Advanced Networking[]
These are things to look at when you are having a problem, and i recommend that players only adjust there firewall when they are having latency or connectivity problems.
Routing Firewall and QoS[]
If you are an advanced user, you may want to check the ports on your router and enable application-based QoS (Quality of Service) for your router. If you don't know what this is, don't worry about as it is just a nice to have. However you may want to look at QoS if you are running a VOIP phone and/or other peer to peer applications on the same internet link.
GameSpy Firewall Ports[]
Here is the list of firewall ports from the NWN2 readme file:
When you play on a system that is behind a firewall or proxy, certain ports may need to be opened to connect to multiplayer games. Ports 3658, 3659, 6500 and 27900 may need to be opened so the GameSpy servers can see the game.
Please consult your network administrator or your router manufacturer for information on how to set up these ports. You should also install the latest firmware available for your router from the manufacturer
Opening Ports to Play Behind a Firewall The following ports may need to be opened for GameSpy servers to see the game: 3658, 3659, 3660, 6500, 27900, 28910 GameSpy Arcade may also need the following TCP ports open in order to function properly:
- 6667 (IRC)
- 3783 (Voice Chat Port)
- 27900 (Master Server UDP Heartbeat)
- 28900 (Master Server List Request)
- 29900 (GP Connection Manager)
- 29901 (GP Search Manager)
- 13139 (Custom UDP Pings)
- 6515 (Dplay UDP)
- 6500 (Query Port)
You will also need to open the server port (5121 by default) and the following port for the game stats to be updated correctly: 29920 (Gamestats Server)
Checking Network Latency[]
To run a traceroute to check latency
- Click Start and then Run
- Type in "command" or "cmd" and press Enter
- In the command window, type 'tracert pw's address here > C:\tracert.txt' (without the quotes) and press the Enter key.
- A file will be created on your C: drive called tracert.txt that contains your Traceroute information. Please be patient when waiting for the tracert command to complete, it may take several minutes. When you are returned to the command prompt, then the trace is complete.
If you see any error messages or asterisks in your Traceroute for the hops before you reach the server, you may need to contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and provide them your Traceroute results for further assistance.
Advanced users may want to use ping tests if more information is required, but need to be aware that many firewalls and Internet security packages are configured not to acccept ping requests.
Traffic Shaping[]
Probably not an issue in the USA, but in Australia and other places some Internet Service Providers shape gaming traffic without telling their customers. Shaping basically means that traffic type gets a lower priority over other traffic, leading to higher latency and timeouts between the server and the client.