Connection problems (the infamous 30-second one)
 

I stumbled across this site when looking for the JJ2 patch and some levels, and was rather suprised as to how strong the JJ2 community appeared to be (hadn't been able to find anything since J2C closed down). So I went on a level-downloading rampage, and then tried online games (after finding the list server patch). Every time I've tried so far, I stay connected for about 30 seconds before getting booted off by the server.

I *do* know about networking, and so did some digging of my own. Rough network outline: my PC is connected thru a wireless network to a router/NAT box with a DSL modem. I have a firewall on my PC (Norton), and that has the required ports for Jazz open (UDP to/from 10052, TCP to/from 10052, TCP to 10053 + 10054). The NAT box is forwarding packets properly - I can see in a packet sniffer the return UDP packets from the pings and status requests.

What appears to happen is that Jazz gets the server list, pings each server and gets a reply, and continues to ping until I connect to one. It then opens a TCP connection to 10052, and starts to send lots of UDP packets to 10052 as well. I don't get any replies to those packets (unlike the ones earlier), and then after 30 seconds the server boots me. All the TCP stuff behaves, and inside of the game I see chat messages (and have been able to send them as well).

It seems to me that forwarding ports should only be necessary if you are hosting a server, and other games work fine (UT & Half-life for examples). And the NAT box is forwarding the replies to the initial server query packets.
So, um, any ideas, folks? A virtual bit o' chocolate to the one who solves the problem :D

Now I was just about to welcome you back, only to find that you aren't who I thought you were...ahem.

Welcome aboard!

..okay, I know this isn't a welcoming thread, but.. *shrugs*...

lol... I use the handle BoggyB in a few places, but someone else beat me to it on Yahoo and Hotmail. So beware - there are imitation BoggyB's out there :D

I think I recall hearing the name "BoggyB" back when I played Worms2, but I don't remember where I heard it.

It's from Worms, all right. Specifically, BoggyB is the worm mentioned in the wormsong (original Worms CD, track 8).

"Six inches tall, and armed to the teeth, a fine soldier he made
And his name was Boggy B."

BoggyB was one of the default in Worms 1.

I remember the name BoggyB from the JMMB... but that's probably not a coincidence either. WB.

Did you try opening 10052-10054 on UDP? I'm just guessing, but you might need the other ones.

Never did sign up to the JMMB, so that must have been an imitation BoggyB :D

The firewall rules I've got set up for JJ2 are:
Allow outbound TCP connections to remote port 10052-10054
Allow inbound TCP connections to local port 10052
Allow UDP packets to and from remote port 10052
Allow UDP packets to and from local port 10052

Norton didn't prompt me about any other ports, and the only ones that appeared in the packet sniffer were TCP connections to remote port 10052-10053 and UDP packets to and from remote port 10052.

Have a bit o' chocolate anyway!

[img]http://uk.geocities.com/the_boggyb/chocolate.jpeg[/img]

You could alwaysset up DMZ for your computer.

That's kinda of something I'd prefer not to do, considering that that would probably knock out all the other computers behind the NAT. I might give it a try at some point when I can do so without affecting anyone else.

I did try some things - adding JJ2 to the port forwarding or open ports list didn't work, setting the built-in firewall to allow fragmented UDP packets didn't work, and setting the firewall to echo blocked packets to me didn't work either (and nothing new appeared in the packet sniffer).

I have the same problem, and everytime I ask someone they say open ports blablabla on firewall. I did it long time ago, and it still doesn't work. Sometimes, but not often it works, but if I rejoin I continue crashing all 30 seconds.

If your behind a NAT, surely you could just disable the software firewall and try/see?

I've sorted it! Turns out it was something obscure in how Norton handles rules - if you set it to "to and from" then both ends have to match the rule (in this case, the packet had to be from 10052 to 10052). It doesn't help that that's only explained in a irrevelant part of the help file (the part that tells you what order the rules are processed in). I hate Norton.

the only firewall I have is the windows xp connection firewall and I cant get it to work.

http://www.jazz2online.com/jcf/showthread.php?t=11660

Erm (I know I say this too much), go there, It's my neglected, last resort thread to getting people online and gaming, well you know what I mean.