LAN connection works, remote/internet fails - SOLVED
 

Just a quick post that may help others out. I set up my first EQEmu server this weekend and ran into one snag when users tried to connect remotely.

Symptom: Internet users could connect to the loginserver (eqemulator.net) and see the server listed. When attempting to 'Play Everquest' on that server, they would get dropped back to the login page.

Problem: I had only forwarded port 9000 over TCP from my router to server, but it actually requires UDP to be forwarded here. (Also requires ports 7000-7100, udp as well).

I initially set it only to TCP, because the comment in eqemu_config.xml read, "Sets the ip/port for the tcp connections.", but I believe this is referring specifically to internal communication between world and zone servers, rather than client/server.

For clients to be able to connect to the server, they need to be able to connect to your server on port 9000/udp. I searched the forums for a while and found several references to this symptom, but couldn't see anywhere that explicitly stated it needed to be udp (maybe because many home routers don't give you the option to choose protocol, just IP to Port). Just wanted to pass this along, hopefully it will be useful to someone else out there. Many thanks go out to the community for making this project work!

I'm having this same issue but mine cannot be fixed by forwarding those ports. I've forwarded BOTH UDP and TCP and have forwarded the ports:

5998
5999
7000 to 7500
8500
9000
9080

I used the walkthru link below to setup my server and I went through it several times over a week very slowly and carefully and everything else on the server works fine, I can get on via LAN and play no problems, it's anyone outside my network who can see and login to my server, but once they try to load into the world, it hangs and goes black on them and they get kicked out.

Here's the walkthru I used: (great walkthru)
http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32980

I've forwarded all these ports to my server's IP address which has been set static and I've been able to see the server as a web server from the outside on other ports so other programs are able to open and use ports on my server but for some reason the EQEMU ports 5998, 5999 7000s all seem to remain closed/blocked as I've used a couple tools including www.canyouseeme.org and it shows my ports are blocked.

I don't know what to do next, I've tried everything I have found on these forums and online in general including trying DMZ on the server and opening up even wider ranges on the ports. My firewall on windows on the server is completely off and the programs/ports on my firewall are open on that firewall anyway just in case, but my windows FW is completely off. My firewall on my router is also completely off and the port forwarding active - I still have "blocked/closed" status on those ports.

I don't get it, can anyone help please? I'm hoping someone who is running a server currently and may have gone through this can help me. Anyone have any ideas please?

Prot forwarding needed:
UDP port 9000 for clients to connect to world.
UDP Port #### matching your XML file for Chatserver (mine is 7778, is yours the 8500?).
UDP Port Range 7000-7### to accommodate clients connecting to zone, make sure you have enough for all your active zones.

TCP Port 9080 is for the built in HTTP Server to access World. Unless you desire to remotely manage your server, I would not open this.

5998 and 5999 are for the login server. If you are not running your own EqEmu login server you do not need these forwarded. I have never checked if they are TCP or UDP since I do not run a login server.

Also keep in mind that something like canyouseeme won't show a UDP port open. UDP isn't a protocol where a connection is actually established, so there's no way to know if something is listening unless there's some sort of response sent back.

Did you try canyouseeme with your server running? A blocked/closed port could just mean there's nothing running to listen with. Port forwarding is only a bridge, not an actual listener process.

You said that could "previously" see the certain ports from the outside. Can you still see them now? If you haven't changed anything in your LAN settings or the config files since then, your ISP may have reassigned you to another address during DHCP Lease Renewal and your internet clients now have the wrong address.

U

Yes I have port 9000 and 7000 thru 7900 open which includes the 7778 for chat server along with more than enough ports for open zones etc. And I have both TCP and UDP set on each forward. The 8500 is for a web server so thats unrelated. I'm using eqemu's login server so thats all setup to use them etc so I'm not using my own login server and people can actually see my server and login, even create a toon, but once they try to zone in, it goes bonko.

Yes I used canyouseeme with my server running and still received the same message. I don't know what you mean about 'previously' but I can actually have people get in to web servers on my same system or other systems on my network using other ports - I just mean that inward communication from the outside world (ie; others connecting to my server(s) from the outside) does work, just it's crashing out when they try to log into a zone and actually play. They can login to my server from the server select and even create a character. But once they try to enter, it goes black and times out they say.

Also I've checked my IP etc and my IP is still the same and it's being logged in via eqemu's login servers so it's all handled that way so theres no prob with the lease renewal etc unfortunately. They are actually able to see my server anyway too - and can create toons but once they try to enter a zone, it's ka-put. Any other ideas?

There's a lot of posts/threads concerning this particular issue already..maybe we can add a few more keywords :)

Ok..start by posting both of your config files, and list the client types that are trying to connect (i.e., Titanium, SoF, SoD, HoT, UF and/or VoA.) Be sure to edit out your account/password settings since your hosting a public server. If you don't want to disclose your public IP address, just use [mypublicIP] in the posting.

Either post here and request that your other thread be deleted, or post there and place a message here and request redirection of your issue there. (if you redirect, a link would be helpful.) It's too difficult to track suggestions across multiple threads :)


U

Please see my response and REDIRECT DISCUSSION to this location:
http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=35295