2017-06-13 03:07:11

hi all,
As you all probably know, many internet service providers have been switching subscribers to carrier grade nat, in which multiple people share a single ip address, due to the depletion of the ipv4 blocks. However, this is very problamatic for me, as I cannot create game servers, such as for crazy party. When I do, noone can connect to me. Does anyone know a solution to this, other than to buy a static ip?

A learning experience is one of those things that say, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."

2017-06-13 20:50:02

if there is no way to forward any kind of port in your router or your connection is filtered, the only way that I know of is to route your traphic elsewhere. You could do this with a vps and openvpn, connect with your pc to your openvpn server, transfer the ports you need or all of them to the client connected. You can also buy vpn services elsewhere, but you'll generally only get one port, not of your choosing. For games like crazy party, sound rts en dragon pong this is not a problem, but games like topspeed and other games that won't let you customize your ports will not work that way.

Roel
golfing in the kitchen

2017-06-19 06:13:35

Obvious answer: use IPv6. That is the only viable long-term solution. Your applications all need to support it, and sadly many audio games don't (which is terrible).

You can, as suggested, start up a VPS and forward traffic through it. Or you can connect to a VPN service that offers public IPv4 addresses to clients (there are a few of those). Or you can negotiate with the players on your game to join a social VPN that somebody has set up with something like SoftEther or OpenVPN.

But generally, unless you use IPv6, you can expect pain. I pity you, you poor creature.

Just myself, as usual.

2017-06-19 09:43:37 (edited by Ghost 2017-06-19 09:44:07)

hi,
If it were only that easy. Transitioning to ipv6 is not my responsibility, it is my internet service provider's responsibility. Putting the price on me for their failure to transition is unethical. I have filed a complaint  with the internet watchdog, and am waiting the results. What is more laughable is that they say it might take 10s of years.

A learning experience is one of those things that say, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."

2017-06-20 01:40:01

Oh don't worry, the UK government is likewise inept. I am with an ISP that offers IPv6 by choice. It's tragic, this leaving to markets what is obviously a matter of social responsibility. But there, laziness, incompetence and greed ...

Just myself, as usual.

2017-06-20 07:38:57

I agree. I bet ISPs earn big money from selling their stupid static ips to people who don't need them.

A learning experience is one of those things that say, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."

2017-06-24 09:48:11

hi,
Could anyone recommend a free vpn that can be used for hosting game servers?

A learning experience is one of those things that say, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."

2017-06-26 14:43:17

Nothing free, but this is a paid service specifically doing what you need. Obviously you might like to think about the cost of a static IP from your provider if it's still cheaper.

Just myself, as usual.

2017-06-26 16:52:39

I find that extremely expensive, since a vps can be had for $5 at digital ocean, with a static ip and 1 tb bandwidth a month, and you can run any app you want. And no, vpns with good features are never going to be free, the only free vpns just snoop on all of your data to make a little bit of money.

Roel
golfing in the kitchen

2017-06-27 11:33:00

Fair enough, but running a VPS with OpenVPN or whatever is not straightforward, and you don't get the static IP address assigned directly to you. So, swings and roundabouts really. nvpn.net is $8/month for the same public IP albeit that you need dedicated software AFAICT, and must manually forward ports. My ISP offers this service to me for free using my existing IP allocation, or I can pay £10/month for it with a new address. I'm sure there will be others if you Google about ...

Perhaps what we really need is a social VPN just for audio games. That would be fun, I suppose. Somebody could set it up, and then whoever wanted to game could log in. But it would not be peer-to-peer, so there would be a latency penalty.

Just myself, as usual.

2017-06-28 20:54:01

hi,
An update: I found out unfortunatly, that I cannot use a vpn, do to  an inability to use ports. Vpns apparently require ports.

A learning experience is one of those things that say, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."

2017-06-28 23:44:15

Turkey blocks some VPN protocols, in keeping with the whole suppression of the people thing that's going. When I was last in Turkey PPTP was blocked outright, but if you can connect to other games then you probably have sufficient access to connect to other VPNs. I am looking at whether or not tinc would work; it uses UDP/TCP port 655. If you can reach that, you could connect to a tinc cluster and thereby be connected to a mesh network for gaming.

Just myself, as usual.

2017-07-03 08:19:36

I posted this topic with instructions for joining a mesh VPN that I've set up. Give it a try. It should make it possible for you to play and host games with others on the same network.

Just myself, as usual.

2017-07-03 23:20:33

hi,
I asume port forwarding is not required? Because if it is, I cannot use it.  My inability to access vpns is entirely due to carrier grade NAT,  which I couldn't get myself taken out of. There should be laws forbidding this without user consent. Seriously!  I know this is due to carrier nat, as I cannot access my university's vpn, which is 100% legal.

A learning experience is one of those things that say, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."

2017-07-04 07:48:03

Port forwarding is not required. You only need connect outbound to a TCP port and, where available, UDP as well. Unless the network is seriously, seriously broken, this should be possible.

Some VPNs in fact do run over TCP port 443 and in theory always work. If you are behind a CGN, which I agree is criminal, then you typically can't use any protocol but TCP and UDP, which means that certain VPN protocols which don't (PPTP uses GRE, IPSec may or may not work depending on UDP encapsulation) simply can't be tracked and therefore fail. In Turkey the VPN blocking is totally targeted at providers, so I really can't imagine you'll have any difficulty at all with just an arbitrary TCP connection. Give it a try, anyway.

Just myself, as usual.