Does port 7023 appear open for you when you go to port checker sites?

[nathan1776]

I'm trying to play CMx2 games via a Network connection and I'm having a nightmare of a time getting it working.

I believe I have added rules to my Windows Firewall to allow all TCP and UDP traffic on port 7023.

I believe I have added port-forwarding rules to my router for TCP and UDP traffic on port 7023: 

When I check port 7023 on port-checker sites, it still shows up as not open.

I'm waiting for my Steam friend to be available to try again via the game.

So, if you're able to play Network games, can you check if port 7023 appears open when you go to these sites?
 

https://portchecker.co/

https://canyouseeme.org/

https://www.portchecktool.com/

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by nathan1776

[Lethaface]

you need to open the port in your router and forward it to your PC.

Your ISP should have given you login details for your router.

The router is usually accessible by it's internal IP address on your network which is usually the same as the 'gateway' IP.

To check the address of your gateway you can select the properties of your ethernet adapter or open a command prompt and type the 'ipconfig' command.

Make sure you know what your doing because opening too many ports isn't good for security.

[nathan1776]

As I wrote in my original post, I believe I have set up port forwarding correctly: https://i.imgur.com/l2bL3RR.png

[Lethaface]

27 minutes ago, nathan1776 said:

As I wrote in my original post, I believe I have set up port forwarding correctly: https://i.imgur.com/l2bL3RR.png

Ah I read it on my phone just now and all I saw was you configured it in Windows Firewall. Looks good to me.

Anyway I did a quick test:

* Forwarded port 7023 TCP&UDP (it's a 'both' setting in my router) to my PC
* Started up the game
* Started a battle selecting Realtime/LAN
* Windows Firewall asked me to allow.

Then I used https://portchecker.co/ and it said:

Port 7023 is open.

Edit: sometimes a router/firewall has some special button to commit changed rules into active. Can always try restarting it.

Edited April 5, 2023 by Lethaface

[Lethaface]

PS 2: You might have correctly opened the port but if there is nothing actively listening on it, the portchecker might say it is closed. So try it while you are hosting a LAN game.

[nathan1776]

Thank you so much for doing that for me!  That's really going to help me to debug this.

[nathan1776]

I went through the same steps you described and it's saying the port is closed.  I wasn't prompted by WIndows to allow anything.

I've just posted a job to Upwork to try to get an expert to help me with this.  I don't understand why it's this complicated to get a Network game going.

[Redwolf]

2 hours ago, nathan1776 said:

  I don't understand why it's this complicated to get a Network game going.

****ty routers with bad documentation.

Some people use a VPN for this. You don't need the actual virtual part, but if you just leave port 7023 open at the VPN endpoint then your router doesn't have to cooperate anymore. Your opponent then connects to the VPN's endpoint's IP address.

[nathan1776]

7 minutes ago, Redwolf said:

****ty routers with bad documentation.

Some people use a VPN for this. You don't need the actual virtual part, but if you just leave port 7023 open at the VPN endpoint then your router doesn't have to cooperate anymore. Your opponent then connects to the VPN's endpoint's IP address.

I'm not totally sure I understand what you mean by "leave port 7023 at the VPN endpoint"; I use SurfShark and don't see any settings about leaving certain ports open or not.

I'm also trying to use SurfShark with a static IP and it's still not working.

Do you know anyone I should talk to for help about this?

[Redwolf]

11 hours ago, nathan1776 said:

I'm not totally sure I understand what you mean by "leave port 7023 at the VPN endpoint"; I use SurfShark and don't see any settings about leaving certain ports open or not.

I'm also trying to use SurfShark with a static IP and it's still not working.

Do you know anyone I should talk to for help about this?

Over on the Combat Mission discord (the inofficial one) there are people who use Windows with a VPN for this. Myself I did not use a VPN with Windows.

My understanding is that open ports at the endpoint are default for many VPNs. That would explain why you don't have an option for it.

You should just try running a CM server as-is, it might work out of the box.

[SgtHatred]

Does your ISP do Carrier level NAT? If it does, you are in for a bad time. Some allow you to get a real ip for a fee, or just for free if you ask, but simple port forwarding won't work on a CGNAT.

[nathan1776]

10 minutes ago, SgtHatred said:

Does your ISP do Carrier level NAT? If it does, you are in for a bad time. Some allow you to get a real ip for a fee, or just for free if you ask, but simple port forwarding won't work on a CGNAT.

I don't know .  I asked my contact for my internet at the condo I live at, who asked her contact (who I'm guessing is the tech guy for the condo), who said he asked the ISP and is waiting to hear back.

[SgtHatred]

If you know the name of the isp you should be able to find out online easily enough.

[Lethaface]

14 hours ago, nathan1776 said:

I don't know .  I asked my contact for my internet at the condo I live at, who asked her contact (who I'm guessing is the tech guy for the condo), who said he asked the ISP and is waiting to hear back.

One thing you could try is reversing the changes in windows firewall and see if it gives you a popup when hosting a LAN game (it did for me). Windows can work in mysterious ways, who knows you opening the ports in windows firewall previously has bound them to something not CM. Also you can always try to see if your friend can join after you opening the ports; the indication on portchecker.co might not be definitive.

Like Redwolf says, a VPN can be used to bypass these issues. Back in the day when I still played CM realtime (have moved over to WEGO almost exclusively for PBEM) I used logmein Hamachi because people always had trouble opening their ports .

It still seems to be available:
https://www.vpn.net/

Edited April 7, 2023 by Lethaface

[nathan1776]

I actually just remembered that I was also having trouble running "yarn install" a month or two ago when using the internet from my router, my condo's internet, and my phone's internet.  I was only able to get it working when I drove to a restaurant and used their internet.  It seemed like the internet connections I was using were blocking some port needed to install some of the libraries.

I'm still waiting to hear what the ISP said but my best guess at the moment is that this is a result of the ISP blocking the port.

I don't understand why using a VPN isn't solving the issue.