Server problems and questions

[nh97103]

I am running the current version of Armagetron and my computer is running Windows 7. And if it matters, I have Norton Antivirus.

Okay. I am trying to set up a server and needless to say, it's not going very well. It is always there when I try and connect to it via LAN, but not when I try to connect to it via the master server list. It is there sometimes for a few seconds, but when you try to connect to it, it says "Server does not answer"

I also have a question about SERVER_IP, should I set that to my Ip address or not change it at all? Also, I have already set up a Static Ip adress. 192.168.2.15 And I have already port forwarded it as well.
I'm not sure if it's relevant or not, but here's the port forwarding information I used.
Description: Armagetron
Inbound Port: 4536
Type: UDP
Private Ip Address: 192.168.2.15
Private Port: 4536

Here is the settings I have in settings_custom. I am only doing the very basic while I try to get it to work.
TALK_TO_MASTER 1
SERVER_IP 192.168.2.15
SERVER_PORT 4536
SERVER_NAME Nathan's Server

By the way, I read as much as I could on the forums and discovered that usually you can't connect to your own server on the computer you are hosting it from, so I tried my desktop and was unsuccessful.

One more thing, on LAN the ping says it's 18. Shouldn't it be higher? Any ideas?

Any help would be appreciated. I'd be happy to answer any questions about anything else I might have missed. Thanks.

[nh97103]

I have narrowed the problem down, but as of right now am not sure how to fix it. I was wondering if it had to do with my router. And was doing some reading about how even if you create a static Ip address through Windows you still have to make the router recognize it. So I was trying to make my router have a static ip address setting instead of dynamic and failed miserably. It won't work. And I called my service provider (Charter) and they said they couldn't help because "They can't help set up a static Ip address if your going to use it for residential use" Real nice of them. Anyway, I decided to bypass it altogether and test it with my cell phone's internet and it worked flawlessly. So it has to be something to do with the router. Although as of yet, I don't know how to fix it. Charter recommended calling Belkin and seeing if they could help. I don't know. Any ideas? This router has been nothing but trouble since we got it..

[nh97103]

Update: I got the server to work on my home network by turning on DMZ which places me outside the NAT firewall leaving my vunerable to hacker attacks. But I still have virus protection so I'm not sure it matters. On another note, it still won't let me create a static Ip through the router. But, I guess this will work unless someone knows how to do it with Belkin.

[Z-Man]

There are four different configurations others can ping/connect to your server behind a router:
1. you do it yourself from the server
2. you do it yourself from a different machine behind the same router
3. a master server pings your server
4. someone else on the Internet does it

The only case you're really interested is 4. Case 3 works then as well, it's different because your server already contacted the masters, so a ping from them may be interpreted as a response by the router and let through while a new connection from a random client will still be blocked. It's normal that 1 and 2 fail or succeed completely independently form 3 and 4, so don't worry about getting them to work, you can always connect via the LAN browser.

SERVER_IP should be left unset. It doesn't hurt to set it to your local IP, though.

You don't need a static IP from your ISP.

My master successfully had brief contacts to your server several times. If you shut it down quickly, that's to be expected. If it's online all of the time, you still have a problem with your router setup. If your server can't be online all of the time, it's best to come to IRC and ask for others to test your server.

[nh97103]

Okay, sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I've been busy.
Anyway, how does 3 and 4 work? Can you explain them to me?
And yes, I was trying to figure it out and shut it down and re-started it a few times, and then went to bed. Haha.

[Z-Man]

All I can tell you is what you already know: that you have to forward port 4536, UDP, to your server. That ivolves forwarding on the router and clearing the path in the personal firewall on the server. Sorry, I'm quite unfamiliar with specific obstacles.

And uninstalling everything Norton. It's 'shoot first, ask questions later' security and an anagram for "No Tron" not by coincidence. Properly, too: those pests are hard to get rid off.