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Server Hosting Issue for MMO

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Deacon_Jones1988

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2012
Messages
159
I figured that his would be the best section to post this, if it isn't I apologize.

My step son played Toon Town when it was still live. Now it has ended (as some of you may know, you may not, I know its an old game) and hes playing it thru some privately hosted servers. At this time he is hosting his own server using the source code he got online and it is called Toon Town Infinite Retro. He has the game running on his pc, his own server. He has admin privileges. I was helping him out, so I setup the game on my rig to see if I could access his server. He wanted to test it out because he wanted to invite some of his little friends to play. Anyway, I was able to get into the game, all I had to do was use his ip address. The one he put in the local host batch file.

Ok, heres the issue, I have exhausted all of my knowledge in this area, he has provided the steps that I provided him to get the game setup and run, to his friends so they could play, he even done a screen share and done the steps for them. Everything works fine until the point were they run the local_host batch file with his ip address in the file. They receive an error, "Connection to the Server could not be established" I was wondering if the server he is hosting can only be access by someone on the same home network. (we are on the same network, in the same house.)

If i haven't provided enough info for you guys to give an answer, I probably haven't, just let me know and I will do my best to give screen shots, samples of the batch file etc.

He is really on my back about it lol. I wanna get it setup for him and his buddies, but I am just at a loss.

If none of what I said makes any sense, I'm sorry, its late and I'm low on energy.

Thanks in advance

Stay [H]
 
Without knowing the specifics of the actual server software I'll assume the issue is likely related to a connection issue and not a server software specific issue.

Is the IP address you are using and trying to connect to the external ip? In other words search for "what is my ip" in Google. Make sure you've configed the server to use the external ip and the batch file as well.

I assume you're using a router? Either you'd need to enable port forwarding or make sure UnPn is working properly (although I assume the server software isn't likely using this) as well as making sure the firewall (assuming it has one) is not blocking connections.
 
Thank you all for the quick responses. We still haven't gotten it working as of yetl

Limitedaccess, All we are using to run the game and host the server is some files we got from a youtube link, (the video is no longer available) it was the source code for the game. here is the instructions that game, this may give you an idea of what files were contained within:

First run the "Increase TCP Buffer Size..." batch file or else the AI server will crash.
Copy the Panda3d folder provided to the root of your C: drive, or use the installer (separate download check root directory).
Install python-2.7 included
Install Visual Studio Express (vns_full)

Once all that is done, run the astron server, then uberdog (press enter on basechannel prompt), then run AI server (press enter on both prompts).

You must figure out the rest (login tokens etc) Localhost client should work. The websites api files are included but will need some tweaking. So will toontown/toonbase/ToontownStartRemote.py.
Please note that you will need an appropriate php server such as apache to serve php requests.


IF YOU ARE ONLY RUNNING A CLIENT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO INSTALL "vns_full" OR RUN THE TCP BUFFER PATCH

We have done all of that, and he can get on the game and have admin privileges but no one else, outside of our network can connect. Given that we have exhausted all known (known to me) methods and everything that I can find online, I have come to the conclusion that this source code either isn't setup to actually host the game to connections outside of the local network, or the person(s) on the other end are just doing something wrong.

Thanks Thuleman, I check those links you provided, I did what was instructed I forwarded said ports from the 2nd link, I had to jump thru some hoops because my router is a modem/router combo from WS, I ended up having to call them to get the username/password for it and I then forwarded the ports above and also other ports that I had found online, still no dice. I appreciate your feedback/info on this. If you guys come up with something else for me to attempt I will be greatful, if not, well I have learned a thing or two during this endeavor and my step son has also lol.

Thanks

Stay [H]
 
Just to confirm, is the IP that you used and are able to connect with the same as the IP that is displayed if the server would visit - http://www.whatismyip.com/. Or is the IP address something like 192.xxx.xxx.xxx or 168.xxx.xxx.xxx and etc. Basically are you connecting with the external IP or internal IP?

Double check if there is a configuration file (somewhere) or some method in which you have to manually configure separate IPs for local and external network connections. One of the private server emulators I dabbled in for example required this.

Possibly check your router logs and see if it is blocking any connections when someone tries to connect. Also just a remind to make sure any software firewall (eg. windows firewall) is properly configured as well.

Also you'd want to check if you setup port forwarding correctly as well.

If it really comes down to it what you could do is setup a VPN (virtual private network), basically this will create the equivalent of a local network but over the internet. I'm not sure what program is current in vogue nowadays for this, in the past it was "hamachi" but I believe that has been shutdown or something.
 
Deacon_Jones1988 said:
I have come to the conclusion that this source code either isn't setup to actually host the game to connections outside of the local network, or the person(s) on the other end are just doing something wrong.
Click to expand...

Both of these conclusions are likely incorrect.
If you can connect from your internal network but not the outside network then this is a port forwarding and/or firewall problem. Probably not a Windows firewall issue if it works locally, but a blocked ports on the router issue.

The security risk of running code off of the Internet and opening it up to the Internet is IMHO huge. You are basically letting everyone into your internal network via code that you know nothing about, maybe it's TT, or maybe it's TT and some payload attached to it.

I can appreciate trying to make TT work, I played it myself for a while and immensely enjoyed it. But depending on the age of your kid this may be an opportune learning experience why it's not a good idea to let people into your internal network?
 
Setup a DMZ to the servers IP on the router. If they can connect, then you aren't forwarding the right ports. I do not recommend running the IP through DMZ however. It opens the computer/server up to the entire Internet. Figure out which ports need to be forwarded and forward them.
 
Thanks for the replies all. I really appreciate it. The ip address he is using is not the one that shows up on the website, its another one a 192.xxx.xxx.xxx.x I am assuming that the one shown on whatismyip would be the external? and the one he is using is the internal. or either way its vice versa. (I would like some clarification on that if you don't mind.) Well, the one that is found on whatismyip couldn't be used, the only way we could get the client to even run was using the other ip address. the 192.xxx.xxx.xxx.x

As of my step son learning a lesson as to letting strangers in the network this as been discussed extensively. (funny enough we were talking about that right before I got on here and read your post. Thanks for the suggestion tho, good advice.)

As for the port forwarding, I have forwarded a few ports, but to no avail. Would you, or anyone have any insight as to how I could find out what ports to forward. Just for reference, the game he's trying to host a server for is TT but its altered, its known as ToonTown Infinite Retro.

As for the other suggestions, thanks for them, but your right, I DO NOT want to open up my network to the entire internet, with a DMZ.

Thanks all for your replies. Also thanks in advance for any other replies.

Stay [H]
 
The IP shown on "whatismyip" is the IP that others outside of your network need to connect to. That's the IP you should be telling them to connect to. If it isn't, then that is your problem.

If it is the IP you've been giving them, then running DMZ for a few minutes to test it out will not hurt anything and it's highly unlikely that anything will get compromised in such a short period of time. It also doesn't open your "network" to the entire Internet, just that server/computer. If it works after running DMZ, then you know it's a port forwarding issue. If it does not, then port forwarding isn't the problem.

As for letting others "on your network" discussion. That's kind of mute IMHO. If you have consoles then you've most likely let others on your "network" if the game you've been playing hosts the server locally. It's not that big of an issue.
 
Skillz said:
It also doesn't open your "network" to the entire Internet, just that server/computer. [...]
As for letting others "on your network" discussion. That's kind of mute IMHO. If you have consoles then you've most likely let others on your "network" if the game you've been playing hosts the server locally. It's not that big of an issue.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, the reason why it's potentially a really big issue is that it isn't a console and software from Sony or Microsoft. It's software some unknown 3rd party on the Internet created and put up for download.

Though it seems to be somewhat legit, see: https://toontowninfinite.com
But it's no longer available for download or play, wonder if Disney put an end to it.

As for the OP, back to port forwarding. Outsiders need to use your public IP shown by whatismyip.com, and that IP address needs to be used in the port forwarding setup.
 
Thanks all, for replies. Ok, so I use the public ip for the outside connections and for port forwarding? Do I also use that ip address in the batch file to host the game, because I am using the other ip address.

Skillz, the whole talk was about him letting ppl access his pc from an outside network, he was using some kind of crappy software, (the name escapes me) to let complete strangers access his pc and all his files to like a screen share, except they had full control, you know like remote access. I instructed him to use Teamviewer (great software) that's what that was. Im a bit off topic sorry, just wanted to clarify.

Thanks for all the great info, I'm going to attempt this again with the new info provided, I'll get back to you shortly. Thanks.

Stay [H]
 
Deacon_Jones1988 said:
Thanks all, for replies. Ok, so I use the public ip for the outside connections and for port forwarding? Do I also use that ip address in the batch file to host the game, because I am using the other ip address.
Click to expand...

I assume the server software needs to be configured for a specific IP, this needs to be the one you want people connecting to.

So the IP (and port) you configure for the server should be the external IP (and corresponding port you'd like to use, assuming you can set it). The batch file you give out to clients who want to connect would also use the external IP (and port) specified.

For port forwarding you'd need to forward connections to that port to the internal IP (which is the server). I'd actually do the test using DMZ (as stated) first just to simplification and trouble shooting purposes. Make sure the server and client is properly setup first. Try everything at once and there is too many possible points of failure complicating troubleshooting.
 
limitedaccess said:
I assume the server software needs to be configured for a specific IP, this needs to be the one you want people connecting to.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's right. If the hardware the server runs on has the IP of 192.168.1.100 then that's what needs to be in the server config file. Otherwise the server software doesn't know what IP to listen to on the hardware it's running on.

Then port forwarding needs to be configured to pass an arbitrarily selected port through via the public IP to the private IP. Like so: 205.15.40.137:1337

If you give that public IP to other people they will then be able to connect to the server that runs on 192.168.1.100 if port forwarding is set up correctly.
 
Thuleman said:
I don't think that's right. If the hardware the server runs on has the IP of 192.168.1.100 then that's what needs to be in the server config file. Otherwise the server software doesn't know what IP to listen to on the hardware it's running on.

Then port forwarding needs to be configured to pass an arbitrarily selected port through via the public IP to the private IP. Like so: 205.15.40.137:1337

If you give that public IP to other people they will then be able to connect to the server that runs on 192.168.1.100 if port forwarding is set up correctly.
Click to expand...

That is right.

The server software can't bind to the public IP because it doesn't know it. It only knows the IP the router/modem gives it which is the 192.x.x.x IP.
 
Thanks all, still haven't gotten it to work. I'll try to use DMz to test everything, not sure when I'll be able too, step son has kind of lost interest in it since we haven't been able to get it to work thus far. I'll post again when I have tried it with DMZ

Thanks in advance.

Stay [H]
 
Thuleman said:
I don't think that's right. If the hardware the server runs on has the IP of 192.168.1.100 then that's what needs to be in the server config file. Otherwise the server software doesn't know what IP to listen to on the hardware it's running on.

Then port forwarding needs to be configured to pass an arbitrarily selected port through via the public IP to the private IP. Like so: 205.15.40.137:1337

If you give that public IP to other people they will then be able to connect to the server that runs on 192.168.1.100 if port forwarding is set up correctly.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure exactly why the technical reasons would be that you need to specify external IP. However from my experience with some server software (and more specifically related to private server emulators) they have asked you to specify external IP (possibly having you configure both internal IP and external IP fields). As such I assume for some reason the server side software requires this knowledge, as otherwise client connections would not properly work.

Speculatively one reason could be how the server (login) needs to pass connection information over to the client to know which server (actual game/world/ server) to connect to. I'm not sure if this is the case for ToonTown in particular. So perhaps for some reason related to it's operation the server needs to inform the client of an IP while it cannot by itself (as it isn't programmed to) ascertain which external IP to pass onto the client without manually being told. The client also does not assume the initial IP used to connect is used subsequently due to whatever programming reason.

This is a separate issue from port forward and etc, just purely related to configuring the server software. On a non gameserver related note I have a particular piece of file hosting/sharing software I currently use that asks you manually specify external IP as well if using port forwarding or it doesn't work properly (not sure the technical reason why).

@OP. If I have get some time (and am able to find it) I might try to find the software and mess around with it for you and see if I can get it working.

Actually one thing I'm wondering, does it work if you try to connect using the external IP (using your computer on the same network, but make sure the batch file you are using to connect is using the external IP)? Or does it fail similarly like how his friends have been trying to connect.
 
Last edited:
limitedaccess said:
I'm not sure exactly why the technical reasons would be that you need to specify external IP. However from my experience with some server software (and more specifically related to private server emulators) they have asked you to specify external IP (possibly having you configure both internal IP and external IP fields). As such I assume for some reason the server side software requires this knowledge, as otherwise client connections would not properly work.

Speculatively one reason could be how the server (login) needs to pass connection information over to the client to know which server (actual game/world/ server) to connect to. I'm not sure if this is the case for ToonTown in particular. So perhaps for some reason related to it's operation the server needs to inform the client of an IP while it cannot by itself (as it isn't programmed to) ascertain which external IP to pass onto the client without manually being told. The client also does not assume the initial IP used to connect is used subsequently due to whatever programming reason.

This is a separate issue from port forward and etc, just purely related to configuring the server software. On a non gameserver related note I have a particular piece of file hosting/sharing software I currently use that asks you manually specify external IP as well if using port forwarding or it doesn't work properly (not sure the technical reason why).

@OP. If I have get some time (and am able to find it) I might try to find the software and mess around with it for you and see if I can get it working.

Actually one thing I'm wondering, does it work if you try to connect using the external IP (using your computer on the same network, but make sure the batch file you are using to connect is using the external IP)? Or does it fail similarly like how his friends have been trying to connect.
Click to expand...


Yes, I am able to connect to his server on my pc, were are on the same network. Also, he actually got it working, by installing Hamachi. I hate hamachi, I used it once and it installed a generic display driver and I like to have never got it sorted out. I warned him about installing it, but he did anyway. Now he is looking to me for answers as to another application, similar to hamachi, that he can use. Because Hamachi will only allow him to have like 5 ppl on at once. Any Ideas? I know Win 7 has a vuilt in VPN app within control panel, I have never used it myself, could it be used for this purpose?

Also, Limitedaccess, I can PM you a link if you like to the files you need to emulate what we are doing, all it is, is the source code with the client and some batch files. I have it stored in the cloud, so if your interested, just let me know and I'll pm you the link.

Thanks for the replies. Thanks in advance for any future replies :)

Stay [H]
 
Yea sure you can PM it to me. I'll see if I can get some time to play around with it.

I meant if you tried to connect using the external IP (whatismyip.com IP) as opposed to the internal 192.168.1.100 which you were using.
 
Thanks all for all the helpful replies, I got it working as I said, he just wants to be able to have more ppl on the server simultaneously, Currently only 5 I believe. I know that given his machines specs he won't be able to hold much. Could anyone give me some insight as to what determines (hardware wise) how many ppl you can have on your server? Is it based on your machines hardware? I assume it is. I built his machine for some light gaming.

Its specs are as follows: Phenom II x3 715 @ 3.2Ghz, 4x2Gb 8Gb DDr2 800 mhz ram (I just upgraded this it originally had only 2Gb.) Gigabyte GA 770 UD3, Orion 450w PSU, MSI IceQ HD 6570 1Gb all this is running Windows 7 x64 SP1.

Thanks in advance.

Stay [H]
 
Depending on the resources on the software uses, the restricting factors would be RAM, and HDD, and maybe CPU if theres alot of computation for action occurring in the server. I use to run Ragnarok Online, Lineage II, and Counter-Strike Source Servers on my old PCs, each one varies a lot on what resources they use. MMORPGs will take up more RAM and HDD than most other online games because of loading the open world and keeping track of the players and what they are doing.

Your internet's Upload rate will be a great factor also. Run a resource monitor program on his PC while his friends are connected to the server, and go from there.
 
Thanks for the info. Now that I think about it, I can see how upload speed would affect it. In that case we're between a rock and a hard place, because where I am located atm (temporarily, thank god) we have windstream, and even with the best package they only have 7mbps Down and 0.5mbps up lmao.

Thanks for the info

Stay [H]
 
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