Trying to play online

[Legacy_Quiversee]

               Hello, new to forums here, and mainly here to ask this question.  Basically, a friend of mine and I recently found our old copies of Neverwinter Nights Diamond edition, installed and updated them, wanting to play together online.  Problem is, we cannot seem to connect.  Both of us are updated to V1.69 with some critical update thing, both of us are running Windows Vista, both of us have our firewalls turned off and our ports forwarded (port 5121).  I don't know what else we can do.  We have tried posting servers to the online list and even just direct IP connect but nothing works.  If it helps, we just want to play the main campaign from the beginning, not a downloadable module, at least not now.

Also, keep in mind before posting this I scoured a good 15 pages of the forum and, while I see many others with similar issues, none of the solutions worked.  That's how we knew to forward our ports and whatnot.  I wouldn't be surprised if it is related to the master server error we each see when logging in, but that seems to be a universal thing that hasn't stopped others from playing.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               Yeah, if you just let the master server thingie timeout it wont effect gameplay after that.

Did you follow all the installation instructions(?):
http://social.biowar...7/index/3341490

Are you both playing from the same house? In that case an additional setting is needed in the ini-files of NWN that makes you both use different ports.

Oh...by the way...I would make sure to port forward more than one port...usually 5120-5124.

In worst case your ISP is blocking ports. Can you play all other games online?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par SuperFly_2000, 26 septembre 2011 - 08:13 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Quiversee]

               First off, we are not in the same house, just same region.  That said we did check the ini files, a couple that were mentioned in a few other threads.  I didn't think to forward the multiple ports, so I'll try that.  Also, I have never had issues playing other games online...however I HAVE had issues with another program in the past involving port forwarding... some kind of map program I can't remember the name.  Anyway it was the only other time such problems arose.

And as to the link you posted... I don't quite understand.  I recognize some of the patches listed there, and used some of them, as did my friend.  On my machine I know my NWN files are not under programfilesx86, but I cannot speak for his and I may need to check that, though I don't know what signifcance that would have.  Still, the link suggests it so it can't hurt.  Chances are we will be trying both of these out tomorrow night so I'll post again if anything works... or doesn't.  Either way thanks for the quick response.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Quiversee]

               Ok small update here.  Apparently I already had multiple ports forwarded, however my friend is having issues when forwarding his.  Basically it isn't registering for some reason and we can't find out why.  That's probably the main issue right there.  If anyone has any advice on how to forward ports on a netgear router they would be appreciated.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               This might be silly as you probably already know about it but there is a site with everything about port forwarding:
http://portforward.com/

Anyway...about port forwarding...all that can be said is that it can be tricky and your computer and router can sometimes play invisible tricks on you.

I am on windows XP and I don't know what has happend on my computer but I can't host ANYTHING on it. I can use it to play online on other servers and surf and everything else but no hosting of any kind of servers. I've tried everything yes. The thing that worked was a separate old windows 2000 computer that i connected to the same router and that little bugger can host servers for all its worth...

By the way...are you hosting the server yourselves....I mean...is one of you server and the other one trying to connect?

Have you tried just to connect to any of the online servers to make sure that you both can play online (?).....cause as I mentioned....hosting an actual server can be a lot trickyer...and in worst case your internet service provider might have made it impossible...even though the most probable cause is just some strange software system failure on your computer (like on my main XP computer).
               
               

               

                     Modifié par SuperFly_2000, 29 septembre 2011 - 08:33 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Quiversee]

               I have yet to try joining another's server, but yes the situation is one of us is trying to host while the other is trying to connect.  I suppose I could try another computer to host the server like you mentioned worked, though my only other option is a windows 7 laptop.  Still worth a shot and I'll try it soon.

Also, as to portforward.com, I actually showed that to my friend and the site was no help at all.  He refuses the buy the software there and honestly I don't blame him.  That said I haven't checked the site myself so I may see what else there is.

Oh, and through a bit more browsing, I need to ask does a program called Hamachi make any difference here?  I looked a bit up on it and it looks like something that makes a private network between two computers.  Do you think that may fix things too?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               You don't need to buy any software at all. That site just describes what you can do.

Also you have one thing called DMZ...where you basically open up all ports of the router. If even that doesn't work...well...then it could be the internet service provider OR the same problem I have on my computer...

Still....try to play on any online server...cause the tricky part is the hosting of the server...usually not playing at a server on the internet...thats a lot easier...basically if you have internet connection (can surf) ...you can play online.

Why not play together on any of the thousands servers already online?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par SuperFly_2000, 29 septembre 2011 - 06:55 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Quiversee]

               To answer why we won't play on another server, simply put we want to play through the campaign together as just us.  It's just how we are.  Heck, we play a few MMOs and half the time we are just running stuff together before going into other groups.  Maybe we'll try other servers later but for now we just want this to work.  I'll check for that DMZ thing though, so thanks for that.

Besides, the most important part for us are the campaigns, and I've yet to find any servers online that are for those.  Only modules.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pigron]

               Finally got around this kind of problem myself.
I think the explanation is that the Gamespy master server is either dysfunctional or non-existent. Your friend needs to bypass it and access ther bioware host server directly (and you may as well do this, too)
Not sure about Vista, but in WinXP you want to find and edit this file:
c:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts
(it will likely be set to read-only so you must change permissions to edit it. Make a backup of the file first and save it somewhere safe)
Open the file with wordpad. In the file you will see instructions about syntax and many host names following IP addresses. Add the following lines just under the " local host" line:

#### Inserted by Quiversee (a null line that shows you what you changed)
0.0.0.0           nwnmaster.bioware.com

Save the file and run the game. When you go to multiplayer, you will get a different error message with the option of retry or cancel. Press cancel. All mods posted to the nwnmaster server will now be visible on the machine that you have fixed.

I hope this works for you. I am also hoping we get some feedback on this thread explaining why this works in more detail than I can provide.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Pigron, 01 octobre 2011 - 12:16 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_TymonTheThief]

               I have this same problem. My games do not show up online at all.