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Author Topic: I'm pretty resourceful w/ technology, but port forwarding fried my brain  (Read 951 times)
jgm104
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« on: January 06, 2011, 08:34 »

Hi all,

Well, I love M.U.L.E. and Planet MULE is a blast. I was able to join a game the other night without a hitch, thanks Stalx, MuleSizeMe and mamaT for the game!

I would love to host games too and I am running into problem after problem. I've tried google, troubleshoots, this forum, portforward.com, portmap, swapping wireless routers, pc, mac... the list goes on, but no luck.

Has anyone found a step by step guide to set up hosting or has anyone set up hosting that would be able to help me out. There are four of us who are interested in playing, both in joining and hosting games, if we could only get the hosting bit figured out.

I have a mac with OS 10.4.11, also a PC running Windows XP. The routers are a Netgear WNR2000v2 and a D-Link 524. If any of those raise red flags to anyone please let me know.

Thanks!
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Chuckie Chuck
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« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2011, 17:00 »

I have discovered a common mistake when creating the port forward on 6260 is that people only forward TCP by default, and that allows you to create games that can be visited, but can't be joined.  You need to forward UDP for it to be able to actually get rolling.

So, if that's an issue, just add UDP to the port forward.

All issues are most likely pilot error.  Computer really matters not, you do need to decide which computer is going to be the host if there is more than one computer on the same router that is going to be running mule.

The port forward has to point at only one PC.

Anyways, I'm thinking maybe we can do a real time chat somehow, I have questions about the config, since you listed two routers, are these linked to each other, or are these at separate locations?

Daisy chaining routers would require a port forward from one router to the other and then from that router to the host PC, or changing the second router to run in hub mode.  (I've done this to get around bugs in one of my routers and allow more wired PCs to be in my network.)

Basic theory though....

If you just have internet to router to computer as normal...

Log into your routers maintenance page (usually 192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.254, 172.16.1.1, or 10.0.1.1) with your favorite web browser.

Find the port forwarding page (application/gaming tab or similar)

You need to know the address being used by your host computer, or the computers network name (depending on who made your router)

Then create a open port on 6260 TCP and UDP pointing at that host computers IP address or Name.

Most routers use IP address for this, I have found 2wire actually uses the computers name.  I haven't looked at your routers specifics yet, don't have time to visit the netgear and dlink websites this morning, but I'll check that out later.

If you figure it out just post a note, otherwise, you can look for me in the game in the evenings (california time zone, I usually play one or two games a day between 6pm and 1am.)
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Chuckie Chuck
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« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2011, 17:18 »

I can't find your D-Link on the webpage from your description (whats the model# printed on the bottom of the unit?  Should be something like DIR-xxx, or WBR-xxxx) etc.

As for the netgear...

www.routerlogin.net or 192.168.1.1

Under the Advanced Area click...

Port Forwarding
You see a menu with Port Forwarding or Port Triggering, keep with Port Forwarding
Create a custom service name - You can call it Mule or whatever, doesn't really matter what it's called.
Service Type TCP/UDP.
Starting Port 6260
Ending Port 6261
Server IP address (the ip address the host computer is using, eg. 192.168.1.50)  You have to check your host system to know what it is.

Are you taking advantage of the WDS repeater features in conjunction with the D-Link, that can complicate things.

If that is the case than all config may need to be on the D-Link alone.

Using the basics I gave you here, you should be able to figure the D-Link out if we are talking about two unrelated networks.

I can usually figure my way through any router these days without even a manual now as long as I know the configuration page address and the password to log into it.
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jgm104
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« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2011, 04:43 »

Hi Chuckie Chuck,

Thanks so much for your replies! It seems like this is doable afterall. The thing that struck me was something very simple, you put 6260 to 6261 for your port range. I've been using 6260 to 6260. I wonder if the solution could be that simple. It usually is something so obvious that you want to kick yourself. I'm going to give that a try tonight first, it's a long shot but who knows. I'll follow your other advice if I hit a roadblock but what you've provided in your two posts is far more than I could find scouring the web.

If you're curious, here's a link to the D-Link router: http://support.dlink.com/emulators/di524_revc/h_wizard.html

I had daisy-chained the routers but am currently just running the D-Link to simplify things. Fingers crossed, gonna see if I can make it work...
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jgm104
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« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2011, 04:54 »

Hi again,

Well, I guess the 6260-6261 solution would have just been too simple. I thought it might be helpful to share a screencapture of my port forwarding setup. I used the terminal program on the mac to figure out my computer's IP address. But now I'm wondering... I have a DSL modem and the Wireless D-Link router is hooked up to that. I wonder if that could be part of what's causing me problems.

Thanks again for your help.
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Chuckie Chuck
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« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2011, 06:25 »

Ok, I see the problem, you're configuring your router to provide a path into your lan as if you were running a server.  Turn virtual server back off and click on the applications button in the advanced menu.  That's where you need to be.

You should create something that looks like this.

Probably don't even need to complete the triggering portion, but I can't test it to know for sure.
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jgm104
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« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2011, 07:29 »

Thanks so much again for your time and help. I don't want to wear out my welcome on this thread and unfortunately I think my setup is cursed, lol. I tried the setting you suggested but still no go (removed the virtual server setting and added the application setup). The only other thing I can think is something to do with the firewall, creating some rule to allow access to port 6260. But who knows. I'm gonna do some more research from time to time, hopefully figure this out before EA decides to finally do a remake.  Cheesy
« Last Edit: January 07, 2011, 07:31 by jgm104 » Logged
MuleSizeMe
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« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2011, 09:48 »

You may be right about having to create a rule to allow access to port 6260tcp/udp (both ways), i did this in my telus antivirus security service under "firewall"/then internet access rules/advanced....(I named it planet mule). This was in addition to opening both ports in my router/after that ive been hosting for over 4months with no disconnect from a game yet. Not sure if you have antivirus protection, hope this helps
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Chuckie Chuck
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« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2011, 11:41 »

I forgot, after adding the rule, it should appear in the rule list, then you check it and direct it to a specific computer.  I don't think AV is interfering or you wouldn't be able to join anyone else games either.
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Chuckie Chuck
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« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2011, 11:51 »

I was wrong, virtual server is the right place for the mule rule...

As far as that goes, you didn't do the port range correctly.

You put port 6260 as the private and 6261 as the public.

Try putting 6260 in both fields.

(I'm thinking you were trying to do the port range idea I recommended, and after more study, I'd say that was wrong on my part too, I have a range setup on my 2wire, not sure why I did that, but 2wire is weird and maybe I had to tell it to end on 6261 to actually get it to open 6260 or something.)

Outside of that, are you 100% sure your computer is using 192.168.0.100 (maybe that just isn't the right IP address.  Maybe that's a printer or the Wii, or another computer)

On the Windows Machine run CMD (command prompt) and type "ipconfig" at the command line.  Put the reported IP address in the virtual server rule.

If you're trying to use the Mac to host, 1 Click on Apple Menu>System Preferences>Network>TCP/IP.
You'll see the correct IP address there.

You can only have one computer set to host at a time to my knowledge.  Limitations of manual port forwarding.  If you want to host from the other computer you have to go back in and change the IP address to that PCs IP in the rule on the router.  Also, the IP address can occasionally change and when I go to my gf's house, I sometimes have to reconfigure the router because my computer got a different address from the last time I was there.  (usually gets the same one, but not always.)  Appears the D-Link doesn't support static routing inside the LAN.  

Honestly, if I were in your place, I'd try getting rid of the D-Link and use just the newer netgear, it should have nearly double the range and is much more configurable than the D-Link.  You can setup permanent IP addresses for your devices if you choose.  I get that maybe you're using the netgear as a wireless repeater, but maybe that isn't needed, have you tried just using the netgear solo?  Maybe it can do it all.
I'm honestly not impressed with that particular D-Link.  It is the first router I have ever seen that doesn't let you see all the IP addresses of the different devices that are connected to in a client list somewhere.  That to me is practically scarey.  No way to monitor what is hooked into your LAN, what if someone cracks your security?  Even my 2wire, junk that it is, gives me a client list, and the IP addresses assigned to each device.  D-Link actually tells you that you have to look it up on the devices individually, not all devices even have a way to look it up, so if you need to know to IP address of your Wii, to bad, you're stuck.

Range limits are why my gf has my linksys and I'm using the 2wire here at my house.  I had the 2wire at her house with a repeater.  It proved unstable and annoying, and she isn't the most technical, so she just got tired of trying to use it.  The linksys can cover the whole house, no repeater needed, more stable, etc.

The 2wire covers my whole house just fine.  (The difference seems to be that there are more metals creating interference with the signal at her house, just needed a stronger transmitter to cover the same ground, our houses are the same size.)

The following is direct from D-Link's website concerning making a port forward...

Quote
   To allow traffic from the internet to enter your local network, you will need to open up ports or the router will block the request.

Because our routers use NAT (Network Address Translation), you can only open a specific port or ports to one computer at a time. For example: If you have 2 web servers on your network, you cannot open port 80 to both computers. You will need to configure 1 of the web servers to use port 81. Now you can open port 80 to the first computer and then open port 81 to the other computer.

For the DI-514, DI-524, DI-604, DI-614+, DI-624, DI-704P (revC), DI-704UP, DI-754, DI-764, DI-774, and DI-784:

Step 1 Open your web browser and enter the IP address of your D-Link router (192.168.0.1). Enter username (admin) and your password (blank by default).

Step 2 Click on the Advanced tab at the top and then click Virtual Server on the left side.

Step 3 Check Enabled to activate entry.

Step 4 Enter a name for your virtual server entry.

Step 5 Next to Private IP, enter the IP address of the computer on your local network that you want to allow the incoming service to.

How can I find the IP address of my computer?

Step 6 Choose Protocol Type - either TCP, UDP, or both. If you are not sure, select both.

Step 7 Enter the port information next to Private Port and Public Port. The private and public ports are usually the same. The public port is the port seen from the WAN side, and the private port is the port being used by the application on the computer within your local network.

Step 8 Enter the Schedule information.

Step 9 Click Apply and then click Continue.

« Last Edit: January 07, 2011, 12:45 by Chuckie Chuck » Logged

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Rhodan
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« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2011, 14:57 »


Outside of that, are you 100% sure your computer is using 192.168.0.100 (maybe that just isn't the right IP address.  Maybe that's a printer or the Wii, or another computer)

On the Windows Machine run CMD (command prompt) and type "ipconfig" at the command line.  Put the reported IP address in the virtual server rule.




[/quote]

Keep in mind that if he is using DHCP instead of a static IP the router can change his computer's IP when the router is cycled or the pc is rebooted.  I know my newer D-link router does a good job of always assigning the same IP to each computer I have but occasionally it reassigns a different IP dependent on the order I turn on my devices or when the router gets recycle due to power outage, etc. I seem to remember a older d-link model I use to have assigned a different IP every time I turned on the pc.
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Chuckie Chuck
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« Reply #11 on: January 07, 2011, 17:28 »

Already mentioned that in the very next paragraph after the one you quoted.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2011, 17:34 by Chuckie Chuck » Logged

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jgm104
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« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2011, 06:45 »

You guys are great! Thank you so much for the tips and suggestions. I have switched back to the Netgear with the D-Link now acting as a paperweight Smiley

I went ahead and tried the port forwarding again but to no avail Sad I'm starting to think I need to set up a static IP address for my laptop to host the game. I think I've got the port forwarding setup correctly, but what's throwing me off is the IP address that shows up for me in this forum, it's random (likely because of DHCP) and starts with a 69, not a 192.

I'm attaching a couple more screenshots, hopefully this may shed some light on things. The first is my setting of port forwarding on the Netgear router. The second is the IP Address info that comes up in the Mac OS X Terminal program when you type "ifconfig" The research I've done says to use the first IP address on that line that I've attached. I also checked TCP/IP and it also has 192.168.1.3 as the address.

Just for the heck of it, I'm pasting a list of the options that show up on the left side of the Netgear router setup window. I couldn't find anything for firewall but maybe there's something else I should adjust? UPnP is set to "on"

    Setup Wizard
   Add WPS Client
Setup
   Basic Settings
   Wireless Settings
   Guest Network
Content Filtering
   Logs
   Block Sites
   Block Services
   Schedule
   E-mail
Maintenance
   Router Status
   Attached Devices
   Backup Settings
   Set Password
   Router Upgrade
Advanced
   Wireless Settings
   Wireless Repeating Function
   Port Forwarding / Port Triggering
   WAN Setup
   LAN Setup
   QoS Setup
   Dynamic DNS
   Static Routes
   Remote Management
   UPnP
   Traffic Meter
« Last Edit: January 08, 2011, 06:50 by jgm104 » Logged
Chuckie Chuck
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« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2011, 08:39 »

That looks to me like it should work, so I'm not sure why it doesn't.  You're trying to use the Mac to host it appears, so maybe someone with more Mac experience can shed light on what's missing here.
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