How to: Resolve connectivity issues with Sins

from Sins Forums
There have been many posts discussing how to troubleshoot connection issues with Sins. Many people are reporting connectivity problems, usually relating to the inability to host or stay connected to Ironclad Online reliably.

Most of these issues can be resolved by correctly configuring your firewall. This post is different from other "guides" already posted in that I recommend you do not use a software firewall and that you actually follow the recommendations of the developers. Here is a simple step-by-step:

For people with a hardware firewall (i.e. Linksys, DLink, Netgear, Belkin boxes):
1- You need to identify your device. Look on the box for the model number. Some devices not only have a model number but also a version number (Linksys especially). An example with Linksys might be WRT54GS v7.
2a- Use PortForward.com's wonderful Router Guides to help you configure your specific device. Simply choose your router model and then choose the game from the list. Sins isn't on the list yet, but I've requested that it be added. Until they add the game, you can simply click on the Default Guide link for your model which will guide you to the step where you add the port for Sins. In the case of Sins adding the port is very simple because it's just a single TCP port - TCP 6112. There are no other ports to open, see the FAQ. You will simply forward the port to your gaming computer's internal IP address - usually something like 192.168.1.100. You can check your internal IP address by clicking Start>Run and type "cmd" without the quotes and click OK. Then type "ipconfig" without the quotes and hit Enter. The IP address is what you're looking for (IPv4 in Vista). It's better to setup a static IP so it doesn't change and PortForward.com has written excellent guides for this for Windows XP and Windows Vista.
2b- Soon PFConfig from PortForward.com will have Sins in its game list. When it does that will be another, slightly easier method to configure your device. You can download and run it for free, even though it prompts you to enter a license key that you can click cancel to get through. This program will automatically determine your IP address for you so you don't have to find it yourself as described above. It's better to setup a static IP so it doesn't change and PortForward.com has written excellent guides for this for Windows XP and Windows Vista.

For people with a software firewall (i.e. Windows Firewall, ZoneAlarm, Norton, etc):
Note: I recommend uninstalling your software firewall and using a hardware firewall. It is my experience and the general feeling of the industry that hardware firewalls are both more reliable and fully featured than almost any consumer level software firewall. Running a software firewall not only takes more of your time to configure (constant lame pop-ups), but also gobbles up resources on the very computer you're trying to play on! Windows Firewall is especially bad, since it has known security issues and doesn't even inspect outbound packets. If you insist on running a software firewall at least use something halfway decent like ZoneAlarm Pro. Windows firewall should be disabled completely in my opinion (if you have another hardware or software firewall), as it just uses up resources better allocated to Sins! To completely disable Windows Firewall in Windows XP/Vista, Click Start>Run, type "services.msc" without the quotes and click OK. Scroll down to the Windows Firewall service and double click it. Click "Stop" and change "Startup Type" to Disabled. Click OK.

1- There is no site like PortForward.com for software firewalls that I am aware of. Each company makes their own step-by-step documents however, and you should be able to find them on their support sites. In some software firewalls opening the port is very easy, in other it can be quite tedious. Refer to your software documentation for exact instructions, but basically you just open TCP port 6112 for Sins. Some programs also require that you allow traffic to the game executable as well. Most programs will prompt you when you try to run your game or connect online - admittedly a tedious process.

A few additional thoughts:
-You don't need to enable, disable, or modify any NAT (Network Address Translation) settings in your Firewall or router. Sins and most modern PC games don't care if you are behind a firewall on a private internal network, as long as you forward the port(s) to your PC.
-Don't disable UPnP (Universal Plug n Play) on your firewall/router or PC. Stardock specifically says in the FAQ to leave this enabled.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to post them below.
technical
6,106 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Since you already feel that my advice to the community should be disregarded...

Quote from sc456a:
I would advise anyone not to follow Monk's guide. It actually advises you to open ports, then disable your firewall. Sheer madness. Why anyone would recommend turning off your firewall and state that "all" consumer level firewalls are "marketing crap" is beyond me. Advising anyone to use Windows Firewall is also a sin of the gravest nature to anyone in the industry. Further, UPnP has nothing to do with Sins and in no way affects it, therefore disabling it will serve no purpose. Wow - I can't believe he actually believes what he says in this thing! Even the title of this document is wrong. Sad.
End of quote


...I will only point out a few "corrections" to assumptions you made with regard to the guide I wrote for SINS (reading a guide carefully usually helps in not making incorrect assumptions).

1.
I was here prior to game-release and on game release day I immediately set up a game host and performed a basic netstat from the command-line to verify the network-related information provided to us in the FAQ/manual. The netstat showed that (eventhough the FAQ suggested UDP as well as TCP) that UDP 6112 was not necessary, so I posted this and the FAQ was updated. My netstat also showed a TCP connection live from ICO to TCP port 6000 and I determined (with some testing) that if you don't also have that port forwarded along with the game-port your wins/losses may(or may not) be recorded in ICO correctly.

2.
It was also suggested in the FAQ/manual to use UPnP (as a way to eliminate having to configure one's router). I have been in this industry a very long time and more often than not, the "dynamic" port-opening/forwarding performed by UPnP does not work correctly. It is flaky technology at best, is very much exploitable and if it's use can be avoided by properly forwarding a couple of ports why not?

3.
I also never stated in my guide that "all consumer firewalls are crap". I stated that SPI-type firewalls on "consumer model routers are little more than marketing crap". There is a difference. The important point here being that with the SINS netcode since release many people have had to in fact disable their SPI firewalls on their routers (many SOHO routers or cable/dsl modems don't allow you to configure SPI, it's either ON or OFF) for SINS (especially hosting SINS) to work! This is why I suggest to disable it in my guide. The developers themselves have suggested in several posts to disable the hardware firewalls on consumer-model routers while playing SINS, why? Because in many cases that's whats necessary to get SINS-hosting to work.

4.
I also never said to "disable NAT". I clearly state that if a person's router has a seperate option for "relaxing-NAT" (ie. NAT endpoint filtering) doing so will enable more reliable connection with regard to SINS network transport. Keep in mind I have performed extensive testing with regard to this in my own labs, this isn't just crap I'm spewing to piss in your backyard.

5.
Eventhough there is no express risk in leaving a port in forwarded state when nothing is "listening" on the inside, I do state in my guide that "leaving NAT in a relaxed state and your ports forwarded even when not needed isn't especially prudent". Again, I must say that if you had actually READ my guide you may not have made these incorrect assumptions. Please (re)read page 8 of my guide.

6.
With regard to the Windows Firewall. I have always maintained that no one should have a PC connected to the internet (assuming a broad-band connection) without a router between them and the internet (see various other postings I've made to such effect). Please refer to page 7 in my guide where I at no time suggest the windows firewall should be the only barrier between a PC and the internet.

7.
Everything contained within that guide, is there because at least one person whom I've helped (and I've helped many) was required to perform such action in order to get SINS hosting online. It is our understanding that patch 1.1 will give us re-worked netcode that will employ some kind of "tunneling" technology that will in-fact tunnel past firewalls/routers and eliminate the need for port-forwarding and disabling of the SPI-type firewalls on routers and cable/dsl modems.


-monk out!

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Let the flames begin!

'omg my tutorel is betar dan urs omg urs suks azz loloL'
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Lol Windexglow. I'm not going to do a never ending point by point with him. He's just wrong and is giving people faulty advice. You can't discuss things rationally with people like the_monk. He just thinks he's right and isn't. I think I'm right too, but I have the added benefit of actually being right. :)

I'll leave it up to the users to decide which advice they want to follow.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
I'll leave it up to the users to decide which advice they want to follow.
End of quote


No, you dont. You try to influence poeple in their decision. Thats ok, as long as you keep it Private. But you did go public with "I would advise anyone not to follow Monk's guide.". Its kinda unprofessional to blame other creators of the same industry.

Either way, I respect the afford you both are doing for the community in helping other users with their game-related problems. Keep it up!