm

    Thanks marzzbar! Tunngle sounds like a great way to go. Does anybody else have experience with it? Good? Bad?

  • kate
    February 5th, 2010 on 5:12 pm

    Thanks for this dude!

  • Ninja Hotline
    February 25th, 2010 on 4:59 pm

    Thanks alot! Works like a charm!

  • Leo
    February 27th, 2010 on 9:56 am

    may some one tell me some hamachi groups where to join?

  • DeMiSe
    May 3rd, 2010 on 9:35 pm

    If you are having problems joining another, the name is Case sensitive so you must type each letter exactly.

  • Zeratul
    July 29th, 2010 on 3:23 am

    Tunngle rules! Don’t waste your time with Hamachi, especially if you use Vista Home Premium.

  • JeSTeR
    August 25th, 2010 on 10:56 am

    We got to work with Hamachi without much trouble. It does seem to be very sloooooow. Any ideas to speed it up (like buffers or some other tweak)?

  • legion
    November 10th, 2010 on 9:21 pm

    >.> hamachi has to be installed simultaneously so it gets the same first 4 numbers for
    ex:
    your comp5.123.25.1
    friends comp 5.123.36.20 if you don’t have the same first 4 numbers some games will give you crap for it.

  • Jodi
    February 3rd, 2011 on 1:32 pm

    I don’t play Starcraft, but I have a few friends who do. I’ll let them know about this post.

  • despii
    August 29th, 2011 on 9:30 am

    Hey Joe! i did download starcraft from piratebay (2 versions) and when i go to local area (UDP) there only shows “Create” and no “join” should there be a join button or does the game just appear if it works as i should? or is my starcraft version crap? :)

  • Chad
    September 8th, 2011 on 8:11 pm

    If anybody would like to join my hamachi network for SC or age of empires or even command and conquer:
    Network: Team Star Nova Unit
    pw: photoncannon

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