lol it's not as bad as it sounds. i think something is wrong with ipconfig because i only see a few under control panel/network and internet/network connections:
1. TAP-Win32 Adapter V9 (openvpn made this)
2. Local Area Connection (the one that gives me Internet access)
3. Network Bridge (this is the one you told me to make)
there are only 3 more. they're from stuff like vmware virtual machines and things unrelated to openvpn, so i really don't know why so many imaginary adapters are showing up under ipconfig.
i am totally confused and disillusioned right now. surely there must be a way to get this to work.
let's back up a few steps. i think this whole thread basically boils down to 4 major problems:
1. is it true that everything in my server and client configuration looks correct except that i used the simpler version of server-bridge?
2. how do i use the server-bridge command? i mean the more complicated version. here is the command as it appears by default: server-bridge yourlanip 255.255.255.0 lanfirstip lanlastip. can i just leave it that way? what determines the 3 parts of that command that you told me to find out anyways? the 3 parts are: yourlanip, lanfirstip, and lanlastip. does the server-bridge command alone set these for me? or do i have to hunt them down from some place in my computer and plug them in?
3. how do i enable ip forwarding in windows 7? can i do it for only one adapter, or do i have to do it for all?
4. are there any other problems besides #1-3 with my server configuration and client configuration?
sorry for being totally ignorant about these problems, but i really did my best to research before even posting here. i even started reading feilner and graf's "Beginning OpenVPN" book, but much of it has nothing to do with my problems. i read the entire howto at least 3 times, i googled all the information on openvpn i could find, and i spent days going over forum posts. i've wasted weeks of my life on this already, and i'm still apparently not smart enough to figure out how to set up a simple bridged network that i can play games over. i must be truly stupid if i did all this work and i still can't even get something that simple done. it's almost like the information i need doesn't exist. i could find no other books on the subject, nor any site that explained what i needed to do. this guy here makes it look so easy, but i did everything he said, combined it with the faq, and then found that it still didn't work:
http://judebert.com/progress/permalink/GameVPN.html
that's why i posted here; to find out what i'm doing wrong. i know you can help. all i want is just to get this server successfully running so i can move on with my life! to just let it all go now means i've wasted all this time for nothing, but to keep going without help is equally pointless.
