My Son Is A Teen-age Gamer

[[email protected]]

My son and I just built a computer for him to play his games on so he wouldn't monopolize the family desktop, which also happens to be a bit underpowered for his liking. I am a software developer, and I am quite knowledgeable about computers, networking, routers, electronics and the Internet, but...

 

We cannot seem to join any multi player games on the Internet. We can see the servers, but when we attempt to join a game, the request simply times out (server not responding). This happens with F.E.A.R., RavenShield, Mech Warrior. He has registered with the mfrs. sites, and has legitimate login credentials.

 

We have tried a number of things: Enabled/disabled Windows Firewall (although the games had already added themselves to the Windows Firewall exclude list). Put the computer in DMZ. DRC ShieldsUp! could tell if we had the firewall on or not. All Ports showed as closed or stealth, depending. Note: I do not want to run that computer in the DMZ, but it does not seem to matter anyway. Since we are not hosting anything, I don't see any need for virtual server or port forwarding or anything like that.

 

FWIW, I am using Verizon DSL 1500/384kbps, Westell 2110 bridge modem, GigaFast EE400-R broadband router. Aside from multi player gaming, all networking and internet access works just fine.

[Marxist ßastard]

Suprise -- you do need port forwarding.

 

You'll have to Google up on it to find out which ports need to be open for which games; keep in mind that it's a safe bet to assume that most of them will need ranges of unprivledged ports, using both TCP and UDP.

[VaanicOne]

Well, welcome to the forums.

[Dark0ne]

Alternatively you can scrap the router (unless it's acting as your modem as well) and use a software proxy like WinProxy, which keeps the connection as open as it is on the host machine. This means no port forwarding.

[[email protected]]

Suprise -- you do need port forwarding.

 

You'll have to Google up on it to find out which ports need to be open for which games; keep in mind that it's a safe bet to assume that most of them will need ranges of unprivledged ports, using both TCP and UDP.

 

Hmmm. We put the machine in the DMZ, which is effectively the same as forwarding the port range 0 to 65535, and that did not work for us.

 

My luck Googling this has not been terribly fruitful. Perhaps I'm not using the best keywords (suggestions?). Equally frustrating is that the game's readme, manuals and the official web sites have zero technical data on multi-player networking port requirements and protocols.

 

I am running a couple servers of my own using port forwarding for a software project I'm working on: HTTP (8080), CVS (2401) and FTP (20, 21 - router managed). I don't know if the games conflict with any of these ranges. I suppose one or two might, but I find it hard to imagine that they all do.

 

Well, welcome to the forums.

Thank you. It was funny. Googling for "RavenShield ports multi-player" yielded this little gem, which pretty much sums up my experience: http://www.bookofhook.com/Review/Games/RavenShield.html

 

We're not running a server, but still...

 

Alternatively you can scrap the router (unless it's acting as your modem as well) and use a software proxy like WinProxy, which keeps the connection as open as it is on the host machine. This means no port forwarding.

Unfortunately, the router is hidden away in a closet connected to my DSL modem and a CAT5 patch panel, busily sharing the internet connection and being the DHCP server for a growing number of computers in my household. Deep-sixing the router is not really an option.