DirectPlay on Windows 11, without breaking anything

You install an old game, click Multiplayer, and Windows pops up: "An app on your PC needs the following Windows feature: DirectPlay." Or nothing pops up and the multiplayer menu is just empty. Either way, the fix is already on your PC. You do not need to download anything from anywhere.

What DirectPlay is

DirectPlay was the networking part of DirectX. In the late 90s and early 2000s it gave game developers a ready-made way to find sessions, connect players and pass messages, over TCP/IP, IPX, modem or serial cable. Lots of games used it instead of writing their own networking.

Microsoft deprecated it long ago. Since Windows 8 it is no longer installed by default. It is still there, though, as an optional "legacy component" that you can switch on in a few clicks. It works on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Games that need it

You will usually know, because Windows asks for it the first time the game tries to use it. Some well-known examples:

• Age of Empires and Age of Empires II (the original CD versions, including The Conquerors)
• Heroes of Might and Magic III
• Many other titles from roughly 1997 to 2004 that offer an "Internet TCP/IP Connection" or "IPX Connection" in a list of connection types

That last one is a good tell. If the multiplayer screen asks you to choose a "connection type" or "service provider", it is almost certainly DirectPlay underneath.

Newer re-releases, such as the HD and Definitive editions, use their own networking and do not need it.

Turning it on

The clean way is through Windows itself.

1. Press Win + R, type optionalfeatures and press Enter. This opens "Turn Windows features on or off".
2. Scroll down and expand Legacy Components.
3. Tick DirectPlay and click OK.
4. Windows installs it. On most PCs this takes under a minute. If it asks to download files from Windows Update, let it.
5. Restart the game. A reboot is rarely needed, but it does not hurt.

If you prefer the command line, open Command Prompt or PowerShell as administrator and run:

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:DirectPlay /all

Same result, same component, from the same source.

Firewall

DirectPlay was designed for a world without firewalls. It opens several ports, some of them picked at runtime, and it expects them to be reachable.

The simplest fix is to let the game through Windows Defender Firewall. When Windows asks the first time you host or join, tick the network types you actually use and click Allow. If you dismissed that prompt, open "Allow an app through Windows Firewall" and add the game's main executable.

A virtual network adapter is a new network as far as Windows is concerned, and Windows often labels new networks as Public. A rule that only covers Private networks will not apply there. Check both boxes for the game, or set the network profile to Private if you are comfortable with that.

For reference, classic DirectPlay uses port 47624 and a dynamic range of 2300–2400, TCP and UDP. You do not need to forward any of these on your router when you play through a virtual LAN, because nothing is coming in from the open internet. The traffic arrives on the virtual adapter.

Compatibility mode, used sparingly

Compatibility mode is not a DirectPlay fix, but old games that use DirectPlay often have other old habits. If the game starts and then crashes, or the menus render wrong:

• Right-click the game's executable, open Properties, then Compatibility.
• Try Windows XP (Service Pack 3) first. For some games Windows 98 / Windows Me works better.
• If the game writes settings into its own install folder under Program Files, tick Run this program as an administrator, or better, install the game somewhere outside Program Files, such as C:\Games.
• For display problems, try Reduced color mode and Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution.

Change one setting at a time. If it does not help, turn it back off. Stacking every checkbox together tends to create new problems, and you will not know which one fixed or broke what.

What not to do

Search for this problem and you will find advice that ranges from harmless to genuinely risky. Some things to avoid:

Downloading DirectPlay DLLs

Sites offering dplayx.dll or "DirectPlay fix" downloads are a bad idea. At best you get an outdated file that does not match your Windows build. At worst you get malware with a system-sounding name. The real component is signed by Microsoft and installed by Windows. Use that one.

Copying files into System32 or SysWOW64

Even a legitimate DLL dropped into a system folder by hand can break things. Windows updates may overwrite it, fail on it, or leave you with a mismatched set. If something needs to live in System32, Windows should put it there.

Old DirectX web installers and "all-in-one" runtime packs

The legacy DirectX runtime installer from Microsoft is sometimes needed for other old components, and it is safe from Microsoft's own site. It does not install DirectPlay on modern Windows, though. Third-party "all runtimes" bundles are a different story. Skip them.

Turning off the firewall entirely

It works, in the sense that the game can connect. It also exposes everything else on your PC. Allow the one game instead.

Playing it with friends

Once DirectPlay is on and the firewall rule is in place, the game behaves like it did on a real LAN. Everyone joins the same LanOrbit room, each PC gets its 10.60.x.x address, and the host creates the game using the TCP/IP or LAN connection type. The others should see it in the list.

If they do not, pick "join by IP" where the game has it and type the host's 10.60.x.x address. The per-game guides, like the one for Age of Empires II, list the exact menu path. And if something still refuses to work, the PC support page covers the next steps.

Read next