Game Connection Problem

[flashnburn2]

my problem is we are trying to connect 2 or more computers with wingate VPN and play a game on a lan connection. But we are running into a problem. The connection isnt working.

we are able to connect to each other to see each others shared files and other stuff like that but when we go to try playing a lan game and one of us creates a game none of us are able to see the game.

Please help me .

Any information will help thanks !

[Pascal]

http://forums.qbik.com/viewtopic.php?t=3029

That should help.

[flashnburn2]

Still running into errors. I have read the link and still don't understant what exactly is happening. Maybe im just too slow or not understanding something but a bunch of us have been working on this for 4 days now and we all read that post before and still didnt help us .

[Pascal]

What's the game? Normally, when a game announces the host it will do so using an UDP broadcast on a given port.

For the VPN to operate you normally put each machine connecting in to the VPN on a different subnet.

To get the "game available" announements to travel across the VPN to the different subnets (As they're UDP broadcasts) you normally have to put the port number the game uses into the list of Advanced UDP Broadcasts Ports on the VPN Node that serves for the game-host.

[flashnburn2]

The game we are trying to connect is Need for Speed: Underground 2.
I found a page with info to open ports:

TCP ports: 80, 13505, 20920-20929, 20970-20979>
UDP port addresses: 3658, 3659

So in that total I opened 6 different pprts assigened to those numbers.
then we tried to connect and guess what , nothing but something interesting this time opened. I had my nortons on and it dectected ports
9900
1204 TCP that was trying to have access so we also added those ports and still not happening.

We are still working on the problem and we have also taken in concideration of different VPN programs but, those were just terrible so those came off our computers real quick.

sorry bout all these messages, but we have been working on this non stop for a while now . but personally i came in to conclusion that the lan play on the game is all messed up we are goin to try a different game tomorrow and if we still have the same problem then we are just dumb and cant get a lan goin and only just file sharing :D

[Pascal]

I just bought that yesterday, haven't had a chance to install it yet. My guess would be the problem lies with the UDP ports. From the sound of it you went into ENS and then to Port Security and opened them there?

Or did you do this on your router/internet connection hardware?

You need to add those ports (UDP 3658 and UDP 3659) on the ENS Advanced UDP Broadcast screen. So, open ENS. Go to "Routing" tab. There, you will find a button labelled "Advanced". Click that and then add those two ports in there.

This will have to happen on the VPN which has the machine HOSTING the game. So, if you have your WinGate Server and your game machine behind that, and your friends all connect in to you, and YOU will be hosting the game, you need to add that config to your WinGate Server.

[flashnburn2]

Thanks for all your help, its getting late here will try that after work tomorrow also in this time from the last time i created a quick web page and took screen shots of the set up maybe you will catch something there . But that last step you told me we didnt try that we were just adding it into the port security........So will try that tomorrow and here is that link if you want to take a quick glance.

http://qazwsx.100free.com/WebPages/Errors.htm

[Pascal]

Yup, definately the wrong place. Needs to go under "Advanced UDP Broadcast". You can remove the port security entries you added - as they would not affect VPN traffic.

[flashnburn2]

Sounds good to me will try it after work . NOw I have to goto bed :D

Thanks for all your help and when and if you try you now know exactly what ports you need when you install the game ( its a great racing game )

[Pascal]

Yeah, the first one was awesome. So, here's hoping for this one too.

[flashnburn2]

Wow!,
Guess what ?????? It didnt work. I added those to where you told me and also did it on the other computers and still no luck. We even tried those extra ports that nortons found and they still didnt work. We also herd that Windows Xp has a VPN so we are trying to work or play around with that one :D. We just are scratching our heads on this one about the need for speed 2 .

[Pascal]

I'll take my PC to work on Monday - then we can test it there. Will let you know what happens.

[flashnburn2]

ok but there might be one problem there. you will be using the same internet connection won't you? we are using different internet conections
we got Windows VPN to work but we ran into one problem only 2 peeps can play the thrid person can't join us :D

so i would like to hear from you monday and see what happens with your set up thanks again

[Pascal]

you will be using the same internet connection won't you? we are using different internet conections

No, we have different connections in the office. So, one will run off the ADSL, one will run off the wi-fi link, etc.

[Pascal]

First thing so far - it broadcasts UDP announcements on port 9999. (So that might be one to add - I'll confirm once we've added the other end of the link).

Any packet capturing tool should show that.

[Pascal]

That must have been the nicest bit of testing I've ever done on a Monday morning :)

The port is indeed 9999. So, add that port to your list of Advanced UDP broadcasts and make sure it's ticked to be "enabled".

We did that on the VPN Server (The machine hosting was behind that server) and then connected in from a remote VPN. The remote VPN was running NFS2 on the VPN Client; once I went to LAN play it saw the game, I was able to get into the Lobby and we could start a race, etc.

[flashnburn2]

Hello again,
We have opened the port 9999 and it worked :D Thanx again.
we also found out that if there is just one person wanting to connect with you it is alot easier to just use the windows VPN make one of the computers the host and use the other comp the client and they can connect right to the computer. works really good untill you want more then one person :D. There must be other ways to connect other people with the Windows Xp VPN but o well. My expiry date will be up by the time i get back from my trip for christmas so then will be looking into finding another program or looking into the windows vpn program . so have fun and take care !

[Pascal]

Hey,

When you get back from your Christmas trip; if you'd still be keen on seeing if WinGate VPN meets your needs - we'd be more than happy to extend the trial period for you. Just get in touch with Matt Parker when you get back; he can sort that out for you.

[Mr_Biggles]

Sorry to dredge up an old subject. I tried to follow the thread but am hoping for a little clarification. We're going to try to play NFSU2 as well. Do I only need to open the UDP ports mentioned here (through ENS-->Routing-->Advanced) or all the TCP ports as well?

Also, will the level of encryption I use impact on the game play?

On a more generic note, if I have a server running on one LAN and a client running on the other LAN, are all the PCs on each LAN connected via the VPN tunnel, or only the PCs that are actually running the Wingate software?

Thanks

[Pascal]

It should only be UDP, and the ones NFSU 2 uses to announce the games availability. The problem is that the two (or more) networks are on different subnets. UDP broadcasts (Game-up announcements) will not be broadcast across them - so you need to explicitly add them to the list of UDP Broadcast ports. Encryptions only impact is in a slight performance hit - but it should not even be noticeable if you've got the hardware to run NFSU 2.

On the more generic question. Each computer you install WinGate VPN on acts as a VPN Node. Nodes are connected to each other and will route traffic directed at the other nodes (Or machines behind the nodes) to them. So no, you only need the software on one machine on your local network (Usually the internet gateway).

However, you do need to tell the LAN clients how to reach the different remote networks. This can be done in three ways - by using the VPN Node as your default gateway for internet access (Usually the case) - by installing the RIP v 2 client and using that - or by setting up static routes to the remote network.