Have to reboot each time on RA Server?

[GUNWOUNDS]

I dont know about you guys.. but something weird happens with my internet after playing a game on RA's Server... basically my internet just doesnt work.. i have cable internet and after everygame on RA's server i have to exit the game cuz it wont refresh.. and then it wont let me log back into the server AND i cant even surf the web on my computer.. i have to reboot and then i can utilize my internet to surf the web or login to RA's server.  Anyone experience this?  Its getting a bit tiresome to reboot after each game.  Newlords thinks it because i have the APO zoom out patch ...but i am thinking it has something to do with RA's server code.  Any thoughts?

Guns

[thesnake]

man witha pc like ure dont bug ure self with old buggy s/w like emp.. if u wanna playe just do it but its a cham to look back at a 7 yo s/w and try to figuer why ure nasa pc cant deal with it...

well maybe and simply because it was not made to do so...

[GUNWOUNDS]

man witha pc like ure dont bug ure self with old buggy s/w like emp.. if u wanna playe just do it but its a cham to look back at a 7 yo s/w and try to figuer why ure nasa pc cant deal with it...

well maybe and simply because it was not made to do so...

Its not a problem with my "nasa PC" you goof.. its a problem with the internet connection.  Can someone who knows what they are talking about offer some thoughts?

guns

[Apollyon]

Well, I hear that ini editing to control zoom can in fact destroy the world, too.

It's probably some kind of port/firewall setting.

[erjin999]

No major idea, but I can say others have had this issue.

How about repairing your connection to resolve it instead of restarting ? That should work and should be quicker too.

Try temporarily disabling firewalls that you have, and describe here what setup you have (router? Software firewall? Hardware firewall?). It will help with possible diagnosis.

[GUNWOUNDS]

i have a linksys router (pretty new) and no firewalls up that i know of (unless the router has one)

Guns

[eid]

hm well i do remember i had a similar problem with  some of the other ww games(ts namely)

i think it had something to do with NAT...

back then i was on a shared connection (client) so maybe your router is doing some net address translation, as a kind of firewall also?

[veK]

I once had a similar problem on xwis - still don't know why I had it. it wasn't there anymore one day...

[Voodoo Daddy]

Well, I have basically the same set up, cable internet and Linksys router (wrt54gs). But i'm not having your exact symptoms. After I finish a game it does seem to take an unusually long time for the game to dump. I have been wondering if it takes a long time to dump from the Puter's memory, or for the server to "let go" of the game. Because in a single player game vs the AI, or in a LAN game, it refreshes immediately.

If your router's model # is similar to mine it has a firewall built in. It has been a while since I was last inside the router but if memory serves, I think I enabled port forwarding for the ports that EMP uses. Perhaps that might help. I am also wondering what would happen if you just gave it more time to refresh? What happens if, after a game, you hit the windows key to minimize the game, while your waiting for the refresh, and launch your browser? Can you get online then? When mine is slow to refresh, I can still hit RA's site to see who is still online.

[GUNWOUNDS]

after a game my internet just gets killed...if i stay in the lobby... i get "westwood disconnects" and then i cannot login and my internet connection is dead.... if i exit before westwood disconnects then i still cannot login and my interent connection is dead, forcing me to reboot.  What i dont understand is how the emp server can cause me to be unable to visit www.dune2k.com  or www.cnn.com , etc, etc.  Thats what boggles my mind... how does the game kill my entire internet connection after a game?...and how does rebooting reactivate my internet?  Thats what is boggling my mind.

Can you go into a bit more detail about port forwarding?

[Voodoo Daddy]

Well, I'm no authority Guns. I learn as I go. But here is what i think.

Thats what boggles my mind... how does the game kill my entire internet connection after a game?

On this one, I don't know, I have some ideas below.

...and how does rebooting reactivate my internet?

With a router,every time you reboot, your computer "asks" your router for a local IP address. this is why your internet comes back after rebooting. the same thing could be accomplished by doing a refresh and renew, like Nunu said.

The more I think about this, I am wondering if it might be a router issue, not a computer issue....

When was the last time you re-booted your router? Any time I have trouble with my connection, the FIRST thing I do is re-boot the entire chain. unplug the router and modem and turn off the 'Puter. Let them off for a couple of minutes, then power them back up, First the modem, then after the lights settle down and it has acquired a new IP, next the router, letting that acquire a new IP from the modem, once again waiting for the lights to settle down, then power up the 'Puter.

Can you go into a bit more detail about port forwarding?

I don't know what router model # you have, but here's the basic steps. With a Linksys router, open a browser window, and in the address bar type 192.168.1.1 then hit enter. this will bring up a dialogue box. Unless you changed it, the access is, user name, leave blank, password is admin, this will get you into the router settings. On mine you go to the Games tab, and put in the port ranges you want forwarded. (if you need them let me know, I have the ports EMP uses in a file somewhere) or you could search this site. That's where I found them.

Port forwarding "Opens" the ports you enter and forwards the traffic coming through those ports straight through to your computer. The downside is, this opens a vulnerability in your network, so after each gaming session you should go back in and disable it. You don't have to re-enter the info every time, just enable and disable.

Port forwarding forwards traffic to a specific computer on the network. I have 3 'Puters set up to run EMP on my network, so I no longer use it, and I have seen no difference in performance. I don't know if it would help your situation or not.

One final note, I am running Appo's mini patch and his AI patch on all my 'Puters, I don't think that's your problem.

[Voodoo Daddy]

Another thought, are you sure your pain in the ass Windows firewall is turned off? Even if you turn it off, it is still running on your LAN. You must disable it there too. That one caused me 'n Whistler a lot of grief in our LAN games until we caught it.

[erjin999]

Voodoo, dont worry about the vulnerability opening on your computer becuase of port forwarding, unless you have some server running on that port, (like emp :P) it wont matter. And remote controlling emp or doing something nasty on emps port is unlikely, me thinks.

I have had it open since the first time I played emp and look at me (says erjin, infested with every known virus out there, and mutating new ones!).

Guns, has your router also changed since you last played without this bug ? I know your computer has had a major upgrade, if not replacement...

[Voodoo Daddy]

Nunu, in the port forwarding settings, I got the impression that you had to direct the traffic from the open ports to a specific 'Puter. With me having 3 'Puters running EMP I didn't think it would work properly. That's why I disabled it. Do you have any thoughts on this? That and I haven't noticed any difference in game speed since I did away with it. Also any thoughts on why it takes so long for EMP to dump the game after it is finished? You never have to do this in a LAN game. I always have to wait and stare at that incomprehensible score screen, because if you don't, you have to wait forever before you can launch another game.

I was wondering if Guns was changing screens quickly and it lead to his internet problems, whereas for me it just caused  a delay before I could re-launch. Any thoughts on this?

[GUNWOUNDS]

you view the score screen?... interesting... i usually CTRL ALT TAB out or simply abort.  I guess from now on i will play all the way and then look at the score screen for a bit.

Oh and btw i have seen the error pop up with a name... its called IP ADDRESS CONFLICT. 

[Voodoo Daddy]

Oh and btw i have seen the error pop up with a name... its called IP ADDRESS CONFLICT. 

Ahhh, now this one I have come across, and it tormented the shit out of me on our LAN games until I figured it out, lol. But the odd thing is, it only happens on my "Mobile Command Center" aka Laptop, when I come home after "War Driving".

Is the 'Puter that you play EMP on connected via wifi? Or is it a hard wired ethernet? If it is wifi, what I found is the ip in the game is not the same as the one used on my LAN after I have been War Driving for a week.

So for a quick check, regardless how you are connected to your router, try this.

Go into network places, click on view network connections, then click on your LAN connection, in the dialog box that pops up, click on the support tab and read your LAN ip address. Then go into the game and click on the network tab and make sure the IP address there is the same.

What i'm thinking is, perhaps once when you powered up, if your 'Puter's WIFI, your 'Puter hopped on another network, a neighbors perhaps, and then when you played the game it set that ip in the game. but regardless it's a quick easy check.

[erjin999]

You are right, Voodoo, in port forwarding you do have to direct the packets to a particular ip on the local network. So yes, with more then 1 computer it wouldnt work, and luckily situations where you initiate the connection to the internet, as we do when we ASK to connect to RAs server, it (router) recognises this and allows trafic back the other way, so we shouldnt need port forwarding.

As for the IP address conflict, it means something else, another independant device, has the same unique ip address as your computer. Therefor, all information meant for your computer and it will get muddled and you will end up a big f*** up.

In these circumstances it is best to find the conflicting device and C4 it to make shure such occurances never....occur...again.

Does that only happen when you finish a game ?

As for the end of a game, I always have to restart emp, and have it down to about the same time it takes for people to dump their game-log to the server !

I can wait for what seems like an age.

[Voodoo Daddy]

So in a situation like you describe, are you saying Guns should go into his routers DHCP client table and see what's up? Perhaps Guns has a networked printer or something. Why would the router issue the same IP to more than one device on the network?

And by the way Nunu.........

As for the IP address conflict, it means something else, another independent device, has the same unique ip address as your computer.

Wouldn't that be- another independent device has the same kinda, sorta, in a way almost unique ip address as your computer?

Or - Ahhhhhh, but for the want of just one digit I could be a unique ip address?

just wondering...................

[GUNWOUNDS]

i got two computers hooked up to my router... so is my 2nd computer getting the same exact IP?

[erjin999]

Theres two ways to get an ip address. 1st is to ask the device that can hand them out, like your router. Thats called DHCP. Basically compA and compB both ask the router, what can we have for ip addresses ? No way for a conflict as the router gives them both different addresses.

Alternative method, which results in many more conflicts (comparitably, but not a lot in its own right) is Static IP. Basically a machine says I am haveing such-and-such an IP address.

So if two say the same thing, its no longer unique and the whole world comes to an end as far as those computers are concerned.

Is it a windows window that comes up with IP conflit message ? The symptoms of getting an ip conflict are that you would lose internet access...If you dont keep the address...one machine usually keeps the conflicting address and one loses out on access to the network.

The windows box says something like another device has been detected with the same IP address on the network...blah blah blah...

[GUNWOUNDS]

CompA which is playing Emp finishes a game... then loses all internet access... but CompB still has internet access.  CompA must now reboot in order to regain internet access.  CompB is never affected.  CompB does however get a pop up message that an IP conflict is occuring.  Yet never loses connection.

I dont have WiFI.. its a hard connection.  And i have windows firewall disabled... even for LAN.  Something tells me that its the router thats the culprit. Both COmputers are built new from scratch.  And the router is also brand new as the old one died of old age due to being 6 years old.  Perhaps i didnt set the router up correctly?  But if both computers share the internet connection just fine (aside from the problems with emperor)... then surely it means i did setup and configure my router properly.  Hmm. Quite the conundrum.

Guns

[Voodoo Daddy]

Did you look at the routers client table like I suggested? and did you check each machines IP's? Because computer's go the route that Nunu mentioned, where they "ask" for IP's. It would be interesting to see what the client table says. And even if your 'Puters are hard wired, were you just thinking ahead when you purchased, and bought a wifi router just in case at some point you wanted to surf the web from your back yard or something? Because in that case the culprit might not be one of your devices, it might be someone else's on your network. The client table will reveal this. if there is one more ip issued in the client table than the number of "Puters' you own, then someone is on your network.

[erjin999]

Changing the Dynamic IP to Static IP to bypass router allocation of IPs:

1

When both computers are working fine on the network on compA right click on your network icon in the system tray (bottom right) and then click the Support tab. It should say DHCP or automatically assigned. Make a note of the IP address, subnet mask and finally, the gateway. We will now enter these in static IP mode, thereby ensuring that you cannot get an IP conflict as you have specified the correct ips.

This will tell us if the router is indeed stuffed.

2

You should still be on the Support tab, click back on to the General tab. click properties and in the middle box select "Internet Protocol TCP/IP". Now, having double clicked on that, enter your details copied from the support tab earlier. Enter them in the same boxes as they were shown in, so IP addr in the IP address box, the subnet in subnet mask, and of course the gateway. The Preferred DNS Server(which is in the second set of boxes)is the same as your gateway.

Hit ok, and you should now have gone from DHCP to static ip.

You will need to do the same to the other computer as you can very well have IP conflicts when some comps are static and others are dynamic on the same network. Once this is done, on both comps, there should be abslutely no more conflicts of ip addresses, unless you have other devices on the network (ie printer servers/network printers [note: normal printers should be ok]).

now try having gone through all that. IP conflict will have to have gone, or its another issue altoghether...

[GUNWOUNDS]

tried that and everything else... didnt make a difference.

HOWEVER.... ra1024 and myself did figure something out by accident.  Basically if i have an OOS or if i alt-tab out of the game before it finishes.... then my internet connection doesnt die.

So my connection dying is directly related to me finishing a game in the natural manner.  If i quit the game in an unnatural manner (OOS or Alt-Tab) then everything is fine.

I guess it is a mystery never to be solved... but atleast i have found a solution to avoid constant rebooting

Guns

[eid]

it sounds to me that your os is trying to give an ip to what used to be your internet,but was released(emp), so the os is treating it as a lan with no ip 0.0.0.0 ,and by default renews it with the only usable ip in its database that its nat depends on,,that being an os forced ip..192.168.0.1      .this could also mean your routers ip..this is where your problem is starting i think..conflict you say? no shit...

try this,  as most routers/modems can either usb or ethernet to the pc, they also set a specific ip, most ethernet is 192.168.0.1 or some variant..usb is 192.168.0.2 or another variant..  try usung usb, and use the router to 'share' the net

also dont use windows filesharing/net sharing...unless you dont know how to use the router,

in that case .. find some documentation on ur router and enable 'bridging' mode..

however i recommend not using xp net sharing, and using your router..  can you give us more detail on your router/windows settings?  a screenshot or something?  anyway gl