Let’s say that you and your buddies decide to play on the Internet. Well, it sounds easy enough, but there are often many obstacles involved in accomplishing a fun and functional multiplayer game. It doesn’t take any special hardware or skill (for the most part), just a bit of time to think and fix potential problems. OK, so the game that you and your friends want to play is none other than the great Battlefield 1942. Your first problem is that you have hosted a game, but your friends cannot join. What could possibly be the problem? The culprit is three letters long: NAT.
NAT stands for network address translation. What does it do? Imagine this: you have just purchased an expensive cable service and setup, and you have four computers at your house. The cable company encourages you to buy four static IP’s, for $9.99 more a month each. Are we made of money? Of course not! So, the only option is network address translation, which allows multiple computers to share one IP. NAT never comes by itself; it is usually a feature in most modern hubs, switches, and routers.
What does this have to do with gaming? Well, when you are trying to host a computer game over the Internet, the world sees you as, let’s say, 65.32.105.232. However, you see yourself as 192.168.1.103. This is because your internal, network IP (192.168.1.103) is unique but only exists behind your NAT, whereas your real IP (65.32.105.232) is seen by the Internet. Thus the problem arises – how does your router know to forward the packets and requests to your computer, as opposed to the other three computers at your house, when you all share the same IP address?
There are a few ways to do so. The best way (in my humble opinion, of course) is to use the port forwarding system found on your router/switch/hub. First, you must access your hub’s software. This is usually fairly easy to do; if you do not know how to access it, go to:
- Start Button
- Control Panel
- Network and Dial-Up Connections
- (Your Connection)
- TCP/IP Properties
- Read the default gateway IP
Now, type that IP in your Internet browser. If a password dialogue comes up, and you don’t know your password, head over to: http://www.phenoelit.de/dpl/dpl.html and check out the default password list. These should work for you.
Now, once you are “in,” head to the “Port Forwarding” section. There should be a number of fields, but the ones that are important are: IP address (your “unique, inside” IP) and Port (will be discussed in a few seconds).
How do you know which port to use? Good question. Head over to Google and type in “game name” port. Usually the result will be in the top few results. Now, fill in the “port” number or number range and press submit.
There is another way, but it is very insecure and potentially deadly. It is called the DMZ host option, which basically sends all traffic directly to your computer. To use this feature, head over to router software and choose “DMZ Host.” Then, type in your IP Address (the unique, inside one) and press submit.
There you have it! Your multiplayer gaming woes should be gone. Provided, that is, that you consistently patch your game, that you have a decent ping, that your network is functioning properly… but, never mind the negative, let’s think positive. At least NAT is no longer getting in your way.
Your next problem is that once your friends join, they recieve an error message that reads, “Incorrect Version.” Well, let’s see how to correct this issue.
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