The game itself fails to use TCP 27015 port (100% certainty)

[Fins]

The game/steam do NOT listen for TCP port 27015 when running on my machine. TCP port 27015 reported as "connection rejected" by port testing utilities (recommended in port forwarding guide).

However, using port listener utility (from here[geekflare.com]) for TCP port 27015 - results in those same port testing utilities reporting port 27015 as open!

This is simple and 100% replicable every time i try.

This works even with the game's still runing in host mode in the background. I.e., as soon as i start this port listener and set it to listen for TCP 27015 - port testers report that 27015 is open; as soon as i shut this port listener down (with the game still running in the background) - the port testers report 27015 as "connection rejected".

Previously i thought that maybe this message is sufficient to indicate a port being "open" - as it differs from "connection timed out" i get when ports are not being forwarded. But nope, now with that port listener utility, i can see the difference between "connection rejected" and "port open".

I recon now that for the port to be "open", not only port forwarding must be properly set up when one is using a router, but there also must be some kind of software running on one's PC which listens to the port. If there is not, then there is nothing to "accept" connection through the port, thus connection gets "rejected". In other words - can't connect to nothing!

Conclusion: my port forwarding is fine. My ISP is fine (they don't block the port). My machine is fine (OS, NIC, etc). If any of those would prevent connections to TCP 27015 in any way, then that tiny port listener would not make port testers to report the port as "open". The problem thus must be within code of steam client and/or game itself.


This is further confirmed by the fact i see no process listening to TCP port 27015 whenever i have the game running coop -> host mode (as evident by running "netstat -ano" command in command line).

This is further confirmed by the fact i use single router port forwarding rule to forward a range of ports both 27015 and 27036 are winthin, and port 27036 is reported as open by all port testing tools (port 27036 is used by steam for streaming) without using port listener utility - and indeed i see steam.exe process listed as "Listening" on TCP port 27036 via "netstat -ano" command.

Also, there are plenty suspicious lines in the game's log, including but not limited to the following:

[0005.83] Log: Initializing Steamworks
[0005.84] Log: Logged in as 'Fins'
[0005.87] DevGFxUI: UGFxInteraction::Send - CALLBACK_ViewportResized
[0005.89] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0005.89] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0005.89] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0005.89] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0005.89] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0005.89] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0005.89] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0005.89] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
...
[0009.09] Error: Can't start an online game that hasn't been created

Note that Subsistence is the only multiplayer (any kind of coop or such) game in my steam library. Perhaps Subsistence installation does not include certain key part which is responsible for creating an online game? An SRCDS library or something like that? It could explain how people who already have the part installed from playing other games (like CS:GO, etc) - will not have this problem, while people like me - will have it.

Appended: Subsistence was initially made as a single-player game, and only with relatively recent update multiplayer (coop) mode was added. Could it be that steam still treats the game as single-player, and thus does not include required for online connectivity parts into game's installation? We still see "single player" mentioned at least in one specific place about the game, by steam. //end-of-append

edit: I do not see any way to send this report to steam tech support - there is only a set of select topics which does not allow to send them a message, only to read articles. Please forward this to steam tech support if somehow possible. I made steam support ticket for this problem, 26.02.2018. //end-of-edit


As of now, me and other players (from different countries) experience this issue with the game (which manifests itself in the following way: other players are able to see one's game, but fail to join it whenever and however they try). Therefore, after reporting this, i will hope for an update on part of CG and/or Steam which would solve this issue.

I will remain eager to provide any possible cooperation in solving this problem, if asked to do so. Be it files, real-time tests, debug runs, etc. Please warn me 24+ hours in advance about any of the sort, if possible.

[00 Critical]

Publicado originalmente por Fins:

Note that Subsistence is the only multiplayer (any kind of coop or such) game in my steam library. Perhaps Subsistence installation does not include certain key part which is responsible for creating an online game? An SRCDS library or something like that? It could explain how people who already have the part installed from playing other games (like CS:GO, etc) - will not have this problem, while people like me - will have it.

This could be the issue.... POE (Path of Exile) is a free to play MMO....maybe try installing it and then try again?

Also what log file did you find that server data? Thanks ;-)

[Fins]

The log was game folder -> UDKGame -> Logs -> Launch.log file.

Will check out PoE, thanks!

P.S. I played it in the past, and for quite a while, but i don't remember ever using steam to run it (they probably offered stand-alone install back then), and i definitely don't have it in my steam library.

edit/update: Path of Exile runs perfectly well, coop play i mean - took me a while to download its ~9Gb of data, installed seamlessly, and i just played for a short while. However, this is of no help: PoE uses "gateways" and offers to select one right at the start. That's a sort of dedicated server PoE developers run, therefore steam client does not need to do the "server part" none if we talk PoE. Every PoE player is "joining" them coop games, and noone is "hosting" any.

[DiGiaComTech]

Interesting... if the game couldn't talk to Steam (Matchmaker) on 27015 then how was your game visible on the Host list the other day?

If your game appears in the host list but players cannot connect then COMM with Steam isn't the issue ... it's COMM between the players and you that is the issue.

That is, your external IP:Port is sent to Steam matchmaker, players get it from the Steam host list (behind the scene), and their game then tries to make a direct connection to your system via that IP:Port ... not through Steam via port 27015.

Not a master of everything Steam yet ... heading there soon for my own stuff. I could be missing something here ... corrections always welcome ;)

[Fins]

Publicado originalmente por 404 Player !Found:

Interesting... if the game couldn't talk to Steam (Matchmaker) on 27015 then how was your game visible on the Host list the other day?

If your game appears in the host list but players cannot connect then COMM with Steam isn't the issue ... it's COMM between the players and you that is the issue.

That is, your external IP:Port is sent to Steam matchmaker, players get it from the Steam host list (behind the scene), and their game then tries to make a direct connection to your system via that IP:Port ... not through Steam via port 27015.

Not a master of everything Steam yet ... heading there soon for my own stuff. I could be missing something here ... corrections always welcome ;)

I see that the game process - note, not steam, but game process - is doing something with UDP port 27015. I see that using the same "netstat -ano" command mentioned above. And UDP 27015 is among ports forwarded by my router. I guess this is through this port other people can see the game hosted, but this is merely an uneducated guess on my part.

Note though that UDP protocol does not involve getting confirmations for trasmitted data, and is therefore usually insufficient for facilitating real-time gameplay. For the same reason, i believe, UDP ports can not be tested as "open" or "closed", since any port tester utility sending UDP datagrams can't get any confirmation about if the other side got that UDP data. Finally, note how official page of steam mentions specifically TCP port 27015 as "SRCDS rcon port", required for online gaming.

Anyhow, we have the port forwarding guide, and even in-game mention that port 27015 must be "open", with specific links to specific port testing utilities. The situation described in the 1st post here indicates that the port is not properly "open" for the sole reason of steam/game combo being unable to use the port. We can guess all day long whether or not lists of game servers are handled by UDP data or not, whether connecting to someone's host involves establishing TCP connection on top of using UDP for select functions or not, - but nothing will change the facts that TCP port 27015 must be open to host a game, the port is functioning properly for other software on my machine - namely that port listener utility, - but steam/game fails to use that same port.

And you are gravely mistaken about the last part. The sole reason to open ports - is to allow someone from internets to initiate connection with one's machine. If what you say about "IP:port" would be true, then we all would need to open that specific "port". But the only one we are told we need to open - is 27015. Therefore, it is through exactly TCP 27015 opened port "their game tries to make a direct connection".

However, it is only "direct" in the sense that someone's machine is trying to connect directly to my machine. On software level, though, it is not "directly to game client". Instead, steam client is supposed to handle such incoming connections, translating incoming IP data into "steam internal sockets" and then handling those to the game's process. This is how steam client which is not any sort of online game itself - still requires TCP port 27015 to be open for the purpose of making "dedicated servers" possible, as mentioned on this official page.

Apparently, there is whole separate architecture (both software and hardware) Valve created for steam networking tasks. You can read some more about it here and here[answers.unrealengine.com], if you're interested.

In particular, the latter mentions connecting to someone's hosted game not even using IP:port, but entirely steam's own syntax. Quote:

"... It's on the session interface and will return the proper connection string to create an FURL to pass into ServerTravel(). For Steam, it will look like steam.steamid:port".

[DiGiaComTech]

Looks like I got some techno reading to do ;) ThanX!

[DiGiaComTech]

Interesting ... I have the same exact error messages in my log file but I don't have any problems hosting a game or people connecting to it.

[0007.48] DevGFxUI: UGFxInteraction::Send - CALLBACK_ViewportResized
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'

[00 Critical]

Publicado originalmente por 404 Player !Found:

Interesting ... I have the same exact error messages in my log file but I don't have any problems hosting a game or people connecting to it.

[0007.48] DevGFxUI: UGFxInteraction::Send - CALLBACK_ViewportResized
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'

Then it's something from the back end that is not enabled in Subsistence 😎

[Fins]

Publicado originalmente por 404 Player !Found:

Interesting ... I have the same exact error messages in my log file but I don't have any problems hosting a game or people connecting to it.

[0007.48] DevGFxUI: UGFxInteraction::Send - CALLBACK_ViewportResized
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0007.50] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'

Is there the line about inability to create an online game in your log when you start the game in coop -> host mode, though? It's much later in my log, as you can see from timestamp.

[DiGiaComTech]

Publicado originalmente por Fins:

Is there the line about inability to create an online game in your log when you start the game in coop -> host mode, though? It's much later in my log, as you can see from timestamp.

No ... but then I'm not having any trouble hosting Co-Op games.

[Fins]

Exactly my point, and thanks for confirming it! :)

Now we can be fairly sure that "Error: Can't start an online game that hasn't been created" is related to the problem, you see. Games you host other players can join, and you don't have this line in your log. Games i host other players can't join, and i have this line in my log.

[DiGiaComTech]

@Fins ...Please drop those additional 'Failed' lines for us to see ;)

[Fins]

I didn't say they are "failed", i said they are "suspicious". But sure, here we go, from my last (coop -> host) launch.log. Note that 2nd block comes in listed sequence (includes previously mentioned line about "can't start an online game"). The last block concludes entries upon entering the (coop -> host) game, and while i don't know what exactly "kicking off" means, - it does sound suspicious to me. I wonder if you have same lines in your log.

...
[0000.83] Error: Error, Manifest doesn't exist: ..\..\UDKGame\Script\Manifest.txt
...
[0008.89] ScriptLog: ***WARNING*** Health mgr failed to initialize. Health stats not ticking for ColdPlayerPawn_0
[0008.89] Error: Can't start an online game that hasn't been created
[0009.00] DevGFxUI: Scale9Grid for resource=407 has negative width -4.950000
[0009.01] DevGFxUI: IME Warning: No fileopener and/or xml file specified. Defaulting to internal list
...
[0009.05] DevGFxUI: Failed loading SWF "/ package/UDKFrontEnd/udk_ime": ActionScript version mismatch
...
[0017.18] ScriptWarning: Invalid user index (255) specified for ClearReadProfileSettingsCompleteDelegate()
OnlineSubsystemSteamworks Transient.OnlineSubsystemSteamworks_0
Function OnlineSubsystemSteamworks.OnlineSubsystemSteamworks:ClearReadProfileSettingsCompleteDelegate:00FE
...
[0032.93] Log: Steam game server UID: 90113473837106181
[0032.93] ScriptLog: Kicking off listen auth session
[0034.34] ScriptLog: Listen host successfully authenticated

[00 Critical]

Publicado originalmente por Fins:

I didn't say they are "failed", i said they are "suspicious". But sure, here we go, from my last (coop -> host) launch.log. Note that 2nd block comes in listed sequence (includes previously mentioned line about "can't start an online game"). The last block concludes entries upon entering the (coop -> host) game, and while i don't know what exactly "kicking off" means, - it does sound suspicious to me. I wonder if you have same lines in your log.

...
[0000.83] Error: Error, Manifest doesn't exist: ..\..\UDKGame\Script\Manifest.txt
...
[0008.89] ScriptLog: ***WARNING*** Health mgr failed to initialize. Health stats not ticking for ColdPlayerPawn_0
[0008.89] Error: Can't start an online game that hasn't been created
[0009.00] DevGFxUI: Scale9Grid for resource=407 has negative width -4.950000
[0009.01] DevGFxUI: IME Warning: No fileopener and/or xml file specified. Defaulting to internal list
...
[0009.05] DevGFxUI: Failed loading SWF "/ package/UDKFrontEnd/udk_ime": ActionScript version mismatch
...
[0017.18] ScriptWarning: Invalid user index (255) specified for ClearReadProfileSettingsCompleteDelegate()
OnlineSubsystemSteamworks Transient.OnlineSubsystemSteamworks_0
Function OnlineSubsystemSteamworks.OnlineSubsystemSteamworks:ClearReadProfileSettingsCompleteDelegate:00FE
...
[0032.93] Log: Steam game server UID: 90113473837106181
[0032.93] ScriptLog: Kicking off listen auth session
[0034.34] ScriptLog: Listen host successfully authenticated

My log is the same and I can host.... so I think you're barking up the wrong tree.

[Fins]

Not exactly the same, though, as yours does not have that "can't start an online game" line, you know. But yep, those lines i found suspicious may well have nothing to do with the issue this topic is about, which is the reason i did not include them in the 1st post. I never been no programmer... Well, never been any C programmer, that is.

[00 Critical]

[0016.00] Log: Logged in as '00 Critical'
[0016.08] DevGFxUI: UGFxInteraction::Send - CALLBACK_ViewportResized
[0016.40] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0016.40] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0016.40] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0016.40] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0016.41] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0016.41] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0016.41] Warning: Warning, Failed to load 'Class None.': Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0016.41] Warning: Warning, Failed to find object 'Class None.'
[0016.52] Log: LoadMap: ColdMenuMap?Name=Player?Team=255
[0019.47] Log: Game class is 'ColdGame'
[0019.68] Log: Primary PhysX scene will be in software.
[0019.68] Log: Creating Primary PhysX Scene.
[0019.79] Log: *** WARNING - PATHS MAY NOT BE VALID ***
[0019.79] Log: Bringing World coldmenumap.TheWorld up for play (0) at 2018.02.20-11.08.58
[0019.80] Log: Bringing up level for play took: 0.328015
[0019.80] ScriptLog: Spawning player controller now.
[0019.83] ScriptLog: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[0019.83] ScriptLog: restart player! None ColdPlayerController_0
[0019.83] ScriptLog: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[0019.86] ScriptLog: Created inventory manager: ColdPlayerInvManager_0
[0019.86] ScriptLog: Setting up health manager for pawn: ColdPlayerPawn_0
[0019.86] ScriptLog: Created build manager: ColdBuildManager_0
[0019.86] ScriptLog: Created proximity checker: ColdPlayerProximityChecker_0
[0019.86] ScriptLog: Player pawn possessed! ColdPlayerPawn_0
[0019.86] ScriptLog: Spawning harvest manager: ColdHarvestManager_0
[0019.86] ScriptLog: Spawning quick actions: ColdPlayerQuickActions_0
[0019.86] ScriptLog: Spawning Weather FX
[0019.86] ScriptLog: ***WARNING*** Health mgr failed to initialize. Health stats not ticking for ColdPlayerPawn_0
[0019.86] Error: Can't start an online game that hasn't been created

I do have that same error.... but looking further down I found the ectry below that is about the steam game server. What did your's show?

[0037.92] Log: Steam game server UID: 90113474900564996