Sure. It's a fairly generic question regarding any server software, but it's quite often asked about PT servers, and any other MMO. I'm surprised you couldn't find anything as I know I've answered this question before, and I've seen the same question asked about other servers in other sections and the response is almost the same. I'm sure it's listed on other sites too. ^_^
Anyway. To join the server on the machine you are playing, you usually use the "localhost" IP. To join on a LAN, you use the LAN IP. Across the web you need to employ "port forwarding" in any router you use, and use the IP address of the router, which needs to be determined from an outside source. (you ISP would know, but you can ask google "Whats my IP" or such and find a suitable answer too.
You add an extra layer of complexity with a "virtual network" in VMWare. If the first three numbers in your real computer and your virtual one are not the same, then it it probable that they are not within the same VLAN, and may not be able to communicate in that manner.
There are three main networking modes for VMWare guests.
- Host only (virtual router and secondary VLAN on a secondary virtual NIC in the host PC ... will never allow other PCs to connect)
- Virtual NAT (Separate VLAN on the same local network ... if your router can cope with multiple VLANs and the hostmask can be set to support them both, it is possible, but that's not common in "home" networking)
- Virtual NIC (The virtual machine will allocate a MAC address to it's NIC and communicate in accordance to the rules you define for your LAN like any real PC would, so LAN gaming should be fine)
Changing the configuration after installing will likely also change the IP of the virtual server. While this is necessary to play on a LAN in a virtual machine in many cases, there is no "tool" to change the configuration of the server which is required if the servers IP changes.
You may reinstall the virtual machine once you have confirmed that the first three numbers are the same as any other machine on your LAN* and other machines can access (for example) file shares on it, or you could look for information on configuring the IP of a PT server and ask us if you are unsure of anything.
* That's a simplification which usually holds true. Specifically, a typical home network with have a hostmask like "255.255.255.0" which indicates that any machine using the same first three numbers in it's IP is part of this LAN. If the hostmask is different, then the "range" of IP addresses covered by the LAN will also be different.