Friend Can't Join Game

[Minky]

I've port forwarded all necessary ports. I host games through the in game host option. Wthout any mods my friend connects then automatically gets disconnected, after a few tries it usually works, however today we tried with a few mods, made sure we had the exact same set, yet he kept getting disconnected. Anyone have any experience with this? Also I'd like to get rid of the need for a few tries when on vanilla.

[seethingword]

Was there a message in chat why he was disconnected?

[Minky]

It said: (Player Name) Uses Modified Data File, Player Connecting, Player Connected, Player Disconnected. In that order.

[[40-1]King_Kosher]

Originally posted by Minky7:

I've port forwarded all necessary ports.

which ports and which protocol exactly?

Does the behavior change if you use the UPnP tickbox? Did you enable UPnP in your router and is it activated as a windows service?

[Minky]

I forwarded ports 2302 and 2303, using protocol TCP/UDP. The UPnP tickbox didn't seem to change anything in the game, never touched UPnP setting in windows or the router.

[[40-1]King_Kosher]

Originally posted by Minky7:

I forwarded ports 2302 and 2303, using protocol TCP/UDP.

thats not "all necessary ports",sir. you need 2304 aswell and only use UDP. it should work right away using that setup, IF you forwarded the ports to the correct machine/ip adress

for correct UPnP utilization, it needs to be supported/enabled in your router and the service needs to be running on the windows host,regardles of ever been touched or not

[Minky]

Thank you so much! The guide I found must have been old/bad. Is UPnP necessary or just an alternative?

[seethingword]

UPnP makes it easier for people to join you. It helps a lot if your internet is slow

[Minky]

Alright I'll see about it as well, thank you so much! I should get back from vacation Thursday so I'll get back to you then.

[[40-1]King_Kosher]

Originally posted by Minky7:

Is UPnP necessary or just an alternative?

its more an alternative than anything else. for example,if you couldn´t forward the ports because you don´t have access to the router or your LAN is set up with short DHCP lease-times and no means to set a static ip, you could still forward/open the ports via UPnP service.

It´s not really needed anymore IF your current forwarding lets you host listen&dedi servers without issues but its still a good thing to have (like an ace up your sleave)

Originally posted by seethingword HPMC:

UPnP makes it easier for people to join you. It helps a lot if your internet is slow

easier to let people connect,in case you don´t have access or enough knowledge to forward ports yourself for example. It does nothing in terms of speed related issues, all it does is ensure connectivity for things that support UPnP

[Minky]

Good to know, thank you!

[Minky]

Update : Tried it yesterday with the extra port forwarded and all ports on protocol UDP, it worked flawlessly even with mods, still got player uses modified data file message but he connected fine first try, next day couldn't connect no matter what with mods, without, with upnp, without. Any ideas?

[[40-1]King_Kosher]

Originally posted by Minky7:

Update : Tried it yesterday with the extra port forwarded and all ports on protocol UDP, it worked flawlessly even with mods, still got player uses modified data file message but he connected fine first try, next day couldn't connect no matter what with mods, without, with upnp, without. Any ideas?

that message is normal, connection issues from 1 day to the other however are not.

make sure everything is set up like the day before & if only 1 person has issues connecting. if yes: settings in your router the same? any new tools installed (antivir/malware/firewall/systemutilities)? Is the UpnP service running or not? did anyone change firewall setting?

Important and very often overlooked: Did you assign the ip adress of the hosting machine yourself or does that box get one by DHCP? If the leasetime is short (like 24hours), the ip changed, portforwarding to that IP isn´t working anymore because its dropped or assigned to a different device and the result is non-working ArmA MP. Check this!

just recount what you both did between the time it worked and stopped working

[Minky]

I'll have to check if other people have the same problem. As for settings in the router everything is the same, the ip is correct (checked via typing ipconfig into the cmd prompt), I checked and made sure upnp was enabled in the router settings (it was), and I haven't installed anything or changed firewall settings. It's got me stumped...

[Minky]

Update : Tried it with a random person from a discord server i'm in, it worked but only after 2-4 tries to get in... I suppose it's better than nothing although I have no clue why it doesn't work the first time.

[[40-1]King_Kosher]

thats really odd and you can almost exclude wrong configuration since the other person you tried it with could connect. i know its not much help but you can try to clear the firewall rules for ArmA3 and the dedicated server exe, start everything again and let them get created (or do them on your own instead), see if that resolved the issue

edit: wait,i had almost the same problem with a mission i made myself. people tried to join,got booted and had to reconnect before the server let them in because i bothed the JIP part of some script. no idea which mission file you tried it with but maybe thats the culprit (not that its a gamebreaker but sure ruins the flow). So yeah,try the firewall thing and change the mission file. Good luck