TuDogs
New Heliman
Location: San Antonio, Tx
| G-4 Multiplayer Host SolutionAfter much head banging, research and a little trial and error, I have got the host function working on G-4. The problem is port forwarding and firewalls.
First let me start this by telling you my setup.
Windows Vista Ultimate
Linksys WRT54G Router
Internet Service Provider: RoadRunner
First you need to get into the configuration of your router. Normally this done via your web browser and enter for the address http://192.168.1.1
You will have to know the password for the router. I think the default password is "admin" with no user name. I have since changed mine, but I think this is correct. Refer to your router documentation for this.
When you get to the configuration page of your router, click on the Status tab. Toward the bottom of this page you will see the DNS1 and the DNS2 IP entries. We want to write these two numbers down for later.
Now we need to forward port number 2302. On my router this setup screen is under the tab marked "Applications & Gaming". Under "Port Range Forward" we want to enter some info in the first row. Application is RealFlight. The Start port is 2302. The end port is 2302. Under protocol we want to hit the drop down menu and choose UPD. Then for the IP address we want to enter 192.168.1.5. Click the checkbox under enable. Save the settings and exit your browser. Note that your particular router may be different, you need to find out how to forward a port number to your machine, and enter the appropriate information. Your router documentation should explain this.
Now we need to set up the IP on our machine. For Vista, open your control panel, click on "View network status and tasks", then on the left side click the option "Manage network connections". Left click "Local area Connections" and then at the bottom of that pop up menu, click properties. Then double click the "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TC/IPv4)".
Now click the radio button choosing "Use the following IP address:" For your IP address, enter 192.168.5 and for the subnet mask it will be 255.255.255.0. This will automatically fill out when you go to that line. Just check it. Then the default Gateway is 192.168.1.1. This is normally the IP for your router.
Now remember you wrote down your ISPs DNS1 and DNS2 address from the router status page? Click the next radio button that says "Use the following DNS server addresses:" The "Preferred DNS server" is the number you have for DNS1 from your router. The "Alternate DNS server:" is the number you have for DNS2. Now you may be able to use your routers IP address for these numbers. I am not sure. Of course your routers number is 192.168.1.1 if you can't get your ISP DNS numbers. DNS means "Domain Name Server". Don't worry about it. You have to have access to one for your stuff to work on the internet. Click OK and back out of all those popup windows.
Now, only one more thing to do. Vista and Windows XP have a serious firewall. "Its a good thing" like Martha Stewart says. We don't want to disable it, but we can allow RealFlight to go through it both ways. So open the "Allow a program through Windows Firewall" from the Security part of the control panel in Vista. Find the line that says "Radio Control Simulator" and check the box next to it.
Note: Some security software will still try to block port 2302 on your machine. You will need to hunt that up and make an exception for RealFlight and port 2302. I use a pretty hard nosed security program, and it was smart enough to see I was allowing this stuff thru so I did not have to change anything here. Also other port numbers may work, I don't know.
Now fire up RealFlight, go to host and enter port number 2303, or whatever you have set up. Mine worked like a champ.
As a precaution, when you are through you might want to go into the router and uncheck the "enable" box in the "Port Range Forward area". You might also want to disallow the exceptions in your windows firewall for "Radio Control Simulator". You can still "Join" a session with these turned off. Works for me.
Tech Info: About the change to the windows LAN IP. Port forwarding will not work with DHCP. DHCP is the function in your router that will automatically assign a local LAN IP for your machine. Windows knows how to deal with it. Normally it allocates 50 numbers configurable from your config page in the router. This is the last 50 numbers of the address starting with 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.150. So by using 192.168.1.5 we are using an IP out of that range. It won't hurt anything at all and your firewall functions in the router should still work just fine. This setup just tells the router, hey, I want to use an assigned number, not the one you want to give me.
TuDogs
Note: On a Windows XP machine you might need to restart for the changes to happen. |
