Can not host games - behind NAT

[emkovicz]

Hello, I can not host games, I'm behind NAT. I forwarded ports 5010 and 5011/UDP on my router and in the game network menu I enabled port forwarding. Nevertheless whenever I create a game, my internet identity is my router public IP but port is random, probably translatet by NAT. I tried to do a port scan from different location to my computer and ports are opened correctly, I think that there must be something wrong with metaserver, it seem like it would ignore port forwarding setting in the game. I think that my internet identity should by publiced on ports 5010 and 5011.

[PhantomTa2]

You need to open port 5008 or 5009 to for the metaserver, I believe

[emkovicz]

You need to open port 5008 or 5009 to for the metaserver, I believe

No, it did not help at all.
Interesting is that anybody can connect to my public IP when enters address with port manually. (5010)
My internet identity is still bogus. Similar as here http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ports2wq2.png

There is random port probably from NAT instead of real port 5010.
Forwarding in game is enabled.

[bOgan_X]

u need to make a new NAT rule in your router/modem setup....i think.

[emkovicz]

u need to make a new NAT rule in your router/modem setup....i think.

Of course I did it - nothing.


internet --- NAT(OpenBSD) --- myComputer

I tried to forward ports 5008, 5009, 5010, 5011 UDP - no go
My NAT gateway is set up correctly, other port redirections such as redir for web server works.
Ports for defcon are opened, but Metaserver ignores it.

[emkovicz]

u need to make a new NAT rule in your router/modem setup....i think.

Of course I did it - nothing.


internet --- NAT(OpenBSD) --- myComputer

I tried to forward ports 5008, 5009, 5010, 5011 UDP - no go
My NAT gateway is set up correctly, other port redirections such as redir for web server works.
Ports for defcon are opened, but Metaserver ignores it.

I found the nature of the problem.
It seems that game can not cooperate with some sort of NAT.
At the beginning your game will connect to Metaserever from port 5010/UDP. And Metaserver see your source port and claims that this is your internet identity.
Problem is with the NAT, of course your source port is modified by NAT so Metaserver will claim that you are hosting game on wrong port.

This as an otput from my OpenBSD gateway (NAT) you can see the problem exactly.

all udp ip_of_my_pc:5010 -> ip_of_NAT:51764 -> 80.175.29.66:5008 MULTIPLE:MULTIPLE

And the game shows internet identity on port 51764

But how to solve this issue... I don't have an idea

[emkovicz]

u need to make a new NAT rule in your router/modem setup....i think.

Of course I did it - nothing.


internet --- NAT(OpenBSD) --- myComputer

I tried to forward ports 5008, 5009, 5010, 5011 UDP - no go
My NAT gateway is set up correctly, other port redirections such as redir for web server works.
Ports for defcon are opened, but Metaserver ignores it.

I found the nature of the problem.
It seems that game can not cooperate with some sort of NAT.
At the beginning your game will connect to Metaserever from port 5010/UDP. And Metaserver see your source port and claims that this is your internet identity.
Problem is with the NAT, of course your source port is modified by NAT so Metaserver will claim that you are hosting game on wrong port.

This as an otput from my OpenBSD gateway (NAT) you can see the problem exactly.

all udp ip_of_my_pc:5010 -> ip_of_NAT:51764 -> 80.175.29.66:5008 MULTIPLE:MULTIPLE

And the game shows internet identity on port 51764

But how to solve this issue... I don't have an idea

I've solved it. In my case OpenBSD and PF I can use static-port option in NAT settings. This means that source port is not modified by NAT. My internet identity is now on right port 5010 as should be. Anyway I think that developers of the game should correct this behaviour. I'm not sure wether other firewalls especially the hardware ones are able of this feature as PF in OpenBSD does. Metaserver should simply use port which you set up in the game settings it would be the best way.

[eDDie]

This is exactly my problem, using a hardware router from BT, there are no options for NAT ports.

Can anyone else advise a possible workaround?

[MrBunsy]

What's the exact model? You may be able to look it up and find out how to forward ports through it. I expect there's an option called 'virtual server' or 'port forwarding' which will do what you want, but not be explicitly called NAT options.

But then again, knowing BT I wouldn't hold my breath.

[eDDie]

Thanks for the hints, Mr Bundy - however i have been through the options from top to bottom having previously forwarded all UDP ports from 5000-5011 to their counterparts on my machine, and assigned the rule explicitly to both my machine AND its IP address.

Incoming traffic seems fine and i connect to games without problem, but hosting ALWAYS results in my server dropping after about 2 minutes in the lobby.

My internet identity is always in the order of port 56743 etc.