Hosting a non-dedicated server

[tourist 617]

Hi there,

I tried forum search, I tried google but I still did not find the answers I need. Ok, so step-by-step let's get to my problem:

1) I have OFP GOTY edition patched to 1.96 and I want to play over Internet with a buddy who also has OFP GOTY 1.96.

2) I am behind a router. I have successfully forwarded ports for other games and therefor hosted for example Far Cry with the same buddy joining.

3) Correct me if I am wrong: OFP needs ports 2302, 2303, 2304 forwarded. Since other Games need even more ports in this area, I have forwarded ALL ports from 2200-2400 anyway.

4) If I host a game and give my buddy the external IP of my computer and port 2302, why could he still be unable to find/ join my game?

5) Are any other ports necessary to be forwarded? If yes, which?

6) Any possibilities to set the join port to another port than 2302?

7) Do those problems get solved if I spend lots of time and read about setting up a dedicated server? I have only a single-core CPU (Athlon 64 3700+) and even if OFP is an older game I don't know if it would be stable to host a dedicated server on this rig and fire up the game as a player,too.

8) I hope anybody can help us because even if I let him host (my buddy doesn't have a router) I could not find his game.

9) I have joined MP games via IP in the past and I long for some good coop, but since I work in shifts, I cannot take part in regular events like EWE WGL anymore.

10) So if I want to play, it's either in the early afternoon when back from work or in the morning before going to work.

11) My buddy has exact the same work hours as I have, so it would be cool if we could OFP MP running.

kind regards,

tourist

[SeppSchrot 0]

Hello,

Quote[/b] ]

4) If I host a game and give my buddy the external IP of my computer and port 2302, why could he still be unable to find/ join my game?

6) Any possibilities to set the join port to another port than 2302?

Your routing setup seems fine, concentrate on the steps you do in OFP.

When you host a game, there should be an edit-field where you can alter the port you use. It defaults to 2302.

There is a very handy tool named 'netcat' available. Google for it.

I use is for all my administrative work on networks. Whenever I want to check whether a port works I start it on machine A in listening mode and then send some bytes with netcat from machine B.

So I know the connection on that port is working correctly.

The advantage over telnet is that it can handle udp as well.

The following works for the Dedicated Server, but I don't know if it works for private hosting as well:

To check if my OFP server is running I would type:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

netcat -u serverip 2303

The -u stands for UDP. Note that it is baseport+1.

If the server is running, he responds after a 'enter' with a

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

\final\\queryid\8163.1

First do this on your own computer (localhost instead of serverip) then let your pal check whether he can reach you.

hope that helps

[Ninjablade 0]

dudes keep on talking about a program called hamachi. i got the same problem. i tried it and it didnt work. it sounds like a really sweet concept. it sets up a fake lan.

[Ninjablade 0]

also i adjusted my windows firewall. if you click on it and then go to exceptions, you can click add port and then you just add port 2302 UDP. that actually worked for me but for some random unkown reason, i cannot get it to work again. Hosting is a huge pain in the ass.

[chefd261 0]

Hi All I have Fios and port forwarding is a pain with it so my friends and I use Hamachi and it works fine another option is to see if your router has the OFP profile if so you may be able to use that to forward everything.(It does not always work though) but all things considered we just use Hamachi.

Thanks Chefd261