[ANSWRED] "Connecting Failed" in Peer to Peer Server

I've been a huge fan of BI series of military simulators going back to the original Operation Flashpoint in 2001. I've been experiencing a problem with ARMAII since I purchased and installed it that I haven't experienced with prior versions. This problem occurs in vanilla ARMAII and Operation Arrowhead.

Every time I try to create a server on my local machine and have a client connect or Vice/Versa we get a "Connecting Failed" error. I did not experience this problem with either the original 2001 Operation Flashpoint or ARMAI.

I run many different online sims in multiplayer so I'm very experienced with setting up P2P servers. I running a Linksys router in non-DHCP mode so it's a very clean connection and the port 2302-2305 (tcp & udp) is set to the host IP. As I stated before I did not have this problem in ARMAI or the original OFP.

I've also done many different tests using PF Port Checker and tested the packet loss and up and down speeds with Comcast and I'm getting very good results. I have generally about 10-12 download and 5-6 upload and under 99ms for ping to most continental US servers.

This problem has also occurred with two completely different installations of the operating system. I was originally running XP professional and have recently switched to Win7 Professional and still have the exact same problem. A friend of mine in Washington state is also on Comcast and one of the things we did try is that we created a LAN server (I'm in NM) and connected via IP and it worked which is interesting and puzzling at the same time.

I do not have any problems connecting to dedicated servers like our squad server (TheFirst2Fight). One of the things that is constant is that when I create or try to connect to a P2P server of one of our squad mates I get a ping in red of 2500. When I connect to our squad server I get a ping of about 60-80.

System Specs:

Windows 7 Professional

8GB DDR3 Ram

Asus Rampage Extreme Motherboard

Intel Quad Core Q9650

Dual Crossfired Asus 5770 ATI Video Cards

(.rpt file information not applicable so I deleted the body text)

Maybe a hint about server keys missing:

Warning Message: Files "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\@A-StanMarines\addons\foxus_astanmarines.pbo", "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\@ACE\addons\ace_anims.pbo", "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\@ACE\addons\ace_c_ai_rof.pbo", "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\@ACE\addons\ace_c_ai_sensors.pbo", "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\@ACE\addons\ace_c_ai_skill.pbo", "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\@ACE\addons\ace_c_faces.pbo", ... are not signed by a key accepted by this server. To play on this server, remove listed files or install additional accepted keys.

I have the exact same problem whether I'm running just straight ARMAII or the Ace mods, but thank you for the suggestion.

First off, there is no peer-to-peer server. OpF/ArmA/Arma2 creates a listen server, or a Dedicated server.

The 2500ms ping would usually indicate the port forwarding isn't setup correctly, or you are running software firewall, with a router. What a router does, NAT, basically does the same thing a firewall does, excepting for SPI.

The game only requires UDP 2302~2305.

Configure your software firewall, or disable it.

...Syn...

Firewall is off on my gaming system. I'll set the router to UDP only but don't think that will make any difference. What I meant by Peer to Peer is that, instead of connecting to a dedicated game server. Our squad uses a professional paid for gaming server but we like to do some client to client training sessions and haven't been able to get it to work. If you noticed in my post this exact same problem existed with my XP rig so it's not my computer. My firewall was off on the XP system as well and it worked fine with ARMAI and the original OFP. Thank you for your suggestions though.

Microsoft's Winders Firewall, if the service is on, the firewall is on.

Good luck!

...Syn...

My windows firewall is off. I've already verified this to be the case. I've already stated that I've hosted many different military sims over the years (Steelbeasts, ArmaI, OFP, FalconAF, FalconBMS, JanesFA18, JanesLongbow, Ghost Recon, Rainbow6, TAW) and I have not had the same problem that I'm having with ArmaII. I've also experienced this same problem with two completely different operating systems with clean installs and no AV running and the firewalls off so it's not a firewall problem.

I read a post about Nat session limit so I'm going to see if I can find some more information on that. It looks like it resolved a similar issue for someone else. I'll re-post here if I can find and fix the problem.

I had an issue similar to this, mine was caused by a netgear router... I switched to linksys and have not had the problem since... Dunno if that helps you lol.

A shortcut around the error was to boot the game, try connect, then after receiving "connecting failed" msg, Alt+tab and boot a second game, this one usually connects.

Don't forget to alt+tab back and close the first game that couldn't connect! it's not ideal but does let you get to host/play! :P

Interesting problem solver, thanks for that info. I just received a message back from BI and they had some other potential solutions. I'm going to run some more tests this afternoon and see if I can resolve the problem. I'll post back here if I can figure it out.

Thanks to all of you for the suggestions. I appreciate the help.

<-- has had same problems

I'm watching this thread closely. I'll add that in my case it only seems to affect some people. We (the people I game with) have yet to see a pattern.

It might be something different in my case. The "connecting failed" is a terribly unhelpful error message.

-k

Interesting problem solver, thanks for that info. I just received a message back from BI and they had some other potential solutions. I'm going to run some more tests this afternoon and see if I can resolve the problem. I'll post back here if I can figure it out.

Thanks to all of you for the suggestions. I appreciate the help.

Care to post the potential solutions? So that other people having the same issue can try them?

BI's suggestion was to update to the latest ArmaII patch 1.11 (just released) which I'm downloading right now. The other suggestion was firewall which I had already verified was off. I just misread the initial message. It turns out that neither are the problem though. I disconnected the router and was able to host.

I have an older router (Linksys BESFR-41) which apparently has settings that are not compatible with ArmaII which is strange because it worked fine with ArmaI. It has the most recent firmware so I'm either going to have to figure out how to get a good path through my router by tweaking the settings for ArmaII or pick up a newer router.

Is there anyone in here that is an expert with advanced router settings that may be able to look at my settings and see if there's something obvious? I would be happy to attach screen shots of the settings on the board.

Thanks.

Some routers treat gaming protocols as UDP flood so you might want to take a look at those.

a) What is your MTU settings?

http://www.speedguide.net/analyzer.php

b) You can try to set max maxPacketSize

(set it to 1460 or 1400 or even lower)

HowTo:

1) Download basic.cfg: http://www.file-upload.net/download-3965157/basic.cfg.html

2) Open with text editor to modify the value

3) Put file next to arma2oa.exe like c:\arma2\basic.cfg

4) Load arma2oa.exe -cfg=basic.cfg

Might be related:

http://dev-heaven.net/issues/9719

I originally had it set to 1400 so I'll try re-enabling it. Is there a way to determine what the optimal setting should be?

I've never messed with DDNS and don't know if it would make any difference. Anyone know?

NAT is enabled but I'm not using any "dynamic routing". Do I need to?

Do I need to change "Multicast" or "NAT Redirection"?

I've never messed with these either, I think they're default setting.

I have this disabled now.

This is how I had it set up originally. I was giving priority to port 4 which is my gaming system. I had to have it set that way for an older game.

It happens with all ArmaII versions. I bought the original ArmaII stand alone but then I purchased OA and added British Military and PMC.

I have not been able to get any of the ArmaII games to work if I'm hosting a session. No one can connect to me. I can connect to most of the public servers including our squad server. If someone creates a session on their local machine I can't connect to them either. I downloaded the 1.11 for ArmaII but have not installed it yet. I'm still on version 1.59 for OA which is what we're officially using for our squad.

I disconnected the router yesterday and was able to host and connect so the problem is in the router so that's where I'm at now.

I did not have this problem with ArmaI

update to

OA 1.60

A2 1.11

BAF 1.03

PMC 1.02

then tell us result

tho i think setting the MTU manually to 1500 on router may resole the issue

Thanks Dwarden, I really appreciate your response to this issue. I will do the updates and try the MTU setting.

---------- Post added at 11:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:28 AM ----------

a) What is your MTU settings?

http://www.speedguide.net/analyzer.php

b) You can try to set max maxPacketSize

(set it to 1460 or 1400 or even lower)

HowTo:

1) Download basic.cfg: http://www.file-upload.net/download-3965157/basic.cfg.html

2) Open with text editor to modify the value

3) Put file next to arma2oa.exe like c:\arma2\basic.cfg

4) Load arma2oa.exe -cfg=basic.cfg

Might be related:

http://dev-heaven.net/issues/9719

Than you PvPscene, that's excellent information!

---------- Post added at 12:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:34 AM ----------

update to

OA 1.60

A2 1.11

BAF 1.03

PMC 1.02

then tell us result

tho i think setting the MTU manually to 1500 on router may resole the issue

OK Dwarden, when I put 1500 into the setting, I had one of our squad mates try to connect and he was able to see a different ping (125 instead of 2500) but he still got "connecting failed" error so it has to be something else in the router or this router just isn't compatible with ArmaII.

Also, where are these two patch's, they're not listed in the download section. BAF 1.03

PMC 1.02

You're referring to this, correct?

OK, well thanks again Dwarden. If I can't get the problem resolved after the holidays I'll probably just go get a brand new router. Linksys is now Cisco and their newest ones are probably a lot more compatible.