DirectPlay Protocol

Multiplayer games require efficient and flexible network messaging services for optimal performance. The Microsoft® DirectPlay® protocol is a transport-layer messaging protocol that is used for all DirectPlay messaging. It provides your application with the messaging support it needs to make everything run smoothly. The DirectPlay protocol includes the following messaging support.

• Reliable and unreliable delivery of messages
• Sequential and non-sequential delivery of messages
• Message fragmentation and reassembly
• Congestion control
• Send prioritization
• Message timeouts

This document provides a general description of how the Microsoft DirectX® protocol works, and how you can use it in your application.

• Basic Message Handling
• Message Categories
• Congestion Control
• Send Prioritization
• Packet Signing
• Monitoring Messaging Statistics
• Monitoring the Pending Message Queues
• Using the DirectX Protocol in an Application