Yet another help request for connecting to the GM

[Ninjafied Zombie]

Hi, guys.
Okay, I'm brand new to FG, just bought a full version to play around with, and I want to get my gaming group hooked up to it as well.
My GM and I both downloaded the demo and we are trying to get the connection to his PC to work properly before buying several more copies of FG for the rest of the group.

Well, as things usually go with our wonderful, modern technologies, it doesn't work. Now, before anyone tells me that I should search the forums for this information I will go ahead and say that I have. I've done everything I can think of to get it to work. I've forwarded port 1802, turned off his firewall, put his computer in DMZ, set a static IP for him, and nothing seems to work. The closest I've gotten it to working is connecting with a laptop inside his WAN, but when I go home and try to connect, nothing (yes, I try to connect to his external IP).

There are only two computers in his WAN: his desktop and a laptop. He's using a Linksys WRT54G router. I'm not sure of any other pertinent info you might need so I apologize if I haven't posted enough.

I did scan port 1802 with FG running and the port was stealthed, but I am at a loss as to how to open it.
Any help or suggestions you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

[Dachannien]

One possibility is that there is a device (such as a cable modem) outside the router that is blocking access. The ISP itself could also be filtering traffic. Most cable modems aren't configured to do this, but you never know.

[Ninjafied Zombie]

I know that he does in fact have a DSL/cable/something modem. It is a Siemens Speedstream 4200. Any suggestions for how to get into it and check?

[Griogre]

Google the manual for the modem. https://search.earthlink.net/search?q=Siemens+Speedstream+4200&area=earthlink-ws&FD=0&channel=narrowband&abtcgid=3&abtli=1

As it probably came from the ISP you can use their tech support. Stealth means the port is "half open". Probably from a firewall though internet security can also stealth them. Most modern cable or DSL "modems" have firewalls in them.

[joshuha]

I think I used to have that modem long ago and it has NAT filtering which is essentially the same thing. I had to forward the ports through the modem software itself but its been awhile so I can't provide the specifics on it off the top of my head.

[Hamish]

Also, make sure to make an exception for FG in the Windows firewall if it's running.

[Dachannien]

Stealth means the port is "half open".

I thought "stealthed" meant that the destination machine simply ignores requests made on that port, which is identical to what happens if there is no machine there at all or if the machine is unreachable. "Closed" means that the destination machine rejects requests made to the port.

[The High Druid]

Well given what you've described so far, first thing I'd do is connect the PC directly to his modem and try the connection that way. If you have two routing devices between you and the outside world both will have to be configured right for it to work - both might be providing 'local' IP adresses and that would need to be sorted. Sounds like you've been fairly systematic about it, so you've probably tried shtutting down firewall software like Norton and whatnot, but figured I'd mention that as well.

As an aside, WAN = Wide Area Network (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_network) . . . usually refering to networks that use the internet., leased lines or similar for communication, I think you probably mean Wireless-LAN above.

[Griogre]

I thought "stealthed" meant that the destination machine simply ignores requests made on that port, which is identical to what happens if there is no machine there at all or if the machine is unreachable. "Closed" means that the destination machine rejects requests made to the port.
You are correct. This is one of those "is the glass half full or half empty" things and that is why I put half open in quotes. You are correct that stealth means something intervened and kept a port from reponding, kinda like a shield over the port. The port behind the shield could be open, closed, listening, ect. In this case I chose to believe everthing was ready behind the stealth IE there was an open port listening for connections and thus considered the port to be "half open" in the sense that if stealthing can be cut off everything will work. The port could also be consider "half closed" or well, steathed. :p

The technical defination of stealth is more precise but not that important in this case other than it means *something* proactively hid that port.

[Ninjafied Zombie]

This guy isn't the most tech-savvy. As far as he, or I, know the only firewall is on his router, and I couldn't find Windows Security Center on his PC to turn off Windows Firewall. I have forwarded port 1802 through his router and I tried turning the firewall on the router off and running it, but it still didn't work. So I'm suspecting it's the modem or his ISP. I'll play with it a bit and let you guys know what happens. thanks for the responses.

[Griogre]

I would guess it is the broadband "modem." It may be worth the wading through his ISP's tech support till you find someone who can help you.

[Ninjafied Zombie]

Sorry about the lack of updates.
I had it working! It was indeed the modem causing the trouble. After fiddling with his computer, accidentally killing his internet, reinstalling and configuring his modem, and leaving him without a wireless network, I forwarded port 1802 through his modem. Voila! It worked. I could connect from my house no problem, and even had a friend connect to chat a while. Then he tried to setup his wireless again, and it stopped working.

So I've aboout had it with wireless networking altogether. I may just forget about it and find a game online through the boards, and stick to pen and paper with my friends.

[Dachannien]

Make sure that when he switched to wireless, that he's getting the same IP address from his router. If he's getting his IP address via DHCP, it will almost certainly be different than the one you set up in the port forwarding.

This would be on the router, not the cable modem, by the way.

[Malovech]

I have a Linksys WRT54G and it does not support fixed internal IPs with the default firmware. So when you connect via Wireless you are definitely getting a new internal IP. This just needs to be changed in the modem.

To those who have the WRT54G and are a bit more tech-savvy, I highly recommend this firmware (https://www.polarcloud.com/tomato). You can set fixed internal IPs with it.

I also recommend a service like www.dyndns.com (https://www.dyndns.com/) where you can get a domain that constantly switches the IP address it forwards to, even if your ISP changes it (like many residential ISPs do). Both the WRT54G default firmware and the tomato firmware I recommend can take advantage of this service. Once setup you never have to worry about sending out IPs to your players again.

[Dachannien]

That's actually kind of surprising. My Linksys router (not a WRT54G) simply works if you set your computer to use an internal IP that isn't already in use, even if you're using wireless. It has a setting for the first IP that gets allocated via DHCP, to ensure that all of the addresses below that are available for manual setup.

[Malovech]

That's actually kind of surprising. My Linksys router (not a WRT54G) simply works if you set your computer to use an internal IP that isn't already in use, even if you're using wireless. It has a setting for the first IP that gets allocated via DHCP, to ensure that all of the addresses below that are available for manual setup.

That functionality is pretty standard in a lot of routers. I have a D-link wireless that has support for this functionality. It may even be that later versions of the WRT54G firmware included this, but I've found most of Linksys' firmware to be dodgy at best.