2 PCs behind a "modem-router"... help!

Kyo do you have steam installed? I sometimes get a feeling having steam on your system could be part of the problem.

I have the original discs and cd key, I play since 2003 and never had a problem until the GOG but mostly the steam version came online and players started to play online.

This was also around the time MS came out with the fall update which screwed with many older games.

Now it has become so ridiculous for me that when I see a server with 6 players or more, and I want to join in the action, I can be sure I can't join because of the key issue. Sure I can kick players until I find the one causing my problems but by then the server will be empty which defeats the purpose...most annoying.

BTW, I expect to be doing a clean install of W10 within a month or so (when I buy a new SSD) so I will do some tests with this (disabling auto update to not get fall update right away, test HD2 without steam having ever been on my system and so on)

Hello NL!:
So you say that Steam version works fine to play coop or any of the other game modes online?? Curious and interesting!... in the Steam store game page it says "multiplayer is not supported"... If you confirm that works just fine as it should be, I can seriously consider to buy it! But forgive me if I say this, but I'll not spend a single penny in a game that doesn't support online modes when back in time it does (that would be disappointing!)
Well yes, I have steam installed in my system, but there's no any relation between my game and Steam (if I played startin' H&D2 from Steam library if that's what you mean...) In fact, I have Steam many years ago when I played games like L4D, L4D2 (Left 4 Dead saga), Killing Floor, etc... I always run H&D2 completely separate.
Who knows!?... maybe is Windows 10, maybe is Windows Defender (integrated in W10)... Maybe it's also because I have closed many (mostly those considered obsolete by many internet sources) Windows services in order to give my computer better performance without running stuffs in background... I don't know, but as I said before, on Windows 7 happens the same things (tested on my bro's PC and my mom's PC)... that's strange...
Cheers mate!! good luck in your future test... we keeping up to date

So you say that Steam version works fine to play coop or any of the other game modes online?? Curious and interesting!... in the Steam store game page it says "multiplayer is not supported"...

Yes you can play online with the Steam and GOG versions BUT they all use the same cd key, so I assume that you can't join a server when a player with also a steam or GOG version is already playing because it would be "cd key already in use". Using a license key from a key generator seems to give mixed results, IIRC the steam version won't allow it.

The reason they say "multiplayer is not supported" is because:
-all copies use the same cd key (conflict)
-gamespy stopped supporting HD2 some years ago so the in-game server browser doesn't work anymore as intended, only by using a serverlist,bin from someone else or using the "QTracker method" (modified hosts file) will allow you to find servers.

Read this topic this topic for a little more background info.

Solved!!

Just delete the widescreenfix files! and all works just like back in those days!. I just want to thank every and each member of this forum (specially Snowman, NL and ShayoX) that took the time to aswer or reading and giving the solution. Administrator or moderators: maybe you just want to tag this threat as "closed"
Thank you so much for everything!

Lol, i guess that concerned admins will file this thread as "mission accomplished".