Can't run a soldat server.

[Aquamenti]

Okay, here's the deal:

I've searched all the topics/pages that can help me.
All settings/files are ready to launch the server.
And...
Nothing happens. I start a new game, and it doesn't appear in lobby.


I've got my soldat server once in the lobby, but now it doesn't work.

Oh, and if that makes any difference, I'm using router.

[Mistercharles]

What kind of router? If you have a Dynex, you're pretty much screwed.

[FliesLikeABrick]

With any brand of router, you need to forward the ports.  Look in the "Running a Soldat Server" sticky for some useful general information.

once you're done with that, look at http://www.portforward.com and open ports 23073 TCP and UDP and 23083 TCP

[Aquamenti]

Don't forget the part "I once got in the lobby with my server". That wasn't dedicated server. If I run a dedicated server, I can't play on it..

Anyways.. All settings are ok, as I said, I have read the stickies.
Now, help me.

[FliesLikeABrick]

Use this to test your ports: http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=3722.0


If any of those fail, then you need to do some additional configuration in your router. 

If you run a dedicated server, you should use your local IP to join it.  If you want to join the server from the same computer you're running it on, do it with the IP "127.0.0.1".  If you want to join the server from another computer on the same network, join it using the same IP you forwarded the ports to.

[HEX]

If you don't want to create a full time server, or just want to create a server to play with a few friends of yours, and you don't want to configure the router, a reasonable alternative would be using Hamachi @ www.hamachi.cc (freeware, 1mb).

[FliesLikeABrick]

From looking at that site, it would either 1) still require at least one person to open ports or 2) everything done would be proxied through some other server, thus lagging your game badly.  HEX, can you explain a bit about how that works (so that I know for future reference) ?

[chrisgbk]

Hamachi is a virtual LAN creator. It's just a driver for a software based network adapter that uses an existing internet connection. It's similar in functionality to VPN. Only, windows/linux treat it as a seperate hardware device that has it's own MAC address and IP address. Clients connect to a mediation server which sets up an encrypted tunnel between peers, so there is no need to open ports.

I've used it to play older games in the Command & Conquer series of games, when the official internet servers were down/not working, or for the ones that lacked internet connectivity. I've also used it for newer games without problems, even when playing EnEsCe in Australia.

Of course, like you said, it can cause lag, although Hamachi tends to be fairly low in lag overall.

[HEX]

Exactly chrisgbk.

Hamachi creates a virtual LAN over the Internet. You create a room(network) and everybody with the password can join.

But you should know, it's a bit dangerous. When using it, make sure your computer don't have shared files or hard drives...

[chrisgbk]

The latest beta setup includes an option to disable Windows File Sharing and other exploitable windows services, as well as being more stable than the last official release. That takes care of that problem.

[FliesLikeABrick]

So if it is what you say it is... then it theoretically still needs at least one person in the VLAN to open up port(s) in order to establish the connection, right?

[chrisgbk]

Only if you have some strange setup where you need to open ports for outgoing connections(that would mean you would have to open ports to browse the internet o.O); or if you firewall the hamachi connection with a software firewall that blocks outgoing connections(zone alarm, etc.).

Otherwise, you open a connection with a server (and the other person has one open as well) and you tell the server you want to connect to that person, and it will setup a tunnel for you through the server.

It basically does NAT, similar to how a router operates. You send packets to the server, and it determines where they need to go and it will send them there. It's also secure; all communications are encrypted, feel free to read their extensive publically available encryption method (we both know security by obscurity doesn't work)

At least, that is my understanding of how it works.

[FliesLikeABrick]

yes, but who is the server?  Is the server one of the people that wants to be on a VLAN together, or is the server a third party?

[HEX]

of the people that wants to be on the VLAN together... Hamachi just connect people, it doesn't create servers

[FliesLikeABrick]

yes, I'm talking about setting up the VLAN.  I don't see how a VLAN can be established if nobody has a port opened.

[chrisgbk]

Hamachi hosts the virtual LAN. Even if everyone else, including the LAN creator, has shut off their PC you can still connect to it.

You don't need to forward ports, because when using hamachi, connections don't come over your normal line; they come over hamachi's line. Like I said, Hamachi does NAT; all data comes over a normal connection, that was initiated by YOUR computer, and when that connection recieves data, the hamachi software splits it and sends it to a port on the virtual network adapter.

There is just one thing: you need to force the Soldat Server to bind to your hamachi IP instead of your physical one. You can do this by temporarily disabling your real ethernet adapter, starting the server, and then re-enabling your network adapter, because Soldat uses the first one it finds and doesn't let you choose.



As you can see in the diagram, I have a soldat server running on my hamachi IP (5.60.83.255) and because my other computer is in the same network, as long as Hamachi is running on it, I can join the server by using the 5.60.83.255 IP from my other computer without doing any sort of port forwarding of any kind. This is NOT an internet accessible IP; you wouldn't be able to join the server unless you had Hamachi and were in my virtual LAN.

(Ignore the exception lines in the Soldat Server; I didn't re-enable my network adapter when I took the screnshot so it couldn't connect)

[FliesLikeABrick]

As soon as you said "the connections go through Hamachi" I understood, that was all I needed to hear to separate the two possibilities I figured it might have been