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Question about joining games...

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:52 am
by felixxx999
I'm not a big online player so if I sound dumb don't flame me.

I play multiwinia on line and join games usually hosted by servers that randomly make games (like NeoThermic or Multiwinia-Ladder.net).

However, when I try to join a game that is hosted by a player I get Connecting then Attempt followed by seconds ticking off endlessly. I never connect when I get this Connecting screen. What am I doing wrong? Does the Connecting screen ever connect? Sometimes I'll get a password request - I understand that's a private game.

If I attempt to host a game no one ever joins...

Any ideas, tips. Is there a way to find more players or change the servers that pop up?

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:11 am
by felixxx999
OK... doing research I guess I have to forward ports. (geez...)

I have no clue. I get to my netgear router settings and I try to forward ports 4000 and 4001 but what do I put for an IP address? UDP is the service type?

totally baffled.

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 8:37 am
by bert_the_turtle
The IP address to put in there is the LAN IP address of the computer you're playing on. You can find out the current address somewhere in the context menu of the connection symbol in the task bar, or by typing 'ipconfig' on a console (Start->Run..., enter 'cmd'). It is best to configure your router so it always give the same IP to your PC (which usually is what happens anyway, but it's not guaranteed.)

However, this only helps when you're hosting games. When you try to join other games, your success probably will depend on whether the other guy has forwarded his ports. Also, forwarding the client port 4001 usually has no effect. But do experiment with it and report your results and tell us your exact router model; whatever you find out can then be used by the next guy with the same problems.

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:13 am
by Imeanunoharm
I have noticed this on a few occasions. My hypothesis is that sometimes you will get the attempts ticking off when the server in question is taken down while you were attempting to connect. The lag on the private servers can often be worse, and the game doesn't quite "catch on" the server has disappeared before it goes into the connection phase, leaving it hanging for a reply.

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:57 am
by felixxx999
so I don't need to forward ports to join a game?

I absolutely cannot connect to games hosted by players... (port 4000 it says). Strange bug?

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 9:04 am
by bert_the_turtle
felixxx999 wrote:so I don't need to forward ports to join a game?
It's a bit more complicated. Massively simplified, there are two kinds of routers: good and bad routers. Without port forwarding, users of good routers can join games hosted by users with good routers, all other combinations fail. When users of bad routers want to host a game, they have to use port forwarding, or nobody will join. So they usually either do so or give up. Users of good routers see no need to port forward, because whenever they host, people join. They don't see the failing connection attempts of players with bad routers.

Now, you have a bad router, hence you can't join games hosted by anyone without port forwarding set, and since most people have good routers and see no need to port forward, you see all connections fail.

There are things you can try. Setting up port forwarding for both ports 4000 and 4001 anyway may help. If your router supports such a thing, putting your gaming PC into the DMZ may help (but beware, this opens up the PC to all incoming traffic; you'll need a personal firewall then). Both port forwarding and DMZ change the way incoming connections are treated; your problem, however, are outgoing connections, and it entirely depends on how the router builders decided to deal with them if you set up a DMZ/port forwarding. Things may get better, but for some routers, things may even get worse. But it's worth a try. You can always revert the settings if things get worse.

Again, what's the precise model of your router?

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:05 am
by felixxx999
netgear wgt624 which I believe is extremely common (at least here in the US).

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:36 am
by bert_the_turtle
Hmm, according to this, there are several revisions of that hardware. Can you find out which one you have? Also, can you give the WinSTUN program linked in this forum topic a spin and tell us what it reports? This source says not all WGT642 models are XBox Live compatible, which is sort of unrelated, but still.

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 12:45 am
by Bullgod
Bumping!

Hey Everyone, im new and have Connection Problems.
I cant join Online-Matches of Multiwinia Version 1.3.0 (Retail). There are lots of attempts to join, but none ever succeded.
I didnt try to Host yet, because i dont know anyone who plays this game and could check if my Server shows up in the List.

Useful Information:

OS: Win XP SP3
Router: Linksys WRT120N
Portforwarding: 4000 - 4004; 5009 (read that one somewhere here); "Portforwarding" checked in MW
DMZ didnt help

I would really like to join some online-matches, so if anyone has some additional ideas, let me know.

Thanks in advance!

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:57 am
by bert_the_turtle
If DMZing your machine doesn't work, that probably means the local firewall on the Windows box is blocking the connections. Do check. All personal firewalls you have, the one included with XP and any others you may have. If one of them bears the Norton brand, uninstall it.

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 6:40 pm
by Bullgod
Hello turtle, thx for the help so far!

I use a Sunbelt Personal Firewall, which i have closed while testing this. The Windows Firewall is inactive. Its still not possible to connect to a Multiwinia-Ladder.Net Host.

Checking the logs, i see "CLIENT identity unknown." The debug.txt is uploaded here (without my auth-key, of corse)
On a second try it said this:
Requesting connection to 95.211.76.88:4002 via matchmaker
Our details: 88.70.62.151:4001
the log to this try, can be found here

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:07 pm
by Bullgod
:lol: well that would be an unusual solution. I hope, that the official Servers come back up soon, since i am always to late to join a game hosted by a user (it beeing full already) and i tought of giving it up and stay with playing it offline :( . How do i see, when the official Servers are back up running?

EDIT: Joining Servers from other Players works.

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 12:01 am
by bert_the_turtle
Yay, timely investigation. I also can't connect to Jelco's servers. So two of mine are back up again. I hope ladder uploads are still working.

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 7:59 pm
by Jordy...
Finally!!! I can play again!!@!!