Multiplayer connection problems

[RichNagel]

Me and two of my buddies used to play numerous multiplayer games with CFS2 for several years. About a year ago we slacked off, and haven't played since then. We decided to get back in to CFS2 multiplayer games again, but ran into a MAJOR snag... we can't seem to connect <aarrggh>.

When we were playing about a year ago we could ALL connect to each via TCP/IP other without ANY problems at all, it didn't matter which of us hosted. We always had good connections, and were able to connect to each other quite easily and quickly.

Last night we decided to give it a whirl again, but had NO luck whatsoever. We all tried hosting, but the hosts' game NEVER showed up in CFS2 for the other two players. We all have exceptions added to the Windows firewall for CFS2.EXE, as well as opened our ports for our routers, just like we did about a year ago.

All of us are currently running Windows 10, just like a year ago with one exception: My PC is one that one of my buddies gave me earlier this year, and is the EXACT SAME ONE (and the existing OS that was on it) that he used a year ago to connect to me. I was on an Windows XP machine at the time, but he bought a new one earlier this year and gave me the one that I'm currently using. The one that I'm currently using has had NO Windows updates installed on it since I first got it from him. That being said, like I mentioned above, I was using a Windows XP machine at the time, but am now currently using the EXACT Windows 10 PC that one of my buddies gave me that he was using a year ago to connect and/or host.

The other buddy has two PCs... also, the same ones that he had a year ago, one a Windows 10 PC and the other a Windows XP PC. He ALSO used to be able to host and connect with either of those two PCs back then.

Anyhow, fast-forward to last night: NO luck at all connecting with CFS2 regardless of who attempted to host. Does anyone have any ideas?

This is driving us/me NUTZ! Other multiplayer games seem to working just fine, games on Steam, TeamSpeak, and EVEN the old Quake II, etc... but NOT CFS2

P.S. SIDE NOTE: When we were heavily playing CFS2 multiplayer a year ago or so, we would occasionally announce the games here in the forum. We even had someone from here join us one time, he was able to connect to us via TCP/IP as well at that time without a problem.

[Dirtman]

I haven't done CFS2 multiplayer for many years so I don't know how relative this is:

Back then a "static" IP address was required to host a game.

Most people have "dynamic" IP addresses.
Either IP type could join a game.

Rami & Tango Romeo hosted our games with Collin, PSullykeys, Simonu & Gary McS.



Pretty sure it was all done on XP

Simple rules:
- WW2 production props only
- no mods
- no slewing
- each man for himself
- 1st to 10 kills wins

GOOD TIMES!!!!

[RichNagel]

Back then a "static" IP address was required to host a game. Most people have "dynamic" IP addresses. Either IP type could join a game.

All of us have always had dynamic IP addresses, never had a problem a year ago when we were heavily playing CFS2. Mind you, mine (unlike my friends') hardly ever changes... I live out in the STICKS LOL, so there are hardly any new customers signing up to our ISP, so it rarely changes.

[RichNagel]

P.S. These were from a year ago.

One of our multiplayer dogfights, me and 3 of my buddies... that's me going down in a ball of flames LOL!



We even did a "Fly-in" of sorts... went from Henderson to Midway (IIRC) in our modern jets. Was pretty difficult flying those big irons in formation in multiplayer for so long LOL! Hehe, "Unknown Soldier" is a buddy of mine... he CRASHED FOUR TIMES at the destination before he successfully landed his aircraft LOL! Me and my other buddy "Doc" landed without difficulty, and were drinking our coffee at the 'tarmac' waiting for him to successfully land. Hehe, who ya gonna rely on when the REAL pilot of your REAL commercial airliner that you're a passenger on gets ill and passes out? Definitely NOT Unknown Soldier LOL!




Anyhow, we were definitely rocking right along a year ago, for several years without an issue. Same OS's some of the same PC's, and yet we NOW can't connect <aarrgghh>!

[Dangerousdave26]

If you are using Windows 10/11 then the issue might be direct play is not active by default. You need to activate Legacy Components. See this website

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-t...lay-on-windows

Here is the link to your post back in 2016 which details ports to open in your router. That should not be forgotten it surely will fail without that.

http://sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/sh...=1#post1040501

[RichNagel]

If you are using Windows 10/11 then the issue might be direct play is not active by default. You need to activate Legacy Components. See this website

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-t...lay-on-windows

Here is the link to your post back in 2016 which details ports to open in your router. That should not be forgotten it surely will fail without that.

http://sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/sh...=1#post1040501

Thanks for the info Yeah, I/we already have the needed ports open, I'll have to check about DirectPlay though. Like I posted previously, these are the same PCs that we played on a year ago. I don't know about my other buddies, but I myself still use the same modem/router that I had back then. That being said, I didn't remember the DirectPlay part though, I'll have to check that.

[RichNagel]

Slight update: We just checked, all ports are open, DirectPlay was enabled, Windows Firewall exception enabled for CFS2.EXE, and (something that I forgot about that I had detailed in my message in that other thread) we also enabled a Windows Firewall exception for CFD2.ICD as well.

Anyhow, still no dice

[Allen]

Dose anyone know about GameRanger? It supports CFS1 and CFS3. Maybe support for CFS2 could be added?

[AcWai]

Slight update: We just checked, all ports are open, DirectPlay was enabled, Windows Firewall exception enabled for CFS2.EXE, and (something that I forgot about that I had detailed in my message in that other thread) we also enabled a Windows Firewall exception for CFD2.ICD as well.

Anyhow, still no dice

I got CFS2 working in the multi-player mode. There are a lot of wrong information in the Internet on how to set up the Multiplayer mode in CFS2.

I wrote a Word document so I don't forget how to do it. This document is two years old. I tried to ask anyone in this website if they are interested in multi-player mode and no one responded. I think most people like to play in the mission mode.

If you want to see how to do it, please send me your private email, I don't know how to link a word document to this thread. I think I can upload this document in the add on utility section. I would like to combat with a live person than the AI pilots.

BTW, if you search in Amazon, I found three copies of CFS2 for sale, the price is $20-27.

[Allen]

You can always drop the word document into a zip and attach that zip.

[RichNagel]

I got CFS2 working in the multi-player mode. There are a lot of wrong information in the Internet on how to set up the Multiplayer mode in CFS2.

I wrote a Word document so I don't forget how to do it. This document is two years old. I tried to ask anyone in this website if they are interested in multi-player mode and no one responded. I think most people like to play in the mission mode.

If you want to see how to do it, please send me your private email, I don't know how to link a word document to this thread. I think I can upload this document in the add on utility section. I would like to combat with a live person than the AI pilots.

As Allen replied, ZIP up the Word DOC and attach it to a reply in this thread Hopefully there will be something in there that will help.

I'm really at a loss with this, as we never had a problem with it a year ago. Almost makes me wonder if there was some forced Windows update that was done to my buddies' PCs that's causing it. I myself have ALL Windows SO-CALLED "updates" disabled.

[RichNagel]

AcWai uploaded his DocX file to the Sim Outhouse file libraries. I posted the following message to the announcement message thread for that file upload:

Thanks for that info, AcWai! Unfortunately though, I already have all of these set up, yet my buddies and I still can't connect like we were able to a year ago. Everything is set up properly: All ports are open on all of our routers, Windows firewall exceptions are enabled for CFS2.EXE (as well as CFS2.ICD), DirectPlay is enabled, and we are using the correct IP addresses.

Something makes me think that maybe there's been some sort of update to Windows within the past year that's causing the issue.

BTW, are you (or anyone) *currently* actually able to host and join CFS2 games successfully?

[AcWai]

Did you set up the three virtual servers according to the instructions? That was the trick to get it working.

Left click on Virtual Servers, set up 3 virtual servers (using +add) for UDP 6073, TCP 47624, and TCP & UDP 2300-2400. You can use any Service name.


I have not played in multi-player mode for 2 years now after I got it working. My friends lost interest in playing on-line.

[RichNagel]

Did you set up the three virtual servers according to the instructions? That was the trick to get it working.

I hadn't tried that, but my buddies and I will have to give that a try sometime. The weird thing is, we didn't have to do that a year ago when we played quite frequently (with the same PCs and OSs). But, who knows... maybe a forced Windows 10 update sometime over the course of the past year makes the virtual servers necessary now. Anyhow, we'll have to try that.

[RichNagel]

I just took a look at my modem/router configuration. Unfortunately I have NO options at all for Nat Forwarding or Virtual Servers.

[Allen]

Same RichNagel.

[AcWai]

NAT port forwarding is typically used to allow remote hosts to connect to a host or server on our private LAN. A host on the outside (for example on the Internet) will connect to the outside IP address of a router that is configured for NAT. This NAT router will forward traffic to host on the inside.

What ports are used for NAT traversal?

In summary, the NAT device will use the following ports with NAT Traversal is enabled:

• Encapsulated Security Protocol (ESP): IP Protocol 50; UDP port 4500
• Authentication Header (AH): IP Protocol 51 ; UDP port 4500
• ISAKMP IKE Negotiations UDP port 500 -> UDP port 4500

How do I check my Nat type on PC?

Scroll down and check your "UPnP" settings, and your "NAT type". Check to make sure you have UPnP enabled from your PS3. From the XMB, go to Settings>Network Settings>Internet Connection Settings. If you configured your PS3 network using the "Easy" setting, UPnP should be enabled automatically.

How to check Nat type on PC?

^{To review the current network type, follow these steps:}

• Open the Control Panel. In Windows 10, right-click the Start button and choose Control Panel from the super-secret pop-up menu. In Windows 7, choose Control Panel from the Start menu.
• Below the Network and Internet heading, click the link View Network Status and Tasks. The currently connected network is shown in the Network and Sharing Center window. ...
• Close the Control Panel window when you’re done. The network connection type revealed.

How does nat work in FireWall-1?

How NAT Works in FireWall-1. NAT is configured via the Address Translation tab in the Security Policy Editor. The rules are processed in the order in which they are listed. Once a rule matches a packet, the packet is translated, and no further processing occurs.

[Allen]

PS3 info???? You may want to try this again.

[WV-903]

Hi fella's,
Winco from on-line CFS-3 here. We are still flying CFS-3 OK, we moved thru Windows XP to Windows 10 and the old game is still going after some 14 years now,------ usually have around 6-8 players each time. Couple of them used to fly CFS-2 so will refer them to your problem here to see if we can help. Like you guys, we've been flying on private IP hostings since the Micro-soft server went down and 3 of us still using Windows 7 OK. But like you mention, we "Bin" the updates as they might be unhelpful.

We are always on Team Speak-3 so please call in to talk when we are flying,----- our IP's are posted in the CFS-3 Forum, below the stickies. We are just starting up the games right now in fact and fly every day of the week and usually W/ends too. Hope you can get this problem sorted.

Bill T (WINCO41)

[RichNagel]

Couple of them used to fly CFS-2 so will refer them to your problem here to see if we can help.

Many thanks!

@AcWai, attached are screenshots of what I see. In my modem/router setup, all that's there is an option to enable or disable the NAT state. The second screenshot is of the Control Panel showing (limited) information about my connection.

[AcWai]

Many thanks!

@AcWai, attached are screenshots of what I see. In my modem/router setup, all that's there is an option to enable or disable the NAT state. The second screenshot is of the Control Panel showing (limited) information about my connection.

Please search in Youtube "how to set up NAT forwarding with your router". There are a lot of videos on how to do it. All the videos show how to open a new menu to install the virtual servers. Can you ask your friends to see if they can set up NAT forwarding?

My old router is a TPLINK Archer C50. I am now using direct Ethernet connection in my house. I hope either you or your friends can set up multiplayer mode. I would like to play on-line with multiplayer.

[RichNagel]

AcWai, I found the following information in one of the videos:

"TP-Link routers refer to a port forward as a virtual server which might be confusing."

In other words, port forwarding on a TP-Link router uses the term "virtual server" in the router setup. This would be the same thing as opening ports, and then having them routed via NAT forwarding (which they are on mine and my buddies routers).

Attached is a screenshot of mine. NAT Forwarding routes my local LAN IP (192.168.0.15) to my ISP IP, and the "port forwarding" opens the ports to be routed/forwarded to my local LAN IP. BTW, some of those ports in the screenshot are for other games. One that I need to add (that I used to have in there) was for DOSBox... me and my buddies used to play the old DOS WarCraft II under DOSBox via the internet with me hosting the game (and DOSBox needed specific ports open in order to connect across the internet for playing old DOS games).

In other words, long story short, we're talking about the same thing. NAT Forwarding (in my case, "NAT Enabled") + "Virtual Server" (in my case, "Port Forwarding").



P.S. If me and my buddies can finally get this damned thing running again (like we actually DID a year ago), you're more than welcome to come on in and get shot down <BIG_GRIN>

[AcWai]

AcWai, I found the following information in one of the videos:

"TP-Link routers refer to a port forward as a virtual server which might be confusing."

In other words, port forwarding on a TP-Link router uses the term "virtual server" in the router setup. This would be the same thing as opening ports, and then having them routed via NAT forwarding (which they are on mine and my buddies routers).

Attached is a screenshot of mine. NAT Forwarding routes my local LAN IP (192.168.0.15) to my ISP IP, and the "port forwarding" opens the ports to be routed/forwarded to my local LAN IP. BTW, some of those ports in the screenshot are for other games. One that I need to add (that I used to have in there) was for DOSBox... me and my buddies used to play the old DOS WarCraft II under DOSBox via the internet with me hosting the game (and DOSBox needed specific ports open in order to connect across the internet for playing old DOS games).

In other words, long story short, we're talking about the same thing. NAT Forwarding (in my case, "NAT Enabled") + "Virtual Server" (in my case, "Port Forwarding").



P.S. If me and my buddies can finally get this damned thing running again (like we actually DID a year ago), you're more than welcome to come on in and get shot down <BIG_GRIN>

It looks like that you need to turn on port 2300-2400 (remote defined to yes?)

change port 6073 to UDP and turn on (remote defined to yes?)

turn on port 47624 (remote defined to yes?)

I am not too sure what really goes thru the TCP and UDP ports. Those were the settings that my friends used to get CFS2 working in Multiplayer mode.

Perform step 3 with the information from step 1.

Perform step 4 to allow CFS2 to access through the firewall, then reboot.

[RichNagel]

The "Remote Defined No" simply means that "All IP Addresses" was selected when creating the port forwarding rule. This is the default in my router setup when creating a new port forwarding rule.

[RichNagel]

We are always on Team Speak-3 so please call in to talk when we are flying,----- our IP's are posted in the CFS-3 Forum, below the stickies.

BTW, we also use a private TeamSpeak server during our multiplayer games (not just CFS2, but anytime that me and my buddies are killing each other/shooting each other down LOL!). We used to use the built-in voice chat of Steam (as we also play a lot of Steam games), but it was always a problematic PITA, so we switched over to TeamSpeak for our voice communication (even for the Steam games).

Anyhow, I added a bookmark in TeamSpeak to y'alls Sim Outhouse channel. I don't play CFS3, but maybe I'll see you there sometime I really wish that I could get CFS2 MP up and running again... doesn't make ANY DAMNED SENSE AT ALL that it used to work without out a hitch a year ago, for MANY years leading up to that, and then over the course of the past year, BAM! Nothing