Configure Your Networked Computer For Flawless Game Connects

[Macabee]

So, you're on a network and you're trying to play AOE3. You've read guides and people have tried to walk you through, but you still have problems joining games. Sometimes, our signal just doesn't make it through our router and to our computer. It probably has to do with your computer's ip address on your network. With a little luck, this guide will get you connected – every time!

Conveniently, routers automatically give our computers, ipods and tivo's, each their own address so they send and receive signals without messing each other up. These addresses can change each time we restart. But, if we're port forwarding we need an address that doesn't change (we need a forwarding address, so to speak) so that each time we log onto our network, our address is always the same.

The first step is to find out what range your DHCP server assigns ip address on your network and your router's address. On mine, I have a utility but most have an internet browser so check your router documentation. Mine assigns address 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.200. Yours is probably a little different but you should get the general idea. My router's ip is 192.168.1.1. My utility also lists my cable company's DNS servers. Write these down.

IMPORTANT: You can't use the router's address or any address within the range that the DHCP server is making assignments when making a static ip address. Also don't let it end in 0, 1 or 255.

Go to your computer's Start menu and select Run. Where it says “Open” type “Command” and click OK. This is the command line. Type “ipconfig/all” then hit enter. There will be a bunch of info listed but write these down: subnet mask, default gateway, and name (DNS) servers. Type “exit” then hit enter.

Next, open Control Panel, select Network then Internet Connections and then select Network Components. Find your network that's connected to the internet and right click then click Properties. Then click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and choose Properties button.

IMPORTANT: Write down the information in this window just in case things get really goofed up so you can reenter them if you must.

Click “Use the following IP address”. Here you'll enter those numbers you wrote way back when you used the run command line. For the IP address, make sure you pick an available ip address outside the range assigned by the router (I chose 192.168.1.201, see discussion above – I chose the next number). Enter the subnet mask (mine is 255.255.255.0), the Default Gateway (the router's address, mine's 192.168.1.1), and the 2 DNS server addresses (connects to your internet provider).

The ports Age of Empires III uses are 80 and 2300 – 2310. Forward these ports to your new static address following already posted directions or your router's instructions.

I also need to note that there seems to be some confusion about the Static IP address. There's your ip address on the internet which you can usually pay a little extra money and you can have a static ip. This is not the address we're concerned with here and is not relevant to playing AOE3. The Static IP we're concerned with here is your computer's ip address on your network.

That's it,
Mac

[cleeduz]

Nice guide, Mac

It is very thorough and well put together, as well as easy to follow! GJ!

:?: Would this cause any issues with 2 or more computers on the same network? Would all traffic coming in on Port 80 be directed to the "forwarded" computer? I'm a network newb and just curious... I've set a few things up to forward using Port80 in the past, but they all had their own static IP's. :?:

[LaZy]

TY Maca this has helped me more than ull eva know

out

[Macabee]

[quote=""cleeduz""]
Would this cause any issues with 2 or more computers on the same network? Would all traffic coming in on Port 80 be directed to the "forwarded" computer?[/quote]

If other computers on your network need those ports, I think you would have to set each of them up same same way as the first and forward the ports to them as well. I would only do these steps if I was having problems connecting in the first place, though.

Mac

[deadhanddan]

[quote=""LaZy""]TY Maca this has helped me more than ull eva know

out[/quote] +1 the lil chat we had few days ago completely solved all my connection issues, say goodbye to ''deadrouter'' people :-P

[cleeduz]

[quote=""Macabee""][quote=""cleeduz""]
Would this cause any issues with 2 or more computers on the same network? Would all traffic coming in on Port 80 be directed to the "forwarded" computer?[/quote]

If other computers on your network need those ports, I think you would have to set each of them up same same way as the first and forward the ports to them as well. I would only do these steps if I was having problems connecting in the first place, though.

Mac[/quote]

Oh OK, that's great. TY again Mac! I will forward the ports you mentioned, and hopefully it will solve my intermittent "failed to join error".

[Aaryn_GenD]

[quote=""cleeduz""]Nice guide, Mac

It is very thorough and well put together, as well as easy to follow! GJ!

:?: Would this cause any issues with 2 or more computers on the same network? Would all traffic coming in on Port 80 be directed to the "forwarded" computer? I'm a network newb and just curious... I've set a few things up to forward using Port80 in the past, but they all had their own static IP's. :?:[/quote]

your question is alread answered from eso:

Example: You are on a network with several other people trying to play age3 and you have access to the router settings. So you override the game on each computer to use a different port;
Computer A gets overrideport="2300", computerB gets overrideport="2301", etc. Then you setup the port forwarding on the router to properly forward data sent on those ports to corresponding ip address of the machine.

OverrideAddress
OverrideAddress will allow you to specify an external IP address to use instead of relying on the address that comes back from our address server or in the case of LAN the internal IP that we use.

To use:
1. First browse to the My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\startup
2. If there is not a user.cfg file then create one.
3. Open the user.cfg file with a text editor; like notepad
4. Enter OverrideAddress="[the IP address you want the game to use]"
5. Save the file and close it.

there's also a good website for this is portforward.com, since it describes for many specific routers how it's done

my two cents on this:
these solutions are known for a vey long time, people are just too lazy/don't know how to override ports/portforward etc. or just have noob routers or an ISP with weird settings causing issues on games(Copper Trouble, IP-Sharing) :-P

[Tubruk]

I Now 100% in macas dept he got my connection/arthritis riddled comp to connect so now i can play in high graphics and i wont drop/lag or W/E

[Aaryn_GenD]

[quote=""Tubruk""]I Now 100% in macas dept he got my connection/arthritis riddled comp to connect so now i can play in high graphics and i wont drop/lag or W/E[/quote]

i don't think that has something to do with dropping in games, it's just to be able to connect to the people

[Tubruk]

yeah aaryn i had to play on my old laptop, it was alright but kept crashing but now i can play on my sexy comp.

[adeadmanrunning]

Alanriah cant post in this so i'm posting for him since he cant post in tech help. He's trying to do this due to invalid IP but in the control pannel/network he cant find an icon that only says network. Any thought?