GameComms

GameComms is a connectivity library specialised for multidevice games programming on the Series 60 platform to connect up to four devices via Bluetooth. GameComms was part of the proprietary Nokia N-Gage SDK and was used in 44 of a total of 57 games.

This project is an attempt to reverse engineer the GameComms library and create versions that can be used as drop-in replacements for the 11 different versions that were included in the official games.

The primary idea is to send the data handled by GameComms serially to a WiFi-enabled microcontroller or a modern PC, for example, in order to connect several devices via the Internet.

The project is hosted on GitHub.

Protocol (Draft)

Registration Sequence

GameComms can be configured using the file E:\GameComms.ini:

[Config]
DeviceName="mupfdev"
[Network]
Host="mupf.dev"
Port=9888

Invalid or non-existent settings are replaced by a default.

When you start a multiplayer game, a registration sequence is sent to the server:

UID:0x10005B8B
DID:mupfdev
NET:mupf.dev:8889
ROL:H

KEY	Description
UID	Unique Game ID
DID	DeviceName as specified in `GameComms.ini`
NET	Host name and port as specified in `GameComms.ini`
ROL	Selected connection role, H = Host or C = Client

Message Handling

All messages sent from the N-Gage to the ESP32 start with a 2 byte header. The first byte contains the intended recipient 01h to 05h and the second byte contains the length of the subsequent data. The end of the message is terminated with a new line character 0Ah.

Although the ESP32 hub should only forward messages intended for the target device, the first byte of a received message always contains its sender. This is important as the host must pass this information on to the callback function MGameBTCommsNotify::ReceiveDataFromClient().

Possible values for byte 1:

00h Intentionally unused
01h Host
02h Client 1
03h Client 2
04h Client 3
05h Broadcast

Versions

Since I can only speculate about the development status of the individual versions, I have created an overview of all games here that make use of the library. Sorted by file size of the gamecomms.dll and by game title.

Version	Game	md5sum	Ordinals
00	Nokia N-Gage SDK 1.0 Beta	cb326c500bdb795494d55d30196b8711	33
01	Marcel Desailly Pro Soccer	79c25cdd1972c287712475ee544c7bf3	33
02	MotoGP	8863fdea897f1c63807ad69252a3566f	55
02	Pandemonium!	8863fdea897f1c63807ad69252a3566f	55
02	Puyo Pop	8863fdea897f1c63807ad69252a3566f	55
02	Puzzle Bobble VS	8863fdea897f1c63807ad69252a3566f	55
02	Tomb Raider	8863fdea897f1c63807ad69252a3566f	55
02	Tony Hawk's Pro Skater	8863fdea897f1c63807ad69252a3566f	55
03	Asphalt Urban GT	f6fbc3c745ae0ecf584b3ef7ec4371ef	56
03	FIFA Football 2004	f6fbc3c745ae0ecf584b3ef7ec4371ef	56
03	NCAA Football 2004	f6fbc3c745ae0ecf584b3ef7ec4371ef	56
03	Rayman 3	f6fbc3c745ae0ecf584b3ef7ec4371ef	56
03	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm	f6fbc3c745ae0ecf584b3ef7ec4371ef	56
04	The Sims Bustin' Out	c2f184012cd0635f3065b7d5042702ce	56
05	Catan	e8d317204a763d71215680d567eb71e0	57
05	Mile High Pinball	e8d317204a763d71215680d567eb71e0	57
05	Pathway to Glory	e8d317204a763d71215680d567eb71e0	57
05	Requiem of Hell	e8d317204a763d71215680d567eb71e0	57
05	The King of Fighters Extreme	e8d317204a763d71215680d567eb71e0	57
05	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory	e8d317204a763d71215680d567eb71e0	57
06	Call of Duty	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
06	FIFA Football 2005	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
06	High Seize	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
06	Pathway to Glory: Ikusa Islands	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
06	SSX Out of Bounds	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
06	WWE Aftershock	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
06	Worms World Party	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
06	X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
06	X-Men Legends	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
06	Xanadu Next	bb02377c5361597f8d8503f5de584845	57
07	Snakes	f07f48ee44cca60046f40ce41858a160	57
08	Ashen	d4c10fcebfb6da8da6b757aa8392b6d7	57
08	Bomberman	d4c10fcebfb6da8da6b757aa8392b6d7	57
08	Colin McRae Rally 2005	d4c10fcebfb6da8da6b757aa8392b6d7	57
08	Crash Nitro Kart	d4c10fcebfb6da8da6b757aa8392b6d7	57
08	Operation Shadow	d4c10fcebfb6da8da6b757aa8392b6d7	57
09	Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004	6ac8b1a1e490b367a1d5e46bb720fe70	57
10	Glimmerati	827df54717bc210daa96aef9e12de4a3	63
10	ONE	827df54717bc210daa96aef9e12de4a3	63
10	Rifts: Promise of Power	827df54717bc210daa96aef9e12de4a3	63
10	System Rush	827df54717bc210daa96aef9e12de4a3	63
10	The Roots: Gates of Chaos	827df54717bc210daa96aef9e12de4a3	63
11	Asphalt: Urban GT 2	75536306ef48b1928b4562890d01c9c6	63
11	Habbo Islands	75536306ef48b1928b4562890d01c9c6	63
11	Warhammer 40,000: Glory in Death	75536306ef48b1928b4562890d01c9c6	63

License