Troubleshooting Connectivity

[smatt834]

been playing this game online for almost 2 years now. Had no connectivity issues really in vanilla. Had minor issues in Warlords. And now in BtS its bad.

Got wireless router, udp 2056 on it, all proper programs in the right exceptions lists, basically it should play no glitches.

Some days online you can get 10 or 12 games in a row launch no problem. You might even have a few days go like this. Then BAM 8 games in a row freeze up at the start of the game. We are all framiliar with the host drop, or having people rejoin to get a vote screen, but since BtS this is way worse and much more frequent. The problem seems to be everyone joining the game and it synching and the timer starting. Except the timer doesn't start. EVER. Getting a vote screen is now almost random in that u can't figure out who it is that needs to leave. I play with people who clear the caches all the time and have played with many of them for almost 2 years now. WTH is going on? Why are games launching with seeming random pattern of success and failure??????

 

[Levgre]

This game has to have among the crummiest service of any I've played online.

I guess they are still making enough profits, so there is no issue with them.

Sales still say high even if people can't get multiplayer to work, and we put up with the problems and buy the expansions anyways.

 

[jbadams]

The problem will never be solved. Firaxis blames GameSpy, and GameSpy disclaims all responsibility. Childish corporate warfare by people who already have pocketed our money and know that we'll buy whatever they produce next.

 

[Lord Parkin]

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong... basically, it seems that I am unable to join a pitboss game with more than 18 players, even if I have the required mod, and the mod works perfectly in single player. Any ideas?

More elaboration (if required):

The issue is, I'm trying to join a pitboss game which uses the 40Civs mod, which in turn uses changes from the unofficial 3.17 patch. Under this mod, it appears that I can join active pitboss games with 18 players or less, but I cannot join active pitboss games with more than 18 players. When I try to connect to such games, I simply get an indefinitely long "waiting for civ choices" screen.

Only one other person so far (out of 29 human players) has had this issue with the pitboss game, so clearly the mod seems to work for most people. I can't figure out why it doesn't work for me though. If I start a single player game with 29 civs, it works perfectly fine.

Incidentally, I haven't played many mods in pitboss before, but I do remember trying to play in a 32-player Warlords pitboss (with a different mod which extended the number of players) about a year ago, and encountering the same thing. (Indefinitely long "waiting for civ choices" screen, unable to join the pitboss game and had to abandon it.) Perhaps this signifies something incompatible with my version of the game having more than 18 civs in pitboss? I've only done the basic patch installs though, so what could be going wrong?

Can anyone help? Is there anything at all in the mods which could possibly be causing anything like this, or is it my computer? I'm sure that there is a really simple solution to my problem, but I can't seem to figure it out even after seemingly trying everything! I'd really appreciate if anyone can throw any light on the situation (perhaps someone has had a similar experience in the past).

 

[Locke357]

I too have an issue that has come up many times in the search but never seems to get a direct answer:

I attempt to join my friends direct IP game, and it gives me the message "connection to host has timed out"

Here is the situation:
I'm on a mac, he's on a PC, both running 1.7.4
My friend, the host, is using a hub
host has Vista
host has opened all the ports recommended in these forums
I can join internet games hosted by other computers

ideas?

 

[Levgre]

Right now I can hardly ever play when my modem is connected through my router. I forwarded all the suggested ports, and my windows firewall allows civ4.

I can most of the time join when there are only 1-2 players in the game, but when there are more I get blocked by someone.

I can also host games somewhat fine, although it seems only a certain percentage of players can join me and play perfectly fine, while everyone else is blocked.

I can connect with most people completely fine when I plug the computer directly into the router.


Any ideas?

 

[Levgre]

On seemingly randomly occasions, when I join the gamespy server it will break my connection not only to the server but also to the internet (and then reconnects after I exit the game).

It only happens a minority of the time, and lasts for awhile then goes back to normal and I can log into gamespy with no problems.


Any ideas what causes this?

 

[Krald]

My first post, but I've been trying to get a direct IP game working in civ 4 vanilla (patched to latest) I can enter fine, it works for a moment, then suddenly I can't do anything and my friend gets a "waiting for players" message, sometimes i get the waiting for player's message too. I've tried hosting, and him hosting.. doesn't seem to make a difference, it just doesn't seem to keep working. It's like I can build a city.. that works, then nothing works, I can reconnect, select a tech, and now nothing else works. It's like one action and then I can't do any more.

Edit: oh and I've forwarded "required" ports, and my firewall lets the game through too.

 

[doug141]

I was unable to log in to game spy through CIV IV vanilla v174. Hitting LOGIN resulted in a short freeze in the background animation of the world spinning, then nothing happened. Googling my problem showed many people with the same problem, across the spectrum of network and operating system configuations. I noticed gamespy recently changed their login from user name entry to email address entry. Civ IV does not allow on to type the "@" symbol in the log in dialog box.

I was able to log in and get to the lobby by creating a new gamespy account through CIV IV under a different email address. I hope this helps some people.

 

[jakeison23]

hey i cant even make a civ 4 multiplayer acount, i fill out wat u need to 2 make a acount then i hit ok it stops for a sec like its connecting but then comes back and nothing has happened and im sitting in front of the filled out screen still. HELP PLZ!

 

[Speaker]

hey i cant even make a civ 4 multiplayer acount, i fill out wat u need to 2 make a acount then i hit ok it stops for a sec like its connecting but then comes back and nothing has happened and im sitting in front of the filled out screen still. HELP PLZ!

The name you are using is probably taken. For reasons unknown, there is absolutely no error message.

 

[BOSS NASTi]

Just received this message from Soren Johnson (Civ4 Lead Designer) regarding Civ4 multiplayer connectivity:

If you are encountering problems when connecting to multiplayer games over the internet, chances are strong that you are not the cause of the problem. It is likely that players running firewall software that rejects incoming connection attempts may have already joined the game. Since these players do not have their firewall configured correctly, their computers are rejecting your attempt to connect. Therefore, it is vital that all players who wish to play multiplayer games ensure that their firewall is set up to allow Civilization IV to construct the necessary peer-to-peer network.

If you are running firewall software, please verify that CivilizationIV.exe is listed on the "Exception List" of your firewall, and that incoming messages will be accepted for this process. If your firewall software does not offer an exception list, please open port 2056 for UDP traffic on your firewall. This will allow the required traffic through.

Although Civilization IV contains logic to negotiate around many firewalls and NAT devices (routers), it can run into trouble under certain circumstances. The solution Civilization IV employs works with a vast majority of routers, but does not work with all brands. Very old models may have more problems than newer ones. Additionally, Civilization IV will have problems negotiating through 2 levels of network address translation (ie. a router behind a router). Also, negotiation may fail if you or an existing peer is running the game on a very large and busy LAN.

What if we can't even log in to play online? I mean isn't the main MP the "Internet Games" icon?...

 

[oregoatian]

I am having trouble with the Direct IP multiplayer game. Me and my brother on regular Civ IV could connect but usually it would take a few tries of either him hosting and if that didn't work I would host and eventually it would make a connection (although once in awhile it would go on first try).

Well he finally got BtS, but now we are not able to connect at all (also once in awhile on CivIVreg we couldn't get a connection at all).

I have windows Vista and only the windows firewall running, but have all the Civ IV Programs checked to be allowed. His settings are the same as well.

Im connected from router also, a Linksys, but I don't know how to open the 2056 port or whatever it is like others have mentioned on here.

Anyone know how I can fix this?

 

[Mazinho]

Need some help figuring out if I'm the one with connection issues or if it's other players on the gamespy server.

I have a static internal ip, the game is added as an exception on the windows firewall and the following ports are forwarded on my router:

1. 2056 TCP
2. 2056 UDP
3. 6667 TCP (IRC)
4. 6500 TCP (Query Port)
5. 6500 UDP (Query Port)
6. 6515 UDP (Dplay UDP)
7. 13139 UDP (Custom UDP Pings)
8. 27900 UDP (Master Server UDP Heartbeat)
9. 28900 TCP (Master Server List Request)
10. 29900 TCP (GP Connection Manager)
11. 29901 TCP (GP Search Manager)
12. 2300-2400 UDP (DirectPlay - UDP)


So, I have 12 ports open in total, I left out '3783 (Voice Chat Port)' and '2033 (Civ4)' because others in this thread said they were unnecessary. I also omitted '47624 (Directplay)' because it seems to be a leftover from Civ III.

I still have difficulty connecting to games in gamespy, could there be something that I am overlooking?

 

[Heilyn]

I have a funny situation.
Friend comes over and hooks up to my router. We try to connect in "Internet Games" to some friends who are on their own router in CT (since there will be ALOT of people and connections). The whole Peer problem comes up, but only when they have more than one person on their router in CT. One person bows out and we get a 3 person game.
Now later this night, my friend goes home and plays on his own connection, just a modem, and he connects with the other friends in CT. They can all join together, my friend down the street and all the people on the CT router, but I can not. If I join before them, then they can not. If I host, no one can join.
I have opened all ports, I have gotten rid of the router and wonder what is going on?

 

[AXfeaver]

Hi There,

I am assuming that this is a common problem for many. I am trying play the internet games, I have created gamespy id and made firewall exception to civ4. But still I click login and nothing happens, since this is probably already posted somewhere the solution for this problem, does someone know where in the forums i can find the best response to the solution of this problem? thanks

 

[Scotsdave]

I can connect to other people's hosted Direct IP games, I can connect to multiplayer Gamespy games, but for some reason no one can connect to my hosted Direct IP games.

I am behind a router, with port 2056 forwarded to the relevant IP behind the firewall. However, when I portscan the router, at that port, it comes up negative... anyone any ideas what else I can try?

 

[Lord Parkin]

I've never really been able to understand much about port forwarding and routers myself, but I know a guy who had a very similar problem. Not entirely sure if this will help, but you could read through this thread and see if it does any good for you.

http://www.strategamer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1189

 

[Scotsdave]

I've never really been able to understand much about port forwarding and routers myself, but I know a guy who had a very similar problem. Not entirely sure if this will help, but you could read through this thread and see if it does any good for you.

http://www.strategamer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1189

Thanks Lord Parkin, in that link there's a reference to Dynamic DNS hosting services which people seem to be using to set up pitboss games. Can anyone tell me if they've used this to succesfully set up Direct IP games?

 

[Lord Parkin]

Yes indeed - most of the pitboss games I'm playing at the moment are hosted by Dynamic DNS.