port forward-tool

We are always looking for new tools to create to help facilitate the table top gaming experience. Let us know if you have an idea for a new gaming tool you'd like to see. (Note: this is NOT for feature requests on existing tools!)

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jcarrock
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port forward-tool

Post by jcarrock »

So many people have problems with port forwarding blablablbla

Is there any possibility to make a maptool version that doesn't need port forward nor hamachi!! lol
May Lord Arioch watch over and protect us from thinks that live beyond our ken.

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Azhrei
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Re: port forward-tool

Post by Azhrei »

jcarrock wrote:So many people have problems with port forwarding blablablbla
Yeah. I really don't understand what makes it so tough?! :? You visit the router's config page and turn it on (if it isn't on already) and you're done!
Is there any possibility to make a maptool version that doesn't need port forward nor hamachi!! lol
Well, you don't need either of those if you're on a LAN with the other computers.

Or if you already have some kind of VPN software like OpenVPN or Cisco's stuff (Hamachi is a VPN package).

Some OSes even include IP-over-IP tunneling. For example, Linux and OSX systems come with tunneling drivers by default. They're tun4 and tun6 on Linux (IIRC) and the gif (Generic InterFace) device on OSX. When configured properly you get a "fake" interface that adds an IP layer around packets and then hands them off to the real interface. The end result is that a machine's subnet can be extended through routers or gateways. (Probably not through proxies, depending on the proxy configuration.)

Too bad, huh? :cry:
Last edited by Azhrei on Tue Feb 01, 2011 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: fixed broken BBcode

Phergus
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Re: port forward-tool

Post by Phergus »

jcarrock wrote:Is there any possibility to make a maptool version that doesn't need port forward nor hamachi!! lol
No, there isn't.

When you host a game with MapTool you are running a server. For the outside world to connect to your PC your broadband router must be configured to allow that traffic in to your network.

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jfrazierjr
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Re: port forward-tool

Post by jfrazierjr »

What the others said. The other option is to re-invent the way the server works(or have a secondary option) so that the server can run on any machine in a headless mode. But then the end user will have to contact a service provider and have them host the service(ie, you pay monthly for the server to run the software).

Another option would be to have RPTools to host the servers in some way. The problem is that this is a hobby and a not a business and Trevor and the gang don't want to get into dealing with all of the things required to create and maintain a business. RPTools can't host the server sessions for free due to the large amount of bandwidth it would require to run multiple games because the hosting companies have tiered prices based on bandwidth usage. In cases such as WoTC's VT, the company is big and they have the cash to spend to have the VT hosted so no one has to set up their own servers. We just can't do that.

SOMEWHERE, a server must be hosted and the ports must be configured properly to allow play, that just the nature of this type of system and there are no other options. With that said, there has been some talk about a headless server as mentioned in the first paragraph, but that won't come along until at least after 1.4 is finished. This still means the end user has to set up a server, but generally the hosting company has much more experience with this and can probably do it with little effort. The trade off here is that the end user has to pay the hosting company for the bandwidth used. So eventually the choice will be to deal with the set up your self or pay a hosting company to do it. But, even that option is still a long way down the road.
I save all my Campaign Files to DropBox. Not only can I access a campaign file from pretty much any OS that will run Maptool(Win,OSX, linux), but each file is versioned, so if something goes crazy wild, I can always roll back to a previous version of the same file.

Get your Dropbox 2GB via my referral link, and as a bonus, I get an extra 250 MB of space. Even if you don't don't use my link, I still enthusiastically recommend Dropbox..

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