Port forward | Forums

[gothkrieger]

Been trying to get Port Forward to work so I can host games but no joy. Have done things right but there is some obscure setting someplace that prevents success, and yes the firewalls are off. So my question is, if my computer is connected directly to my internet feed connection, with no router involved do I still need to port forward, considering I don’t have a router in the equation?

Thanks

[Tully__]

It depends on more than just that. What sort of internet feed is it? Cable modem, ADSL, fibre optic modem, organisational network (work/school), other...
If it's a work or school network, the network might have the necessary ports blocked (as will some ISP's, even in this day and age... ).
If it's a modem, what make/model? Many of them have built in router functions that are turned on by default. If so you'll still need to port forward.
Any other information that may be relevant, even if you don't think so?

[gothkrieger]

It is not phone or cable internet, I am in a rural location, I have a receiver on the roof that is aimed at my service provider’s broadcasting tower. So what ever you call that kind of feed.

It is a home internet connection. I called my service provider and they said nothing is blocking port forward. The modem I believe must be at the receiver on the roof as there is no other hardware at end of cable that comes into the house. Currently it is plugged into a wireless router but it can be plugged directly into my laptop for example (not my game computer) and I have internet.

[Tully__]

With that setup, you may just be getting timeouts. Microwave and satellite internet are notorious for huge latency (ping) and burst mode transmission which interfere with realtime network applications such as online games. What error mesages are you or the people trying to connect getting?

[gothkrieger]

People can not connet (wireless right now) I used a Port forward checker program and the result: We were not able to ping your router & Port Check Result: Your port is Not Open or not reachable.

[Tully__]

Still inconclusive I'm afraid. Many modems/routers have an option to ignore ping requests and in some it's turned on by default. This setting may cause the port to appear closed if they're only using the ICMP echo request (ping) to test the port forwarding, especially as port forwarding setups often only forward UDPB/TCP packets.

A WiFi home network shouldn't be a problem for initial connection, I"ve hosted both games and teamspeak for small groups on a wifi net. If you get too many players joining it begins to get a bit laggy though.

[MAXMHZ1959]

Could you please edit the first post?

Black text on a dark gray background is not a good idea.


As for the problem, Make your life easy. Connect your router as a switch.
You do this by connecting only to the LAN connectors, not using the WAN/Internet connector.

That way you do not need to port-forward anything.

Also keep in mind some modems are actually routers. You then have to PF the modem to your router and then your router to your PC.
If someone can not connect ask them for their external IP address and do a Trace Route on it.
That should show latencies (ping) and where thing go wrong.

[gothkrieger]

Think we found the problem. My router is not directly connected to internet. Service provider has us behind their router (if I can use that term). So like in your example above things will require port 21000 be opened to me at their end to make it work. Plus I will have to provide that IP (the one assinged to me at there end) to others so they can hook up. Nothing like beating my head against the wall for hours trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.

Thanks to those who answered.

[Tully__]

Glad you got it sorted, I hadn't thought of that particular hurdle. There's so many ways for an ISP to connect its clients to the rest of the world it's hard to cover all bases but I knew from your description it was going to be more complex than just doing the port forwarding wrong at your end.

[MAXMHZ1959]

Good job.
To get an impression of your line quality check out http://speedtest.net and http://pingtest.net - Keep in mind these numbers are just that - numbers.

Don't stare yourself blind on them. They can vary up/down 40% easy depending on many factors.
What really counts is if you can work comfortable.

With a beam connection you usually have very high bandwidth, but ping is higher than with most other types of connections. Which should not matter that much.
I think you will be able to play and host IL-2 just fine.