I guess I could have a ping server button, but being able, or not, to ping someone does not necessarily tells you if you can join the server or not.. It could be that the server (being behind the router) firewalls the ping command but the router could still be set correctly to forward the DirectPlay packet from a specific port. Or, on the other hand, you could get a successful reply from your ping, but you'd just be pinging the router, but the client could still not find it's way from the server's router through the computer that actually hosts the game. I think just trying to join the server is the best way to go..

Btw, I've failed and failed again trying to get two machines to play any gamestudio multiplayer game through the internet (going through routers and all that.. And yes, I've done all port forwarding correctly..(i think ), which is why there's the 'Install Hamachi' button there. Hamachi makes router problems go away

Cheers,
Aris