# Ports won't open!



## Generikk (Dec 13, 2011)

I just want to open up a few ports for Age of Empires 3 but no matter what I do the ports still stay closed.

I have a Belkin F6D4630-4 v2 modem/router (firmware updated to 2.00.25) and I use https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 to check my ports.

I've forwarded the ports 2300-2310 in my router (both TCP and UDP) using the 'virtual servers' thing.
I've disabled windows firewall.
I've disabled my AVG antivirus.
I've disabled and enabled this thing to see if it would make a difference:
"UPNP Enabling: 
ADVANCED FEATURE! Allows you to turn the UPNP feature of the Router on or off. If you use applications that support UPnP, enabling UPnP will allow these applications to automatically configure the router."

When I probe the ports from 2280 to 2330 using the Gibson research website, the ports I forwarded (2300-2310) say 'closed' and the others say 'stealth'. Why do they say CLOSED and not OPEN? There shouldn't be anything blocking those ports.

When I probe the ports from 2280 to 2330 with windows firewall ON, all of them say 'stealth', even though I've added those ports to the windows firewall exceptions.

Can anyone help me? I just want those ports to say "OPEN" so I can join all games on Age of Empires 3 instead of coming up with the message "Failed to join game".


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

opening ports is for hosting games not joining them.
if you connect to your modem what ip address do you get?


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## Generikk (Dec 13, 2011)

Wand3r3r said:


> opening ports is for hosting games not joining them.
> if you connect to your modem what ip address do you get? _It's a modem/router combined._


I read for AoE3 opening ports is for both joining and hosting them...?

From cmd, ipconfig:
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
_Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1_

External IP changes every time I restart my modem/router.
When I host a LAN game my IP shows as 192.168.2.2 (but I don't want to join LAN games)
When I join Ensemble Studios Online it doesn't show my IP.

I just tried another modem/router (D-Link), with the exact same results (2300-2310 ports closed and others on stealth). Maybe it's something to do with Windows 7 (32 bit) that blocks those ports? I've turned off my Windows firewall, router firewall and antivirus...


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

go to ipchicken.com
what is your public ip address? x out the first octet for security reasons


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## Generikk (Dec 13, 2011)

Yea, my public IP changes every time I restart my modem/router.

Right now it's ***.237.55.208

Although I don't see what my public IP has to do with anything.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

Please take some time and review the docs at portforward.com for a clear understanding of how port forwarding works.

Your public ip is what you would give to someone to join a game you are hosting.

Reason I asked what your public ip is concerns how some ISP's handle network addressing. Some just extend their private network to you which means you don't get a public ip only a private ip which can't be forwarded to given the situation.

Fortunately for you this is not the case.

According to portforward.com Age of Empires III uses
TCP 80, 2300 and UDP ports 2300-2310 

You only mention forwarding 2300-2310 so you missed port 80

Lets see a ipconfig /all from your pc to confirm its settings.


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## Generikk (Dec 13, 2011)

Wand3r3r said:


> Please take some time and review the docs at portforward.com for a clear understanding of how port forwarding works.


Yes, I've followed the instructions on portforward.com to forward my ports on my belkin modem/router.



Wand3r3r said:


> Your public ip is what you would give to someone to join a game you are hosting.


It's different for AoE3. You get placed into a game lobby where you just host/join games, so you don't need to know or give anyone your IP.



Wand3r3r said:


> According to portforward.com Age of Empires III uses
> TCP 80, 2300 and UDP ports 2300-2310
> 
> You only mention forwarding 2300-2310 so you missed port 80


Yes, I forwarded that ports as well, as well as a few others. But my problem is that even though I've forwarded them as described in portforward.com, they still say CLOSED.
Whatever port I forward, it only changes them from STEALTH to CLOSED, but none of them say OPEN.




Wand3r3r said:


> Lets see a ipconfig /all from your pc to confirm its settings.


I don't know what you're looking for so I'll paste the whole thing (with some things *** out)

```
Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ***
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Belkin

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : Belkin
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) WiFi Link 1000 BGN
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1E-64-82-90-54
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : *** (Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.2(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 14 December 2011 10:58:59 a.m.

   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, 20 January 2148 5:28:48 p.m.
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 369106532
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : ***

   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-9E-97-B3-93
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.Belkin:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{5A416805-8EEB-43F9-A879-AC16148FFBDF}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : ***(Preferred)
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : ***(Preferred)
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
```

Thanks for your replies.
I don't know much about networking, I just act like I do :wink:


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

did you do a ip address reservation in the router?
normally I would expect to see that set to no for a static assigned ip address.

I would suggest the next time you want to test if the ports are open or not start the game on your pc the hit the windows tab to minimize it. Then do the port test again.


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## Generikk (Dec 13, 2011)

Wand3r3r said:


> DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
> 
> did you do a ip address reservation in the router?
> normally I would expect to see that set to no for a static assigned ip address.


Yes, I think the router reserves 192.168.2.2 for my computer. Every time I've connected to it it's always been 192.168.2.2



Wand3r3r said:


> I would suggest the next time you want to test if the ports are open or not start the game on your pc the hit the windows tab to minimize it. Then do the port test again.


Did that... still didn't work. It still comes up with "Failed to join game" 50% of the time.


Here's a view from currports (a tool that I found on the internet that displays which ports each program is using). Having AoE3 running disables aero.
It uses ports 80 and 2300 for the remote port but not the local port? Does that have anything to do with it?


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

did you change the listening ports of the game?
see the 51xxx and 56xxx references?

might want to read this end to end
Ports that you must open in Windows Firewall to play or to host an Age of Empires III multiplayer game


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## Generikk (Dec 13, 2011)

Yea, tried that as well. I made a user.cfg file and added in OverridePort="2301" and changed some the override port to see if it would make a difference but it doesn't.
I've even put my computer inside the router DMZ but still thhe same result.

I think my problem is that the ports are saying CLOSED and not OPEN. Maybe it has something to do with Windows 7 blocking the ports? Is there any way to test it?


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

a port is closed if when the test request sent to the port receives no response.
hence the suggestion to have the game up while testing.

Might want to call your isp and see if they are doing any port blocking.


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## Generikk (Dec 13, 2011)

Just contacted my ISP, they said they haven't blocked any ports except for Port 25.

I've tried the port test with the game running... still same results.
My problem is similar to this one: http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f137/portforwarding-ports-wont-open-413477-2.html and it didn't seem like it was resolved either.
I'm willing to try anything just to get the ports to say OPEN.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

This is router and firewall dependent. Can you post a screen shot of the forwarding page in the router for review?

you did do the firewall exeptions as listed in that link I sent you?


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## Generikk (Dec 13, 2011)

Yep, sure thing.

AoE3 is on the exceptions list, plus I have disabled/enables the firewall to see if it would make a difference. Still, the ports won't open.

And yes, I am admin on the computer.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

Everything looks good. Lets see what the dmz screen looks like. My thought here is to put your pc in the dmz. Being in the dmz should forward all ports automatically.

I see you have AVG 2011 and 2012 diagnostics. Are you also running the antivirus?


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## Generikk (Dec 13, 2011)

I've tried that as well.
Putting the router in the DMZ and disabling the router firewall, disabling the windows firewall and disabling AVG antivirus makes all the ports come back as CLOSED.

Putting my computer in the DMZ with the router firewall ON makes all the results come back as STEALTH.

AVG antivirus and windows firewall is always disabled when I run my probe tests so they don't interfere with it.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Hello,

Belkin Routers are not the best ones out there, that could be an issue.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

I would agree. Everything points to your router not properly forwarding either by port forwards or dmz. You should not have closed for dmz


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## Jason09 (Jan 3, 2009)

I assume you are still unable to join any of the game servers? Also try disabling UPNP to see if that makes a difference.


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