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1.4 Relationship to Other Protocols

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The DirectPlay 4 Protocol is an envelope that wraps both operating system messages and user messages. This protocol is media-independent because it resides in the session layer of the protocol stack. DirectPlay typically can be run using service providers for TCP/IP, Internetwork Package Exchange (IPX), modem, and serial links. From the perspective of service providers, this is an application-layer protocol. From the perspective of applications, the DirectPlay 4 Protocol is a session-layer protocol.

The DirectPlay 4 Protocol is transmitted via the TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) protocols, as specified in the DirectPlay 4 Protocol: Core and Service Providers Specification [MC-DPL4CS]. At the discretion of the game, all of the messages listed in [MC-DPL4CS] can be transmitted via the DirectPlay 4 Protocol, as described in this specification [MC-DPL4R].