Comments on: NAT Problems – And a Big Opportunity For Online Multiplayer Games

By: The Geeky Blog Updates » Blog Archive » NAT Problems - And a Big Opportunity For Online Multiplayer Games

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:47:34 +0000

[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]

By: Henrik Ã–quist

Henrik Ã–quist — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:52:30 +0000

Not being a technical specialist in any way I just wanted to pipe in that NAT is spawned by the devil and I applaud any efforts to sidetrack it. It appears Dawnspire works fine with NAT:s when playing. But when trying to put up a server it’s pure hell and I don’t know if any of our fans have successfully found a solution on their end. >_

By: FSuser

FSuser — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:50:17 +0000

Join Fallen Sword, a FREE online RPG. It totally kicks runescape’s ass: http://www.fallensword.com/?ref=309277

By: Jeremy Hollingsworth

Jeremy Hollingsworth — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:26:59 +0000

Have you looked at the Raknet networking library? (http://www.rakkarsoft.com/)

It supports NAT punch-through using a master server. Licensing costs are very fair for it as well, and you can use it free before you release.

By: mikeful

mikeful — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:57:36 +0000

Here is interesting article about how Skype deals with issue. http://www.heise-security.co.uk/articles/82481

By: Andrew Douglas

Andrew Douglas — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:59:51 +0000

It’s a huge issue… one we are currently spending a lot of time on and will have lots to say about publicly real soon now. You can get the gist of our solution here

hint: jabber/xmpp/jingle rules!
-Andrew

By: GBGames

GBGames — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:15:18 +0000

One good thing to start with is to clarify exactly what the problem is. I think you are referring to the problem of a person hosting his/her own server for multiplayer gaming only to find that no one else can connect to the server. As far as the host is concerned, the machine has network access. It’s just that no one else can connect to the game.

The server probably has an IP address in the range of 192.168.*.* or 10.1.*.*. Those are internal, local network address ranges. If someone tries to connect to an IP of 192.168.2.1, then either they have their own local network and can connect to the address (if it exists), or they won’t be able to connect at all since no public address is available in that range.

I recently had this problem with Diablo 2 hosting as well as Pioneers, an open source Settlers of Catan clone. Pioneers was easy enough to figure out but required manually entering an IP address. Diablo 2 required that I opened specific ports on my router. Neither way is very friendly to people who don’t want to fiddle with communication equipment just to play a game.

I think I recall Blizzard sticking its head in the sand at one point. If you wanted to play with multiple people on Battle.net in the same room and you had a switch, tough luck. I’m sure that problem has been resolved though. Still, it is surprising that so many big names were ignoring network problems by claiming that they didn’t support hubs/routers/switches. It’s the reality of the customer’s network! Deal with it!