Connection

[Ace]

If your still here, try http://142.163.222.123

[jonf]

I was able to reach that page without a problem.

(BTW, you spelled Canadian wrong  )

[Ace]

This is becoming a little bit of a sticky problem.

[jonf]

I was also able to connect through FS

(not your day, eh?)

[Ace]

Ok, hmmm, now i fell like i am going to throw the computer out the window!!!!!!  

Is there any way i can solve this?  It would be a great help.  Or all i have to to is use "localhost" to connect with my buddies?

[Ace]

Ok, i hosted a server with PEOPLE (YAY!), Btu the problem is i can`t see them, or they can`t see me.

[Russell Gilbert]

When you can't see each other, it means that some of the data is not making it to your machine, or vice versa.  Almost always because of a networking problem, such as a router.  See the previous posts about how to open the ports, etc.

Russell

[Ace]

Ok, i had alot of the same ports in the port fowarding page,  i cleared that up now it should work.  Now i gotta wait for my vm buddies to come on for a test run.

[Ace]

Guys, im in even a bigger pickle, people can read my messages, but i cant read theirs, or they can`t see me and i can`t see them, now this is starting to get really annoying, any pointers?  I tried opening the ports, but to no avail.  Any help plz?

[PeterR]

I've heard of this happening with Linksys routers. You can see others but they can't see you. The only workaround I've heard of is that you have to fly on the same PC that FSHost is running on.

[Ace]

I do fly on the same computer as fshot is on all along\.

[PeterR]

Hmm, works for me. I'm using a Linksys WRT54G. Did you connect to FSHost via localhost (127.0.0.1), via your internal IP address (192.168.xxx.xxx) or via your external IP address (the one assigned by your ISP)?

[Ace]

assigned by ISP

[Ace]

Is there any thing i can do?

[CowBoyGuy]

"I See" said the blind man.

Ace, sorry I didn't look at this post before. I ran into some of the same issues, and it relates to (1) nat Routers and (2) Linksys "U-Turn" issues.

First, understand that FS2002 chats with the server on one port then switches to another (somewhere in the 2300-2400 range) for play time. Since your Computer talks to the server on one port, the other ports must be forwarded for the messages to get back to you.

You may also need to us something called DXPort from http://www.puffinsoft.com. I use it to split the DX Port range into groups of 10 so each of the internal machines can have to proper ports forwarded.

After you have joined the game, your PC stops working in Client-Server mode, and starts working with Peer-to-peer. This means that when player 2 joins, you are sending him your information and he is sending you his. You also both send information to the FSHost, because it was written to run as a FS2002 client, aka another peer.

When your friends connect to your FS Host server, they come through the router, which manages the data back to the host (Ports forwarded, to something like 192.168.1.100). The server gets 'client information from each of them and uses that to tell the other players where to send the information. FShost's address is translated by the router, so ither players send all data to your external address.

Here's the gotcha....

   When you connect to the server,  Linksys can't deal well with the U-Turn (If you try to connect to your outside address.) This is a known problem, and it took me quite sometime to work through it with Linksys. I have a long list of emails based on this issue. Lnowing that you cannot connect to the external address, you have to connect via the internal address (192.168....) and the FSHost tells the other players to send data back to your internal address (i.e. 192.168.1.101). If you have more than one player inside, you'll see each other. All the other players will send data to some other internal subnet (if there even is one) and that data will never reach you. Thus no positions, so no local rendering of aircraft.

  *** THis information has been compiled based on use of the Linksys BEFW11S4 version 1 router. I have not been able to us another version or model to test any potential fix or better behavior. LInksys information I have seen across the Web stated that future development for this unit/version would not progress since the Dec 2002 released patch. That was also the verbal expectation I received from Linksys support in Feb 2003.
    If someone has multiple machines inside a firewalled router, and is able to use the external IP address to connect to FSHost (or any other DirectX game) I'd love to hear about it, as I will someday upgrade from this unit.