Ok.  A few fellow EAW fans I know worked this out.  Somehow they managed to get an early copy.  Lucky guys > Anyhow they explained to me the following problems with EAW.  Its a problem with the Multiplayer aspect.  They found an error when going online and by changing a few settings they have put together this FAQ.

 

Multiplayer gameplay in Star Wars: Empire at War requires UPnP functionality to be enabled in Windows and in your hardware firewall (if you are using one).  This is a two step process.  (Note: If you do not have a router then you may ignore step two and you should not have any issues joining and playing internet multiplayer games.)  By default, Windows XP has UPnP functionality turned off.  Enabling UPnP in windows is simple and can be accomplished by following these instructions.

(Note: These instructions were taken from the Windows Help and Support

Center)

 

 

Step 1:

 

To install the UPnP User Interface

 

1. Open Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.

 

2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.

 

3. In the Components list, select the Networking Services check box, and then click Details.

 

4. Make sure the UPnP User Interface check box is selected.

 

 

Notes

 

- To open Add or Remove Programs, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add or Remove Programs.

 

- If you used a CD to set up Windows, you will be prompted to insert it into your computer

 

 

 

Step 2:

 

The process of enabling UPnP on your router will vary depending on the router brand and model that you have.  If you are unfamiliar with router configuration, you can learn more about enabling UPnP for your specific model at your router manufacturers' website.

 

 

 

Common manufacture websites:

 

www.linksys.com

 

www.cisco.com

 

www.netgear.com

 

www.dlink.com

 

www.buffalotech.com

 

I hope it helps.

 

Foshjedi

ok, you retrected me to this for help, and i tried it, Still wont work, btw, I got it to work once than this started, heres a Screenie,

 

Yea i know not image shack, to small

A stupid question.  You are connected to the Web.  you do have a registered copy.  You do already have an ID on the Servers u are going off.

Yes to all those...

PFF_Ghostly is my name on there and I managed to host a game but now it wont even get passed the "Start the game" position and I got people yelling left and right to start the bloody game. For their information I TRIED geez.

 

Well then I tried the faqs you gave us but I think it made things worse  :-\ If it did that. I'm going to try a rebooting to see if it helps.

The Game is Screwed :S right now needs ALOT more patches 

sam thing is goin on with me, when i got the game yesterday (hehe.) it worked fine on m-player, but now after i finaly was able to download the patch, it wont work. i was tryin it for about an hour but no luck. i hope some of the officails will look into this and can have this fixed soon.  ???

I am not ashamed to say "I TOLD YOU SO".  We raised all kinds of hell about using gamespy for the multiplayer and we were right.  It is junk.

alright well before this EAW could dectect my Internet Address, now its just unkown

Ok lets dump Gamespy and get a Petroglyph server up. I'm just flippin annoyed I went skirmishing and make my units parade from one side of ryloth to another destroying everything.

Ok lets dump Gamespy and get a Petroglyph server up.

how are we supposed to do that?

Just a thought. Anywho I almost played a dev but gamespot screwed my hosting up  > So close but no cigar.

How many hosts are there, wish we had the zone 

. Open Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.

 

3. In the Components list, select the Networking Services check box, and then click Details.

 

4. Make sure the UPnP User Interface check box is selected.

 

Um, I don't have the option to check the UPnP interface, how do I enable it? I use windows 2000, not XP. I have nothing about UPnP at all.

Disable it. Its much smoother that way and other people have it off. It works fine for me and other people but its always the 4th person who screws up the game 

 

Multi game options and turn the UPNP off.

Disable what?

Disable it. Its much smoother that way and other people have it off. It works fine for me and other people but its always the 4th person who screws up the game 

 

Multi game options and turn the UPNP off.

 

Just tried that and I still get disconnected from gamespy in 2 seconds or can't connect at all .

NOTE to ALL.  Do not uncheck the uPnP option unless you want to unblock from the firewall every time.  As stated above you have about 2-3 seconds to do so before you lose the connection.  I tried it checked and it worked for me, but when I tried it unchecked each time I had to tell the firewall to unblock it even though I had already done so the past 5 times.

My problem probably is that my Firewalls off yet my game says its on

Or you could just open a port on your router and have that forwarded to you internal pc. Wish they would give the ports they used though......

I cant find the file for my Linksys Router :S

well im seriously pissed off right now multiplayer does not work at all i have enabled upnp i have unblocked the game from my firewall yet every game i have tried to join i just sit at forming connections.  I have tried at least 20 times and left it for at least 5 mins and nothing any ideas anyone ?

use the new patch

i have version 1.2 and it still dont work i had it before my post

I deleted my firewall.