Can connect to FG fine but cannot host games

[noelyuk]

Hi all

So far I love this software and have so far had half a dozen or so really enjoyable sessions. I'm also midway through trying to build my own campaign/module. But I fear that once completed I'll have no means of running the damn thing. My problem is that while I can connect to others I simply cannot host at all.

Each time I run the test I get a FAILURE to connect.

I've tried opening port 1802 on my router with no success. I followed the instructions from Portforward for my router and while my router says i'm good to go a test from canyouseeme.org says otherwise and gives me the following error:

Error: I could not see your service on 58.xxx.xxx.xx on port (1802)
Reason: No route to host

Presumably that means something else is blocking the connection. I don't have a firewalll on.

Any suggestions what I can try. It's very frustrating. I fear that my new module may never see the light of day :(

[dulux-oz]

Hi Noelyuk,

I will assume that you have tried connecting from a 2nd instance of FG on the same computer ie run FG as a host and then a 2nd instance of FG as a Clent connecting to "localhost" (if not, then try this).

I will also assume that you have a Full or an Ultimate License (which you will need to host for more than one client.

The only other thing I can suggest is confirming that your Router has been set up to forward 1802 traffic to your PC's IP Address. Eg your PC may have an address something like 192.168.1.1 and the Router may also have an Internal address (also known as a gateway address) of 192.168.1.254 or something similar. A common mistake made by many is to have the 1802 traffic routed to the Router's internal/gateway address and not their PC's - also, it helps if the PC's IP Address is manually set, not allocated by DHCP.

I'll be on the boards for a while tonight, so try things out and get back to me if you need further help

Cheers

[Zeus]

Some things to try:

On the system that will be hosting FG:


Check the local LAN IP address for the system which will run FG, is it using a static IP address (i.e. fixed) or is it assigned by DHCP (dynamic). If its the latter, try changing it to use a static IP that never changes and use this to assign port forwarding to on your router.

Check and make sure any locally installed firewall, anti-virus/IPS software is either temporarily disabled or configured to allow incoming connections to FG


On your router/NAT firewall :

Double check that you are forwarding TCP port 1802 traffic to the LAN IP of your host system (see above).

[Griogre]

It probably should be mentioned that often firewalls act as dead man switches for security reasons. If they are off, they lock port settings to the last configuration they had when on. You may need to cut *on* the firewall to open the 1802 port.

[noelyuk]

Guys

Thanks for your help. I believe I have solved the problem. Firstly I uninstalled Hamachi since that was confusing the issue for me and seemed frankly more trouble than it was worth. But ultimately it was an embarrassingly simple solution in the end. It seems that my IP address was one digit out. Basically the IP address I was using was assigned to my wife computer. Now how that error could have happened I'm not sure. But once I spotted and changed it now works.

However I'm wondering whether the DHCP of which you guys mention is at the root cause of it. I'm wondering whether when I first setup I used that IP address. Because a week ago when I ran the test it was working. But am I correct in thinking that DHCP assigns a different port each time therefore it may have reassigned my old IP address to my wife's comp. If so will assigning a static IP address solve this problem once and for all.

Failing that of course there is the possibility that I am an idiot and buffoon :)

[Zeus]

Guys

Thanks for your help. I believe I have solved the problem. Firstly I uninstalled Hamachi since that was confusing the issue for me and seemed frankly more trouble than it was worth. But ultimately it was an embarrassingly simple solution in the end. It seems that my IP address was one digit out. Basically the IP address I was using was assigned to my wife computer. Now how that error could have happened I'm not sure. But once I spotted and changed it now works.

However I'm wondering whether the DHCP of which you guys mention is at the root cause of it. I'm wondering whether when I first setup I used that IP address. Because a week ago when I ran the test it was working. But am I correct in thinking that DHCP assigns a different port each time therefore it may have reassigned my old IP address to my wife's comp. If so will assigning a static IP address solve this problem once and for all.

Failing that of course there is the possibility that I am an idiot and buffoon :)

Yes, it sounds like DHCP is causing the problem your experiencing. With DHCP your wife's and your machine will be assigned an IP with a time bound lease upon startup. When the lease expires, the next time the system starts it will request an IP, depending upon what other IP addresses are available in the pool at the time will determine which IP is re-assigned. Sometimes you get the same IP address again, other times you will be assigned a new IP (from the same subnet). Its following the latter scenario that you will need to 'adjust' your port forwarding configuration.

Four 'safe' ways to address.

1. Assign static IP address to your FG hosts system, so that upon startup it always uses the same IP address. Then configure your port forwarding setup to point to the static IP you assigned to your FG host.
2. Assuming your router supports it, make use of LAN hostnames in port forwarding entries as opposed to a hard coded IP address.
3. Forego port forwarding altogether and enable UPNP on your router. FG will attempt to 'request' port 1802 be opened on the router and forwarded to whichever IP the FG hosts is currently assigned via a UPNP request.
4. Forego Port Forwarding and enable Port Triggering for your FG host.

Z.

[noelyuk]

Thanks Guys. Issue solved. Inside my tp-link router under DHCP settings there's a tab for Address Reservation. Within that I entered the the MAC address and current assigned IP address of my computer. After rebooting my machine that IP address is now listed as permanently reserved. Hopefully that has sorted the issue. It looks that way. Thanks again.

[Zeus]

Thanks Guys. Issue solved. Inside my tp-link router under DHCP settings there's a tab for Address Reservation. Within that I entered the the MAC address and current assigned IP address of my computer. After rebooting my machine that IP address is now listed as permanently reserved. Hopefully that has sorted the issue. It looks that way. Thanks again.

Oops Missed the fifth way to address: DHCP address reservation against MAC. Glad its all working.

[Bidmaron]

Zeus, been meaning to ask: What is port triggering and how does it work? I realize the answer to set up will vary with router, but what is typical?

[Zeus]

Zeus, been meaning to ask: What is port triggering and how does it work? I realize the answer to set up will vary with router, but what is typical?

Port forwarding: New connections from outside your network on a certain port or port range are mapped (statically) to go to a designated LAN machine.


Port triggering: New connections from the outside your network on a certain port or port range are mapped to whichever LAN machine made a certain outgoing connection (as defined by destination port) at that point in time. Example: You define port 25 as the trigger port and 113 as the destination port. If any of your LAN machines creates an outgoing connection (=trigger) to port 25 (e.g. to send mail), all incoming connections to port 113 will temporarily go to that machine. After a specific time period, new 113 connections will again be dropped until another trigger port is used.

Port triggering can be used where you are using a server LAN setup that is dynamic i.e. DHCP assigned IP. Each time the server starts and triggers an outgoing connection, all incoming connections on a particular port will be forwarded temporarily to the server IP. In the case of FG you can setup the trigger port to be either 80 or 1802 but the destination port must be 1802.

[Bidmaron]

Thanks, Zeus