port forwarding / hosting problems

[erileykc]

I have been unable to host games for months on Marius and am beginning to think this may be a Mac OS 10.6 issue. The screen shot is my port frowarding settings on the Airport router. Anyone see something wrong in them? I am using DHCP on the computer but even when I confirm that I am in the range of IPs that I have set I can't host games.

Thanks for any suggestions

port forward settings.png (96.53 KiB) Viewed 2742 times

I'm Yankee on Marius

[Pyro]

Are you sure the port forwarding isn't working? Try using this site. Load up Myth2 and host a game, enter the port on the site and hit Check. Keep in mind if you are not hosting a game, it will fail even if you do have the port forwarded. Scroll down below the ads and you will see something like:

Success: I can see your service on XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX on port (3453)
Your ISP is not blocking port 3453

OR

Error: I could not see your service on XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX on port (3453)
Reason: Connection timed out

Some of the info I searched online about airport utility includes this step, maybe its something you need:

Click the "Internet" tab and make sure the checkbox "Enable NAT Port Mapping Protocol" is selected.

[erileykc]

Thanks for the suggestions about the enable NAT mapping, that was not mentioned in any of the Apple docs on the subject but unfortunately, even though I'm sure its part of the puzzle it wasn't the solution. I haven't been able to get the marius.net port check to work for a while now and your other suggested site also says I don't have 3453 open. Might be time to call my ISP although my guess is that they will shrug. I've had the same ISP for years, including the time when I was able to host games. Its a puzzle.

[Myrd]

You might need to do similar configuration on your ISP's router.

[Pyro]

Are you even sure you still have the same internal IP? When you ran the test, you had a Myth game hosted right? The game lobby (where you can hit start) will do, no need to actually start the game.

[erileykc]

The ISP doesn't provide a router, only a modem although it has been suggested in discussion on the marius server that the modem itself might have had a firewall installed in some sort of firmware update. Again that sort of thing would be invisible and inaccessable to me. I have had the same internal IP on the computer that I've been testing with through all of this. It would be informative if anyone else is able to hot games using a Mac running OS 10.6 though or if anyone else is able to host games using an Apple Airport Express router.

[vinylrake]

i can host games on a comp running OS 10.6.6 - at least I can when I connect the hosting computer directly into the DSL modem. I haven't been able to get hosting to work when I am going through my netgear router then the modem. Not blaming the router, it's just another level of potential confusion and difficulty for me. (and my modem allegedly has some router functionality builtin to it, so i blame having two routers on the firewall/forwarding wonkiness i experience when i try to add the netgear into the mix)

[Graydon]

Typically there is always a router and a modem involved in an internet connection. If you say your ISP only gave you a modem, are you certain this isnt a 2-in-1 device that modems and routes your net at the same time? My previous ISP provided me with such a device.

As another mac user who's hosted on Mnet for years, I have to say I've never seen that Airport Utility tool used to port forward before. I've always been told you have to go into your router settings and edit the port forwarding there. This is how I go about it:

Go to System Prefs, open up Network. Presumably you're connected with your Airport, so click the Advanced button down at the bottom. It should bring up a secondary window on top of the first with a bunch of options along the top bar. Airport should be selected - click TCP/IP and you should see your IPv4 Address, your Subnet Mask, and your Router address. If you truely don't have any routers, I presume this space will be blank. If it's not, here's my solution:

Copy Paste your router address into safari/browser of choice. It should require a username and pw. Hopefully you remember what you set up for your network user and pw.... typically 'admin' works if you can't recall the proper username.... you will need the password though. Once you're into your Router page, they're all a little bit different, you'll want to look for something along the lines of Applications and Gaming settings. Once you find the list you should be able to plug in ports or port ranges specific to unique purposes (like the hosting of Myth 2), and tie them to your network IP so that machine can use those ports (while other machines on the network can't, thereby still being protected).

And on the other hand, it's a Mac, you could just choose the DMZ option in your router and open all traffic. You won't get a virus.... it's a mac. Winning!

[erileykc]

Thanks for all the replies & suggestions. It turns out that I was not following all of the directions properly to create a fixed IP on the MAc, just assuming that if I set the port forwarding for an IP that was handed out via DHCP that I would be good to go. Finally setting up a genuine fixed IP on the Mac and setting the port forwarding for that IP in the Airport Express router has me hosting once again.

Thanks again

Yankee