Universal Forum Archive

Overview of hosting worlds on a network :
If you're on a home network, using a local router, you'll need to do a bit of technical tinkering to get your world public. The guide below should help you do that.

Note that there are often two separate issues here -
1) You can't connect to your world.
2) Other people can't connect to your world.

Often the reasons for each are different - and its handy to have someone hanging around helping you to check that both are possible.

If you're able to connect to your unregistered world when you first connect it to a planet, but you see it off line once you relog, then you'll probably need to do the reroute.txt stuff fooli describes below.

If you can get on but other people can't, thats usually because of 'port forwarding' which you'll need to adjust on your router's admin panel.
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Quick method if you have a fixed IP
If you have a fixed IP address, theres an easy way to get round problems with routers :
1) Set your world's port to 0 in the ServerConfig.txt
2) Add a reroute.txt to your client (See fooli's description below)
If you don't have a fixed IP (most people don't) you'll probably need to do the port forwarding stuff as described below.
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Quick method without using Port Forwarding
There is an alternative to manually forwarding ports, and that is to leave the port number blank (or set to 0). i.e. in your ServerConfig.txt... If you change the serverconfig.txt - make sure you restart your server for the change to take effect

This means the port used is chosen automatically by windows, and the router should automatically set a path back to the server program without any tinkering with router settings.
The main disadvantage with this system is that the port changes every time the island is restarted, but once connected and accessed properly through the galaxy this generally isn't a particularly major problem. (Its usually only a problem if you want your world displayed on a server list, like the finite drive list or the one used for a-tractor).
The second disadvantage is that it sometimes just won't work - for various reasons, including specific router setups, sloppy coding in the current version by Mit, or just generally bad internet connectivity.

If after doing this other people can connect, but it still shows off line to you, you'll probably need to do the reroute.txt stuff described by fooli below.. If it still doesn't work, then you'll probably have to move on to manually forwarding ports..
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Quick start guide to port forwarding

1) Connect to your router's admin page. (Usually this is done by accessing http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1 via your browser.)
2) Look for an option called 'port forwarding'
3) Add an entry so that the port your world uses is redirected to the local IP address of the machine you're running your world on. All network stuff on worlds is done using UDP not TCP/IP, so choose UDP if it is an option.

This will usually allow other people to join your world.
If it still shows off line to you, you'll probably need to do the reroute.txt stuff described by fooli below..
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Guide in more detail
Please note, this guide is made using a Linksys router, other routers may differ.

First, obtain the following:
Your external IP
external meaning outside the network ip. this can be found by going to http://www.whatismyip.com or by going onto somebodies island (not your own) and asking a god to do a *getip command on you.
If you only have a Hub or Switch, the external ip is all you need. Just scroll down and do step one below.

Islands Port
if you don't remember it, goto where you installed the island and open the file named serverconfig.txt in a notepad or something. look for the line that says "PORT= ". You will have to manually select a port for the world to use, it can't be zero.

The Routers Login Info:
username and password for login to router can't exactly be found out, or it wouldn't be secure . so, ya gonna have to remember it. The default is no user and Admin for the password. if you can't find the login info, try using the default.

The Routers IP
The default IP for most routers is 192.168.1.1 if thats not it, then the routers ip was changed. to find out what it is, click your start menu, click Run, type in CMD or Command, and then type in ipconfig /all. Look under Default Gateway, this should be the routers ip. if CMD or Command doesn't work, you could goto Start->Run type in winipcfg and hit enter. in the drop down box their will be a bunch of different things. one or more of them should have an entry for Default Gateway, can't say exactly what will have it, since nic cards all have different names. The IP listed for Default Gateway might be the Routers IP. if thiers more then one thing with a listing for Default Gateway, try each one.

What to do
Step 1: Goto http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1 (or if your routers ip was changed, then whatever use what it is instead of 192.168.1.1) It will ask you for a login/pass when you goto the site before letting you do anything, if you can't get in, you can't continue from here.

Step 2: Once in the router, Click on the Advanced tab, then click Port Forwarding. their will be a list of blank boxes and partial IPs. all on one line: type in your islands port in the port box (their will be 2 boxes because its made for a range, so just type it in both boxes), type in the destination computers IP in the IP spot (only the numbers after the last . are needed), select Protocol UDP, and select the Active check box. Save and exit. You can type a name for it in the Name spot if you want, it makes it easy to remember if theirs multiple lines being used.

Step 3: (Optional - Usually you won't need to do this). If you have a fixed IP address, you might sometimes need to specify this in your ServerConfig.txt. Open the file in notepad, and add to the bottom of it EXTERNALIP=(type your external ip here). This will tell the island to listen on the external IP of the network, instead of only listening in the network.

After doing all that, other players should be able to connect to your world. If they can, but you can't, you'll probably also need to add a reroute.txt that was described above.
thats it, after the above steps your world should work fine. it will show a ping and be able to be added via the Update Islands list

One note on routers : There is an alternative to all the above, and that is to leave the port number blank (or set to 0). i.e. in your ServerConfig.txt.. This means the port used is chosen automatically by the OS, and the router should automatically set a path back to the server prog without any tinkering with router settings. This is the way the client works and the way the islands i run are set up.
The disadvantage with this system is that the port changes everytime the island is restarted, but once connected and accessed properly through the galaxy this generally isnt a particularly major problem. (Its only a problem if you want your world displayed on a server list, like the finite drive list or the one used for a-tractor)
(p.s. i have a netgear router too)

sometimes it's necessary to set up a reroute in your client directory in order to access your own world. Here's how:

1. Create a file called reroute.txt using notepad or similar. Make sure it's just reroute.txt - if you have file extensions hidden you might end up making one called reroute.txt.txt instead :)

2. In that file, add the following lines according to your setup.

a) If you're running the world server and client on the same machine, add a line like this: e.g. b) If you're running the world server on one machine, and accessing it from a client on another machine on the same network, add a line like this:

your.external.ip.address:yourworldport=your.world.server.internal.ip.address:yourworldport. e.g In each case the external IP address and world server port must be the same as the ones specified in the serverconfig.txt file in your world server directory.

3. Save the rereoute.txt file in your universal client folder, in the directory "clients" (eg program files/universal/clients).

4. Run the client. Try to connect to your world. See if it makes any difference :)

f

Question: Where is the ServerConfig.txt file usually found?

In the root folder (eg, c:/program files/theuniversal)
f

found it.

Okay, I've got to the Advanced section of the Router page (Linksys). However, I can't find Port Forwarding. Any help?

looks like the same (crappy) router that i currently have.
its under Applications & Gaming.

the guide was designed when i had my old router and i figured all linksys routers had the same setup.

Okay, I've got to that page. Now, though, my ServerConfig.txt file says . The router page says the port cannot be 0. How do I find the island port? And do I put my own IP address for the IP Address field? So confused.... Here's what I see:

port = 0 means that the server selects the first available port and uses that one, it will change the physical port every time you reboot the server.

for port forwarding its better to have a fixed port number just change the port= line to whatever number you like ( i would suggest making it above 2000 as a minimum as a lot of application use the lower ranges by default)

IP address would be the internal network IP of the machine running the server, you can get this by right clicking the connection icon usually next to the clock (picture of a monitor which flashes green when there is traffic) click "status" and then go to the support tab, that will show the internal ip address of the machine

hope that helps

Edit:

actually thinking about it thats a silly way of getting IP address....

click start -> Run and type "cmd"

at command prompt type "IPConfig"


you should see...

Okay, Wahoo! Thanks! Now I just have to wait for that Unnamed planet in M-25 to open up so I can claim it (currently temporarily designated 'Attune'), as I do not have an infimp drive, nor do I have the money to buy one.

or ask a member of staff nicely to take you to an empty planet

Ooh, good idea. Doing that now....

Magicfinger, I have a request. I, in the stupid and uninformed manner that is so familiar to me, blew my 100 credits on a cargo ship. Infimp drives are around 170 credits. I have constructed a new world that I believe could contribute quite a lot to the game. It has the potential, I feel, to become an economy world rivalling those of Zion and Zoric. However, without an infimp drive, I cannot easily acquire a planet for my world. Magicfinger, I ask of you, please, move me to an unknown world so that I can my personal contribution to the game and the universe.

Sincerely,
onionguy92
Game name: Onion

Nevermind! I was granted an Infimp Drive! Thank you!

As i've explained to Mit last week, i get an "unable to launch" error whenever i try to connect to my world through the client and clicking on "Your World" globe icon just brings up the main menu. I've done the reroute and port forwarding but still cannot access my world. First time it worked like expected but that was it. Anyone got any recommendations for me?

Hmm. I think I've done the Port Forwarding stuff correctly... I can access my world fine from 'Your World' on the client main menu, but when I try to access it from space, I get a message saying "Warning- World Global Time Not Set" and then the game hangs, I can't stop accessing the world with F11, and I have to shut down the game client. Any ideas what is actually going on and how I can fix it?

onionguy92 wrote:Hmm. I think I've done the Port Forwarding stuff correctly... I can access my world fine from 'Your World' on the client main menu, but when I try to access it from space, I get a message saying "Warning- World Global Time Not Set" and then the game hangs, I can't stop accessing the world with F11, and I have to shut down the game client. Any ideas what is actually going on and how I can fix it?

How about activating time.....
*settings,world rules,scroll down to Day length (300 would be a good one)

No, time's totally activated.

you mean in red text in the chat?

happens on most worlds i've been on. think its somehting thats not fully programmed yet. just noticed it no longer does it on zoric, no clue why though.