The key here is port forwarding. To host a game, you need to have TCP ports 6112 and 6000 FORWARDED to your local PC. It is not enough to simply have them open.

-HM

I will have to let The Monk help (not that I'm volunteering him, heh) with configuring specific routers, but I can do my best to try to explain this.

If you have a router set up at your place, then it means that all the network traffic coming in from the Internet is only sending data to ONE ip address, and your router is doing the work in figuring out which machine in your place the information needs to get to.

For some programs (i.e. hosting a Sins game) certain information needs to go to a specific location on the destination PC. This is called a port. For this to happen, the router needs to know which PC on your LAN to send this stuff to. This is what the forwarding is.

What's most likely happening now is that network traffic necessary for hosting Sins a Sins game is coming to your router, but then it has no idea where to go from there. Your PC? Roommate #1's PC? #2's PC? It doesn't know, so it dies in the router.

The forwarding rule explicitly tells your router that TCP packet with a destination of port 6000 or 6112 needs to go to YOUR PC.

My personal failure comes from not understanding why other pieces of network traffic, such as regular WWW traffic from surfing, doesn't need to be forwarded. Here, no forwarding has to be done: you can have multiple people at your place surfing the web, and the router knows where to send the web traffic, all without port forwarding.

-HM

Pfft, I volunteer him all the time   

lokigr,

1. put two entries under port-forwarding eg. TCP start 6000 end 6000 forwarded >> your IP. Do the same for TCP 6112

2. If 6112 is already being used you can change the port SINS uses by editing that in the user.setting file (sorry I can't tell you the exact path to that file I'm not on my gaming PC right now, check the Technical FAQ for it's location)

3. UPnP is usually being used for such things as Xbox's etc.

4. You could have a multiple NAT problem, but I wouldn't worry about that yet. Get your ports forwarded properly first, then if it still doesn't work we'll cross that bridge then.

I am available to talk you through the steps via my TS Server, just not untill later tonight.

thanks,

the Monk

Mission accomplished!   

Hollow Man,

You are correct that "clients" don't expressly need to forward ports to join, however if NAT-filtering gets in the way (some routers allow you to configure it see this thread https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/302422/page/3 and my post REPLY #63 for an example of a router that allows NAT-filtering to be controlled) and if your router doesn't allow you to "relax" it's NAT-filtering independently, then in many cases the same sort of result can be achieved by port-forwarding. Which is why I recommend both clients and hosts to follow the steps in my guide (at least until version 1.1 )


Below are examples of the types of problems (non-relaxed) NAT-filtering can cause for SINS...

/quoting myself from my sticky in the Technical forum (reply #31)

Example of mis-configured CLIENT:

client sending TCP 34123 (random high port) --> host rejects on TCP 6112 (because traffic did not originate on client TCP 6112)

- client needs to forward/allow access out on correct port number by relaxing his/her NAT (read my guide on NAT and you'll know what you need to do, if you need help doing it or understand it better I'll be glad to help)


Example of mis-configured HOST:

client sending TCP 6112 --> host accepts on TCP 6112 sends back to client on TCP 32226 (random high port)

client now rejects incoming TCP 32226 from host

- this scenario happened because the HOST doesn't have his/her NAT relaxed enough and although he/she has the ports forwarded for "incoming" traffic, their router/firewall NAT's the "outgoing" packets thereby ruining the "connection"


Example of monk's hosting :

client sending TCP 6112 --> Monk accepts on TCP 6112 and sends back to client on TCP 6112

- in the above example all communications work as planned and everyone has an enjoyable game!

/end quoting myself



....some days I feel like I'm living in the matrix, one day I'll look at my wife and kids and see 0's and 1's hehe   

the Monk

The default passwords should always be 'admin', if it was changed to something else then, well..