Need help with issues with direct connecting/VPNing to a friend (both on Slingshot)

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darthcarnate

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#148593 24-Jun-2014 11:53

Hi all

Having some frustrating issues with connecting to a friend directly to play ARMA, Minecraft, etc. For example, trying to join his Minecraft server by entering his IP in the join server window just gets a no response/timed out. We both live in Wellington region, both on Slingshot, and he's managed to get a friend from Bermuda (!) to join successfully.

Forwarded the required port for Minecraft on my modem-router even though I wasn't hosting (he was) - nothing. Tried placing my PC in the DMZ, made sure there were exceptions for both the app and the port in Windows Firewall, tried disabling Windows Firewall... still nothing.

So we installed Hamachi, and then Evolve, and tried to make a VPN to enable it. But then we could only get a relayed, not direct, tunnel. UPnP is enabled on the router, and I tried setting it to use a specific port and forwarding that port on the router and disabling Windows Firewall... still no luck. I could see his server now, but got a response time of like 2405ms because of the relay.

My friend forwarded the ports on his router, and used online port checkers which said the ports are open. Online port checkers don't say mine are, but apparently they only open when in use, and the Port Forward Network Utility app indicates they are open. Skype works so they must be opening when in use.

Called tech support (Netcomm for my router), they suggested it's a known issue with VPNs and direct connections and have no solution at the moment.

Switched to a TP-Link modem-router (TD-W8980), forwarded the required ports... and the exact same issue is occurring. We have tried both Hamachi and Evolve with no success, just relayed tunnels.

Can anyone suggest anything to try from here, because I'm at my wits'/tech-know-how end?

Thanks for your help!

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#1073444 24-Jun-2014 14:05

"My friend forwarded the ports on his router, and used online port checkers which said the ports are open. Online port checkers don't say mine are, but apparently they only open when in use, and the Port Forward Network Utility app indicates they are open. Skype works so they must be opening when in use."

This part looks a bit off to me. A port checker is use, so if it's saying closed they're closed.

Tell us what ports and protocols you've opened on both the server and the client. Someone who knows the games may be able to tell you what's up. Many things tend to work on port 80, which is generally always open because of http.

darthcarnate

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1073469 24-Jun-2014 14:40

It now says port 44444 is open, but still getting a relayed connection. Also, both the online port checker and Port Forward Utility indicate that port 80 is not open; the online utility says "Error: I could not see your service on 101.98.214.2 on port (80)
Reason: Connection timed out"

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timmmay

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#1073475 24-Jun-2014 14:47

There'll be nothing listening on port 80, it's probably open for outgoing only anyway. Didn't think of that.

If you defined the server to use port 44,444 and opened port 44,444 on your router/firewall AND the router/firewall for the server that should work. There will be some detail that a network guy might pick up that I don't, I'm not really network oriented.

darthcarnate

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1073481 24-Jun-2014 14:55

It's definitely open, and I've tried disabling Windows Firewall, at the same time my friend has tried disabling his, and putting my PC into the DMZ on the router, and still can't ping him in command prompt or get a direct tunnel in Evolve...

I'm thoroughly stumped by it, to be honest.

BTR

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#1073532 24-Jun-2014 15:57

All looks OK to me but I haven't dealt with Tp-link routers before. Have use checked to see if theres a firmware update for your router and can you borrow another router to try?

Also do you have any outgoing ports blocked or any content or parental controls enabled?

Apart from that I suspect your router is the issue.

chevrolux

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#1073592 24-Jun-2014 17:28

If he is hosting a minecraft server at one end then why not put a VPN server on to that same box? I assume Minecraft runs on some sort of Linux? Just install the PPTP daemon on the server, set up users and then connect.
That way you won't need to do any port forwarding on your end and you can just use your windows VPN client to connect. PPTP isn't the most secure of VPN's but he can put some iptables rules on the Linux box to restrict by source IP which will secure it a bit more.

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hamish225

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#1074684 25-Jun-2014 22:26

i run a craftbukkit minecraft server on windows.

only the person hosting needs to forward any ports on their router, i would suggest you reset your router back to how it was, goodness knows what you've done :P

minecraft uses port 25565 but if someone else can connect to his server then that would suggest the problem is not with his end.

have you got any firewall or antivirus software installed on your computer? try disabling that.

only other thing i can think of is are you using a genuine version of the game? as in you paid for it and have a username and password for it?
because if you're not and your friend isnt using a hacked server then it's not going to let you in because it checks the login infomation and wont let you in if its not on their database, or something to that tune.

also, what happens when you run a tracert to his ip address, what's the output?

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

darthcarnate

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1074711 25-Jun-2014 23:04

Hi Hamish, I've tried using both a Netcomm modem-router which I did reset to factory default settings, and a new TP-Link. Tried disabling Windows Firewall, didn't help, haven't tried disabling Windows Defender because I didn't think that would be relevant. No ports blocked or parental controls enforced, and I've tried putting my PC in the DMZ.

Yep I bought Minecraft to do this.

darthcarnate

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1075543 27-Jun-2014 14:27

Hi all, we tried switching places and the exact same issues are occurring for my friend now; when he tries pinging my IP in command prompt he gets "destination host unreachable" and in Minecraft it just hangs and can't connect. Online port checkers say that port 25565 (for MC servers) is open, which is expected as there's now traffic through it.

Is it possible that Slingshot's throttling of P2P traffic would prevent us from directly reaching each other or using VPNs?

timmmay

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#1075553 27-Jun-2014 14:41

I doubt Slingshot is the problem, it'll be something strange about your firewall or configuration. Can you both join public MC servers?

Ping is an ICMP packet, I wonder if your router is just ignoring ping requests.

Can you post a traceroute in both directions? This will tell us your IP, though personally I don't think this is critical. Perhaps change the last four digits of your private IP to X when you post them. Not sure it'll help but it can't hurt.

darthcarnate

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1075747 27-Jun-2014 20:04

Yep, we can both join public servers. Also I switched my PC from the ethernet-connection to a wireless connection off my phone's HSDPA and I could connect fine.

So that suggests the issue is with Slingshot's connection, not my PC's settings, right?

Not familiar with a traceroute, can you explain?

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darthcarnate

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Wannabe Geek

#1075772 27-Jun-2014 21:20

Tested with another friend and he can join both me (when I'm hosting) and my friend (when he's hosting), but my friend and I can't connect to each other - Slingshot issue?

hamish225

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#1075779 27-Jun-2014 21:36

darthcarnate: Yep, we can both join public servers. Also I switched my PC from the ethernet-connection to a wireless connection off my phone's HSDPA and I could connect fine.

So that suggests the issue is with Slingshot's connection, not my PC's settings, right? Not familiar with a traceroute, can you explain?

to perform a tracert, go into a command prompt, and like a ping but instead of
ping (ip address or hostname)

its

tracert (ip address or hostname)

it will ping each router in between you and your friend and show us where the connection fizzles out, hopefully.

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

timmmay

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#1075783 27-Jun-2014 21:41

Yeah do the tracert for both the server that works and server that doesn't. Try to find some difference between the connections.

Does Slingshot have a transparent proxy? Even if so it shouldn't affect it but I guess you never know. If they do a VPN should work around it. Can you put one of the PCs onto a mobile data connection to try it out? That wouldn't mean it's definitely slingshot, could be the modem/router still.

chevrolux

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#1075829 27-Jun-2014 23:03

darthcarnate: Yep, we can both join public servers. Also I switched my PC from the ethernet-connection to a wireless connection off my phone's HSDPA and I could connect fine.

So that suggests the issue is with Slingshot's connection, not my PC's settings, right?
Not familiar with a traceroute, can you explain?

Nope not Slingshot. When you went out over 3G you also removed your local router.
The firewall on those netcomms are dodgy at best. I would suggest VPN would be the best option. Put a VPN server on the minecraft server. That way you only have one router to worry about port forwards etc.
The client side will never need a port forward or firewall rules.

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