FSHost and how to get connected

Dangerousdave26

Dangerousdave26

Admin
Staff member
Please all Team Members Read Below. The testing I did this year lead me to realize that many people do not have all of the ports that need to be open set in their routers.


All instructions below refer to DSL or Cable connections. Dial up connections should not have Port Forwarding issues as you are connected to the internet directly. We refer to that as a truly Pants Down Internet Connection.


Setting your router


First Disclaimer: While messing around in your DSL Modem you may change something that will cause you to be unable to connect to the internet. Care must be take that you understand the procedures I give you I will not be held responsible for any mistakes on your part. If you do not feel comfortable with making the changes STOP now and proceed no further. If you do feel confident take screen shots of your Router Admin Pages before you make changes. Know your user name and password to your account. This should help you from making any fatal mistakes that will prompt you to call your ISP for support. Post your questions to this thread and we will help you set up your router.


Let’s talk DSL first

In today’s world all DSL modems are multi-function devices. Part one is the Modem that Authenticates you to the ISP by a PPOE Log on (in the USA other Countries may use other Protocols), then converts the ATM signal to Ethernet, Part two is the router that joins the WAN segment of your network to the LAN portion of your network. Part three is the network switch it may only be configured as 1 port but it is still a switch. Part four maybe your built in Wireless Access Point. If you plugged an aftermarket Router into your DSL modem you may be running two routers on your network. This is a recipe for problems discontinue this if you have done so NAT or Port Forwarding will not work correctly. If you have your router setup this way we need to talk. Post here and Iwill send you instructions on testing your setup.

To set up your PC/Router to connect you need to set the port forwarding in your router. The ports you want to forward are

FS2002:
TCP 47624
UDP 2300 to 2400

FS2004 and FSX:
UDP 23456 (or the "2004 host port" on FSHost's Server / Options / Session tab)
UDP 6073 Direct Play port
UDP 2300 to 2400


You can get more help on forwarding ports in your particular router at www.portforward.com.


If you need help post your make and model of your router and modem Screen Shots are always a help. If you don’t know how to access your router see instructions further below.


There also is a program called FSPortTest that you can run on your PC to check to see if you have all the ports forwarded correctly in your router. Use it hands down it will tell you if you are set up right. If it fails and you cannot figure it our Post screen shots of your router. These things are not hard to setup.


Cable connections

Second Disclaimer: It has been over three years since I have installed any Cable Modems. They may have changed and the instructions below maybe incorrect.

Cable connections differ from DSL the Modem authenticates by the MAC Address assigned to the device. It will receive a private IP address from the ISP and assign a public IP Address to your PC if you attach your PC to the modem directly. It will only assing one address it will not allow multiple connections via a switch like a DSL Modem functioning as a router. You should have a quality Router connected to your Modem.

How do I access My Router?

You need to know the IP address of your router. Here is the fast way to do it. On Windows XP or Windows 2000

Click Start

Click Run

You get a box to open up type cmd

Press enter

You should now be at a command prompt

Type ipconfig

Your IP Address of the your router on the LAN side is the Default Gateway mine is 192.168.10.254


You can now close out your command prompt

Open your preferred Internet Browser


Type in the address field http://192.168.x.x (whatever your default gateway was)


This should bring up your admin page for your router. If you are prompted for a password


Lynksys used to use admin in the password field nothing in the user field.
If you have a different router consult your owner’s manual.


Now how do I forward my ports?


Look for a heading that refers to NAT and Gaming or Home Networking. They are all built different.


Ask questions if you cannot figure it out.
 
Good info, Dave.

I have a Lynksys router plugged into my DSL modem, and don’t appear to have any problems getting online. I ran that FSPortTest program (excellent find, BTW!) and it passed for port 23456, but not the others, which makes perfect sense because 23456 is the only one I enabled. What’s the others for?
 
PRB said:
Good info, Dave.

I have a Lynksys router plugged into my DSL modem, and don’t appear to have any problems getting online. I ran that FSPortTest program (excellent find, BTW!) and it passed for port 23456, but not the others, which makes perfect sense because 23456 is the only one I enabled. What’s the others for?
Click to expand...

That is the part most people miss when setting up their router.

UDP 6073 This port is the primary Direct Play (part of DirextX) port. Your game connects to the FSHost server and they negotitate which ports you and the other peers will communicate on. Meaning 6073 will tell your pc to connect player X to player Y on ports 2300 to 2400.
UDP 2300 to 2400 These are the ports players exchange FS info on.

UDP 23456 is the primary port the server runs on.

Now I do know that if you don't have all of your ports open the connection may work. Why I don't know but by not having all of your ports open will at some time block somebody else out of the game.

This is one of the reasons why some people can not connect during the race. I was guilty of it last year. Sorry my bad.

You can find this info in FSHost FAQ


It is OK to have your Lynksys Router plugged into your DSL modem as long as they are not both functioning as a router. In your case the DSL Modem is probably set to Bridge. This means that it just converts the DSL (ATM) signal to ethernet and passes the information to your router. Your router does all of the PPOE Log on and DHCP functions.
 
Hop list flying for those who need to know

To extend our topic of FS Host and How to I am including instructions on to how to use a hops list in FS Host.

Once connected to the FS Host server with Flight Simulator open the chat window if it did not automatically open.

Commands are
?hophelp
?hoplist
?hop
?hop=x

?hophelp will display the other hop commands

?hophelp said:

*RTWR_Server (FSHost 3.2):
[Private] Type "?hop" for next hop.
"?hoplist" for list of all hops.
"?hop=x" to set hop (Ex. ?hop=3)
Click to expand...
To view the whole hops list type

?hoplist

FS Host will display the hops list

?hoplist said:

*RTWR_Server (FSHost 3.2):
[Private] Hop List: 0-BIKF, 1-BIHN, 2-EKVG, 3-EGPM, 4-EGPE, 5-EGAE, 6-EGNV, 7-EGMH, 8-EDLE, 9-EDHM, 10-Z24N, 11-EDDI, 12-EDXK, 13-ESMK, 14-ESKK, 15-ESNT, 16-ESNO, 17-ENMS, 18-ESPA, 19-ENNK, 20-ENHF, 21-ULMM, 22-EFKS, 23-EFKU, 24-ULPB, 25-ULLI, 26-EEVI, 27-EYKD, 28-UMII, 29-UUBP, 30-Z25S, 31-UUOK, 32-UKDD, 33-UKFF, 34-LRTC, 35-LB1I, 36-LG0D, 37-LTBI, 38-LTAZ, 39-LTCA, 40-OS0A, 41-LC0A, 42-OLBA, 43-OJHR, 44-Z17F, 45-Z26D, 46-HESH, 47-HE0G, 48-LLBG
Click to expand...

Alternately you can type

?hop

and FS Host will display

?hop said:

*RTWR_Server (FSHost 3.2):
[Private] Hop 9/48: Fly heading 037 for 188nm and land at EDHM (Hartenholm), then type "?hop"
Click to expand...

FS Host will tell you to proceed to the first airport or the last airport you were at and where to go next.

Another helpful command is

?hop=x

Where x = the hop number in the list

That command will allow you to reset or change your position in the list.

That's pretty much it just fly from airport to airport. You must be within 2nm in order for FS Host to recognize you are at the airport and you must slow below 40 - 60 kts to be considered on the ground. Which means you can still crash on landing and get credit for the flight. You will just need extra maintenance :icon_lol:.
 
what do you recommend,
if my router model does not appear on the portforward router list?
I have compared all on the list with the initial numbers,
but none of them have a menu like mine.
Netopia model 3347-02

it would be easy if FS2004
was on the list in the Gaming section,
but it isn't.
I'm wondering if there is an upgrade available and where to look for it.
 
Ahh, the Netopia. Good luck with that one, it's impossible to disable the builtin firewall unless you run it in DMZ mode (bridged mode). You'll need a network switch (A Linksys BEFSR41 works good) to get it work properly. I used one 2 years ago and could barely keep it online during the race until I bridged it.
 
jeepers, that's terrific.
I had zero problems with it,
but I was using it for CFS MP.
I was actually able to get 5 machines
to join (and be seen) from this location.

I know I could see Dave the other day,
but apparently, he couldn't see me
or my chat texts.
if we can get it to work for this,
Great...if not, so it goes.
 
my mind is awash with all the technical detail.
so far, I ave been able to
-log in to mape.gotdns.org
-send text, recieve text

am I good yit?
 
Smilo

What preconfigured settings are under the gaming section? (screen shots)

Also take some screen shots of what settings are under the advanced section.

There might be a preconfigured item for these ports.

If there is the name will be something like MSN Game Zone (DX7 & 8 Play)

If you find it you can turn it on and point it to your computer.

However the reason why I don't normally tell people to do this is it opens more ports than you need for FS9. Lots more ports.

FS9 uses Direct Play to communicate to all other players who are in the session.

There are many Netopia routers out there and all of them I have worked on could do port forwarding. MD is the only person I know who had one that was locked down could not be opened up. That is not the norm.

Also do not join the FS9 session as Observer. If you do no one else will see you but you will be able to see them.

Actually this is not a bad feature. If we had 5 pilots at an airport in planes waiting for the arriving baton flight it could become dangerous for the pilot to see everyone else that he does not need to. He could find himself on final and in the clutches of the frame rates of Death. So maybe later on we will use the Observer feature but not for practice.

bpfowler

If you have not opened up these ports in your router then no you are not good to go.

The issue is your router will block all communication coming in on those ports if they are not opened up and pointed to your gaming PC.

This will not stop you from joining a multiplayer session. In fact you might be able to join with two or three other players already on.

The problem becomes once you are on the server you will block out anyone else from joining the session.

Or you may not be able to join the session and you will be blocked out. You will know this because the connection time will be very long and you will get a message that states "Could not connect all players".

The other thing that could happen is you log on and by doing so everyone logged on to the server gets booted out.

When people do not have all the ports open funny things happen and its not too consistent on what and when it happens.
 
thanks DD, will carry on forwarding the ports then.
[edit]
confusion!
what is an internal port vs. external port?
attached find linksys screenies.
 
I am able to Define Custom Service
ie, select ports to forward,
but I can not figure out how to add all three.
see the screenie...it's either 6073 or 23456

I did find MSN Game Zone (DX7 & 8 Play)
and enabled it, but like you said, it's a lot of ports opened
I currently have enabled CFS 1 & 2, FS2000, TeamSpeak Server
and am trying for a Custom FS9
 
smilo said:
I am able to Define Custom Service
ie, select ports to forward,
but I can not figure out how to add all three.
see the screenie...it's either 6073 or 23456

I did find MSN Game Zone (DX7 & 8 Play)
and enabled it, but like you said, it's a lot of ports opened
I currently have enabled CFS 1 & 2, FS2000, TeamSpeak Server
and am trying for a Custom FS9
Click to expand...

Try this page: its the page from the 2210 netopia I had and the menu's appear similiar to yours.
http://www.portforward.com/english/...torola/2210-02-1006/Flight_Simulator_2004.htm

Keep in mind that I opened up the ports on my netopia, and both my ISP and Motorola claimed that my gateway did NOT have a firewall they both either LIED, or were misinformed. When my 2210 was put into bridged mode, and I setup the BEFSR41 switch correctly my connections got more stable, the correct number of people appeared in the chat rooms, and people stopped being ejected from servers when I was online.
 
looking at the details for CFS,
I see that I have 2300-2400 open in both TCP and UDP
and 6073 in both TCP and UDP
which leave 23456
scrolling down your link, I see how to enter 23456
see screenie.
I'll give this way a try, except I'll name it FS9
 
Special note on Routers

If you look at the screen shot above by bpfowler you will see he has a page called QoS

On these little routers intended for home use do not turn on QoS.

NEVER NEVER NEVER TURN ON QoS

QoS stands for Quality of Service and is an amazing function on real routers. These little home use routers can not handle the work load of QoS.

If you turn on QoS you will bring your system to its knees when it comes to speed.

The problem is most of these Routers have really nice software but they have cheap processors and small amounts of memory. Turning on QoS forces them to look at every header in every packet that comes into the router. This causes them to slow down as they can not handle the work load.

Trust me been there done that.

If you want to run QoS go out and buy a $1,000.00 router.
 
smilo said:
looking at the details for CFS,
I see that I have 2300-2400 open in both TCP and UDP
and 6073 in both TCP and UDP
which leave 23456
scrolling down your link, I see how to enter 23456
see screenie.
I'll give this way a try, except I'll name it FS9
Click to expand...

I was actually wondering about that.

I don't have CFS 2 and never did figure out CFS 1 to get on line good.

With that set up you should be good to go at Moparmikes server.
 
never did CFS 2,
I just enabled the ports.
but had CFS 1 working good.
even hosted.

I am firing up FS9 now.
will try to get into mape
 
bpfowler said:
thanks DD, will carry on forwarding the ports then.
[edit]
confusion!
what is an internal port vs. external port?
attached find linksys screenies.
Click to expand...

Very easy

for the range of 2300 - 2400 set that as a range of ports on the range page.

for 6073 set that as External port 6073 to internal port 6073 UDP to {the IP address of your Gaming computer}

Same for 23456

Remember you want to point them all to the computer that you will be using as your gaming rig.
 
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