Cpp and I are trying to figure out why exactly some players timeout after joining a server, but we need testers to do so. If you want to test, in your reply please include your router model, its firmware version, your operating system, and the times you will be available (preferably in GMT). Also mention if JJ2 UDP Port Chooser helped, and if it did, include the port number and whether you had to forward the port. Actually, even if you don't want to test, it would be useful to know if the port chooser helped you to join servers or not.

By the way, if you timeout it would help if you can download Wireshark and learn how to get it working.

Contact:
You can contact me through either MSN or IRC.

For MSN, I use my JCF name (don't forget it's two r's and two d's) plus hotmail.com.

You can alternatively join the IRC server QuakeNet.org (here's the webchat client) then join the channel #jj2, #jazzjackrabbit, or #jdc. I'm usually on as BlurredD, so you can query that nick to contact me faster.

More Requests:
(text taken from my other posts)

I'm considering implementing UPnP through JJ2, but I'm not sure how many people this will help who could otherwise not host or join games. So I need people to test out a program called PortForward (not mine, I got it from CodeProject). You may need to enable UPnP on your router--or in my case, disable then enable UPnP.

So basically I need testers with hosting or joining problems to run PortForward and then forward the necessary ports through UPnP. Please include all the steps you had to take, and mention if it doesn't work despite having UPnP already enabled on your router.

I also need people to test this JJ2+ dll (get the other JJ2+ files here) and tell me if they still CTO when they join servers with it. Try testing without any ports forwarded at first. And if it still doesn't work, trying resetting your router.

i know a computer that i have some access to that i could see if i could test on. UDP port chooser didn't work. I also have strong reason to believe that Norton antivirus has a connection to this 30second timeout, because out of the 10+ computers ive played on, the only 2 i had problems with had Norton, and none of the rest did.

I'd absolutely like to help in any way I can. I time out no matter what, whether it be 1.23, 1.23+, JJ2 for Mac, TSF, etc; it always happens.

The only solution I've found is to use a VPN. Let me know how I can help.


EDIT: Didn't notice the request for info.

The router I play JJ2 behind is an Apple Time Capsule, with firmware 7.4.1. The primary OS I use for playing JJ2 is Windows Vista x64 Enterprise.

I might be a good testing person though I don't play JJ2 a lot nowadays.
The ONLY THING that allows me to play JJ2 online without any problems is using DMZ(exposed host), all the other things like portforwarding and JJ2UDP only work a little or not at all. I have a Siemens Gigaset SX552, my timezone is CEST. If you want me to test something best is to email me: sven-esa@hotmail.com

Just wondering, with having JJ2+ clients and servers couldn't the netcode be changed to remove the port bug all together? Theres no reason in any game for the client to have to open ports to join games?

Don't know if Ill be any use for your current project, I dont get access to forward ports at University Halls, the only way to open a port is to flood it with outgoing traffic in an attempt to make it think inbound traffic should come back to my PC and not get stopped at the gateway

Originally Posted by plunK

i know a computer that i have some access to that i could see if i could test on. UDP port chooser didn't work. I also have strong reason to believe that Norton antivirus has a connection to this 30second timeout, because out of the 10+ computers ive played on, the only 2 i had problems with had Norton, and none of the rest did.

Norton shouldn't have anything to do with it. If you think it has I could possibly set up a small guide for you to unlock JJ2 so that Norton doesn't block JJ2 in any way anymore. I doubt it would make any difference though.

Personally I can only play when I open DMZ too. Opening the ports AND DMZ somehow allows me to host even. If I open DMZ only I can join but not host. If I only open the ports I can host but not join.
My router is a US Robotics type USR8003. I do not use the UDP chooser as I don't need it so far.
If however you want me to try it, I could do so.

Here are a bunch of questions from my end. Try to follow the instructions and answer them to the best of your abilities. Do not use jj2 UDP port chooser while testing this out.

1. What security products are installed on your PC (antivirus programs like AVG, Norton antivirus, Norton internet security, firewalls like Comodo firewall, ZoneAlarm firewall, etc.)? Some security products may be blocking your traffic and cause timeout problems as a result. Try to disable any firewalls and the like while testing this theory or even better, play from a computer that doesn't have any potentially troublesome programs installed. Since we are testing out routers here, we'd like to eliminate false positives that are caused by misconfigured software on your computer. See point #3.
   
   
2. Can you host a jj2 server of your own that players can join normally from the internet and don't CTO?
   
   
3. Do you also have problems while joining jj2 internet servers from other computers on your LAN? Do you have problems joining servers which are hosted on another computer on your LAN? Test this out, if you can. Again, I'm putting this here to prove or disprove certain problems. If you can, try this out on different operating systems, possibly on multiple computers. If you have linux on a computer of yours, try running jj2 on it via Wine and see if the problems presist. Describe your findings.
   
   
4. Can you join jj2 servers normally (via jj2 interface) or do they all appear pinging (you have to use other means to join such as a 3rd party multiplayer launcher)?
   
   
5. Do you have timeout problems on each and every internet server you join or only on certain servers?
   
   
6. If applicable, which scenario best describes your problem? This assumes the following things:
   
   • you joined an internet server that has no problems hosting (other people don't time out)
   • there are some active people in the server (you can see them in F9 list and you can see them chat)
   • you time out after 30 seconds on this server (and every other server you join)
   
   Please note that the part asking you whether you can see other players actually means whether you can see the actual rabbit sprites and NOT people, who are listed in the F9 list.
   
   
   • A) You can see other players in the server and they can see you. You still time out after 30 seconds.
   • B) You can see other players in the server, but they cannot see you or they see you as if you were timing out (blinking).
   • C) You can't see anybody in the server, but others can see you normally.
   • D) You can't see anybody in the server and others cannot see you either or they see you as if you were timing out (blinking).
   • E) Other - please specify.
   
   
7. Repeat the tests above that involve jj2, this time by using jj2 UDP chooser and see if you get any different results. Report your findings.

~Ol

EDIT: I'm not pushing you to answer all of these questions, just answer as many as you can (especially question #6).

I'll do my best to answer all of the above, Cpp.

As for security, my Windows install is only equipped with Avast! Antivirus Free Edition. I do not use a firewall per se, although Avast! does include a somewhat basic one. I have indeed attempted to completely disable Avast! (which scared me), but that did not fix the issue.

I have not been able to host a JJ2 server that people can join.

I am not able to play JJ2 on any of the systems on my LAN. This includes a system running Mac OS 10.5.6, the same system running Vista x64 Enterprise SP1, another system running Windows XP SP3, a virtual machine running Ubuntu 8.10 (using WINE), and finally, an old system running Vista Business SP1.

I am always able to join servers with the JJ2 interface, with the rare exception of some servers that appear to just ping forever. I can join this with third party launchers, yes.

I have timeout problems on every server, no matter which it is.

Scenario D seems to best describe my situation.

I do not have time at the moment to try things with JJ2UDP, but I will do that later and get back to you.

1: Avast! ( sounds familliar...)
2: Mostly not

3: Years ago I played JJ2 on multiple computers and on my oldest (windows 95) and the only one not having Norton Antivirus at the time I was able to only host, on the others I CTO'ed and also couldn't host.

4: I can join all servers.
5: I only play JJ2 on that computer.

6: there are some active people in the server (you can see them in F9 list and you can see them chat) I mostly have these 2: A) You can see other players in the server and they can see you. You still time out after 30 seconds.
B) You can see other players in the server, but they cannot see you or they see you as if you were timing out (blinking). also I sometimes recv things and still timeout.

7: Still only exposed host (DMZ) works for me totally.

I'm considering implementing UPnP through JJ2, but I'm not sure how many people this will help who could otherwise not host or join games. So I need people to test out a program called PortForward (not mine, I got it from CodeProject). You may need to enable UPnP on your router--or in my case, disable then enable UPnP.

So basically I need testers with hosting or joining problems to run PortForward and then forward the necessary ports through UPnP. Please include all the steps you had to take, and mention if it doesn't work despite having UPnP already enabled on your router.

I remember playing around with UPnP a few years back. I put together a bit of VB to run some UPnP queries, but never got any further (I think mainly because every device I tried needed a slightly different set of queries).

BlurredD, you're welcome to that code if it'll help.

Thanks, but I'm coding in C++ and it's already mostly done. I'll likely need coding help in the future though. I used the source for PortForward, which is probably a bad idea in the long run but should be good enough for now.

At this point I would also like to see who can use the PortForward program for hosting regardless of whether they have connecting issues. I'm considering enabling UPnP for JJ2+ by default.

I'll play around a bit with UDnP to see if that will get me hosting.
Well, I have one question, should I not forward ports so it would just ping for anyone and try PortForward instead? Or just anything.

I meant to say use only PortForward for port forwarding, so if you already forwarded ports manually through your router (i.e. without doing it through UPnP), disable them first.

UPnP works wonders and before I went to University I used it to forward ports for JJ2 without having to make permanent rules in the router webgui. So I can confirm it does work in some situations. Having the support by default should aid a lot of people

It should be noted if anyone is using Internet Connection Sharing in Windows the only way to forward ports is UPnP so this would also benefit ICS users.

And by adding upnp support, Black Ninja will be your best friend for ever and idol you apparently:
http://www.jazz2online.com/jcf/showt...highlight=upnp

I managed to completely forgot about that thread actually. I got UPnP working through JJ2, and it's taking me around 12 seconds to add three port mappings. I'll be using threads, but 12 seconds seems like it's taking too long. I have no reference point though.

Moving on, I was hoping for a lot more participants, but I guess I'm going to have to use whoever is available. I need people to test this JJ2+ dll (get the other JJ2+ files here) and tell me if they still CTO when they join servers with it. Try testing without any ports forwarded at first. And if it still doesn't work, trying resetting your router.

I'll try that in a few minutes and see how it works, Blur. Thanks for the hard work!

If you still need people, i could help. I got a vista and McAfee 2009.

I updated the first post to reflect what I now want tested. In particular, I really need people to test out the JJ2+ dll I mention in that post.

After a few tests, looks like that DLL doesn't fix my specific problem. However, a few tests of my own also reveal that my ISP doesn't support UPnP.

Either way Blur, you are my idol and best friend forever. ;p

Sorry that the Info come so late after the creating of the thread but i think it must be said,

I think some Players dont know it, but they never can get connected if they try (besides the private Problems at home with the parents if they are still living there ).

If we look on the ISP and how it handle with your connection we can see it that there are many ways to connect to Internet, i want to pick out the 2 most used.

The 1st Connection: (with a bit knowlage about yor Router you can configurate it for JJ)
Normal, direct Connection with static or dynamic Ip areas, the user is directly connected with his router to the internet.

The 2nd Connection (Can never be configured for JJ):
I have this on a one Mobile (UTMS) connection too, some ISP are using a spezial network before the Internet, you can compare it like a big LAN, when you use a connection like this you can never be connected without CTOing after 30s.
And the reason why some ISP's are doing this is the fact that the ISP don't have enough IP's, UPnP dont work too, on this bigger systems where are over 1000 clients connected the packets get easylie ignored.

I hope you understood all (i know my bad english but this is offtophic)

Sfaizst (btw. good luck with the fixing of the problem)

Originally Posted by Sfaizst

The 2nd Connection (Can never be configured for JJ):
I have this on a one Mobile (UTMS) connection too, some ISP are using a spezial network before the Internet, you can compare it like a big LAN, when you use a connection like this you can never be connected without CTOing after 30s.
And the reason why some ISP's are doing this is the fact that the ISP don't have enough IP's, UPnP dont work too, on this bigger systems where are over 1000 clients connected the packets get easylie ignored.

Can't be. My ISP uses "big Lan connection", and i don't CTO always when i try to join any server. And 256 clients for one LAN is max, i think. =P

I feel a bit compelled against stating this since I was one of the guys who originally brought up the idea to use UPnP, but those of you who are paranoid about computer security might consider giving this article a read.

So Cpp, would you want UPnP enabled for JJ2+ by default?

It does not matter what the default upnp setting is for jj2+. As long as upnp is enabled by the router, port forwarding can be manipulated by any application inside your local network (this includes jj2+ and the flash hack described in the article I linked). The only way to prevent this is to turn off upnp on your router completely. This, however, defeats the purpose of easy port forwarding.

I think that jj2+ can safely have the upnp enabled by default since jj2+ isn't a malicious application and doesn't affect the security in any way. Besides I don't think that many people will even bother to turn off their router upnp as a result.

The thing is, there isn't any way to remove the port mappings if JJ2 is closed abruptly. In addition, not having it on by default may help people learn what UPnP is and its dangers before they willingly use it.

I suggest having UPnP enabled by default, but also only using UPnP if trying to connect without fails (as people may have manual port forwarding setup, or their router might handle it without any configuration). The idea is that by default it should Just Work with the minimum amount of configuration needed.

the port changer didn't work for me neither did the portforward tool. i've disabled the windows firewall still getting the timeout error.

And how about the special JJ2+ dll I liked to earlier? If nothing works, I'd still like to see where you're having the problem. Cpp would be better at figuring this out, but I should be able to test some things myself. You can join the IRC server QuakeNet.org (here's the webchat client) then join the channel #jj2 (I would say join #jazzjackrabbit, but EvilMike wants that channel dead). If I don't respond right away (which is likely the case since I don't follow most of what's said in #jj2), then query me.

I updated my contact information in the thread post. I'm now willing to do testing through MSN if this is more convenient for anyone.

I learned how to use Wireshark, and I need those who want to help to download it so I can figure out the timeout problem.