Dedicated Server Problem

[TurokGMT 0]

I'm running a dedicated server on the same machine I game on.

Went through the wiki steps, all seemed fine, dedicated server started, no bother.

Problem : It's only showing as a LAN server, not internet.

I've double checked through the wiki, but can't find what I'm doing wrong - a little help guys?

Cheers

[Apo-TTCC 0]

Same problem here with v1.14 now. Worked with some older versions in the past.

Now it only shows up on LAN, no matter if the firewall is on or off and if i just run the pure arma_server.exe or running it combined with a server.cfg file. Also tried different filter settings in the ingame serverbrowser but no luck.

Any help is much appreciated.

[Nick (SS) 0]

I noticed it on several servers today and from a test server from home and think gamespy was just having issues

[Apo-TTCC 0]

Yep, seems it was gamespy related. Works today, thanks for your reply.

[TurokGMT 0]

Nope, still not showing up.

If I create a non-dedicated server from within the game, others join it fine which suggests it can be seen.

Dedicated server still not showing on in game browser under internet filter though.

Here's a copy of my server config (minus admin password! - can anyone see anything wrong with it?

// GLOBAL SETTINGS

hostname="[uK] ECS Enabled"; // The name of the server that shall be displayed in the

public server list

password=""; // Password for joining, eg connecting to the server

reportingIP="armedass.master.gamespy.com"; // This is the default setting. If you change this, your

server might not turn up in the public list. Leave empty for private servers

logFile="server_console.log"; // Tells arma-server where the logfile should go and what it

should be called

// WELCOME MESSAGE ("message of the day")

// It can be several lines, separated by comma

// Empty messages "" will not be displayed at all but are only for increasing the interval

motd[]={

"Welcome to the server people!", "Server is pretty weak, so be gentle"

};

motdInterval=5; // Time interval (in seconds) between each message

// JOINING RULES

checkfiles[]={ // Checks if these files are equal to the servers files. If

one or more is not, player will be kicked from server

"HWTL\dta\data3d.pbo",

"dta\data3d.pbo"

};

maxPlayers=10; // Maximum amount of players. Civilians and watchers,

beholder, bystanders and so on also count as player.

Kickduplicate=1; // Each ArmA version has its onw ID. If kickduplicate is set

to 1, a player will be kicked when he joins a server where another player with the same ID is playing.

verifySignatures=0; // Verifies the players files by checking them with the

.bisign signatures. Works properly from 1.08 on

equalModRequired=0; // If set to 1, player has to use exactly the same -mod=

startup parameter as the server.

// VOTING

voteMissionPlayers=1; // Tells the server how many people must connect so that it

displays the mission selection screen.

voteThreshold=0.33; // 33% or more players need to vote for something, for

example an admin or a new map, to become effective

// INGAME SETTINGS

disableVoN=1; // If set to 1, Voice over Net will not be available

vonCodecQuality=0; // Quality from 1 to 10

persistent=1; // If 1, missions still run on even after the last player

disconnected.

3rdPersonView=0; // Probably does not work here, should be set in the

.armaprofile file of the server

difficulty="cadet"; // Probably does not work here, should be set in the

.armaprofile file of the server

// SCRIPTING ISSUES

onUserConnected=""; // self-explaining

onUserDisconnected="";

doubleIdDetected="";

regularCheck="";

onDifferentData="";

onUnsignedData="server globalChat format['Player %1 is using unsigned data.', (_this select 0)];"; // unsigned

data detected

onHackedData=""; // tampering of the signature detected, see also

verifySignatures above

// MISSIONS CYCLE (see below)

class Missions

{

class Domination// name for the mission, can be anything

{

template = co30_Domination_OneTeam_3_02_RACS_AI.Sara;

cadetMode = 1; // difficulty 0=veteran 1=cadet (not only AI, but radar, map etc)

};

};

[Nick (SS) 0]

you may need to turn the server off for a few minutes when this happens with gamespy, see if you can connect to your IP directy but not threw your local IP (192.168) but by your real world IP and see if it sees is, if not its not gamespy but mabey your router

[TurokGMT 0]

I can ping my real world IP from a command line prompt, and on first run of arma, th usual windows firewall block/unblock dialog came up - chose unblock!

As far as configuring router goes, I can see other online games just fine.

The search for a solution continues...

[maddogx 13]

Have you made sure that the arma_dedicated.exe is unblocked in your firewall settings? One thing you could try is temporarily disabling the firewall, to test if the game is then visible on the outside.

The rest of your settings appear to be fine, so I'm assuming the problems lies elsewhere.

[TurokGMT 0]

I've manually added the arma_deicated.exe to the firewall ruls, only to be told it already exists. So I removed all instances of it and manually added them, then ran arma and managed to connect to other servers without complaint.

I'll try a direct connect via the remote button on the multiplayer menu that allows you to specify an IP and attempt to join my real world IP, see if that has any effect.

Hmm....nope, no joy.

Also tried getting an active arma server list from:

http://stats.swec.se/server/list

but mine's not appearing there either, which suggests my dedicated server isn't broadcasting into the ether...

sounds fierwall/router related...the search continues

[Eda Mrcoch 0]

I can ping my real world IP from a command line prompt, and on first run of arma, th usual windows firewall block/unblock dialog came up - chose unblock!

But do the pings themselves get to your machine? You might be behind a NAT. If you are hosting other games/services can people connect to you (you can try simple webserver for example)?

[TurokGMT 0]

ping result from command line says ping is successful (200 ms travel time)

please explain what you mean bout using a webserver

[Eda Mrcoch 0]

ping result from command line says ping is successful (200 ms travel time)

please explain what you mean bout using a webserver

200ms kind of suggests that NAT might be the case i.e. you are not pinging your own computer (the time would be in ones of miliseconds).

Read about NAT here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_address_translation

If it is your case, the NAT might be on your router (on which you need to forward the ports server use) or on the provider side - that would mean that you have not your own unique public IP so server hosting (game or not) is out of question for you. That is why I suggested to try something simple like a webserver.

NAT on the provider side roughly means that the provider is using one IP for more customers. If you request data (want to connect to web adress, join ArmA server etc), the NAT redirects the answer back to you as it knows it is the reply to request that came from you. But hosting is different, your port has to be open from the outside for incoming connections (you need to have unique external IP or there is port forwarding in case of NAT). Best thing would be to check if your internet connection is over the NAT or not and if yes then if it is possible to forward ports for ArmA to your machine.

Edit: I looked in the biki and it seems that ArmA can traverse NAT through Gamespy - http://community.bistudio.com/wiki....issues, but I've never needed to try that way

[TurokGMT 0]

players have been able to join non dedicated servers I've run from the same machine just fine - does this discount the NAT issue?

[Eda Mrcoch 0]

players have been able to join non dedicated servers I've run from the same machine just fine - does this discount the NAT issue?

Probably yes. Sorry, did not noticed that in the first post. Seems to be something else.

What about the log file, any errors in there?

If everything works okay, it should spit something like:<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">Dedicated host created

BattlEye server intialized (optional)

Host identity created

NAT negotiation completed

Arma version blah blah + port

[TurokGMT 0]

Mine has only ever produced the first 3 lines of that...hmm...

[ShrubMiK 0]

I don't think that's necessarily a problem, my dedicated server doesn't say anything about NAT traversal yet I've had a friend join successfully from hundreds of miles away.

Different routers support different flavours of "NAT", some cause more problems for online gaming than others. Mine seems to work fine for everything I've ever tried without needing any form of port forwarding enabled. My brother, OTOH, can only join UT3 servers but not host his own, and he can't join any Company of Heroes games.

On the difference between dedicated and non-dedicated behaviour, it's possible that that would use different forms of connectivity. I'm just speculating here, not something I've looked into...When you start the normal game and go to the multiplayer screen, you must already be connecting out to the net to get the server list. This is no problem because you are opening a connection from inside the firewall. When you then start a non-dedicated server it may be that it uses the already-established connection, i.e. already connected through the firewall because it was opened from inside earlier.

When you start a dedicated server, OTOH, it may just start listening on a port, anything attempting to connect to that port from outside the firewall does not see it.

Worth looking on www.portforward.com if you haven't already done so to see if they have any information about using your router with ArmA.

[TurokGMT 0]

Problem appears to be solved.

Without changing any options, players are able to see my dedicated server.

Points to note:

1. Dedicated servers may not show up in main multiplayer window for a few minutes as this depends on update rate of gamespy server table.

2. My dedicated server never showed up on the multiplayer server list, only on LAN games. This is most likely because I was running the server on the same machine I was connecting to it from.

3. Even knowing my external IP address (the IP that other remote players see), I could not achieve a remote connect to my server.

In short, your dedicated server probably IS working if you can connect to other games and host locally. Just have your external IP written down (go to www.whatismyip.com to get it if unsure) to pass to friends that want to connect just incase it's not showing in the server list.