Router settings for Rise of Nations

Now I understand that we are all geeks but those routers can be tricky. Here is a great little website that helps you out with all those router settings:

Router Configuration for Online Multiplayer Games
June 30, 2003
This guide is an update to Gamegeek’s unofficial guide to hosting and joining multiplayer games of Rise of Nations from behind a router. I’ve updated this guide with information about UPnP, more and updated screenshots, and also updated port forwarding information. In this guide I have provided screenshots for five popular routers, but in no way is this guide intended to promote any specific router brand or model. If you need clarification as to how to access the configuration menus and settings of your router, I suggest you consult your router’s manual or its vendor’s website. The routers tested in this guide are:
· Linksys BEFVP41
· Netgear RP614
· D-Link DI-604 (Revision E)
· Microsoft MN-100
· Belkin F5D5231-4
All five of these routers have been tested and they work fine under each of the techniques described below when hosting or joining multiplayer games of Rise of Nations.
There are three good router settings that you can modify to help you play multiplayer games: UPnP, port forwarding, and DMZ. You ought to try these technologies in that particular order because they lead from being very secure and efficient, to fully opening up your computer to the Internet.
UPnP (Universal Plug and Play)
UPnP is a fairly new technology that helps to solve the peer-to-peer connectivity problems of being behind a router and sharing an IP address (for more information about how UPnP works, see this FAQ). I’ve found that many of the popular routers support UPnP, but not right out of the box. Updating the firmware of your router usually solves this issue, so try reading the release notes of your router’s latest firmware update to see if your router supports UPnP. Turning UPnP on is often simply matter of finding the UPnP menu and clicking the check box next to “Enable UPnP”.
Bear in mind that UPnP is a recent technology and not all routers support it. The Linksys BEFVP41 router for example does not support UPnP but its close relative, the Linksys BEFSR41 does. Check the feature list of your router for more information.
· Netgear RP614 UPnP menu
Port Forwarding
If your particular router does not support UPnP, your next best option would be to manually forward the ports that Gamespy and Rise of Nations use when setting up multiplayer games. Here is a list of the necessary ports and their respective protocols:
TCP 80UDP 1077UDP 6500TCP 6667UDP 13139UDP 27900UDP 28910TCP 29900UDP 29910TCP 29920UDP 34987 *UDP 18890 *
* Rise of Nations uses these two entries for LAN/Direct IP play. Strictly speaking you can get by without these but you will NOT have the ability to join a game via direct IP. I'm pointing this out because (a) some people have noticed a lack of ability to direct IP join games. This may be their issue and (b) some folks have routers with limited numbers of forwarding entries. You could get by without these if you had to.
Additionally, some people may be able to get by without forwarding every port on that list, but if you are unsure as to the meaning of all of these ports, I suggest you forward them all.
In order to forward these ports, you first must figure out the private IP address that your computer is using. A simple way to do this is to go to any command prompt and type in “ipconfig”. Then you need to go to your router’s configuration menu and find the section dealing with port forwarding. Here are screenshots of the port forwarding menus of five different routers:
· Linksys BEFVP41
· Netgear RP614
· D-Link DI-604 (Revision E)
· Microsoft MN-100
· Belkin F5D5231-4
DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)
If you’re looking for a quick and easy solution, but also an insecure one, you can enable DMZ mode on your router. DMZ mode causes all Internet traffic to be forwarded to a specific computer behind the router, thus "exposing" it to the Internet. When you activate DMZ mode you basically open "all ports". This tends to solve most forwarding problems at the expense of some network security for the exposed computer.
DMZ is a fast and easy way to get around forwarding issues but I wouldn't recommend leaving an unprotected PC connected to the naked Internet for a long time unless you want to end up running a warez site or worse. If you are going to leave a computer on a DMZ you ought to be running some sort of PC-based protection software. I hesitate to start listing them as there are so many and somebody will accuse me of playing favorites if I leave anybody out. Please just don't move over to DMZ in order to play RON and then just leave it there. Either protect it or bring it back inside your router. The Internet can be a scary place.
· Linksys BEFVP41
· Netgear RP614
· D-Link DI-604 (Revision E)
· Microsoft MN-100
· Belkin F5D5231-4
Does it work?
Still having problems? Try not leaping into games or hosting games rapidly after exiting a previous game. I have had some hangs launching games when I quickly move from game to game with either a host or a client system. This is an issue that is being looked into by the BHG dev team and will be addressed. In the meantime, and especially while you are trying to get your router set up right, give a brief pause between games. Obviously the very best results will be had by fully existing RON, but that is admittedly a big pain. I've noticed that just waiting 60 seconds or so between games (which probably happens naturally when you are looking for games in the wild - but probably less often when you are testing) seems to help a lot.
If these tips don't help please send email to forumsupport@bighugegames.com with your router make (Linksys, Netgear, etc), model number (very important! please don't just say "a linksys router"), and how you have it configured (DMZ info, port forwarding info, etc). The more data you send us, the more we'll understand about the issue. Screen shots of your router config setup are always a big huge help.
Hope this helps folks play over their router!
Also - huge props to Thunder for helping with the test passes
Paul "Gamegeek" Stephanouk
Updated: Joshua Mitnick 6/30/03


http://ron.heavengames.com/faq/router/