MapTool Server Connectivity Problem
Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 2:16 pm
Good day. I’m new to the RPTools forums and am having Maptool connectivity issues. Any advice or help than can be provided would be much appreciated.
The Problem: When I press the Test Connection button in the Start Server dialog box I get an error message that reads, “Could not see your computer from the internet. It could be a port forwarding issue. Visit the RPTools forum (Tools->MapTool->HOWTO) to find the networking FAQ.” I found the “MapTool Network and Connection Problems and Solutions“ document – a great doc by the way - but sadly nothing seemed to help. If I start the server despite the failed connection test it looks like all is well – the Connection Information dialog displays my Local Address, External Address, and the Port (51234) – and I see “Server started” in the Chat window. Unfortunately, when I have one of my players try to Direct connect he gets a “Connection timeout” message.
What’s Changed? I have done plenty of MapTool game hosting in the past and everything worked perfectly. I was able to set the port forwarding in my router firewall and the Windows firewall and never had a problem. Then I switched my ISP from Verizon DSL to Comcast Highspeed. This is the first time I’ve tried to host a game since the switch and I’m baffled.
Step-by-Step Problem Diagnosis:
1. My router is a Linksys WRT54G and does not support UPnP. I manually configured the port-forwarding on the router firewall and Windows firewall, tried several different ports, tried adding my machine to the router’s DMZ, and finally disconnected the router from my network and disable the Windows firewall. All attempts failed to eliminate the connectivity problem.
2. By running two MapTool instances on my computer (one host and one client) I’m able to Direct connect the client to the server by using the IP address 127.0.0.12. I also tried Direct connecting using my actual external IP address and it also worked! Weird…if I could only get my players to be able to do the same.
3. By running two MapTool instances on my computer (one host and one client) I’m able to see my game server on the LAN tab and connect to it with the client instance. No problems here.
4. I don’t have wired clients trying to access my game server.
5. I don’t have wireless clients trying to access my game server.
6. I appears that when I have two instances of Maptools running on my machine the client instance can see and access the server instance via LAN or Direct connect. However, even when I remove the router and connect the modem directly to the computer nothing from outside my machine can access the MapTool server. It makes me wonder if Comcast is blocking the traffic somehow, but their Technical Support staff says the aren’t.
7. I’m trying to have my players Direct connect. Again, this was working with Verizon DSL but since my switch to Comcast I’ve had no luck.
8. N/A
9. I’m not getting any exceptions when I run MapTools from the command line.
10. I’m using a 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905C-TX Compatible). Jumbo Frames was not present in my list of properties, but Hardware Checksumming (called Rx Checksum Offload and Tx Checksum Offload) was Enabled. I disabled both properties and rebooted but it didn’t correct the connection problem.
11. My internal IP address is being reported by MapTools and IPCONFIG as 192.168.1.101
12. I have not tried Hamachi yet.
What Else I’ve Tried:
• I’ve eliminated router port forwarding problems by completely disconnecting it from my network. Even with the router out of the loop (internal and external IP addresses the same) I still get the same connection problem.
• I’ve shut off the Windows firewall, my AVG antivirus, and my Spybot antispyware to eliminate them from contention. Still get the same connection problem.
• I’ve downloaded older versions of the Maptool JNLP from Azheri’s web forum thinking it may just be a problem with b63. Still get the same connection problem with every version.
• Downloaded the latest, greatest Java - Version 6 Update 20 (build 1.6.0_20-b02). No help here.
• Tested some of my Peer-to-Peer applications to see if my system is blocking their connections as well. They all work fine.
• Called Comcast twice and spoken with their technical support. They say they are not blocking any ports on their end.
• Tapped into the Arris modem to check out it’s event log. No errors found and my guess is its in bridged-mode. I don’t have access to change the settings anyway.
• Changed the default port from 51234 several times. No help.
• Tried using static and dynamically assigned IP addresses. No help.
• Installed Microsoft TCP/IP Version 6. No help.
My System: I’m running Windows XP Professional SP3 on an old Dell Dimension 8300 desktop. I’ve got a Linksys WRT54G (does not support UPnP) router and a Comcast Arris TM602 G/CT modem with Comcast as my ISP. I’m using Maptool 1.3.b63 (Java Web Start) with Java Version 6 Update 20 (build 1.6.0_20-b02). Only one connection exists in my Network Connections window and that’s “Local Area Connection”
The Network Connections window reads:
Local Address: 192.168.1.101
Port: 51234
Here is my Java Console:
Java Web Start 1.6.0_20
Using JRE version 1.6.0_20-b02 Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM
User home directory = C:\Documents and Settings\Family
----------------------------------------------------
c: clear console window
f: finalize objects on finalization queue
g: garbage collect
h: display this help message
m: print memory usage
o: trigger logging
p: reload proxy configuration
q: hide console
r: reload policy configuration
s: dump system and deployment properties
t: dump thread list
v: dump thread stack
0-5: set trace level to <n>
----------------------------------------------------
Could not launch from cache. Will try online mode. [Need to update]
TinyLaF v1.3.04
'Default.theme' not found - using YQ default theme.
The Problem: When I press the Test Connection button in the Start Server dialog box I get an error message that reads, “Could not see your computer from the internet. It could be a port forwarding issue. Visit the RPTools forum (Tools->MapTool->HOWTO) to find the networking FAQ.” I found the “MapTool Network and Connection Problems and Solutions“ document – a great doc by the way - but sadly nothing seemed to help. If I start the server despite the failed connection test it looks like all is well – the Connection Information dialog displays my Local Address, External Address, and the Port (51234) – and I see “Server started” in the Chat window. Unfortunately, when I have one of my players try to Direct connect he gets a “Connection timeout” message.
What’s Changed? I have done plenty of MapTool game hosting in the past and everything worked perfectly. I was able to set the port forwarding in my router firewall and the Windows firewall and never had a problem. Then I switched my ISP from Verizon DSL to Comcast Highspeed. This is the first time I’ve tried to host a game since the switch and I’m baffled.
Step-by-Step Problem Diagnosis:
1. My router is a Linksys WRT54G and does not support UPnP. I manually configured the port-forwarding on the router firewall and Windows firewall, tried several different ports, tried adding my machine to the router’s DMZ, and finally disconnected the router from my network and disable the Windows firewall. All attempts failed to eliminate the connectivity problem.
2. By running two MapTool instances on my computer (one host and one client) I’m able to Direct connect the client to the server by using the IP address 127.0.0.12. I also tried Direct connecting using my actual external IP address and it also worked! Weird…if I could only get my players to be able to do the same.
3. By running two MapTool instances on my computer (one host and one client) I’m able to see my game server on the LAN tab and connect to it with the client instance. No problems here.
4. I don’t have wired clients trying to access my game server.
5. I don’t have wireless clients trying to access my game server.
6. I appears that when I have two instances of Maptools running on my machine the client instance can see and access the server instance via LAN or Direct connect. However, even when I remove the router and connect the modem directly to the computer nothing from outside my machine can access the MapTool server. It makes me wonder if Comcast is blocking the traffic somehow, but their Technical Support staff says the aren’t.
7. I’m trying to have my players Direct connect. Again, this was working with Verizon DSL but since my switch to Comcast I’ve had no luck.
8. N/A
9. I’m not getting any exceptions when I run MapTools from the command line.
10. I’m using a 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905C-TX Compatible). Jumbo Frames was not present in my list of properties, but Hardware Checksumming (called Rx Checksum Offload and Tx Checksum Offload) was Enabled. I disabled both properties and rebooted but it didn’t correct the connection problem.
11. My internal IP address is being reported by MapTools and IPCONFIG as 192.168.1.101
12. I have not tried Hamachi yet.
What Else I’ve Tried:
• I’ve eliminated router port forwarding problems by completely disconnecting it from my network. Even with the router out of the loop (internal and external IP addresses the same) I still get the same connection problem.
• I’ve shut off the Windows firewall, my AVG antivirus, and my Spybot antispyware to eliminate them from contention. Still get the same connection problem.
• I’ve downloaded older versions of the Maptool JNLP from Azheri’s web forum thinking it may just be a problem with b63. Still get the same connection problem with every version.
• Downloaded the latest, greatest Java - Version 6 Update 20 (build 1.6.0_20-b02). No help here.
• Tested some of my Peer-to-Peer applications to see if my system is blocking their connections as well. They all work fine.
• Called Comcast twice and spoken with their technical support. They say they are not blocking any ports on their end.
• Tapped into the Arris modem to check out it’s event log. No errors found and my guess is its in bridged-mode. I don’t have access to change the settings anyway.
• Changed the default port from 51234 several times. No help.
• Tried using static and dynamically assigned IP addresses. No help.
• Installed Microsoft TCP/IP Version 6. No help.
My System: I’m running Windows XP Professional SP3 on an old Dell Dimension 8300 desktop. I’ve got a Linksys WRT54G (does not support UPnP) router and a Comcast Arris TM602 G/CT modem with Comcast as my ISP. I’m using Maptool 1.3.b63 (Java Web Start) with Java Version 6 Update 20 (build 1.6.0_20-b02). Only one connection exists in my Network Connections window and that’s “Local Area Connection”
The Network Connections window reads:
Local Address: 192.168.1.101
Port: 51234
Here is my Java Console:
Java Web Start 1.6.0_20
Using JRE version 1.6.0_20-b02 Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM
User home directory = C:\Documents and Settings\Family
----------------------------------------------------
c: clear console window
f: finalize objects on finalization queue
g: garbage collect
h: display this help message
m: print memory usage
o: trigger logging
p: reload proxy configuration
q: hide console
r: reload policy configuration
s: dump system and deployment properties
t: dump thread list
v: dump thread stack
0-5: set trace level to <n>
----------------------------------------------------
Could not launch from cache. Will try online mode. [Need to update]
TinyLaF v1.3.04
'Default.theme' not found - using YQ default theme.