I have a problem. When a friend and I try to set up a multiplayer game I just get "Unable to Join Lobby" message until I beat the keyboard and spit on the screen. I am running version 1.1 I have SoutWestern Bell DSL. My friend uses some local service out of Houston (his works fine). Here's what the Activision web site says about my problem:
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Problem
I can't join the lobby in multiplayer because of an "Unable to join lobby" message.

Solution
Call to Power 2 may be incompatible with some high-speed internet connections. Those Internet Service Providers, which require you to dial-in and establish a connection in order to access the internet, and use PPPOE (Point-to-Point Protocol Over Ethernet), may be unable to play Call to Power 2 over the internet. If you receive the message "Unable to join lobby" when selecting any server from the Internet Server List, Call to Power 2 may not support internet play through your Internet Service Provider. LAN play over TCP/IP and IPX should not be affected by this.
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Translation : YOU ARE SCREWED AHAHAHAHA YOU PAID US MONEY AHAHAHAHAAH ! ! !

So... am I doomed?

1) Is there a way to "trick" the computer into starting a tcp/ip game even though we aren't on the same LAN? (unlikely)

2) Is there some way to work around this that I don't know about? (please God?)

3) Is Activision planning on fixing this in an upcoming patch? (very very very unlikely - this is Activision we're talking about, afterall)

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

If you have TCP/IP protocol bound to your network adapter which has your PPPoE protocol bound to it, you should be fine. PPPoE is not so much a way to connect to the internet but a way to connect to the ISP server at the CO which acts as your gateway.

Could you give me more details about your set-up.

Here is a more detailed description of exactly what the problem is:

I open CTP II, go to multiplayer, the list of servers comes up - only two show up (us1 and us2). I select a server (I have tried both of course) and select a profile - then I click "next." The Dialog box "Entering Lobby" comes up and stays on the screen for about 10 seconds or so, then I get a message "Unable to Enter Lobby." If I click "back" and try connecting again the game will lock up (it goes to the lobby screen but no other players are displayed, my profile is not displayed, text I type does not appear in the chat box, and the "back" button doesnt work).

I'm home from school over Christmas and using my parents computer - here's everything I can tell you about the setup that applies:

Compaq (yuck) :/
PIII 550mhz
96mb PC100
Kingston EtheRx 10/100 Fast Ethernet Adapter(KNE110TX)
Network TeleSystems P.P.P.o.E. Adapter(NTSP3)*
Texas Instruments OHCI IEEE 1394 Host Controller *

* I'm not really familiar with how this setup works - the phone line plugs into the Bus Controller and then the Bus Controller plugs into the Ethernet Adapter

The DSL service is provided by South Wester Bell.

The weird thing was that I had JUST installed the game and the patch, and hadn't even played the game once... yet somehow my servers.dat file got messed up. Replacing it with my girlfriend's uncorrupted file did the trick.

This seems like a pretty common problem, and one Activision should absolutely address, since:

1) it has been around since CTP1

2) their own tech help seems to know about this (and the workaround) already

3) this relatively common problem completely keeps someone from being able to play MP, and if they don't know enough to check Apolyton for help, they're pretty much screwed

Merry Christmas! @8-D