Empty Lobby Problem.

[@TheyCallMePinCushion]

So myself and my friend have this problem with joining a lobby that we create. We can locate each others lobbys and join them, however when we do join the lobby it shows us that it's empty and no matter how much back and forth we go, starting the match or restarting the whole game we simply cannot host a game and play together.

Does anybody else have this issue or have a fix for it?

P.S: I have hosted an online match before and have my ports opened, other players can join me just fine however my friend can not.

[Bismarck1945]

I have the same problem, did everything I can ( i.e. forward posts etc ) nothing, I can't even host a game nor connect I get host timed out... It's really pissing me off

[Grat]

Just testing out the game and I seem to have the issue with joining other lobbies at least. Always shows as empty and chat is not functioning unless I host myself (in which case it works for me at least).

Edit: Appears if I host a game and start it on my own, at least then people can join in. Lack of chat of any kind is still a bugger and an inconvenience, especially for the syrvivors I'd imagine.

[@TheyCallMePinCushion]

At least it's not just me but does anybody have a fix yet? I'm sure we'd all apperciate it.

[9heads]

http://steamcommunity.com/app/251170/discussions/0/864980153175372989/

Can't connect to servers/Can't host!

Possible reasons:
• You are behind strict NAT.
• The person hosting is behind strict NAT.

Possible solutions:
• Log in the game, go Options > Connection, check the option "Use Fixed Port", leave the fixed port as 55888 and port forward this UDP port in your router.
• If possible, open your NAT.

Note: Unfortunately, if you are behind a strict NAT, and the port forward method doesn't work, there's not much we can do, it's your router or ISP fault, and AAA games face this same issue. You'll still be able to connect with some hosts, provided they are behind open NAT. More on this:
http://support.rockstargames.com/entries/479758-Understanding-how-NAT-types-affect-online-connectivity
https://www.guardiansofmiddleearth.com/forums/showthread.php/722-NAT-Type-how-to-get-an-Open-one-and-you
https://support.runicgames.com/kb/articles/3-strict-nat-detected

[@TheyCallMePinCushion]

Thanks for the reply 9Heads but i've already unlocked my ports. and i've set and fixed the port to 55888.

So i'm not sure it's anything to do with Port Forwarding.

[Kai]

Modern games actually seems to avoid this issue a lot though, opening ports in those games would in most cases increase performance, but players can already play fine without portforwarding anything.

The problem isn't with how a player connects to one another, but how the software is 'talking' to one another, or how it finds its way to the other person.

First step to troubleshoot:

For the two players, what is your general location? Is it rural? What internet connection do you two have to be unable to connect?

Do a ping test to see if there's any jitter, or in other words 'packet loss'. Connections are dropped if packet drops occurs often enough, which is usually from weak signal if it's wireless internet, or old lines with no repeaters through a node.

For instance, never expect to have proper gaming if you use a Satellite ISP.

Another is using tracert to see how many nodes you must travel to connect to the other computer's ip.

EDIT: If you and your friends are miles away between countries or states, it would increase the potential for problems to occur for proper gaming.

[9heads]

You can verify if your friend have everything correct too.

I had this problem and I opened the port but only restarting the PC/Router to work correctly. :D

[Kai]

It seems the OP's description of the problem, is that his server allows other random people to join from the WAN... But his friend cannot join.

By any chance is his friend on a LAN?

If so you must connect via local ip.

EDIT: Reading the description a bit more in depth and it seems that you 'CAN' see the lobbies that you both create, can see remenants of your connection there... But cannot see the actual player.

It's possible that a firewall is blocking both ends, but it could also be bad latency or packet loss making the lobby unstable.

I notice something similar to this when I played the old old Age of Empires 2 online with a friend, we're only 1 state/province away and is quite close in terms of lines, but had a tough time connecting because of some mysterious delays.

After a month or two I realize that the reason why my friend can connect and host games easily with his Michigan friends, whilst I'm in Ontario and having issues, is because the physical line that goes out from his Farm House to the city is really long and is copper, so the signal is delayed badly by the time the packet comes to Canada.

So back to your lobby, try having a third player host if for you two, and have both of you join it. See if that works.

[@TheyCallMePinCushion]

@9Heads: I'll let them know they may have to open their ports too thanks.

@DeathKenny: We're connected interstate but not intercountry he lives in my country, we just cannot seem to connect correctly to the lobby although we join no players are show in the lobby. We both disabled our firewalls and nothing appears to have changed. I did think about getting a third person to host allas i have no other friends with the game at this time.

Edit: We both have our ports opened and that still doesn't work.

[@TheyCallMePinCushion]

Bump any fixes yet?

[Kai]

Find a public game and both of you join it for now.

[@TheyCallMePinCushion]

We also tried that, and nothing it's like our computers don't want to connect to each other even though we don't have any connection blockers.

I think it's time to just wait for a patch, thanks for trying to help anyway.

[maestro]

I can't join anything either so basically can't play the game. When I join anything, it shows options to choose my character and which level to play and nothing else except leave lobby. Very not cool....

[@TheyCallMePinCushion]

Well this problem still persists after the recent update. And if it's not an empty lobby it seems to be a "Host Timed Out" error.

It appears lots of people are having this problem but nobody knows how to fix it yet?

[Mephistopheles]

I can't play the game at all.
after a randome crash I can't joing any servers I get an error message saying "host timed out"
but I was able to join games before and play it's really weird.