Genuine HP iPAQ 2210 and Pocket Loox 720 tips for greatly enhancing the compatibility of multiplayer games!

Now that I've played a lot with the latest Widcomm Bluetooth stack, which delivers really enhanced Bluetooth (BT for short) functionality and compatibility for the Dell Axim x51v, I've also elaborated on the same question (Bluetooth compatibility) with two Pocket PC's that have Widcomm Bluetooth stack by default, but still have some compatibility problems.

The results are very good – it's certainly worth reading on if you have either the HP iPAQ 2210 and Pocket Loox 720 (PL720 for short) and would like to play some multiplayer games against friends.

Note that it's also worth reading on if you have any Pocket PC featuring the Widcomm Bluetooth stack because you can also benefit from (partially) upgrading their Bluetooth drivers. After all, they use the same Bluetoth infrastructure and very similar and, in general, mutually compatible driver files. It's just that this article doesn't contain any tangible compliance information on other Pocket PC models.

The DLL's that can be found in both the 2210 and the PL720 are pretty outdated. This, unfortunately, also means several games and applications that would natively access the BT unit in these PDA's will not work.

There're several multiplayer games that only support native BT usage: Mobirate titles, Battle Cake and Infinite Dreams titles. They are really excellent and, unfortunately, except for the Mobirate titles, not really compatible with the PL720 (and, as with Battle Cake, the iPAQ 2210). The solution is updating their Widcomm BT stack files. This involves in copying two DLL files into \Windows.

You can find the two related DLL files, BtCoreIf.dll and BtSdkCE30.dll, in either Battle Cake or the Dell Axim x51v Widcomm BT stack upgrade. Please read this article for more information on obtaining them. You will want to get the DLL's contained in Battle Cake, however, because of the broader compliance.

The version/build number of these DLL's are as follows:

Device/upgrade:PL720 built-inThe two DLL's coming with Battle CakeThe two DLL's in the x51v Widcomm upgrade
BtCoreIf.dll1.4.1 Build 7421.5.0 Build 280121.4.1 Build 742
BtSdkCE30.dll1.5.0 Build 18001.5.0 Build 28011.5.0 Build 2000

As can be seen, the two DLL's coming with Battle Cake are the latest.

Their compliance with the two devices (and with the Dell Axim x51v in addition) with the three above-mentioned games:

With the iDreams titles, the compliance matrix is as follows:

iDreams games2210PL720x51v
Everything default+-: Doesn't find anything in server and isn't found in client mode-: Crashes at once (both client and server mode)
The two DLL's coming with Battle Cake+++; in Super Miners, can't function as server (signing the DLL doesn't help this), only as client! In Explode Arena, the game must be hosted on the x51v; otherwise (if the Dell is a client), the game will not start and the other PPC's will crash.
The two DLL's in the x51v Widcomm upgrade+-: immediate crash in both client and server moden/a

With Battle Cake, the compliance matrix is as follows:

Battle Cake2210PL720x51v
Everything default---
The two DLL's coming with Battle Cake+ + -; signing the DLL's doesn't help.
The two DLL's in the x51v Widcomm upgrade+ Crash in server mode; works as clientn/a

Note that the Mobirate games work in every respect, in all the possible 9*2 (also taking into account the client/server distinction) modes. This is why I haven't created a separate compliance chart for them.

Verdict

If you want to play the above-listed native multiplayer games on your handhelds, do the following:

If you have the 2210: to be able to play Battle Cake, get either the x51v upgrade or the DLL's coming with Battle Cake

If you have the PL720: to be able to play Battle Cake and the iDreams titles, get the DLL's coming with Battle Cake

If you have the x51v and you have already upgraded it to using the Widcomm stack but haven't upgraded the two DLL's yet: to be able to play the iDreams titles, get the DLL's coming with Battle Cake.

Again, note that don't think you will only need the upgrade if you want to play the iDreams titles or Battle Cake. You may run into a "business" / "productivity" application too that solely relies on natively accessing the Widcomm stack. In that case, you may benefit a lot from this article because, then, you'll know what chances you have to make a previously non-working application run on your Pocket PC.

Note that changing these DLL's won't cause unwanted problems (I've tested all the available BT profiles to be absolutely sure) with these three Pocket PC's. That is, you can safely upgrade.

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