Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

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elzdad
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 3:07 pm

Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

Post by elzdad »

I'm playing a Panthers in the Fog with a friend, and using the lobby system to connect. Quite often during the game though, things lag a bit, and not infrequently (maybe one game in four) the whole thing "freezes". Lagging we can cope with, freezing is more of a pain.

When it freezes, the UI appears fairly responsive (so you don't actually realise straight away): you can scroll around and select units; destroyed tanks carry on emitting smoke etc.. But the countdown clock has stopped, and you can't actually give commands to units. Eventually, one or both of us gets "your opponent has disconnected".

So we thought that we'd try using the direct connection. We both have v1.01, and I always host the game. The message displayed when we start to play says that the host (me) has to open port 1944 on my firewall, but although I think I've done this, invariably when we play I get the same message again about not having been able to establish a direct connection.

I'd like to have some more info on exactly what I should do, in case I'm missing something. This is what I have done:
- fixed my router to allow incoming access to my PC for UDP and TCP on port 1944
- set up my router to log whenever this happens
- said "OK" when I ran PitF and Windows asked me if it was OK for the program to access the network

I wrote a test program which would try to talk to my home PC from my office at work, using port 1944. When I run this, the router logs that the access has happened, and I see the connection coming in on my home PC. When I disable the firewall exception, my program won't work. So I am fairly sure that my firewall rule is correct (it's allowing access when enabled, and logging that access has taken place).

When we start PITF though, I get the message saying direct access didn't work, but I get *nothing* in the router log. So I don't believe that a connection over port 1944 is actually being attempted.

Has anyone got this to work? Am I right in assuming it's just the host who has to open port 1944? That's what the message says, but perhaps it's the other player as well?

Thanks for any help (either with the port 1944 thing, or help about the freezing when playing via the lobby)

fwiw: I am running Windows7; my friend is on Windows8.

nick
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SteveMcClaire
Posts: 4303
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:31 pm

RE: Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

Post by SteveMcClaire »

There are several places where things can go wrong -- it's possible the game or lobby system is not getting your correct, external IP address when your friend tries to connect to you. Or there could be an issue with your (or his) ISP blocking such a connection (in general, or on port 1944 specifically) somewhere in between.

Here are some other things we can try to narrow it down:

Try sending your test program to your friend and see if you get a connection notice on your router when he uses it to try and connect to your home machine. If this works and the game does not then it is definitely something I'll need to look into. I suspect you'll see a similar issue, though, since the game is not doing anything unusual here.

Your friend will also need to check that his machine is not preventing the outgoing connection on port 1944 -- Windows could be doing it, or a firewall, router, or even an anti-virus / security program.

Thanks,

Steve
elzdad
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 3:07 pm

RE: Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

Post by elzdad »

Hi Steve

Thanks for your reply. We'll try this in the next day or so and report back

nick
STIENER
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Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2001 10:00 am
Location: Vancouver, Canada

RE: Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

Post by STIENER »

since getting my new vid card in and now playing PITF in multiplayer, every time i connect with my opponent [ i host ] i get the message "that the host (me) has to open port 1944 to connect BUT we always connect i just get the message, and i acknowlage the message and a way we go into the game and play fine.

not sure whats going on there but we do connect and the multi player game works fine.
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PipFromSlitherine
Posts: 1467
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:11 pm

RE: Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

Post by PipFromSlitherine »

ORIGINAL: STIENER

since getting my new vid card in and now playing PITF in multiplayer, every time i connect with my opponent [ i host ] i get the message "that the host (me) has to open port 1944 to connect BUT we always connect i just get the message, and i acknowlage the message and a way we go into the game and play fine.

not sure whats going on there but we do connect and the multi player game works fine.
You are probably connecting via the TCP router, rather than via direct connection?

Cheers

Pip

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elzdad
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 3:07 pm

RE: Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

Post by elzdad »

I'm the original poster - an update:

We tried tonight having my friend run an application which tried to connect from his PC to mine using my IP address, and port 1944. I'd opened that port on my firewall, and when he ran the program I could see the connection coming in.

So then we started PitF, I "hosted" a game with him as usual. First time we tried we had "Connecting to your opponent..." for quite a while, which seemed to get stuck, so we started again, and this time we got a direct connection straight away, and played a battle over the next hour which worked fine, no obvious lag, and no freezing.

The only thing that changed is that I had set my router to respond to "ping", which I'd done earlier on just to confirm that he was able to ping my IP address and see me. After he did this, I forgot to turn this back off, so it's been like this while we were playing. I don't believe it would have affected PitF and so I've turned if off now (if we have problems in future I'll be sure to check that enabling ping doesn't make any difference).

So in case it's helpful to anyone else, what we did was:

- When I first ran PitF on Windows7, I said "OK" when Windows asked me if I was happy to have the program talk over the internet (this only happened the first time I ran PitF).

- At my end (I'm "host"), I configured my router's firewall to allow incoming connections over TCP and UDP (not sure if they're both needed, but anyway) over port 1944 and directed them at the IP address belonging to my PC (the router's set up to give my PC the same IP address every time)


- My friend hasn't done anything special at his end to relax his default firewall rules

Thanks for the help
elzdad
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 3:07 pm

RE: Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

Post by elzdad »

since getting my new vid card in and now playing PITF in multiplayer, every time i connect with my opponent [ i host ] i get the message "that the host (me) has to open port 1944 to connect BUT we always connect i just get the message, and i acknowlage the message and a way we go into the game and play fine.

not sure whats going on there but we do connect and the multi player game works fine.

When we played over direct connection, we didn't get that message. That's what we'd always been getting before configuring the firewall: a message saying that the direct connection had failed and that if we wanted to use a direct connection then we'd need to open 1944. At that stage, pressing "OK" did continue with a connection and multiplayer game (but presumably we were connecting via the matrixgames lobby thing). But once the firewall was sorted out, PitF just came up saying "direct connection" straight away: no mention of port 1944.
STIENER
Posts: 831
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2001 10:00 am
Location: Vancouver, Canada

RE: Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

Post by STIENER »

you lost me PIP........
[&:]
since we have no control of how we connect per say, were assuming that were connectiong thru the PITF game lobby?? are we NOT??

is the PITF game lobby were forced to use..."direct connection" ??

to clarify my above post......i dont open any ports....i get the message but the game DOES connect and we play fine.
if im NOT opening any ports and i am connecting WHY am i getting the message???
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PipFromSlitherine
Posts: 1467
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:11 pm

RE: Can't get multiplayer working using port 1944

Post by PipFromSlitherine »

Nothing to worry about :). Some players were finding that their routes to the TCP server were not giving them good connections. The game now attempts to connect directly from peer-to-peer, avoiding the TCP server. If you have the ports open correctly then this happens automatically. If you do not, then the game simply routes all its traffic through the server and 99% of players will not notice the difference - beyond not needing to start playing with their router ports :).

The message is simply there to inform people that they can open ports for direct connection should it be necessary for them.

So, TL;DR - if everything is working for you, you can ignore the message :)

Cheers

Pip
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