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[VBSA]

Hi everybody,

I have recently started up a kind of VA wich flies small aircraft. I installed FSHost to have no troubles with lag and because of the hop feature.
Now when I try to run a server(only FS9) it always says 'ERROR creating ...'. I tried everything that is in the following text with no result. I am on a LAN network put togheter with two switches (no router). I have no firewall running on my own PC nor the server's. I always set the ports of FS9 and in option of FShost the same. I tried 8080 , 23456, 22444, .... none works.
I have no idea why it wont work  

Thx for any help!!

[jonf]

Sounds like you still missing some ports...

http://www.chocolatesoftware.com/fshost/help.html#ports

[VBSA]

Hmm no that's not it, like i said i don't have router nor firewall, I can join any game, i just can't host..
Maybe I can only host on the server machine?

[Russell Gilbert]

Hi,

Can you tell us more about your network, and the versions of Windows you're using?  Are you using Internet Connection Sharing to share with a 2nd PC?  If so, I'm not sure if you'll be able to host with the shared PC -- at a minimum, you'll have to forward the correct ports from the server machine to the shared machine.  If you're running XP, you can do this in the firewall settings, but then just turn off the firewall after you configure the ports -- it still forwards the ports even if the firewall is disabled.

Also, can you tell us the exact error msg you're seeing?

Russell

[VBSA]

Well for starters all the computers ( 5 without server) are running on XP proff. (server too). It seemed to me it has something to do with with passing around data from external to internal IP's. There's a missing link somewhere I just don't know where. Maybe it would help if i knew exactly how FSHost works. My guess is that it creates a session on my PC, but it lookes for a direct link to internet on this PC instead of on the server sharing internet. So what it need to do is tell FSHost to send and receive data from/to the server, but how do I do this?
The exact error message is : 'ERROR creating FS2004 session. Is there another copy of FSHost running on this machine? If so, each copy must use a different port for hosting the 2004 session (23456, 23457, 23458, etc.). See Options / Session to change the 2004 host port. This error can also happen when there's a problem with DirectX on this machine. Please go to the Windows Start button, select Run, type "dxdiag" and click OK. Then change to the Network tab and check for errors in the Notes section at the bottom. If you find errors reported, they can usually be fixed by reinstalling DirectX, which can be downloaded for free from http://www.microsoft.com/directx/ '
I guess I can create a session on the server and join it from my IP, but a server isn't really ment to put games on it... So it would be nice to be able to create one on my own PC.
If you need any more info please be specific, as I am not really a PC-freak  

[Russell Gilbert]

Ok, since you said you're using XP, I'm guessing that one of the PCs is connected directly to the internet (without a router, you said), and then you're using XP's Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to share the connection out to other PCs via 2 switches.  And you're running FSHost on one of the shared machines.

If that's the case, then I believe you'll need to setup port forwarding on the server machine (the one connected directly to the net), and forward certain ports to the machine running FSHost.  Otherwise, when people connect, they'll be trying to connect to the server machine, which isn't running FSHost.  To do this, go to the server machine, to Control Panel / Network Connections, right-click on the internet connection, select Properties, and change to the Advanced tab.  You should see a Settings button in the lower right.  If it's grayed out, you'll have to turn on the checkbox at the top for the firewall ("Protect my computer..."), then change the settings, and then turn it back off again afterwards -- the port forwarding you setup under Settings will still be active even tho the firewall is not.

On the Settings page, you'll see a list of ports that are preconfigured.  All of them should be unchecked, since you don't need them.  Click Add, type something like "FSHost" for the description, put in the internal IP (192.168...) of the machine running FSHost, and set both the External and Internal ports to the same number.  Select TCP or UDP, and click OK.  You'll need to do this for each of the ports listed on the link that Jon mentioned above.  The only problem is that XP's firewall won't let you setup port ranges, and one of the things you need to setup is forwarding for UDP ports 2300-2400.  You could probably get away with forwarding just the first 5 ports or so (2300-2304), since it usually uses those ports first (no guarantees).  There's also a program called DXport that will limit the number of ports used by a particular PC, and that might help in that situation also.  (www.puffinsoft.com)

I guess I can create a session on the server and join it from my IP, but a server isn't really ment to put games on it.

Well, FSHost isn't a game, it's a server.  So putting it on the server really makes perfect sense here :-)  I'd go with that option, if it were me.

Russell

[VBSA]

No what i ment was you have to put FS9 on it to be able to create , right?

[VBSA]

Ok , now iv'e lost all hope. It even won't start a game when I run it on the server machine (assuming I don't need to put FS9 on it;yes i use ICS), although I found an interesting text about something called netBIOS. I switched this on on my PC and the server( I haven't been able to restart it, though) that didn't work. But i'm typing this while i'm trying so...
I did as you said above, that didn't change anything.
For clarity, I need to open ports 2300-2304 AND 23456?
I opened these but, ... nothing.
I was so hoping it would work when I tried to serve on the server  
I really hate computers sometimes ......
Anyway thank for the help!

p.s.: sorry for spelling / not expressing things correctly but i'm Belgian :p

[Russell Gilbert]

Ok, let's stay on the server machine for the moment, I think it'll be easier to get it working there, rather than on one of the shared machines.

First, no, you don't have to have FS installed on the machine for FSHost to run.  You just have to be sure you have the latest DirectX installed on that machine.  So go to Start / Run, enter "dxdiag", and make sure you have 9.0b, and that there are no errors on the Network tab.

If you're getting the *exact* same error in FSHost, go to the Options / Session window in FSHost and try changing the FS2004 Host Port from 23456 to something like 1000, 80, 85, etc.  You'll have to stop the FSHost servers to be able to change that number, but you don't have to restart the whole program.

Russell

[VBSA]

Ok on the server, checked Directx was 9.0. Tried ports 8080 , 80 , .... none works. jeezus.  :-/

       

[Russell Gilbert]

Ok, just to be sure here, you're changing the port on the Options / Session window, right?  The "FS2004 Host port"?

And you tried ports such as 23457, 24000, 25000, etc.?

Russell

[VBSA]

Yep thats correct.