Difficult port routing issue

http://www.puffinsoft.com/

Not sure if it still works but worth a try

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SirDice

Odd.. BF2142 uses both TCP and UDP IIRC. So there must be something else blocking things. And I've got a feeling you're thinking way to complicated ;)

One question I believe hasn't been answered though, are YOU behind a router and/or firewall? Do you have a 192.168.0.0/16, 10.0.0.0/8 or 172.16.0.0/12 address?
If so you need to open and forward those game ports correctly to your computer. Is that set up properly?

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Yes, I am NATted, 192.168.x.x. Hamachi uses the 5.x.x.x . My router does that automatically. I routinely run a server and two clients behind my firewall, and others on the WAN side also connect with no problem. I have a DLink DI624 router that has a "game mode" automatically senses the game, opens ports. It's weird to watch the firewall open up stuff automagically.

I've tried opening up the same channels for LAN>LAN play, since he is essentially inside my LAN with Hamachi. No worky.

And to address the issue in the post above, I have DX-Port, but I've never needed it because of my router autosensing players inside the lan. However, it is worth a try...nothing else has worked. I guess what you are referring to here is using DX-port with Hamachi?

Forget Hamachi for a minute.. Lets work on your router as I have a feeling it's the culprit.

As this is a somewhat older game the router might not open up ports automagicly? You need to open and forward those game ports yourself in the router if you're hosting a game.

Hmm. Here's my Firewall Rules List after the game starts:
Firewall Rules List
Action Name Source Destination Protocol
Allow MW4MERCS (192.168.0.106:2350) 6 WAN,* LAN,192.168.0.106 UDP,2350-60617
Allow MW4MERCS (192.168.0.106:2300) 1 WAN,* LAN,192.168.0.106 TCP,2300-16072
Allow dplaysvr (255.255.255.255:47624 WAN,* LAN,255.255.255.255 UDP,47624
Allow MW4MERCS (192.168.0.106:1074) 1 WAN,* LAN,192.168.0.106 UDP,1074
Deny Default *,* LAN,* *,*
Allow Default LAN,* *,* *,*


Sorry, can't get tab to act like tab, columns not aligned.

Here are the ports that MS says need to be open:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309128
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/240429/EN-US/

Note that MW4 Mercs uses DX7 ports/functionality.

I just noticed that UDP starts at 2350, not 2300...hmm.

If I look at that list you would need to open up 2300-2400 TCP/UDP and port 47624 TCP. All these ports also need to be forwarded to your computer (192.168.0.106).

Configure your router by hand as it looks like this automatic thing doesn't open up the correct ports.

I will try that. However that doesn't explain why most other folks can connect to my server, nor does it explain why my friend behind the univ firewall cannot connect to ANY open MW4 Mercs server...surely some of them are configured correctly.

I will report back here on how it goes.

Well, it didn't work. Some interesting tidbits:

It is apparently not the "game mode" feature of my router that facilitates the automatic opening of ports by a game. I still do not understand what "game mode" does, exactly. However, I did discover that it was UPnP that automatically enabled ports to be open.

WIth that info, I disabled UPnP, and no ports opened, and nobody could connect. I then opened and forwarded the ports listed in the Microsoft KNowledge Base article...and no one could connect. Hmm.

Restarted UPnp - everyone except my friend could connect.

ADDED the ports that were in the MSKB article, that were different than the ones automatically opened, hoping that they somehow applied to him. No effect, he still can't connect.

So now I have two mysteries...why the published ports don't work, and why he (still) can't connect, any everyone else can.

I have considered that it is his computer, and not his network, that is the problem. He takes his PC home on holidays - connects fine from home. And again he plays BF2142 from school just fine.

An enigma.