Total Annihilation has a direct-play path entry in the registry, which is often not correctly pointing to were the game is installed. This is usually because of installing the game into a non default folder or hard drive which is usually the C:\CAVEDOG\TOTALA\ folder. For example the MS Gaming zone will often say GAME NOT FOUND, when entering the lobby, by changing this to point to were the game is actually installed the zone will find and let you play the game. The registry is not a thing you really want to mess with if your not the sliest bit familiar with windows and a computer, so be VERY carful not to change anything but this registry entry. You can get to the registry by going to the start button, and clicking on RUN, then typing in REGEDIT and hitting ok. Browse the tree structure to find the settings that need to be changed.

PATH: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ DirectPlay \ Applications \ Total Annihilation \

CHANGE: CURRENTDIRECTORY and PATH to both point to were ever you have the game installed, the full drive and path.

If you do not wish to do the steps above, the alternative is to download and run (double click) this file. If you have TA installed on a different disk drive or folder other then the default folder, pick any one of them, and alter it with notepad, change the drive letter and path as needed before running it.

When trying to join or host a multiplayer game, the Time Out error might occur if one of the players, has a firewall or router setup wrong, needs to install the 3.1c patch, or needs to install or reinstall directX.

If using a firewall or router some Direct-X games require these ports to be open, or forwarded to the IP of the computer that is playing the game. TA will only allow one computer per outside IP to join/host a multiplayer game.
For router or firewall settings or ports, see: my router instructions below . It may not totaly apply to your firewall or router, but the ports will be the same.

If its not a firewall or router, try installing the 3.1c patch again, or correctly, see: my installation instructions above .

It may also be Direct-X is old, or needs to be installed again, you can get that from microsofts directX page . I currently use Direct X 7.0a for use with TA. Direct X 8 works, but has been known to have goofy problems. Also ME users although having the most problems with DX8, are suppose to be able to have multiple players locally on a firewall when using DX8.1a, I have yet to see this work though.