A small bit of hardware hacking == No Wi-Fi

[belthesar]

As a network admin, finding a way around using OnLive with it's anti-WiFi stipulation wasn't too hard to get around. OnLive only searches if there is a valid non-WiFi connection enabled and connected when it launches, and then proceeds to log on to the servers at that point. From a TCP/IP standpoint, it makes no difference where you get your internet, OnLive only makes the requisite stipulation because some WiFi networks may not be capable of providing speedy, low-jitter connection (see Wikipedia:Jitter).

So, how do we give OnLive a non-WiFi network connection to see that is easy, cheap to build, and portable? Simple! We build an Ethernet Loopback adapter. A loopback adapter, as the name might suggest, loops back all traffic sent out it back to itself. This effectively allows you to set up a valid network connection for OnLive to find regardless of operating system.

To build one of these guys, you can follow the pinout diagram here: http://sites.google.com/site/kalman/...trj-45loopback. You'll need some Ethernet cable and some RJ45 ends to do this. A crimper isn't necessary, but will make sure the wires in the adapter stay snug. If you don't want to build one, they're relatively inexpensive on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Superlooper-Et.../dp/B001EHRTNE. I so happen to have the tools and materials readily available, but, well you're not all me. :-)

Once installed, all that is required is to configure the network adapter with a static IP. It's my suggestion that you make the IP address something off of your network, that way you can eliminate any possible confusion of your network adapters. When setting a static IP address, you typically have 5 fields to fill in. Those are the IP address itself, it's subnet mask, a gateway, and two DNS servers. You will only need the IP address and subnet mask. By not adding a default gateway, we ensure that no internet traffic will try to use the loopback adapter, and DNS servers are only useful on valid connections. I personally use the values of "10.254.254.254" with the subnet mask of "255.255.255.0".

With that little job plugged in, I'm able to launch and play OnLive games from my couch. And boy does it rock. :-)

[Pinesal]

Why didn't you just bridge the lan and wifi? Would have been easier. Or there some reason you couldn't?

[belthesar]

Simply, because it doesn't work on OS X, which is the platform I do use primarily. This is a platform-agnostic, cheap, and relatively easy fix.

[Loki421]

Honestly, their anti-wifi stipulation is pretty ridiculous. I'm not sure what it is there for. The games run just as well.

[Pinesal]

I get disconnected frequently when I use wifi so I currently support the wifi ban.

[Loki421]

I get disconnected frequently when I use wifi so I currently support the wifi ban.

I stand corrected. Never the less, I would much more prefer it to be the customers choice to use wifi or not. If they are so concerned about the user experience, they could just slap a big warning on the screen when it detects a wifi connection that the service was not designed for wifi and that it may perform poorly.

[Chrisinator]

I found that my mac didn't do it until I went into Advanced->Ethernet->Speed->100baseTX then applied. But it is working.