SUPPORT: Solving Connectivity Problems

Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2415

SUPPORT: Solving Connectivity Problems

Tips and Tricks

Most PC games are client/server. That is, someone creates a game and others join that game. The data then goes from you to the host (the server) and then back to the other players. Sins of a Solar Empire is client/server.

In Demigod, it is peer-to-peer. This was necessary because it needed to have the least amount of latency possible since your moves are directly sent to the other players rather than to a server first. Because the action in Demigod focuses a great deal on Melee in the third person (i.e. players can see their hits) a lot of traditional methods to mask latency aren't possible. Peer-to-peer reduces the problem of "lag".

The downside of peer-to-peer is that everyone has to be able to connect to each other. In a client server game, many people have heard someone say "I can join games but I can't host them." In a peer-to-peer game, everyone is technically a host thus greatly increasing the challenge of connecting players.

The solution developed is known as CVP NAT, a new feature of Stardock's Impulse Reactor development library.

So what problems can people have? Below are the most common issues:

Windows may fail to create a local socket. There's a million reasons for this unfortunately and your options are to try to rejoin a game or try hosting the game instead. It's not terribly common but feels very common when it happens to you. It will be more common if you have an older router as we have learned that older consumer routers are more likely to be problematic when opening sockets.
Your ISP is sending your messages with different IP addresses. This is common in Europe where people have DSL lines that have multiple IP and the router picks and chooses which IP to send things. It can also happen for people who have multiple Internet connections going. For instance, I have a Verizon 3G Internet connectiont that's always on. I also have a Comcast line on. If I'm trying to play a game, turning one of these connections off will likely help. At Stardock, we have a thornier issue -- we have 2 comcast lines in which our router picks the one with the most available bandwidth to send out a particular packet. CVP NAT has been designed to deal with a lot of oddball issues like this but it's not infallible.
Firewall. If youre firewall is blocking TCP or UDP packets, you won't be able to connect.
Windows failed to configure a local socket. This is another one of those annoying issues that can come up. It's similar to item #1. The best way to reduce these kinds of problems is to use Skirmish or the Pantheon. The "Custom Game" setup in Demigod is the most likely case this will come up since it requires multiple sockets to properly connect players.

TIP:

If you know what you're doing (and only if you know what you're doing) you can load a program that's in the bin directory of Demigod called ImpulseReactorOptions, set up the options there and then seperately go to your router and make sure those ports are port forwarding to the right machine.

To learn how to port forward, see this website: http://www.portforward.com/

To learn more about what ports to open see this document provided by the Monk (THANKS MONK!)

http://themonk.ca/Monk/Networking_and_DEMIGOD.pdf

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the_Monk

Join Date 01/2008

+222

Quoting tazgecko,

reply 19

Thanks monk for your help....

In the modem i have foward the ports to the router's wan ip,

i have forward the ports in the router to my ipv4 address (as ipconfig has told me the address).

still pfportchecker say the ports are not open!

Here are my further suggestions.

1. Place the WAN IP of your router into the DMZ on your modem.

2. Make sure the proper ports are still forwarded from your router to to your PC

3. Make sure any/all firewalls on your router are turned off.

4. Make sure any security software (other than the Windows Firewall) is off on your PC.

the Monk

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the_Monk

Join Date 01/2008

+222

@ Everyone,

As Spooky has pointed out several times now (hehe...thanks Spooky ) the Shields-UP scanner does look for something "listening" for traffic behind said ports.

So...

It would be advisable to start Demigod, host a custom PASSWORD-protected game (so people don't try joining while you're testing) then alt-tabbing and running the scan, if you're still inclined to use the Shields-UP scanner that is....

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the_Monk

Join Date 01/2008

+222

Quoting InterFaced,

reply 23

I may have stumbled upon something a while ago that might help a few players...
I've been playing supreme commander with a group of friends since its release, in demigod terms we play "custom" games amongst ourselves that are rather large by supcom standards, usually 6-8 players. For the longest time I could not connect to the weekly game... I tried everything, even plugging my computer directly into my modem after DMZing my machine still didn't solve the issue. Nothing helped. It was really frustrating... Especially since supcom is such a cool game.

It turns out my small town ISP had a global firewall setup on thier end. It wasn't something they advertised or told new customers about, I guess they figured that most of us hicks living in the middle of nowhere (Kanab, UT) could use an extra layer of protection. All it took was a phone call to dissable the firewall on my account and SupCom (and demigod) have been working great ever since.

It might be worth your time to contact your ISP if nothing seems to work, especially if its a smaller local type business... this sort of thing might be common.

ISP's are performing all sorts of "filtering" these days. The unfortunate part is, that many will not be truthful with their clients about doing so, and sometimes the low-level techs aren't even aware of any such "filtering".

Glad you got your issues sorted.

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the_Monk

Join Date 01/2008

+222

Quoting _Shadow,

reply 24

Monk, have you observed whether Demigod port requirements are properly announced via UPnP? Assuming the router is to spec and SPI is told to back off, is UPnP sufficient? I'm finding it very difficult to evaluate this on my own due to the intermittent problems Stardock is having.

Please DO be technical with your answer, if you don't mind and have the time.

Thank you!

As I've posted about earlier, I don't believe "forwarding" of ports is even the bigger issue here. The biggest issue with Demigod is that the level of NAT-filtering (either on out-going or incoming connections) is breaking things.

Unfortunately many people's setups don't allow for changes to the level of NAT-filtering being applied to their connections (and in some cases their ISP's are the culprits). Symmetric NAT modems, double-NAT scenarios, ISP NAT-filtering etc. are the big problems here.

I have tested the following on my two internet connections (one is DSL, and one cable)

-- Disabling SPI ("telling SPI to back off"), and "relaxing NAT-filtering" (as described in my generic networking guide Networking for the Gamer ) was sufficient (at least for my connections) I did not need to have any ports forwarded.

The problem is, many routers still don't have options for "relaxing NAT-filtering" etc. and so forwarding ports is the next best option.

Since UPnP is essentially "dynamic" port-forwarding (forwarding incoming traffic on ports the program has sent traffic out on) the only issue I see with using it for Demigod is that it may not detect having to forward traffic on a port-range and could therefore prevent incoming connections on ports that haven't been used for outgoing traffic yet.

Your best bet is to try changing the level of NAT-filtering being applied to (all points of..ie modem, router, ISP etc.) your connection, and if you can't do that, then properly forwarding the ports (port-range) as specified.

the Monk

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I never tried to connect online, but I couldn't even get through to a LAN game with the AVG Firewall enabled (and Demigod supposedly allowed through it.) It still wouldn't connect with the firewall disabled and set to Allow all, either.

As soon as I uninstalled AVG, the game connected fine. (Yes, I have the Windows Firewall on now.)

Lets see, major failures connecting with the AVG Firewall...Internet Connection Sharing, Games for Windows Live, and now Demigod...sheesh.

I'd totally bitch at AVG about it but I don't care anymore when MS is supposedly releasing a free antivirus app.

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Hello. How do i set up a situation when i want 2 computers to play simultaneonsely from behind one router?

Before i did set one of my PC's to DMZ and hosted, and joined from other PC, but now i need both to be accessible from the net, what do i do?

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SUCCESS! All I did was use ImpulseReactorOptions.exe to force what ports Demigod used. In use default mode it was not using 6100-6200 as claimed. I had connections going out on 3000-3100 for some reason.

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I'm having an odd problem I can't seem to find a solution for. My friend can create a game. Now only 1 person can join that game and anyone else that attempts to join eventually times out. He also cannot join ANYONEs games. We openned the ports 6073 and 6100-6200 and still it doesn't change anything. I had him disable Windows Firewall and that didn't do anything either.

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Has anyone run into a problem with being unable to connect to people that are on a LAN with you when trying to play with them online?

I live in an apartment complex on a University. My friend and I try to play together a lot and it seems that we can connect to everyone but each other. On the connection details screen it doesn't even attempt to connect us to each other. Throws us into the lobby together and we get a green 0ms to each other.

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Hi everyone,

Purchased the Downloadversion of Demigod and I´m suffering of these Connection issues as well.

I can´t connect to any multiplayer-game.

Perhaps the following facts help our friendly supporters to help me

My Windowsfirewall is set up properly, Demigod and Impulse app are trusted
I have no AVP, no software firewall, no software at all which checks connection-permissions
I´m using the Speedport W700V, a modem-router combination by the German Telekom. You can forward ports, but cannot make specific NAT-settings.(Here is the Manual as .pdf in german language: Klick )
German Telekom with 16MBit-connection, shouldnt really block p2p-connections at all
I forwarded the Ports 6073, 6100-6200 (UDP) for my Computer in the Routersettings, also in combination with ImpulseReactorOptions.exe set to 6100-6200 without success.
The routers firewall is of course activated, has never produced any connection problem with any game. I wont believe that it has no real function for security as declared in the_monks guide (please dont understand that as an offending). But to erase this still possible solution, i temporarily deactivated the router firewall ... and it made no difference ingame.

Comments in English and German are welcome.

Teamspeak available.

Greetz, Gim2k

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I recommended the game to a friend of mine and he was about to download it.

But when I told him I had to reconfigure my router to forward ports to get the multiplayer working he really got put off.

I can't say I blame him, as he hates to install or configure stuff just to get a game working. It has to work right out of the box, or its just a bad design is his opionion.

I took me 2 hours to get it working, as I even had to reset my router because it didnt accept any new forwarded ports. Such weird things (that are not suppose to happen) always happen with him also. And as he is not so good with the technical side of computers its really hard to explain such things on the phone

correction: the game is still not working correctly, It crashes half the time on connecting, even now I have forwarded my ports and set the impulsereactor options

EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at address 0x7c911129
attempted to read memory at 0x0e9c943d

Program : C:\Program Files\Stardock Games\Demigod\bin\Demigod.exe
Cmd line arguments :

Callstack:
wcsncpy + 2986 bytes ((Unknown)(0) + 0 bytes)

Last 100 lines of log...

A full record of the log is stored in the Demigodlog.txt file

info:   HostedBy="Urkkeli",
info:   HumanPlayerCount=8,
info:   NonClosedSlotCount=9,
info:   Options={
info:     GameType="conquest",
info:     conquest={
info:       DeathPenalty="Normal",
info:       ExperienceRate="Normal",
info:       FlagCaptureTime="Moderate",
info:       FogOfWar="explored",
info:       GameSpeed="normal",
info:       GoldIncome="Normal",
info:       GruntStrength="Normal",
info:       ScenarioFile="/maps/map09/map09_scenario.lua",
info:       SpawnRate="Normal",
info:       StartingGold="Normal",
info:       StartingLevel="One",
info:       StartingWarRank="1",
info:       Timeouts="0",
info:       TowerStrength="Normal",
info:       Victory="conquest",
info:       WarScoreIncome="Normal",
info:       achievements="false"
info:     },
info:     flagcontrol={
info:       DeathPenalty="Normal",
info:       ExperienceRate="Normal",
info:       FlagCaptureTime="Moderate",
info:       FogOfWar="explored",
info:       GameSpeed="normal",
info:       GoldIncome="Normal",
info:       GruntStrength="Normal",
info:       ScenarioFile="/maps/map09/map09_scenario.lua",
info:       SpawnRate="Normal",
info:       StartingGold="Normal",
info:       StartingLevel="One",
info:       StartingWarRank="1",
info:       Timeouts="0",
info:       TowerStrength="Normal",
info:       Victory="flagcontrol",
info:       WarScoreIncome="Normal",
info:       WinningWarScore="10000",
info:       achievements="true"
info:     },
info:     slaughter={
info:       DeathPenalty="Normal",
info:       ExperienceRate="Normal",
info:       FogOfWar="explored",
info:       GameSpeed="normal",
info:       GoldIncome="Normal",
info:       GruntStrength="Normal",
info:       KillsToWin="20",
info:       ScenarioFile="/maps/map09/map09_scenario.lua",
info:       SpawnRate="Normal",
info:       StartingGold="Normal",
info:       StartingLevel="One",
info:       StartingWarRank="1",
info:       Timeouts="0",
info:       TowerStrength="Normal",
info:       Victory="slaughter",
info:       WarScoreIncome="Normal",
info:       achievements="true"
info:     },
info:     structuredefense={
info:       DeathPenalty="Normal",
info:       ExperienceRate="Normal",
info:       FogOfWar="explored",
info:       GameSpeed="normal",
info:       GoldIncome="Normal",
info:       GruntStrength="Normal",
info:       ScenarioFile="/maps/map09/map09_scenario.lua",
info:       SpawnRate="Normal",
info:       StartingGold="Normal",
info:       StartingLevel="One",
info:       StartingWarRank="1",
info:       Timeouts="0",
info:       TowerStrength="Normal",
info:       Victory="structuredefense",
info:       WarScoreIncome="Normal",
info:       achievements="true"
info:     }
info:   },
info:   TotalPlayerCount=8,
info:   Version="MAIN.1.00.0105",
info:   dwGameID=351906,
info:   dwHostPlayerID=34966
info: }
info: CVP_GameData:
      szGameName: (UK) 4vs4 - eu host - no favor items
      szHostPlayerName: Urkkeli
      szHostIPAddress: 94.237.71.33
      szPassword:
      szMapName: Leviathan
      szGameSpecificXML (size): 3588
      szGameGUID: 35e77e41-bcf8-434a-acde-930328600954
      szGameToken:
      szStartTime: 0001-01-01T00:00:00
      szLastNotificationTime: 2009-05-04T16:34:00.223
      szGameVersion:
      dwHostPlayerID: 34966
      dwHostPort: 0
      dwMinPlayers: 1
      dwMaxPlayers: 9
      dwGameTypeID: 5
      dwGameMapID: 56
      dwNumPlayers: 8
      dwGameID: 351906
      bRanked: 0
      bPrivate: 0
      dwHostTeamID: 0
      dwHostEntityID: 0
      dwWinningTeamID: 0
info: Adding name/ID mapping:[Wotse:41517]
info: >>>Entering CVPInterface::GetUserPlayerData()
info: >>>Exiting CVPInterface::GetUserPlayerData()
info: >>>Entering CVPGetPlayerAchievementsByID for 41517
info: <<<Exiting CVPGetPlayerAchievementsByID
info: JoinGame. GameID[351906], Password[]
info: >>>Entering CVPInterface::JoinGame()
info: >>>Exiting CVPInterface::JoinGame()
info: >>>Entering CVPInterface::GetGameData()
info: >>>Exiting CVPInterface::GetGameData()
info: Adding name/ID mapping:[Wotse:41517]
info: System: Connecting to game host...

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Sigh, tonights update still does nothing for me. I've tried being patient but it's going on a month here, and I've still yet to play 1 game. I'm not on some European DSL, im right here in America (admititly DSL).

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Quoting Cmo4Ever,

reply 12

Me neither, I forwarded the ports, but doesn't seem that the "direct connect" option when you forward the ports works. I also tried with the ImpulseReactor app. (I'm European DSL though)

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I´ve heard that if your ISP sets p2p-connects to a lower priority (of what we all don´t know), the network code of Demigod does not react to your connection. Perhaps thats the main problem in their code.

Seems the whole network code they use is fail. Should have better used an already existing code by Microsoft than creating an own experimental one. The only thing we can do is forwarding the ports, if that doesn´t lead to success, the only thing we can do is to hope for the devs fixing the code. Perhaps the upcoming change with the proxies will help ... I hope so.

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Hi all,

I'm.... bored... can't play any game on this great game for a month now...

I've managed to read most of the topic, but I can't see why it doesn't work.

Firewall is open for Demigod, no AV running, ports forwarded, Router firewall off... and no problems with other games (hosting on War3 ...) or with my FTP server / TeamSpeak server...

The only thing - maybe - is I may have missed one setting on my shitty Livebox (by Orange - France) or maybe because i'm not on a classic DSL line but on a Fiber.

Any Ideas ? Many thanks.

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Well I am confused. I forwarded ports 6100-6200 and checked it with port checker seems it works fine. It seems i also need to forward port 6073, so i will just open 6073-6200. I read in this thread about impulse reactor. Do I have to go into there as well and change some port settings? Please help. I havent had many problems connecting to games but i want to do this stuff right to give people a better chance to play with me.

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Hi there,

I have a very strange problem : I can easily connect with other players to enter in a lobby, but when another player enter in, my ping suddenly goes up (Or not.) and everything freeze, and I get kicked from the game with the message "You've been kicked from the game you were attempting to join" "connection to host time out" or something like that.

I've to be the last player in the lobby to be able to play because when I try to connect with other people, as soon as I'm connected with everyone (It generally takes a few sec.) the game freezes and i'm finally kicked out because I was not the last one trying to enter the lobby. That's really annoying.

I did all the recommanded manipulations, but nothing seems to change, if you've got a solution it would be nice.

Thanks in advance. :/

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Dunno if this is any help :K

On my buffalo g54 disabling upnp gives me instant failed to connect when joining a gamelobby.With it enabled i get into lobby but about 50% of time i get 0ms to other players.The times when i don't get it there's always at least 1 guy dropping when the game launches on the waiting for players screen.Got my ports open and firewalls/intrusion off.

At least it works perfectly without the router.

*edit* Got it fixed by disabling my kaspersky..stupid me.

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I'm trying to set up the port forwarding for my router. I've done it before with other applications, but not with a certain range, ie 6100-6200. I have no idea how to forward that range unless I'm supposed to forward each port inbetween. I'll link the page from portforward so that any networking techies can look at it

http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Asus/WL-500GP/default.htm

At the bottom you can see how the portforwarding page looks on my router. Any tips?

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Just solved an issue with the latest version of the Comodo firewall.

In order for Demigod to work on a LAN with this there's one special setting that needs to be changed.

1. Go to the Firewall settings page

2. Go to the Advanced tasks and select "Attack Detection Settings"

3. On the Miscellaneous tab in the "Attack Detection Settings" dialog, *Remove* the tick from "Block Fragmented IP Datagrams"

You should now be able to see games on a LAN.

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Hi everyone, been having some frustrations since launch in getting games going with my wife and friends. I've been following along in this thread and a few others in the tech support forum, but haven't seen much that speaks to our particular setup.

Two computers >> Verizon DSL router/modem >> phone line >> teh internets.

In ImpulseReactorOptions we set my machine to ports 6002-6100 and my wife’s to 6101-6200. On our router, I forwarded those ports for their respective machines with 6074 also on mine, and 6073 on my wife’s.

Our success rate with custom games is hit and miss. Tonight we spent 3 hours trying to get in any game together between reading the forums, troubleshooting, crashes, and getting in games where we were all connected, then our connection would drop to 0ms. Last night we tried to 3v3 with a friend and had similar problems. Ultimately, we were able to play 2-3 games, but only 3v3comp with our friend hosting.

Repeating problems (probably all related):

Green 0ms connections – (pic) the full circle of connection isn’t being made for some reason. Connection info shows Isa connected to me/Fay, Fay to Isa/me, but me only connected to Isa.
Random mass disconnects – (pic) while connecting and watching the connection info window, 4/5 people would all be connected. Then the window would blink and all connections would be dropped to start over.
Inconsistent connections – (pic) we can do 2v2comp with no problems. But, when we try to host or join another game in the custom game screen, we often cannot connect even to each other. Also while joining I will appear to be connected to someone, then once finally getting in the lobby, I will have red 0ms connection. (pic1, pic2, pic3)

We tried Gameranger. We can start games through Gameranger but when it switches to the lobby, only my wife and I end up in it. Are we just doing it wrong?

Thanks in advance. This is a great game and a welcome break from TF2 and L4D… when it works! Comp stomp is great and all while you’re learning to play, but even nightmare AI mode plays horrible, need some intelligent competition

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Quoting Gim2k,

reply 10

Hi everyone,

Purchased the Downloadversion of Demigod and I´m suffering of these Connection issues as well.

I can´t connect to any multiplayer-game.

Perhaps the following facts help our friendly supporters to help me

My Windowsfirewall is set up properly, Demigod and Impulse app are trusted
I have no AVP, no software firewall, no software at all which checks connection-permissions
I´m using the Speedport W700V, a modem-router combination by the German Telekom. You can forward ports, but cannot make specific NAT-settings.(Here is the Manual as .pdf in german language: Klick )

German Telekom with 16MBit-connection, shouldnt really block p2p-connections at all
I forwarded the Ports 6073, 6100-6200 (UDP) for my Computer in the Routersettings, also in combination with ImpulseReactorOptions.exe set to 6100-6200 without success.
The routers firewall is of course activated, has never produced any connection problem with any game. I wont believe that it has no real function for security as declared in the_monks guide (please dont understand that as an offending). But to erase this still possible solution, i temporarily deactivated the router firewall ... and it made no difference ingame.

Comments in English and German are welcome.

Teamspeak available.

Greetz, Gim2k

Ich habs. Zumindest bei meinem Setup. Besitze den gleichen Router wie du, habe alle Einstellungen analog vorgenommen, alles hat nicht geholfen. Dann: Der Hinweis, man solle die Firmware-Version updaten.

Mit der neusten Version 3.29.000 läuft alles einwandfrei (einfach von der offiziellen T-Com Seite laden)!

Zur Sicherheit hier nochmal meine aktuellen Systemeinstellungen, falls es nicht ausschließlich an der Firmware gelegen haben sollte:

1. Windows Vista 64 bit Firewall aktiviert, Ausnahmen für Demigod (automatisch erstellt) und den Port-Bereich 6073 UDP definiert (Port-Ausnahme muss manuell hinzugefügt werden).

2. Router-Firewall deaktiviert (!)

3. NAT & Portregeln: Dynamische Portöffnung für UDP 6073 hinzugefügt, Trigger ist ebenfalls 6073

4. Der PC muss natürlich unter der Rubrik NAT & Portregeln an den Router gekoppelt werden.

5. Ich beziehe meine IP-Addresse automatisch, denke hier aber nicht, dass es eine tatsächliche Auswirkung hat.

Ich habe bisher noch keine Tests durchgeführt, ob einige der Parameter 1-5 verändert werden können. Werde es hier schreiben, wenn es auch ohne eben diese funktioniert.

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Dear Forum user's and Network Buffs.

I have tried Everything in this post, I purchased this game yesterday and have been trying to play online ever since. I live in Australia, Have a Linksys Modem/Router, and have never had a problem playing any other online games. And the ones I did have problems with was easily fixed by some simple port fowarding.

This Problem is currently driving me insane My Network map is very simple, and Looks like this

Internet <> Modem/Router <> Computer

I have forwarded 6100 - 6200 and 6073 and have adjusted my Impulse Range port thingy to be 6100 - 6200.

I have no other P2P problems and Port Checker confirms my ports are open.

Firewalls have ALL been turned off during the testing to no avail.

Please fix this Stardock/Impulse because your going to kill your own creation if you fail to make it easy for those who aren't computer saavy. I myself am a Computer Tech with little to moderate expeirence with Networking but this is rediculous. I know alot of people out there have little to no knowlege in Networks, routers, etc. A simple fix for us is a hard fix for them. Please think of your Clients and do something about this Internet problem or your game will die. (And I dont want that cause it's an awesome game)!

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THANK YOU STARDOCK and IMPULSE, The New Patch FIXED my Connection problems. I you. I will try and PLay tomorrow and Update you on how everything goes! Hope it fixed everyone elses too!!!

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Still not able to connect to everyone. I also got a message in pantheon when i was playing (1 other player, 2 bots). The error said "DESYNC DETECED" followed by the other human player sname and a number (beat# 5654). Error popped up every 10 seconds and could be 'ok''d dout of it

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