If all goes well, it is relatively simple to get a game going. However, sometimes it seems like XvT and XWA just won’t connect. Here are some tips if you are stuck.
If you are the host and nobody can connect to you, then the problem is definitely with your connection. This is a much more common problem now than it used to be, because of the popularity of home routers with built-in firewall and Network Address Translation (NAT).
If you haven’t heard of it before, NAT is a technique of sharing one IP address between multiple computers. The router sets up a private network for the internal computers to use, with a connection out to the internet, and serves as a bridge between the two networks. This works well for normal activities such as internet browsing. When a computer sends a request to a web server, the router knows which computer on the private network sent the request, so it knows where to send the reply when it returns. But there is a problem when someone on the internet tries to initiate a connection to a computer on the private network. How does the router know which computer to send the request to?
This is the problem with a host of an XvT or XWA game. Your computer waits for other players to make a connection, but the connection packets are all blocked by the router, so the connection is never made. This is good security against worm attacks, but bad for gaming!
To find out if you are behind a NAT router, check your computer’s IP address. In Windows 2000 and XP, you can find this out by opening a command prompt (Start->Run->cmd) and entering the command ipconfig. In earlier versions of Windows, run winipcfg instead. If your IP address is of the form 10.xxx.xxx.xxx or 192.168.xxx.xxx, where xxx can be any number, you are behind a NAT router.
So, what can you do to fix the problem? Luckily, most routers allow you to define a specific computer inside the private network that should receive data packets that would otherwise be blocked. This can be done on the port level or for all traffic.
The safest way to do it is by opening up only the ports used by the game, as the router will still block unwanted traffic on other ports. And these are the ports you'll need to open:
Open these ports for both TCP and UDP protocols, and both inbound and outbound. This should cover all ports used by DirectPlay and Game Ranger for all versions. Check your router manual for information on Port Forwarding to find out how to do this.
If you try this without success, you can attempt to direct all unknown traffic from the router to your computer. Check your router manual for information about how to do this. Look for information on DMZ or Default Server, but there may be other names for this function.
The DMZ mode or Default Server should be your last resort. It will leave your computer in a completely exposed state, with no protection against hackers, spyware, trojans, NOTHING. Avoid at all costs unless there's no alternative and even then set it only while you're gaming and change your config back to something secure later. To set it up you'll need to provide the IP address of at least one DNS server, which your ISP can provide. Both your own IP and that of a DNS server can be found using the ipconfig/winipcfg command in a CMD window as it's explained above. Check your router manual for further information.