Router Causing players to DC

[DMdomination]

I have an issue with players connecting. I have configured my router and modem for the ports and for everything to go along just fine and people have absolutely no problem connecting to my server but my router (linksys), when hooked up seems to cause players to be disconnected, i'd say it averages about 1 player every 5 minutes and all players are booted about every 30-45 minutes. There is nothing being done in game we have opened the server and just let players connect and watched how long it takes to boot them. With just the modem it seems fine. What would cause this? How can i fix it? I don't think its FGII but i am hoping that someone else has had the problem and can tell me how they fixed it. Thank you for your time.

Tony,
DmDomination

[EugeneZ]

What model router do you have? And did you configure it, or did your ISP (or someone else) do that for you?

With a WRT54G (most common Linksys router) on a stock config, I can't think fo any reason that might happen... sorry.

There are certain configurations that drop connections after they've been idle for a time, and 5 minutes sounds about right. But that would mean your players are doing nothing, and I don't think that's the case, right?

[Griogre]

Actually, I *would* double check to see if router kicks idle connections. In a game with voice sometimes there is very little typing going on unless you are in fight. In a game I'm a player in with 5 players and a DM where we use voice it is not that uncommon to see a few "Z's" on the character portraits.

However if you don't use voice it seems unlikely that's the problem. If the router is kicking idle connections it will probably be guys in FG with the "Z" sleeping idle warning.

[Spyke]

It's possible that there's more than one thing going on here, as well. Do you find that some players are stable and only get booted when all players are kicked out, or are all the players getting disconnected at random?

Spyke

[DMdomination]

Last night we played, i had 3 players playing five character (two players were late, grrr.) Players use voice for their open discussions but all actions are done via typing so inactivity isn't the cause. It is the WRT54G model and i configured it myself, set up a static IP, enabled port forwarding from ports 1802 - 1805 on both the modem and the router. It boots people are random, not because i'm loading anything, we have done experiments if you will. We did it sending stuff to them it has booted people, we did it with players just working on their sheets and it would boot people, we did it with them doing nothing it still booted them. In general it just seems that every 5-10 minutes or so it doesn't like players being on and boots one, Last night it was booting one as the other came back on. A true mystery of technology.

[Spyke]

This sounds like a tricky one. I can hear the forumites rolling up their mental sleeves already!

OK. Please can you give us more detail about the system and the way you're using FG.

We know your router, the Linksys WRT54G. Are you connecting that to a cable modem, or do you have an ADSL modem or router in the setup?

Is the machine you are running the FG host session on connected to the router via a cable or by wireless?

If by wireless, which card are you using, and might it be dropping the connection occasionally?

If you have another PC in the house can you run a player session on that and see if FG boots that player? (Might indicate a problem with the stability of the internal network.)

Are you using XP or Vista?

Are you running a software firewall package, if so which one?

Have you got the Windows firewall turned off or on?

What software are you using for your voice connections? Which port does that use?

Is there any other port forwarding setting on your router using port 1802? Check that it isn't accidentally included in another range.

What other software are you running at the same time as FGII and the voice package?

Ummm...

Spyke

[Griogre]

Another something to look into is someone else on your network causing the problem? I played in a game where the DMs wife's computer in the next room was running torrents automatically when it was idle. To people in the game it was as if there were random slowdowns and disconnects. That one took a while to figure out.

[DMdomination]

my modem is an AT&T (bellsouth) DSL Westell modem, the router is connected to it via cable, the desktop is connected directly to it with a cord, there is another laptop hooked to it via wireless card but we have had it in use sometimes and others not it seems to have no effect on the booting. I'll check the laptop next game to see if it is the desktop causing the problems. I have never ran a game from the laptop. Both computers are running XP, windows firewall turned off during game. Skype is what players use but i'm not connected to their voice chat (i dont wanna hear some of the goofy stuff they say) none other than wife's messenger programs (yahoo ect..)

[DMdomination]

Router has no other forwarding, the only thing on modem under forwarding is:

Service Name

IPSEC ALG
Type

Port Forwarding
Port 1

Protocol

TCP/UDP
Global Port(s)

500
Base Host Port

500
Port 2

Protocol

TCP/UDP
Global Port(s)

500
Base Host Port

500

[Spyke]

We're not sure yet whether the problem is caused by your router disconnecting preiodically, however in your router there's an option to 'keep alive' the connection on the setup screen. It's probably worth checking that this option is turned on.

The router can be set to record a log if incoming and outgoing traffic. This might also include notes on connections and disconnections and if you review this after a session it might give some clues.

Spyke

[DarkWiz58]

.
Have you checked your Linksys router's microcode level? I had to update mine from their Web site a while ago. It's not hard, just do it slowly.

-DarkWiz58

[EugeneZ]

Or, if you are a power user, check out this site:

https://www.dd-wrt.com

It's custom firmware and I always find it performs significantly better than the stock Linksys firmware. It's been around a while so its perfectly safe, just follow the instructions. WRTs are hard to brick even if you TRY.

[DMdomination]

i'll try that and get back to you all. Thanks for all the time and effort.