It looks like you figured it out
As you discovered, when using /startgame from FS-UAE Launcher it expects to hit a game service, capable of launching a server instance for the game. But you do not have to use such a service with the launcher, you have the following options (
http://fs-uae.net/launcher-net-play):
- /startgame - connects to a game service (fengestad.no by default)
- /hostgame - starts a new local game server instance
- /customgame - connect to any running game server instance
Based you what you say, I think you originally expected the functionality given by the /customgame command! (Oh, and the net play feature hasn't left beta stage, so this is a very suitable thread
)