I have FSHOST setup on my laptop which acts as a secondary server computer for my network of two computer. I have a cross-over cable linking the two computer and the laptop gets its internet through the other computer. Whenever I start the server I get an error message saying that it can't connect to the master computer? I setup the server on my main computer and it worked fine. The laptop cant reach the master computer through the network. Help?
Hi Roswell,
The problem is because your laptop is getting its internet connection by going through the other computer. When you run FSHost on the laptop, it connects to the Master Server to tell it that it's running. Then the Master Server does a test connection back to your FSHost, to make sure it can connect ok (and to make sure other players will be able to connect also). The problem is that the Master Server is connecting back to your IP address, but it's getting intercepted first by the "other" computer, and that computer needs to forward the request on to the laptop so it can be handled by FSHost. It's getting trapped at the other computer and never making it back to FSHost.
The way to fix that is to go into the XP firewall settings on the other computer and set it up to forward incoming requests on port 80 (the default port for FSHost's "Remote Access" feature) to the "internal" IP address of the laptop. This IP will typically be something like 192.168.x.x. You can find it by opening a Command Prompt window on the laptop (Start / Programs / Accessories / Command Prompt) and typing "ipconfig".
To be honest though, I think you're going to have a lot of problems running FSHost on the laptop. It's always better and easier to run it on the machine that's directly connected to the internet. If you decide to try though, you'll also need to forward the other ports the same way as I mentioned above, so the other players can connect to your FSHost with their Flight Simulators.
FS2002:TCP 47624
UDP 2300 to 2400
FS2004 and FSX:UDP 23456 (or your "2004 host port" on Server / Options / Session tab)
UDP 6073
UDP 2302 to 2400 (not necessary if also forwarding 2300 to 2400 for FS2002)
Russell