yeah this is not related to game development but I can answer your questions...

1. Turn off your windows firewall and Anti-virus firewall. Then you should be able to join games.
2. If you don't want to turn off firewalls, then you need to add exception, and open ports.
I know how this works for XP:
Go to: Control Panel -> Windows Firewall -> Exceptions

Click on Add program, Browse for hamachi executable and add it.
similarly add age2_x1.exe as exception.

Then click on add ports and open following ports
TCP Ports
2300-2400,47624
UDP Ports
2300-2400

Now try using Hamachi or direct ip to play the games.
I have never tried GameSpy, but there is one very-2 good client to play AOE-II online. It is called IGZ (www.igzones.com) Thousands of players are always online there. You can also try www.gamepark.eu
To play at igz and gamepark, you need to install 1.0c/1.0e patch. This patch is available at many website. (site #1 and 2 below). I believe Gamespy also uses this patch as all pro use this patch to play aoe. it makes online gaming hack proof to a little more extent.

PS: when you learn some tactics of the game You can also play with me

For more information and help go to:

1. www.aocgroup.com.ar
2. www.lclan.com
3. www.indusclan.com
4. www.aok.heavangames.com (search this on google, i dont remember if the address is exactly the same)
5. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895864

Just found somthing else, On alot of routers it seems you have to dissable UPNP. If you guys want to play with us or want help. Send me a PM on Youtube. Name is SlyNine.

I just got done playing my first AOC online game in almost 10 years!

to get the game to "see' your hamachi ip you must go into networking and move the hamachi adapter to the top of the list.(use Advanced settings)
In XP this is fairly straight forward..... in Vista it wasn't quite so easy..but again go into advanced settings.
We still have several machines that we want to play on and haven't gotten them all on yet. will keep working on it

actually u don't need that... u can see your hamachi ip at the top of hamachi window. Also whoever creates the game, should give all others his (hamachi) IP and the network he is into, and if others are present in the same network, they can join his game by entering his IP at aoe screen.

Some times you might find some1 cant join you even if he is in same hamachi network. that means he is still not connected to you. to confirm that right click on his nick and ping. if it doesnt ping then both/one of you should restart hamachi. if it pings then its your computer firewall problem.

There is a better program you can use to play Age of Empires 2 online. It works on the same principle as Hamachi (creating a virtual LAN), but it is designed specifically for playing games and works much, much better with no configuration.
It's called Tunngle, and, just like hamachi, it's free, easy to set up,secure and creates direct peer to peer connections with little latency.
As of now, it's only in beta, so it's only in German, but a proper release in English is expected very soon. This tutorial shows you how to use it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djqn-b527q8
I played Age of Empires 2 with a friend and it worked the first time, no problems whatsoever

Maybe any of your friends is not joining your game room that y it is problematic.
I do face similar problem when i play multi-player games.

I just started play this game. Having a same doubt about to play age of empires 2 on multi player using hamachi...any other care i have to take for that?
<FAKE SIGNATURE>

When you use VPN simulators like Hamachi and Tunngle, mostly you just need to put aoe (age2x_1.exe) as an exception in your firewall. (Also the simulator as well).

But if you want to use clients like Voobly (previously IGZones), Game park etc., most of the time you will need to configure your router settings. Best way is to know how to change your router settings using googling. For non-techi person, it might be a little confusing in the beginning but if you try 2-3 times, you should be able to get it done.

PS: You can read my other posts as well, hope they help...

Could you tell me exactly what to do in layman's terms?