This is the first step of the Network Wizard, and any potential problems will most likely appear here. This step is designed to test your internet connection. This process also forces any firewall windows to pop up at this stage (and not while you're playing) so you can enable network access for the game. The option "Run test on desktop" exists precisely for this reason: when enabled, the game will temporarily run in a window on your desktop. This will make it easier to spot any firewall windows (if the game is taking up your entire screen, they might not be visible when they appear).
Note: In older game versions, the firewall windows will not always show up at this stage. If you complete the Network Wizard but find out that you can't connect to LAN/internet games, return to your desktop and check for any firewall windows that have popped up. Enable access for the game, then try again.
Note: Under certain configurations, older game versions may freeze during this stage. Check the FAQ for more details on how to overcome these problems.
This test simply makes sure that your computer is fast enough to support hosting and joining multiplayer network games. Network games are more demanding on your hardware than solo missions, and to ensure a good playing experience for both yourself and your playing partners, this test must be completed successfully.
You need at least an average frames-per-second result of 20. Practically, you should avoid network games if you get any result less than 40, because your computer won't be able to handle some of the more graphically intensive scenes without slowing down.
In this step you get to set your basic network preferences:
This step allows you to fine-tune your current location in the world. Similar to the last step, you can change your country (any change here will change your country selection in the previous step as well). By default, the location on the world map is set to the capital of your country. To provide a more accurate position, simply click on the map.
This information is used to locate games that are closest to your geographical location, and hence have the greatest possibility of providing the best/fastest network connections. In general, the closest to you a game is hosted, the better your network experience will be, so it is critical that you place the map pin as close to your current position as possible.