If you have installed Four Winds Mah Jong on Windows Pro or Enterprise, you can play the game on a Windows, Linux, macOS or iOS client by using free Remote Desktop App (or equivalent desktop client, included in the operating system). Or you can use a third-party app like Splashtop Personal, or Chrome Remote Desktop, to host the game on Windows Home computers, as well.
Normally the connection is created within a local area network (wired or wireless), but can be extended to WAN connections. The experience especially within LAN is close to running a local app, and can ideally near the experience of using a native app on a non-Windows client. This post shows how to establish the connection.
When streaming within LAN, all native features of the game are accessible to all clients, including multiplayer games. You can play the game with your family e.g. by using mixed devices, e.g. Windows/macOS/Linux laptops, iPads and Android tablets (or even, if only barely, large-screen mobile phones, as shown in the screenshot above).
Note that when running recent versions of Windows 10 operating system, or Windows 11, you will need to use a 3rd party program to enable Winsock 1.x multiplayer games. For instructions, please check https://www.4windsmj.com/store/general/playing-four-winds-multiplayer-games-on-lan-on-windows-10/
Using Windows Remote Desktop Connection (requires Windows Pro or Enterprise)
- The easiest way to set up the hosting computer is to download Microsoft Remote Desktop Assistant at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50042. If you use the assistant, you get easily the IP address that you need to establish the connection from the client side. An alternative method would be setting up the remote connection manually. In recent versions of Windows 10 you can do this from Settings > System > Remote Desktop, where you can access the related settings like turning off the automatic sleep mode. On older systems, the easiest method to establish remote desktop connections is to right click the My Computer icon on the Windows Desktop, choose Properties and then the Remote tab (this can still be accessed on Windows 10 Control Panel by clicking System > Advanced system settings > Remote.
- If you use Linux or macOS computer, or iOS, Android or Windows Mobile device, open the Remote Desktop app (available for free from Microsoft Store, Google Play, or App Store), and add your remote PC. Select the remote PC, and then wait for the connection to complete. An alternative method would be using the Remote Desktop Connection desktop interface (it can normally be located by searching “Remote Desktop Connection” from the Start Menu Search box, but if not, it resides in C:\Windows\System32\mstsc.exe). The app has the benefit of supporting better display scaling (useful especially if either of your computers uses 4K or very high-resolution display but the other does not).
NOTE: Microsoft Remote Desktop app runs also on the new Apple M1/M2 computers with Big Sur, Monterey or Ventura. This is currently also the only (free) way to use Windows apps on the new Apple computers, and currently the only reliable way to use 32-bit Windows apps on Catalina. - You can extend the Remote Desktop to operate across the Internet, but this requires setting up port forwarding on your router, or using VPN. Please check instructions at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/clients/remote-desktop-allow-outside-access.
Using Splashtop Personal
- Go to https://www.splashtop.com/personal to download and install the Windows XP, 7, 8 or 10 host (“Spashtop Streamer”) on the computer where you have Four Winds Mah Jong installed, and a client app for Windows XP, 7, 7 or 10, Windows Mobile, Mac OS X / macOS, iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android or Kindle Fire to be installed on your client device.
- Follow the instructions for creating a Splashtop account and setting up the apps.
- You can use Splashtop Personal free within LAN. At an extra annual charge, you can extend the connection to operate across the Internet.
Video capture on running Four Winds on iPad using Splashtop Personal
Other methods
Chrome Remote Desktop allows streaming across the Internet between any two devices running Chrome browser. There may be issues with the sound but otherwise the connection seems to be operational.
Parallels Access allows accessing multiple hosts (up to five Windows or Mac computers) with any number of mobile Android and iOS devices and desktop computers (via a browser) accross the Internet with a plan costing EUR 17.99 per year.
Streaming across Internet from Windows 10 host onto an Android device (10-inch Yoga Book tablet running Android 7) with Parallels Access. The apps cannot be zoomed in (if there is no internal support for it), but accessing menus and controls is made possible by offering a magnifying glass combined with gestures that allow making precise mouse-like operations.