You could stick a cheap router behind it if you wanted to keep a NAT gateway/firewall up as well.
VERY basic guide for ED networking
- Thread starter Aewarin Jameson
- Start date
You could stick a cheap router behind it if you wanted to keep a NAT gateway/firewall up as well.
The only reason to go wired is if your wireless is flaky/causing lag, etc.
Port forwarding doesn't require a wire, just the knowledge of what IP your gaming machine is. In windows, open a shell, type
Code:
ipconfig /allKeep in mind, this address may change in the future, depending on your DHCP settings in your router.
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Number of discussions around the forum regarding the P2P networking nature of the game and wanted to give some basic support to other players.
(Network engineers, Server admins and general geeks can ignore [yesnod])
Quick basic Network 101:
How other games work:In general:
This is to protect your PC at home from unwanted connections (attacks)
- If you start the conversation from your computer to the internet (like browse to a web site; check email; etc) as you initiated the conversation your router (normally provided by your ISP) will allow the conversation to work. The reply from the internet - results of your browsing / your Inbox / etc. are allowed back to your PC as the ISP device knows you asked for it.
- If you didn't start the conversation though and receive some data by default your router will block it.
Elite Dangerous is different:Your normal multi-player games, like Diablo 3 / BF / WoW etc use a P2S model (Peer to Server) - the games company uses centralised servers and hosts the game along with your character. You initiate the connection to the server and it replies back with the results. Everything just works ! Your actions in game are performed on the server itself - all you are doing is instructing the server what to do and it replies back with the results.
How do Frontier get round this problem ?It uses some P2S links (login, mode selection, some character based transactions like buying / selling, etc) but in order to cut down on bandwidth, costs, and a whole host of other things Frontier decided to also use P2P (Peer to Peer) links. When you are about to meet another player in game you both need to set up a direct P2P connection to each other. Over this link you send information about what you're doing in space (moving, firing, etc) and generally it works quite well.
This is where the problem starts for many people:
How can check yourself if uPnP is working on your computer:Frontier can fix this in one of 2 ways, both available now in ED:
uPnP is supported by most ISP devices and technically it should work. It's a networking method of allowing unsolicited connections inbound from other players (IE you didn't start the P2P link but you told your router it was OK and it allows it to work) However, for it to work there are 2 things that have to be right : your ISP device & your PC. If one of them is wrong then uPnP won't work and you generally wont meet many people in ED if at all.
Remember though if you initiate the P2P link then technically even with a faulty uPnP setup it should work. You have no control over who initiates that link (AFAIK) which might explain why some people can see everyone and others only a subset (discounting bugs and things in ED)
What if you can't fix uPnP - Port Forwarding ?
- Check this LINK - describes some settings on your computer (windows)
- A better option if you trust MajorGeeks (I do) is to download this software and run it - LINK - it does some tests and can enable services if they are disabled.
Sometimes the problem will be with your ISP router - it may just be too old or buggy
You can change to use port-forwarding but unless you understand what you are doing it can be a little complex and beyond what I wanted to describe in this thread.
In short - 3 changes:
- Alter a configuration file located in the ED folder to use ports and not the uPnP service (AppConfig.xml)
- Change your ISP router and enable port-forwarding
- Allow traffic in and out through that port on your PC through any firewall you have installed
There are plenty of guides on the internet that describe how to do this (for example HERE HERE etc) If you are not sure then you need to find the right guide for your router - check the manufacturers website.
Final comment: Ideally I would like FD to do 2 things in the Elite Dangerous menus that I feel would massively help players & their own support staff:
- Enable a toggle to switch between uPnP and Port-Forwarding (to make it easier - the router is your responsibility though)
- Enable a test button to determine if your set up is actually working inbound by FD initiating a test P2P link*
Good luck
*I know you can see that you're connected to the server on the main screen but AFAIK that's using the P2S links to the Frontier servers.
Thanks for this! I had no idia how any of this works. +1 rep
That's a really awful idea. The power grid is not meant to transport data on a high frequency carrier. The cables are unshielded and will act as an antenna, emitting HF interference as well as being susceptible to it. If you disturb someone, you can get a hefty fine. (depending on your country).
Best practice is to use structured cabling with double shielded twisted pair Cat6a or Cat7 cables.
Wlan is usually just there to accommodate temporary connections as well as well as mobile devices where security, reliability, throughput and latency are of less concern.
Are you referring to use of powerline adaptors within one's own home to get internet access in rooms where the wifi doesn't reach or doesn't provide sufficient reliable bandwidth?
If so I must say I'm kinda shocked (a fine, really? what for??) ... at least 50% of the friends, family and work colleagues whose home setup I know about in this country (UK) use powerline adaptors. They're VERY commonplace over here.
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Fairly common here in the US as well, I happen to use EoP for my own gaming rig at home, it's in the basement, an addition to the house, so there's no easy way to run cat down to it and my box doesn't have built in wifi, which is problematic in the room anyway. It's ok, not great, because the radio interference isn't quite what Zelos made it out to be, I've yet to see anything else be interfered with due to EoP, but I've seen EoP, like mine, go nuts due to interference from devices that are perfectly legal. Power lines in a house aren't shielded for jack, so a walkie talkie(my granddaughter has some) or radio controlled toys(grandson has a drone) will cause my connection to have fits. So will certain appliances being turned on, lights being turned on and off quickly and repeatedly(grandkids, what can I say), or the garage door opener(yeah, always know when my daughter gets home, she the only one who uses the opener and it kills my connection). I've got a nice long cat6 cable ready to use, but I've yet to figure out how to get it through all the concrete to the room, all 4 walls, the floor and ceiling are concrete slabs, electrical lines were put in conduit in the framework before the concrete was poured and there's rooms over the slab so can't get to those conduits now without ripping apart walls. Annoying, but I'll figure something out eventually.
If nothing else, pop open an electrical socket and run single mode fibre up the power conduit it'll snake out somewhere and just need a little hole in drywall.
Can get 2nd hand optical gear fairly cheap.
it'll snake out somewhere and just need a little hole in drywall.Can get 2nd hand optical gear fairly cheap.
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If nothing else, pop open an electrical socket and run single mode fibre up the power conduit
Can get 2nd hand optical gear fairly cheap.
Won't work, all the lines run directly outside, tried that. There's a vent in the wall that leads up under the house itself but that vent also goes directly outside from there, figuring I'll drill a small hole in that and snake the cable under the house from there. Lucky for me, I've got a 13 yr old grandson who thinks crawling around under the house is fun
The client/server security advantage is for the game itself, not the clients connecting to the server, just saying... And that security is not that great, hence the proliferation of hacks for client/server games, so...
If nothing else, pop open an electrical socket and run single mode fibre up the power conduit
Can get 2nd hand optical gear fairly cheap.
Don't you think Single Mode is a complete overkill for a bit of home cabling?
With a client-server game, the only people that have to know your IP are the developers that run the servers. Obviously that is not the same for P2P games. The level of security for players is therefore objectively worse.
Of course it is - but if you can pick up the kit for peanuts in places, why not?
If the server knows, anyone on it can get it, one of those hacks that are so prolific does exactly so it can do various things to the targeted player.
IF you are online, you aren't secure, that's simply the reality of the situation. I take some steps myself to prevent the average moron from getting into my system, but anyone who WANTS in, they'll get in, I know this, I did it, I got into places far more secure than your home computer and never got caught doing it. I'm far from alone in that either, I'm sure there's others here with the same background, most of us in IT for instance.
Take steps to protect yourself from the morons, those are the ones who'll typically hit a random person, the only real threat you need to worry about if you aren't rich and/or famous. And try not to annoy random people online, you never know what they might be capable of, you just might get the person who can really make you regret ever getting online....
Added some links to www.portforward.com to the OP.
(Thanks Reddit people)
Ignore the sales pitch for their software - it might work but why waste your money ?
Lots of information on that site to help explain what port-forwarding is & how to do it for your router (if it's missing ask on the forum here)
(Thanks Reddit people
)Ignore the sales pitch for their software - it might work but why waste your money ?
Lots of information on that site to help explain what port-forwarding is & how to do it for your router (if it's missing ask on the forum here)
Good for you. Most gamers are probably not criminals with extensive experience of illegal hacking.
I know how to use stuff like IPTables/Fail2Ban, how to set up VPNs, and how to administer user/group rights in the average POSIX OS, but I wouldn't class myself as a security professional by any means. Even I, with my limited level of knowledge, haven't had any successful hacking attempts on servers that I set up myself, and some of those contained SIP and other services that could be directly exploited for illegal profit.
I think that commercial server grade security, correctly configured, is markedly more difficult to circumvent than the average gamer's home router and PC firewalls, and therefore the security level is higher. Sure, a determined criminal might be able to get in eventually, but it's going to be way harder to get hold of other player's IPs that way than with this game, where you just have to read the info directly from your own logs.
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Of course it is - but if you can pick up the kit for peanuts in places, why not?
Well multi-mode is still orders of magnitude cheaper, plus it's easy to fault find (you can see the red light).
On another note, I'm not really getting the abject paranoia over upnp. As long as you don't have an old router with the upnp WAN fault you should be fine. How many people upload stuff to the cloud or use service providers that openly trawl through their email or install that 'legitimate' software (everything from a certain OS to AV's) that believe it's their right to upload so called 'telemetry' data to the cloud? Let's be honest, most networks get compromised from the inside either through social engineering, users downloading something they shouldn't or responding to a phishing email or opening that rather dodgy attachment. Ask yourself how many professional IT people install those third party browser tools/toolbars (the answer is none), so if you've got one remove it and don't use those shady download sites or their download managers either for that matter. Install Malwarebytes and give your PC a good scan if you haven't already.
If upnp works for you and you're not that keen on fiddling with your router then leave it alone. Nobody is really going to waste their time trying to break into your average home network
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You have to do 1 of two things : use uPnP or Port-Forwarding to ensure ED works correctly.
uPnP should work out the box and the average person (non IT) would be non the wiser. I mentioned uPnP first as that is the default setting, so if you are having problems seeing people in game and meeting up with friends the thing to do is check / test if your system is working correctly or not. If it isn't the links to the test methods may help.
If you are feeling up to it I would suggest moving to port-forwarding and removing uPnP.
Last night, 2am ish, I couldn't think how to write this change simply enough so didn't try. However, another poster in here put a link to a reddit post about the same which I found useful, plus there's portforward.com which has plenty of examples for various types of router.
Bottom line: If it's working, don't fix it
portforward.com is terrible. It has a ton of links on port forwarding without any clear direction of where to start. I have no desire to screw up my installation so more clear directions are needed than that site.
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This link doesn't say how to check if it is working. It only says how to enable it. It's already enabled on my computer. Now how do I check if it is working as expected?
How can check yourself if uPnP is working on your computer:
- Check this LINK - describes some settings on your computer (windows)
- A better option if you trust MajorGeeks (I do) is to download this software and run it - LINK - it does some tests and can enable services if they are disabled.
Sometimes the problem will be with your ISP router - it may just be too old or buggy