R.I. Multiplayer Issue

[plasmacannon]

I've been playing multiplayer games fine for over a year LAN and IP on 2 computers which were almost identical.
With player 2 using a different computer now and with Win7, I couldn't see the game in the LAN Lobby, but we got IP games to work fine.
Recently occasionally I have ran into games where my settler is unable to build it's starting city at the beginning.
I can see the terrain. The other player can see and move his units, but I can not do either.
The shortcut commands are missing too. I can hit 'B' to build city and nothing happens. I can hit 'G' and the go to line does not appear. Here is a screenshot.
Anyone experience anything like this or have an idea of what to try?

 

[plasmacannon]

Oh. That wasn't the right screenshot. We tried the other player leaving and returning. He was able to return, but it didn't change anything on my side.
You can see I have my settler selected and yet, there are no options displayed in the blue area for sleep, fortify, movement etc.
We tried 3 new games, even saving and loading two, but no success.
We ran Ccleaner and restarted our machines, then the game. Yesterday, it worked, but not today twice.
I'm not sure what to try next.

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

Are you sure that it isn't a firewall problem? It looks like it could be your friend's firewall blocking outgoing data, for example.

 

[plasmacannon]

That's the strange part. The game permits it sometimes. Other times, it doesn't. I haven't found a pattern yet to determine the cause.
We started another game. It worked. Saved it at year 4000. Created 2 more that didn't work.
Are there settings in Windows Defender that could block it? Are you aware of certain ports that have to be open?

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

Can't say I have much multiplayer experience, unfortunately. But that doesn't sound like a problem with the mod itself, rather with the game or something external.

 

[plasmacannon]

I agree. I'll check out the multiplayer section for similar issues.