Firewall problem

Saint_Dude · #1 July 31st, 2007, 08:58 PM

I have recently uprooted and moved across country, switching Internet providers in the process. Unfortunately, this has seriously impinged upon my gaming "responsibilities" (as my wife calls them).

For whatever reason, I am currently unable to access any of the TCP/IP games that I was playing (even the ones that have not kicked me out for staling).

I have tracked the problem down to my firewall. If it is on, even at a minimal setting, I am unable to connect to any of the gaming servers. If it is off, I can. The thing is, I don't want to run my computer all the time without a firewall, and I don't want to go through the hassle of turning the firewall off/on every time I submit a turn (or tweak an already submitted turn).

Anyone know how to customize a firewall so that it can be on, but still allow TCP/IP game play?

Lazy_Perfectionist · #2 July 31st, 2007, 10:15 PM

Yes. And no. They're all very different. Is it a software or hardware firewall? What is its brand/model, brand/version?

Yucky · #3 July 31st, 2007, 10:18 PM

Same thing happened to me after my recent move to Florida, I finally just left the firewall off.

Saint_Dude · #4 July 31st, 2007, 10:33 PM

It is a hardware firewall associated with my SURFboard wireless cable modem (Gateway SBG900).

Ballbarian · #5 July 31st, 2007, 11:39 PM

I am no networking expert, but I have dabbled enough to feel your pain Saint.

I googled your modem and here is a link to the user's guide (pdf):
http://broadband.motorola.com/consum...User_Guide.pdf

You might want to look for info on the DMZ (demilitarized zone) and port triggering/forwarding. Maybe you can find some clues there.

Hope that helps until a network guru comes along.

Velusion · #6 August 1st, 2007, 01:04 AM

So thats what happened to you!

Saint_Dude · #7 August 1st, 2007, 02:01 AM

Very sorry about the delays that I have caused. The realities of moving with my family cross country and starting a new job have left very little free time to trouble shoot my Internet connection issues. Thus my gaming responsibilities have suffered.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #8 August 1st, 2007, 02:56 AM

Windows? What version? Linux? (I'll assume WinXP for the moment)

Find the IP address of your machine. (See TOC, starting page 19)
Go to the start menu, and look for "Run"
You'll want to open up a command prompt "cmd"
In that command prompt, type ipconfig.
You'll get a number that looks something like
192.168.1.# or 192.168.0.#. The pound is some number from 1 to 255. This number represents your machine's ip on your network (not the internet as a whole). Remember this number.

As a side note, if this works for a while but then stops, consider asking about static IPs. I'll tell you how to assign yourself a permanent one. Thats another lesson though.

Use that user guide for a reference.
You'll want a custom policy page 27 (33 out of 130). Also see page 28 (using the first number displayed by my reader from now on- adjust if it doesn't match).

As described on page 29, you may want to start from the high template, than customize. My hardware firewall doesn't need any particular customization, so I'm not certain exactly where the problem you're having originates.

Consider the DMZ your very last resort. That puts a your machine outside of the firewall. It's practically the same as turning your firewall off, except it won't expose other machines on your network.

TCP, port varies based on game, continued tomorrow. Sane tomorrow? Lucid.

Late night.. short form, not certain which method to use ATM.

Port Forwarding (try second) pg 40 something.
If networked game has port 2222, than
set at start and end range. Put IP from above in lan Ip address (192.168.1.#). Enable then add, then test.

First thing to try
Port Triggers p48
Protocol is TCP.
Port Start/End is 2222
Session Chaining Disabled (this game only needs one port).
Session Interval Zero.
Address replace probably disabled.
Multi host almost certainly disabled, if player.

Uhmm... sorry for scrambled brains. Starting point this hopefully is.

Saint_Dude · #9 August 1st, 2007, 03:24 AM

Should have stated at the outset that I am on a Mac.

As far as IP address goes. . . I know the IP address of the modem (but I assume this is not what you are talking about). I can also see several Mac "addresses" for my machine (a different one for the firewire, ethernet, and airport), but I am not sure which (if any) of these to use. They don't look like IP addresses.

I have tried to disable the NAT (network address translation), and to set my machine (at least on a temporary basis) as a NAT passthough device using the aforementioned Mac addresses. Both to no avail.

As for port forwarding. . . . am I understanding you correctly that I am supposed to set my machine to the same port as the host computer is using (and change the port setting on a game by game basis)? Sure seems cumbersome.

It is getting late, so I am going to have to call it a night. Will try to play around with the port triggers tomorrow.

Thanks for getting me started.

atul · #10 August 1st, 2007, 04:00 AM

Do you want to have the modem firewall specifically or is any firewall ok? I mean, there's OSX's own firewall, which I have put on, that doesn't interfere with gameplay.

To use the native firewall, go to system settings (or equivalent, my system isn't on English), pick Sharing, and there you should see button to enable firewall. Has worked for me, and Macs really aren't that much in the wild as it comes to nasty stuff floating around. But I'm not expert so I might be endangering all reading this, so at everyone's own risk.

And I think the IP address can be seen from the system prefs -> network. At least to me it says the IP address for ethernet and that I'm connected to internet via it.