Port Forwarding and Direct Connect Help

[Lv5 Zubat]

I have forwarded my ports for my router, I added exclusions and everything to my anti-virus but I can not figure out if the ports are actually forwarded.

I start up a server and disable NAT punchthrough. I use steam to invite my friend and she connects, no issues. When I type "/testconnection" it tells me to try forwarding port 11155 (the port I have forawrded). When I give her my IP address to test a direct connect she can't connect. I've tried my IP from whatsmyip and I've used the IP given from my router and neither work. Is this thing hosting on another IP or something? It's very confusing and I can not tell if my ports are working as they should. Every other testing I've tried tells me my ports are still closed. This has been a major headache and I hope someone can help.

[Sekkuar666]

Okay so, first of all. How many network equipment you have?

You probably have a modem from your ISP, so let's start there. This modem is your access to the internet, so it should have the IP address people will connect to.
(Unless you're using a proxy server somewhere, this should be the IP shown on whatsmyip or any site of such).

Now, did you port forward your modem? Which port to which IP?

Then, you said something about a router... is your router connected to your modem or our modem IS ALSO your router?

In case they are separate ones, did you port forward the router too? To what IP?

Is there any other network device in your network? Is your computer on wifi or cable? Does your computer have a static IP or it is getting an automatic IP from the router DHCP?

Try to answer every question, then we can figure out what's going on.

[Lv5 Zubat]

I believe it's a modem/router that they provided us with. It's the only box we have and it puts out the wifi signal. I am connected through Ethernet cable. I'm technically not plugged straight into the modem. I have an ethernet outlet in my room that connects me.

Since it's just one box I'll say that it was likely the modem settings that I had changed. I first tried the IP that was given to me from the website "whatsmyip" and then I tried the standard 192.***.*.*** IP that I guess comes from the modem. Both still resulted with being told that my port was still closed. With how the AT&T U-verse modem/router works, when I'm changing firewall settings it asks me to pick a device to change. It lists all devices in my house that are connected to the network, including my computer. I tried it with choosing my computer to be forwarded and it didn't work. I then manually entered what I guess was my static IP from "whatsmyip" and tried manually entering the IP that my modem has. All of them resulted with programs still not recognizing my ports are open.

As far as I know I don't think I have an automatic IP address but next time my modem/router resets I could check. As for "other network devices" do you mean like other routers aside from my modem/router combo, or other devices connected to the network? If it's devices connected to network I have my phone, my parent's laptop, an ipad and an iphone.

That's about the best I could do trying to answer these questions.

EDIT: I'm also running ESET Smart Security 8 anti-virus software. I've changed the settings in there to allow the port access as well but still no changes. I've even tried disabling firewall/protection to see if it was the anti-virus but even that didn't help.

[Sekkuar666]

Hmm okay.
From what you said, the IP you see in "whatsmyip" is the IP of your modem (which is also a router). Forwarding to that IP won't do anything (basically will forward the port to itself which doesn't mean much).

That IP from "whatsmyip" is your external IP meaning, anyone outside of your network only sees that IP.

Now, imagine you're hosting a server on your computer and I want to connect to it:
I'd connect to your external IP, however that would connect me to your router. Then, your router needs to forward me to your computer. But since there are several machines on your network (computer, cellphone, laptop), the router can't just pick anyone to forward. That's why you need to forward it to your computer's IP, which is your internal IP.

The internal IP is something that only devices inside your own network can see. Therefore, checking sites like "whatsmyip" won't show it. The internal IP format is most likely 192.168.*.***
But you will have to check your computer's IP directly from windows (how to do that is different in each version, but it's basically right clicking on your network adapter and going on "status" page.

One last thing. Since you don't know about static IP, I'm guessing you're getting an automatic IP from the router. If that's the case, it's possible your IP will change each time you restart your computer and/or the modem, which would make your previous port forwarding stop working.
If you follow this link, it shows how to set your computer to a static IP to prevent this from happening.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19249/how-to-assign-a-static-ip-address-in-xp-vista-or-windows-7/

[Lv5 Zubat]

I was messing around a lot last night trying to fix my problem and one of the things I did was assign myself a static IP and learned about my external and internal IP. I get the sneaking suspicion my ISP (AT&T) is blocking my ports. I assume this because I've followed every step I can find and it still has ports closed. I even activated a special DMZ+ mode for my computer which will open up ALL ports. And yet everything STILL told me my ports were closed. If anything I might end up contacting my ISP and asking why I can't forward my ports.

If it's any help my modem/router provided is a Pace 5268AC FXN. I've mostly only heard trouble about them from few posts I can find online about forwarding ports with it.

[Sekkuar666]

One last thing you need to keep in mind, Windows doesn't like opening ports either so, yu might have to create some new firewall rules too.

That always gives me issues. Try to disable the firewall, and then test.
If it works, then windows is the problem. Just re-enable the firewall and start adding rules for the port.

[Lv5 Zubat]

I can't really do anything with Windows Firewall. It's being controlled by my ESET anti-virus and I can't even click to disable windows Firewall. I have tried disabling my anti-virus itself, but still no luck.

[Sekkuar666]

Originally posted by Temflakes:

I can't really do anything with Windows Firewall. It's being controlled by my ESET anti-virus and I can't even click to disable windows Firewall. I have tried disabling my anti-virus itself, but still no luck.

That might be the issue.
That really sucks, I'd get a different anti virus if possible.

(Always used Avast!, barring the annoying "buy premium" popups, it is really nice)

[Lv5 Zubat]

Well, I uninstalled my anti-virus today since it expired a few days ago, and turned off windows firewall. Still my ports are coming up closed. This just leaves me to still think it's something on my ISP's side.

Also, thank you for the help so far.

[Sekkuar666]

That really sucks man.

I actually did all the forwarding on my network here to test, and it still gives me the message "try port forwarding" when I do /testconnection

Sooo, I'm not sure either :(

[Knil]

No real reason to disable NAT Punchthrough. Have your friend try joining through the servers browser as well.

[Sekkuar666]

Originally posted by Knil:

No real reason to disable NAT Punchthrough. Have your friend try joining through the servers browser as well.

Hey, why does NAT punchthrough often fails?

[Knil]

Originally posted by Sekkuar666:

Originally posted by Knil:

No real reason to disable NAT Punchthrough. Have your friend try joining through the servers browser as well.

Hey, why does NAT punchthrough often fails?

It has about a ~90% success rate on most home routers it's basically some black magic that can sometimes allow you to get around firewalls without port forwarding.

[Sekkuar666]

Ah yes, network black magics. Naturally.

[VibronicTea]

Originally posted by Knil:

Originally posted by Sekkuar666:

Hey, why does NAT punchthrough often fails?

It has about a ~90% success rate on most home routers it's basically some black magic that can sometimes allow you to get around firewalls without port forwarding.

They still have tons of connection issues with hosting, especially with the NAT issues. PROBABLY because they are still researching "black magic" to try and fix it. This has been a problem for a long time, so my assumption is likely correct.
Thanks Devs.

[Not Tristan]

Originally posted by Knil:

Originally posted by Sekkuar666:

Hey, why does NAT punchthrough often fails?

It has about a ~90% success rate on most home routers it's basically some black magic that can sometimes allow you to get around firewalls without port forwarding.

Knil, I don't think you understand what NAT Punchthrough is. obviously we all want to play the game it's a great game, but you need to understand how networking works before you can go off calling "black magic" I'm sorry but if you refer to networking as "black magic" you have no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clue what you are doing. hire somebody that knows what they are doing, and have them do it, don't spread missinformation like Sekkuar666 was, you are just adding to the problem.