MythoLogic Interactive Forums

I'm experiencing an issue in which I can't join most servers, like 90% of them, even if there's a lot of players inside and working fine, so it's been kinda like all servers are down to me. And there was more than one case in which I could only join a server if I had set up automatic port forwarding and the default port, no way else. I've seen 2 or 3 other people saying they had to do the same thing to join one server.

I didn't report this earlier because I felt like the one and only garbo ever having this problem, and convinced myself that there was nothing I could do, but I have been having this for quite a while, and now other people could be having this problem now too. Is there anything that I can do?

The 1.3.7b update is just a temporary fix to hopefully get some communication back. However, it's not using https right now as that's the thing that's broken in some way. We're still waiting for ANY response from our webhost of the underlaying problem. At least some players can be using SFD now while we're still investigating the real underlaying problem. Next step is to try issue a new SSL certificate in case that's broken *in some way*.

Bottom line: Your provider probably doesn't allow POST requests using http as a safety feature or some router configured along the way doesn't allow for it. But if you SEE servers listed then everything SHOULD be working fine like before.

I see. Anyways, I have been having this since before this last update and it hasn't changed, today I checked with other people today that are having the same issue. i hope the use of https might eventually fix that, I'll let you know in this topic when things are back to normality

If you have had this kind of problem before when the https was in fully working order then I don't think it will help once we get https back in business.
My only guess is that some router configuration (and some ISP) block dynamic range and unknown ports like SFD uses. I can't sadly help you out much more if players can't connect to you. Sounds like the NAT Punchthrough system we have in place doesn't work (and it won't work in some NAT configurations). I belive I had a more detailed topic about this but you kinda need to know if you have a symetrical NAT or not before that.

Hello, so I've acquired more info about this problem, and talked with some other people that had this same problem. I thought it was strange that people claimed they could only join a server if they set automatic port forwarding, because I don't think it should work like this, so I tested it, and I came to some conclusions that are somehow even more subjective than what I wrote in this topic so far.


https://i.imgur.com/btkM6Kt.png

This guy from the img kept trying to join this server, which works for everyone including me and is full most of the time, but he couldn't, no matter what he tried, until he changed his own port to a random number and was finally able to join.

I tested this out myself in some servers I'm normally unable to join, I turned on my own automatic port forwarding and set a random port and I was able to join. if I left and tried to join again, it wouldn't work unless I change the port to a new one again as if the previous one isn't working anymore. As strange as that may look, I swear that is exactly what was happening to me, and I can't think of an explanation for that at all. It happens to some other people.

What bothers me the most is: Port forwarding is now necessary to simply join a server (because I don't think it was needed before)? And what could explain needing to set a new port number every time?

So what I concluded:

● All people that normally can host won't have issues to join any working server because their port forwarding works fine.
● Some people that can not host won't be able to join some working servers unless they turn their own auto port forwarding on and set a new port.

Port forwarding has always been required in SFD.
Technically when you start browsing you create one client instance in the game that starts listening on a port. Each time you connect it tries to port-forward. If connection fails it will delete the port-forwarding rule. Now- creating and deleteing port-forwarding rules are all sent to your router/gateway according to http://upnp.org/specs/gw/UPnP-gw-WANIPC ... ervice.pdf and the AddPortMapping / DeletePortMapping. I just happen to know that some routers will fail this for whatever reasons, buggy firmware or no more slots available. Your router may or may not be buggy or have hidden features that disallowes the same port to create a new rule again within a limited timewindow.

Closing the browse game panel also closes and shutdowns the created client instance. Opening the browser again creates a new one - usually with a new internal port. This new port will allow for a new port-forwarding rule to work is my guess.

Next time just try to close and re-open the browser window. You don't have to select a different port in the settings menu as that's only for the server port.

Based on what I have gathered you may want to try to update your router's firmware. Based on your description it's almost like it's not respecting the port-forwarding rules being sent to it. If you can monitor UPnP ports in your router try to watch what happens as you connect.

You can also perform a manual port-forwarding for the client-side too if you set the CLIENT_PREFERRED_PORT in the config.ini file (can't be the same as the server's "PORT" one) and then open up the required port in your router and disables automatic port forwarding in the settings. If you also host your own server you must also port-forwad the port listed in the "PORT" option. So that's two ports in total (both UDP and TCP) to manually port-forward if you experience problems with the automatic port forwarding. Might just work better with your router.