Newbies Need Help for Setting Up a Multiplayer Game

[McHugh]

My friend and I both bought the game today. We have not been able to connect for a multiplayer game. Here is the situation. We both are able to enter the lobby. I created a room with no password. I wait until he enters the room. I then click on enter staging room and I see my name. However when he clicks on enter staging room, he gets a message something like "connection failed". As a test, I was able to join another members game so maybe the problem at my friend's end?

I opened up port 31791 following the instructions included with the game but my friend has not done that because we assumed that if we played in the lobby rather then IP it would not be necessary. Would he have to do the same thing even when we play in the lobby?

A couple of other questions, after I chose scenario and my leader I clicked on options. Should we choose historical? What about the courier level?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Little Powell]

If he's getting connection failed when trying to join your game, then it's most likely a problem on your end or one of you doesn't have the Beta patch. If you confirm that both are running the same version of the game, check the thread below to see a detailed guide on setting up to host MP:

http://www.norbsoftdev.net/index.php?op ... Itemid=103

If you've read that and double checked all of your settings then report back. Some router's have funky security settings that can cause issues. My router for example has a security feature that if enabled, MP will not work.

As far as the options, they are the same as the preset difficulty options for SP. See page 38 and 42 in the manual for more info.

[McHugh]

We both have the same version and I went through the procedure trying to open port 31791. Here is where I am getting confused. The instructions are:

Enter the ip address to allow traffic to into the Destination IP Range Start and Destination IP Range End box. If you are allowing traffic so you can run a program on your computer, you should enter your computer's ip address into that box.

I have a IP address for my computer, and I have a IP address for my router. Which one do I enter? Also is the start and destination the same? From the above it sounds like I should be entering my computer IP which is what I did. However the program checking to see if my port was open indicated that it was not.

For the source interface I chose WAN and LAN for the destination. Protocol of UDP. Port range I entered 31791 in both boxes.

Thanks.

[Little Powell]

We both have the same version and I went through the procedure trying to open port 31791. Here is where I am getting confused. The instructions are:

Enter the ip address to allow traffic to into the Destination IP Range Start and Destination IP Range End box. If you are allowing traffic so you can run a program on your computer, you should enter your computer's ip address into that box.

I have a IP address for my computer, and I have a IP address for my router. Which one do I enter? Also is the start and destination the same? From the above it sounds like I should be entering my computer IP which is what I did. However the program checking to see if my port was open indicated that it was not.

For the source interface I chose WAN and LAN for the destination. Protocol of UDP. Port range I entered 31791 in both boxes.

Thanks.

You should use your local IP address (usually a 192 address). Start and destination should be the same.

To get your local IP, hit Start, Run (or search I think on Windows 7) and type CMD. That will bring up the command prompt. Type ipconfig and that will show your local ip address.

[McHugh]

I did this. According to the instructions the IP number that I should enter is the one called Default Gateway. That did not work. The other two numbers are referred to as IP Address and Subnet Mask. Both the Default Gateway and IP Address start with 192. Default has 8 digits while the IP address has 10.

[McHugh]

Just to clarify I have been using the procedures has described by Larry in the Setting Up for MP. In my web browser I entered the default gateway number as accessed by entering CMD in Run. I'm wondering if maybe I should entering my the external IP of my router in the brower address box, but the instructions do not indicate this. Aaargh.

[McHugh]

Here is a screenshot of what I entered.

[Little Powell]

I did this. According to the instructions the IP number that I should enter is the one called Default Gateway. That did not work. The other two numbers are referred to as IP Address and Subnet Mask. Both the Default Gateway and IP Address start with 192. Default has 8 digits while the IP address has 10.

You'll want to enter the IP address, not the default gateway.

Edit: I'm not sure where you read the number needs to be the default gateway. I've always used my local IP address and it's worked for me.. If you got those instructions here, they should be corrected.

[McHugh]

I tried my IP address as per the attachment. I am also attaching the report I ran to see if my port was open. The external IP address showing of 68.146.218.110 is the external IP address of my router. As you can see from the Port Opener attachment though, I entered my PC IP of 192.168.0.102. I also tried it use the external IP number but no luck either. The third attachment shows the instructions at the site which Larry's post directed me to. Computers drive me nuts!

[Little Powell]

Ah ha. I just noticed the "DMZ" option in your first screen shot. Enter your local IP address in the DMZ and it'll work... My Belkin router has the same exact "feature". If you don't have your local IP in DMZ, it won't work.