FG connection problems

[seycyrus]

Hi,

I'm having problems hosting with FG. I can connect to myself locally, but my players can't reach me. I still can use teamspeak (uses the same ip). I've hosted before, and I don't think anything has changed.

The only thing I did differently than normal, was that I hit the "enable alias" radial button and hit the "generate alias" button. The run tests are failing. I deselected the "enable alias" radial button, but I still see an alias in the alias field (this field was always blank previously).

Thanks for your time.

EDIT. For some reason (no evidence) I wonder if my problems are because there is an alias showing in the alias field, even thought the "enable alias" radial button is not selected. Can I clear this field somehow?

[damned]

the Alias only has an effect when FG servers are down and you have the button ticked.
reboot your router.
retest and if required recheck your router settings...

[seycyrus]

Yeah, I know to try that stuff. Still no luck.

I know you guys must get tired of addressing these sorts of problems every other minute or so!

But i had been reading another thread where they talked about the alias button and that started me thinking. Just looking for some other answers.

[damned]

the Alias issue actually prevents FG from loading so not that - and when it is happening - these forums should also be down...
if you can connect locally you know your host instance is listening.

so its a windows/software firewall
and/or
a hardware firewall
and/or
a NAT issue (dhcp gave you a different address today, upnp didnt pick up the session, the NAT entry went awol etc)

[ddavison]

You need to set port forwarding on your router for port 1802 on to route to your local IP address (internal IP). Once you have that configured properly, the test connection will work and your players will be able to contact you. The alias won't impact whether or not that is set up properly and if it fails, it won't matter if the alias is on or off. Your players still won't be able to connect through your router to your local computer.

If you have problems adding the port forwarding, post a note about the router you use and maybe we can look up the instructions specific to that system. You normally only need to do that one time and it should last for a while. Occasionally, your router will assign a new local IP address to your computer and you'll need to change the router to port forward to the new address instead of the old one.

[seycyrus]

Well, I got it working I think, and of course, I'm not sure how (gotta love that).

I just went and reset the router, and redid all the portforwards, and now it works. Course I also did this 30 minutes ago and it didn't work! Bah!

Thanks for the responses, and again I know how you guys must feel responding to the same old emergency time and time again. It's a real credit to everyone that you DO respond in such a timely and professional manner.

[ddavison]

We're glad to hear you got it working again. Thanks for your patience and support of our product.