Jazzers leaving, I'm just starting...

[Nadine]

People are deciding they've had enough Jazz 2 for a while, but here's a newbie for ya!

Well, Jazz 2 ain't dying anytime soon for me! I've always been a solo Jazz player, because I didn't have a good internet connection. Well now I have cable and Jazz 2 and TSF run great on my Windows XP machine. I'm actually not just a Jazz 2 online newbie, I'm a online gaming newbie. Actually, I'm even a chat newbie! So this is all so exciting to me. I did play Jazz once online, and there was this guy who was so good, and another guy who wasn't even playing but was still connected.

I'm good at Jazz 2 single player, but haven't been able to get experience with strategies or ways to win online. I'm not even good at coming up with a unique name! At every board I just use my name, and the boards where I'm rkpellagirl is just because my name was already taken there.

So, how about some online gaming tips for a newbie, eh? First of all, how do you come up with a good name? When you come up with one, are you supposed to always use it so people recognise you online, or do you like to change it to trick people sometimes? Do you normally use the same character/colours?

Next, how do I play it online? Will it automatically connect me through the game menus, or do I have to go to a Jazz server website and choose a server? Oh, I guess I could just read the JJ2 manual. Right now I only have The Secret Files loaded in and not JJ2.

Hope you'll respond soon. And I hope to see you online - er, through the game and not just these boards.
:cool:

[defalcon]

Erm, use the JJ2 or TSF to find servers. :p

[ShadowGPW]

hey, welcome to the game and boardhope ya have fun like us :)

[FireSworD]

Hiya and welcome to Jazz2 and the JCF. Heh Jazz2 is the first game i played online too. :)

[Nadine]

I also have Unreal, but not Unreal Tournament. Don't worry, I rather play Jazz 2 more (can't get enough of the cute and cartoony style games), but even for Unreal I wish I could find a downloadable Jazz Jackrabbit character model to use.

Anyone know of one?

[Another Jazz 2 fan]

Don't ask ME for advice on a name. ;) I also use my actual name (for my rabbit, he is Jason LP). And my name here, well, at least it's different!

Anyway, welcome to JJ2. Don't let the insanity scare you away. (But might I recommend keeping far FAR away from #jj2 [irc] for the while ;) ).

No real online strategies, just be sure to get good weapons and chase people down to be sure that you roast them, rather than give someone else the chance to. Oh, and use Spaz for Battle, and Jazz for CTF. Either one in Treasure, and definitely Jazz in survivor.

That's all the help I can offer. Be sure to download cool levels at Jazz2online! And if you ever make any levels, please don't make them in TSF unless you are using the Haunted or Town tilesets.

AJ2f

[Nadine]

How do I get started? It seems that when I choose a game to join, I press enter and nothing happens. The bottom of the screem is asking for an address. And these are even games that don't show a key. A key means it's locked, right? BTW, this is on The Secret Files.

[Red_XIII]

The solution to your problem?

There are 1.23 version servers and 1.24 (TSF) servers. If the text is all grey, it means you can't join that one (aka it's 1.23 for you) and if it says on the right "Pinging" it means you have to wait.

Ok?

BTW,

==People left the jazz community== :(

1. Disguisey...... NOOOOOO
2. Flash ............ I didn't know him well but NOOOOOO :)
3. Some other people....

[Nadine]

I'll check it again. I do have 1.24 v of TSF, the choices were grey though I think.

But hey, whenever I make a new post there's an arrow beside the subject pointing down. I know what that's for, but how does it get there? I don't remember choosing to put any arrow.

It's annoying being a noob. I don't like it. Hope I'll get used to everything quick.:roll:

[Nadine]

Not much goes on online with TSF. And when I do get on, many people don't speak English! Do I really connect with Europe? Wow. I also noticed that other player's movements were really weird. They would zoom all over the place without much animation. Does that mean their PC is lagging online and whoever has a fast connection sees their lagging problems but doesn't get it themselves? It's really weird. So many people were just standing there. Whether they were more busy chatting than playing or waiting for the lag to end is anyone's guess.

If I make a TSF JJ2 combo, will they affect online play? Will I be able to play with anyone online or only people who own TSF? Will I only be allowed to play with those who have ver 1.24 since I have that? How does it work?

[Aiko]

Well, Nadine, TSF didn't find a publisher in the USA so there are nearly no players from your continent. So when you feel like playing TSF in the evening in Canada, it's already past midnight here in Europe (and because most Jazzers are teenagers, they're already in bed :-). You will find more people playing on TSF earlier (your time).
As for the language problem, i can't help you. It's just not our mother tongue. Do you speak dutch or german or polish fluently? No? :-)
Apart from that, you really found this nice little 2d-70fps-platform-but-four-years-old game game a bit late. There aren't many servers today, at all. Neither 1.23, nor TSF. Sad, but true. Sorry.

[Enigma]

There are mostly Dutchies on TSF, that's true. If you want to meet other people who speak english, it is better to use the regular version of JJ2 (and use the patch to upgrade it to v1.23).

As for your name: well, we can't help much there. If you think of something that you like yourself, just choose that. If you can't think of anything, just keep your real first name, like you're doing now. Aiko does that too, you know :)

Online strategies: all i can do is give you a few tips:

1) Never follow another player through a warp right away. Always wait at least a few seconds.
2) If you use seekers, make sure you're running while firing them. Otherwise, seekers are slow and easy to dodge. For the same reason, don't use them in large open areas.
3) Pepperspray and electroblaster powerups are worthless. The gun will still do only 1 damage.
4) The range of some guns will increase if you fire them while running.
5) Non-shooting moves (stomping, Jazz's uppercut, Spaz's sidekick, Lori's spin move) do 2 damage. Mix them in your game now and then, it's fun!
6) Don't use shields online, unless all the other players do it too. Most players consider the use of shields lame.
7) Collect every powerup you see, even if you already got it once. If you take it, other players can't.
8) Be sure to know where the carrots are in the level. You'll need them!
9) There's a bug in online CTF. If you kill a player who had stolen your flag, and he was still standing at the base he stole it from, he will respawn with the flag in his hands.
10) Don't play against players like Dizzy or Tyffie until you got some practice :D

I hope that may help you :). Welcome to the Jazz 2 Community

[Link]

Why not just play on JJ2 1.23 instead of TSF? Most 1.23 players are online when you will be online (after school, right?), because 1.23 is mainly US and Canada people.

And welcome :)

[FireSworD]

Spaz is still superior to Jazz in CTF. AJ2F!

[Another Jazz 2 fan]

Jazz can hover between bases, so in most levels HE is superior.

[FireSworD]

Spaz can swing to the carrot in the box in DW aka CTF3

SPAZ IS SUPERIOR!

[Red_XIII]

ehehhe, Jazz-Spaz is better ;P

A mixture between the two, interesting ;P

[Nadine]

Thanks for the tips. What about my newest questions? Here, I'll post it again:

I also noticed that other player's movements were really weird. They would zoom all over the place without much animation. Does that mean their PC is lagging online and whoever has a fast connection sees their lagging problems but doesn't get it themselves? It's really weird. So many people were just standing there. Whether they were more busy chatting than playing or waiting for the lag to end is anyone's guess.

If I make a TSF JJ2 combo, will they affect online play? Will I be able to play with anyone online or only people who own TSF? Will I only be allowed to play with those who have ver 1.24 since I have that? How does it work?

Thanks a lot.

[defalcon]

I also noticed that other player's movements were really weird. They would zoom all over the place without much animation. Does that mean their PC is lagging online and whoever has a fast connection sees their lagging problems but doesn't get it themselves? It's really weird. So many people were just standing there. Whether they were more busy chatting than playing or waiting for the lag to end is anyone's guess.
Zooming players is the effect/s of latency aka lag, nope it ain't weird, it's always there. And yes, alot of the time we just like to chat. If they're laggint badly enough that they can't move they'll blink and possibly time out.
If I make a TSF JJ2 combo, will they affect online play? Will I be able to play with anyone online or only people who own TSF? Will I only be allowed to play with those who have ver 1.24 since I have that? How does it work?
A TSF-JJ2 combo allows you to play the regular JJ2 levels with Lori in TSF, it doesn't effect online play seeing as how it's just porting over the required files, and how it's single player, as in NOT ONLINE. People with TSF can't join 1.23 games, 1.23 people can't play TSF games. Have both TSF and JJ2 installed in seperate folders so you can switch between them. BTW, 1.23 is better cause most TSF'ers are n00bs who know nothing, don't speak english half the time (Dutchies and the like who've bought the rerelease) and so on. Also, don't use the TSF JCS to make levels or compile tilesets unless there's too many tiles for the 1.23 JCS to handle. It's just plain annoying.

[Aiko]

As for me, i know a lot of cool people that prefer to play TSF. It is better (and Lori is so cute :-).

And defalcon, i guess there are not many "dutchies who bought the re-release". Most of them have the original P2 release from 1999 (like me, even if i'm not a "dutchie" :-). I don't even know what kind of re-releases there were in the NL. I only know the polish/german thing i also have.

And Nadine, you seem to be really interested in JJ2. A pity you joined that late. Online play is slowly fading away, no doubt.

[Enigma]

Oh, before i forget: if you want both the regular JJ2 and TSF, do NOT put them in the same folder. I was foolish enough to put both versions in one "Jazz2"-folder. Because of that, i could only play online in TSF, since both versions use a jazz2.exe file, and the TSF one replaced the regular one in my case.

You probably won't be dumb enough to do that. but still i can't emphasise it enough: make two seperate folders. It took me a long time before i realised why i couldn't join all those "grey" servers, and i don't want it to happen to anyone else :)

[FireSworD]

At least you arrived at a good time. 2002 is a good year for Jazz2.

[Nadine]

Well something weird is happening with my games. If I go online on either TSF or JJ2, there are always some grey servers that I can't join. But I did not put them both in one folder. What I DID do is copy the episodes and levels from JJ2 into TSF so that I could make a "combo" for single player. But why do I always see some servers that are grey? What's left? If I'm lucky there are white servers, though sometimes they are pinging, and sometimes the level sucks or no one is there or no one speaks English (I onlt get that problem sometimes in TSF). But last night I found a good CTF level with a few people playing, only the network stopped. Oh well, it was 2:40AM PST, so that was very late for me.

Another question for you guys: I have found a game sometimes and there's this grey Jazz called "The Server". He never plays. I guess it's just an open server to use, but the sever himself doesn't join in. Am I right?

Also, for anyone who is regular or sometimes playing online, as I said, I have both TSF and JJ2, and I have come up with a good name, I just hope no one else has it already: "badhareday". If you see that name, hopefully no one stole it from me and it's me playing.

[FireSworD]

"Badhareday" are you the one i saw on the survivor server

[Aiko]

Heh, the mysterious grey rabbit explains hisself here:

http://monolith.idlegames.com/battleserver/

The reason why you always have some grey servers is that versions 1.23 and 1.24 (TSF) are not compatible. If you start 1.23, you can't join TSF servers and if you start TSF you can't play in 1.23 servers. Simple as that.

The lack of quality severs and cool people is that online play is slowly dying (which sucks, yes). Try TSF on a weekend (preferably sunday) and very early your time. You may find a few people then (too bad i'm personally NEVER able to get up early on a sunday :-).

[Enigma]

And if the same server is grey in both regular JJ2 and TSF, you may want to download the v1.23 patch here:

http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/moreinfo.php?levelid=572

[Michael]

Lol, Enigma, that's from J2C (RIP) ;)
Nadine, your name is fine, many people use there own name, while you play you'll learn and get a name like.... mrs.frost-biter (from gun3) or you'll make a funny name like chik3nGOD or something.
To play online:
go into jj2 (or tsf)
new game
party mode
internet play
join

You can understand it from there on. :D

Hope too see you too.

[Nadine]

I wasn't able to get onto the surviver surver. I think this is what happened: Yesterday or the night before (I can't remember) I was on a CTF game. Some people asked if I was Nadine so I was excited to play CTF (because two player split screen CTF is bugged up) with some people who recognise me from the boards. Then out of no where, a few people chat and ask if they want to do a two vs two game. They said yes. But that wouldn't include me! The server was closed, they started up their team battle and locked it so no one else would join. How rude! I think that sever was called "survivor surver" (the locked one that I couldn't join).

I want to ask something. Whether I play on TSF or 1.23 there are hardly any servers to play on or people to play against. Is this :
a) just a typical example of how the Jazz community is becoming dis interested in online play
b) that I'm not connecting at good times(when not many people are on)
c) that the regular servers aren't popular
d) most or all of the above

For example, I did check out Monolith's website and I know what's going on with his "server jazz" then, but he shows what address to type in to get to his servers. So, are there specific hosting sites that I have to remember or can I just connect through the game and hope I find some games to join?

How do you guys do it? What times in PST do you recommend I play at for TSF and 1.23? Do you guys ever communicate through the boards first and organise a time when you'll all connect to play with each other? Finally, tell me some of your character names so I'll recognise you online. Me, I'm Nadine here (i may be online with that name sometimes) and online I'm "badhareday". What about you guys?

[Wild Angel]

Wait! Uhh... when I used to play JJ2... as 7OF9... uhh, well I'm in CST, and the most activity was around 5-6PM... sooo... uhh

*ponders and writes down a quick note on what time It'd be in PST...*

BST AST YST PST MST CST EST (Yes, that's how I remember my U.S. time zones...)

Okay, okay... sooo around 3 or 4 PM your time. How does that work?

`Wildie

[Aiko]

Well Nadine, the reason why there are hardly any people playing is a mixture of a) and b).

Regarding your "specific hosting sites" question: no, there aren't any other worth mentioning. The game uses a so-called central "listserver" to make up and host what we call "serverlist" (a list with the iPs, names of the servers, number of people in it, uptime etc.). Our current listserver is jazz.logicware.com, which worked fine the past few months. Some people in the community are able to create their own listservers, but that doesn't make sense because we only need one. You don't have to care about that, it's a different topic and not really part of the problem you have.

Regarding your problem recognising other people that are playing: download a small program called "iCQ" from www.icq.com. It allows you to see when other people are online and allows the contact them. Most Jazzers have it, and you can easily convince some players to come into your server (even some real elite people like...me ;-). That's the easiest way to invite other people to play. My number is 124380878, btw ;-)

[defalcon]

Originally posted by Aiko
Well Nadine, the reason why there are hardly any people playing is a mixture of a) and b).

Regarding your "specific hosting sites" question: no, there aren't any other worth mentioning. The game uses a so-called central "listserver" to make up and host what we call "serverlist" (a list with the iPs, names of the servers, number of people in it, uptime etc.). Our current listserver is jazz.logicware.com, which worked fine the past few months. Some people in the community are able to create their own listservers, but that doesn't make sense because we only need one. You don't have to care about that, it's a different topic and not really part of the problem you have.

Regarding your problem recognising other people that are playing: download a small program called "iCQ" from www.icq.com. It allows you to see when other people are online and allows the contact them. Most Jazzers have it, and you can easily convince some players to come into your server (even some real elite people like...me ;-). That's the easiest way to invite other people to play. My number is 124380878, btw ;-)
Yuppers, ICQ. :)
Aiko is elite...when he plays. :D Otherwise he's studying, reviewing J2O stuff or eating breakfast (whenever I'm on anywap :p)

[blurredd]

Sorry about that Nadine, I didn't mean to be rude. I didn't know you wanted to play, too. I was getting a little tired when I was hosting my infamous "Survivor Server" and I felt like playing a little 2vs2 game.

Oh, and it wasn't a Team Battle game BTW, just regular CTF ;)

[Nadine]

That's okay blurredD. But if it was 2 vs 2 than that's a team battle, isn't it?

LOL I love your pic of drunk Mario and Yoshi!

Today went pretty well for finding people to play with online. It was a lot of fun! And if people are still there I'll connect and play some more. This was on JJ2, no one was there today on TSF. But I only checked after 4pm, so I don't know about before that.

[Nadine]

Oh, you also had other characters lying down drunk in the pic. Love it.