Friends Can't Find My ARK Server

[Taneem Scalesinger]

I'm trying to set up an unofficial dedicated server. And I'm pretty sure I correctly forwarded the correct ports through my router, and opened them up in my firewall as well. But for some reason, the server will show up for me when I search my IP on steam, but it doesn't show up for any of my friends. I can't think of what else needs to be done, or what I might be missing.
(I did also remove all the mods, to see if that was the issue, no change.)

[zerassar]

The in game browser is incapable of showing all 70000+ servers.
Tell them to add your server manually using the steam server browser in the format PublicIP:QueryPort.

You say you search your IP, but did not specify whether this was public or private IP?

[Taneem Scalesinger]

Originally posted by zerassar:

The in game browser is incapable of showing all 70000+ servers.
Tell them to add your server manually using the steam server browser in the format PublicIP:QueryPort.

You say you search your IP, but did not specify whether this was public or private IP?

When I look through the servers on Steam's format (View > Servers > Favorites) And I look up the IP that the server is running off of, which should be my router IP, the server shows up for me. But anyone else that searches it that way, gets nothing. Even my roommate, that's running off the same router, can't see it. So I feel like there must be a port or something that's not forwarded, that needs to be, or something else that's blocking my server from showing up for anyone else.

[zerassar]

Please ensure you are using the format i mentioned above. Including the query port. Not just the IP alone.

Also your router has multiple IP addresses. Again... it's important to clarify between public and private IP's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network
https://www.whatismyip.com/

If this is actually the case then it likely means one thing... That port is not forwarding correctly to your PC.
Be that from your router, your local server firewall, or perhaps something on your ISP side.

Mobile internet you can't port forward. Your router will let you... But that port never even gets as far as your router thus the forwarding does nothing.

Also those in countries using IPv6 have reported issues on here before.

[Liralen]

I haven't had much luck with either the in-game method or Steam for reliably reporting whether or not a server is active.

So I use Battlemetrics instead. https://www.battlemetrics.com/servers/ark

The server showing up there doesn't necessarily mean your client can connect to it, for reasons ranging from the server being whitelisted, password required, your client being forced to update whenever it logs in, while a dedicated server is not until the server operator updates it, etc.

However, I rarely use it to connect to a server, although you can, if it's the only means that work. Usually, if you connect to a server, you are able to flag it as a Favorite using the Ark client, so you can then use the Ark client to connect.

Edited Note: But odds are, if your server isn't visible to Battlemetrics, it probably isn't visible to anyone outside of your network either.

[Taneem Scalesinger]

I use IPV4. I am including the query port when I'm searching for the server. (192.168.1.150:27015)
I guess, looking at the wiki page, I'm using the private network?
Do I need to find it's public IP then, and forward the ports through that on my router's website?

[zerassar]

Originally posted by Taneem:

I use IPV4. I am including the query port when I'm searching for the server. (192.168.1.150:27015)
I guess, looking at the wiki page, I'm using the private network?
Do I need to find it's public IP then, and forward the ports through that on my router's website?

That is a private IP which is meaningless information for anyone outside your network. That's why I kept banging on about the importance of being clear what IP your friends are choosing.

Private IP's... are for your local network only.
Public IP's are how devices communicate over the internet.
Port forwarding translates PublicIP:Port combination to PrivateIP:Port as is relevant to your local servers setup.

As I mentioned a couple times already. You need to be using Public IP.

[Taneem Scalesinger]

Ok, then I'm admittedly not sure how to find the public IP address. Everything that I search on how to find it, just points to the same IP address I've been using, which is apparently the wrong one.
Cuz if I open up command prompt, and use ipconfig, I've been using the 'Default Gateway' address. Same thing shows up in my control panel, and that's supposedly the address that the ARK Wiki is telling me to use to, to set up my port forwarding through, but I guess that's not the public address.
So I don't know how to find that XD

[Liralen]

Originally posted by Taneem:

I use IPV4. I am including the query port when I'm searching for the server. (192.168.1.150:27015)
I guess, looking at the wiki page, I'm using the private network?
Do I need to find it's public IP then, and forward the ports through that on my router's website?

What zerassar said is correct. However, the public IP belongs in the settings of your dedicated server, not the router. Your router already knows your public IP inherently. It only wants to know where to route external traffic arriving on specific ports to which PC within your network. Those specific ports must also match where you told your Ark dedicated server to listen to.

[Taneem Scalesinger]

I looked at https://www.whatismypublicip.com/
And I've seen that IP address a few times, and have tried to port forward through that, but my router's website won't accept it.

[Taneem Scalesinger]

Originally posted by Liralen:

Originally posted by Taneem:

I use IPV4. I am including the query port when I'm searching for the server. (192.168.1.150:27015)
I guess, looking at the wiki page, I'm using the private network?
Do I need to find it's public IP then, and forward the ports through that on my router's website?

What zerassar said is correct. However, the public IP belongs in the settings of your dedicated server, not the router. Your router already knows your public IP inherently. It only wants to know where to route external traffic arriving on specific ports to which PC within your network. Those specific ports must also match where you told your Ark dedicated server to listen to.

That would make sense. Where do I put that, then XD

[Liralen]

Originally posted by Taneem:

I looked at https://www.whatismypublicip.com/
And I've seen that IP address a few times, and have tried to port forward through that, but my router's website won't accept it.

Like I said, your router is only interested in your internal IP. It's the dedicated server that needs to know your external IP. The ports specified in the the dedicated server and your router is what needs to match.

[Liralen]

Originally posted by Taneem:

Originally posted by Liralen:

What zerassar said is correct. However, the public IP belongs in the settings of your dedicated server, not the router. Your router already knows your public IP inherently. It only wants to know where to route external traffic arriving on specific ports to which PC within your network. Those specific ports must also match where you told your Ark dedicated server to listen to.

That would make sense. Where do I put that, then XD

That depends on how you are making your dedicated server. Options range from directly modifying *.ini files on your PC, using Ark Server Manager, or paying a 3rd party host. I use ASM, so I know how to do that, but the other two methods, I haven't a clue.

[zerassar]

Originally posted by Taneem:

I looked at https://www.whatismypublicip.com/
And I've seen that IP address a few times, and have tried to port forward through that, but my router's website won't accept it.

That's because the Public IP is NOT the destination of the forwarding.
The router has already received the data via that public IP.

Port forwarding is telling your router where to forward Public internet data to a destination on your private network.

So your port forwarding rules should have your Private IP.

The information your friends use, is your Public IP.

[Taneem Scalesinger]

Originally posted by Liralen:

Originally posted by Taneem:

That would make sense. Where do I put that, then XD

That depends on how you are making your dedicated server. Options range from directly modifying *.ini files on your PC, using Ark Server Manager, or paying a 3rd party host. I use ASM, so I know how to do that, but the other two methods, I haven't a clue.

Ok, I did install ASM, but I don't know how to use it yet. I'd like to just import the server that I made, into it, so it hopefully retains all the server settings and mods that I've already tampered with and set up. But I also haven't figured out quite how to do that yet.
(This is honestly day one of me trying to get a dedicated server up and running, so I apologize for sounding inept XD But I thank you for your patience with me thus far)

[Liralen]

I erred by saying "Ark dedicated server to listen to". My guess on what that server parameter does is "where to send the data to". I'm obviously not a professional in this regard, I'm just another game player who's found it convenient to make servers.