Several attempts at multiplayer failing.

[Serial007]

Hello,

This related to two computers connecting both using the Steam version of the game, one with Windows 7 and one with windows Vista.

I have tried to play this game with one of my friends we have tried direct IP and using Hamachi to establish a LAN. We have gotten the game to work in multi-player twice using direct connect via Hamachi IP addresses and using normal IP addresses but after that we haven't been able to join each others lobbies at all.

We both have our firewalls disabled, we have both set our private IP addresses to DMZ just to rule out any network problems blocking anything. We have both verified our Hamachi connection by sending files across the network via Hamachi as well. In the game lobby when tried from either system the game won't show in the searching for LAN game screen and direct connect will not work.

Ok, we have just spent another hour troubleshooting since the first paragraph and we think we have found the problem but not a direct solution for it. If we both reboot we can connect to each other once, when leaving the hosting lobby the server remains running for some reason and does not disconnect as expected. When you go to search for LAN games after that you can see your own game listed but you cannot connect to it since it no longer exists. When going back into the host screen since the first host never disconnected properly you cannot have anyone else connect to a new game. Which is why we could each connect once but not again after that. This part we have been able to recreate and think it might be a bug in the host portion of multiplayer. The host can only be disabled by shutting down the program and restarting it.

This is pretty much where we have gotten in troubleshooting:

-So far, we have not been able to connect natural IP to IP address at all.
-So far, we have not been able to see each other's game in the LAN window even with hamachi.
-So far, we have been able to connect Hamachi IP to Hamachi IP but only once per instance of running the game.
-So far, all other IP to IP games run normally and we have not had trouble with other games over steam or have had any network connection problems.
-So far, connection has been tested and verified and router and firewall blocking have been completely disabled.

Our only workaround at this time is to play via direct Hamachi IP to Hamachi IP and save and restart the game if we get disconnected or want to stop and restart the game later. I have read over the other connection problems in this froum and have tried all of the suggestions including ensuring we both have the same game version and same NET framework versions. We are really lost for a long term solution though. Is something broken in the multiplayer portion of the game or is there something we are just not trying. We both really like this game and want to play it multi-player. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Serial007

[x4000]

Hey there, sorry to hear about your troubles. With hamachi, it will not show the other games in the find list because of the way hamachi works -- you'll need to do direct-connect, as you are.  If it it working through hamachi but not otherwise, then almost certainly that is port forwarding not set up right. Be sure that port forwarding on the host's router is not set up right.  Make sure that you know your computer's LAN address and that your router is forwarding the udp port of the game (not tcp) to that address. The udp port can be seen or changed under the main tab of the settings window in the game.

Once that is all set up, the client needs to connect to the host based on the public ip of the router.  If you google "what is my ip," there are sites that will tell you your public address. 

For the only-connecting once issue, that is not a known issue -- players get disconnected and reconnect all the time. Not sure if that is related to hamachi, your network drivers, orjust a case of it timing out and you needing to just try again.  Sometimes it will fail to connect the first time for the client, but just going back and doing it again will work.  Not sure if that is a bug in the network library we use or what, but the workaround is simple for the moment -- just connect a second time and it works. Besides that one issue there are not any related networking issues outstanding...

Hope that helps!

[Serial007]

Thank you very much for the quick reply.

The clarification about the find list helped a lot, I had assumed incorrectly that the game would show up there if using Hamachi. With our current workaround the game is running smoothly and we have been in game since my last post.

With the connect once issue, I have ruled out Hamachi and network drivers. I decided to buy two more copies of the game so I can run it on my laptop and lower end desktop as well. Neither of them have Hamachi installed and have different network cards yet the host game is remaining persistent once the lobby has been opened for some reason. I might just need to wait a while for it to close itself down after getting out of the lobby but for me is has still been a lot quicker to close and reopen the program to force the host to shut down.

I am still a little bit confused about regular direct connection right now. If both computers LAN addresses are set statically and those addresses are being set as DMZ in router settings port forwarding should not be an issue. We had both verified our public addresses and tried to connect through those with both computers set to DMZ and all firewalls turned off unsuccessfully.

The only thing I can think of at this point is that one of the routers might be ignoring DMZ but then that would affect other games as well. I will try specifically forwarding tomorrow just in case and if that doesn't work I will try packet sniffing to find out what is happening. As much as I like using Hamachi I don't want to have to depend on it completely.

-Serial007

[x4000]

Thank you very much for the quick reply.

The clarification about the find list helped a lot, I had assumed incorrectly that the game would show up there if using Hamachi. With our current workaround the game is running smoothly and we have been in game since my last post.

No problem -- I'm glad that this is working for you with the workaround, at least.

With the connect once issue, I have ruled out Hamachi and network drivers. I decided to buy two more copies of the game so I can run it on my laptop and lower end desktop as well. Neither of them have Hamachi installed and have different network cards yet the host game is remaining persistent once the lobby has been opened for some reason. I might just need to wait a while for it to close itself down after getting out of the lobby but for me is has still been a lot quicker to close and reopen the program to force the host to shut down.

For me, what I see at the moment is that it fails the first time it tries to reconnect (because the timeout has not yet been reached on the server, it only then clears out the cache on the server), and then it connects perfectly the second attempt.  Does it differ on yours?  Thanks for the added info.

I am still a little bit confused about regular direct connection right now. If both computers LAN addresses are set statically and those addresses are being set as DMZ in router settings port forwarding should not be an issue. We had both verified our public addresses and tried to connect through those with both computers set to DMZ and all firewalls turned off unsuccessfully.

The only thing I can think of at this point is that one of the routers might be ignoring DMZ but then that would affect other games as well. I will try specifically forwarding tomorrow just in case and if that doesn't work I will try packet sniffing to find out what is happening. As much as I like using Hamachi I don't want to have to depend on it completely.

I agree, having to depend completely on Hamachi would be nonideal.  I am a bit confused about your wording with the addresses, though -- these statically-set IP addresses are internal or external?  In other words, are these 192.x, 172.x, or 10.x internal addresses?  Or are these addresses that are visible to the public internet?  Even with a DMZ, depending on the setup you are quite possibly still going through NAT on your router (since most ISPs only issue you one public IP).  If that's the case, then port forwarding would still be needed from that external address to your internal LAN address.

If that's already an external address, then that is very curious.  It might then have to do with how your routing is set up or something, but I've never used DMZs except in a corporate network context (and it's been 8 or 9 years since then at that), so I can't help overmuch there.  The simplest thing that most consumers do is just using an internal LAN IP (static or otherwise), an external router/NAT IP assigned by the ISP, and a port forwarding rule on the router to the internal LAN IP.  Then external parties try to connect to the external router/NAT IP, and it gets passed through to the internal LAN IP of the host computer, and everybody is happy.

Hope that helps!