Topic: Generals Direct Connect + WinXP + Linksys WRT54G = No go..

[thudo]

I have tried everything (within reason) based on the documentation provided in the FAQ and tips elsewhere but I need to know:

I cannot play a Direct Connect game through WinXP + SP1 using my Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router/NAT. It is the latest offering from Linksys and I am connected directly via Ethernet (not wireless). I can play other games no probs but Generals is soo bloody picky and ass*nine in regards to incoming ports its frustrating.

When I had Win98, I used to bypass this problem by simply forcing my WAN's IP onto the network card, rebooted, then I could play DirectConnect no probs since the game saw the WAN IP instead of the 192.168.xxx.xxx. How do I do this in WinXP? Anyone?

How do I force my WAN ISP's IP (ie. 24.xxx.xxx.xxx) onto my network card so Generals can see that without it being blindsided?! Must be a way as Win2k can do it with no probs.

[gryphon]

Just to make shure, you can play Generals without any problems on the local computer ?

Linksys routers use the same techniek as DLink I though. . same engeneers builded them. Could you try to make DMZ to the computer you play Generals on ?

[thudo]

Yes I can play Generals on my computer..   I know all the ins and outs of software but I could learn more about networking when it comes to this game! As stated I've tried EVERYTHING in the FAQ (DMZ, "FirewallOverridePort=", etc etc) but the only way I could connect in a DirectConnect situation (at least in WinME) was to force the WAN IP on the Network Card, reboot, then go into Generals and it'll show my WAN IP this time and it worked fine.

If I can accomplish this in WinXP then let me know. Hopefully when the  ZeroHour addon comes out in a month it'll fix these bloody Router/NAT problems (shouldn't have been a prob in the first place!!)..

Has anyone who originally had Router/NAT problems with getting Generals to run in DirectConnect then get it to work? Let me know.. Thanks all!

[gryphon]

I can't even accomplish what you mentioned with Win2K or Linux, let alone with WinXP. Must admit that besides setting the internal scope of your IP adresses to the one that fits the WAN IP and getting your WAN IP that way on your local computer is the only way I can think of letting one of your internal computers get the WAN IP on his own local adapter. [ That and inputting it manually which if sort of the same ]
As you have done it before I would like to know what you did to get that result. Even more when it doesn't work with WinXP. Forcing, or getting any settings from your router shouldn't be OS dependant. So it should be a setting in the router, not one of your OS.

I have played Command & Conquer Generals at home where I am behind 2 routers and a DMZ. It connected without any problems [ after I had to adjust my firewall slightly ]
Only thing I can do at this point is giving a bounch of links to the EA games support pages for others if they come around this topic. You might want to have a look yourself although as you mentioned to already have tried everything I am not shure if there is anything new in it.

link1 - firewall settings
settings for D-link router
Linksys router settings

You could try to connect your computer directly without the router in between. Just to make shure it's the router. Besides that placing your computer in a DMZ and disabeling the firewall on your router should almost always bypass any problems you have with it.

[thudo]

I had a friend force his WAN IP in Win2k onto his NIC but now he forgot how he did that!    Dunno what the deal with that is but we'll have to "re-educate" him somehow. Regardless.. forcing the WAN IP is only for this sh*t game as other PC games work fine through a NAT/Router. When Ensemble Studio's Age Of Mythology it initially had this problem but after 2 weeks the first patch came out and it addressed it with flying colours!

EAP's Generals is an example of what not to do in the gaming biz: "forget to "aggressively" support the product and at the same time piss off the community". Blizzard, on the other hand, IS an outstanding example of many good facets of the gaming biz and do aggressively support their products TO THE TEE!

What did you do to "adjust your firewall" settings? I don't get that.. Please be more specific.. Even running in DMZ does nothing but I don't understand how running in the DMZ is not turning off the firewall? Once in the DMZ the firewall is off for that IP you've choose so why the hell the game fails to see incoming/outgoing packets is simply bad game net code!

Oh and btw.. the game works without the Router/NAT as it'll see the WAN IP instantly BUT I WILL NOT CATER MY NETWORK TO ONE F*CKEN GAME!!    I want solutions to this problem without circumventing my net topography I have set up and doing so just for one game is assinine. If I had WinMe I could do it via the OS but in WinXP its different but likely not impossible.

Game developers better be ensuring their games work behind Nat/Routers as there will be many more running them after the MSBLAST virus fiasco.

[gryphon]

The thing I find strange is when your internal computer has an external IP adress, which address is used to access the router. . if at all the thing is used and not bypassed while it's just functioning as one big switch.
In short, the WAN IP address should be unique on a global level. Using it for a WAN port will allows you to use reserved IP's on your own network while data get's send by an IP that is "allowed" to access the Net. If you force that WAN IP to a single computer on the network, the router can not have that address [ that will conflict as there will be 2 computers with the same IP ] .. so which address get's used for the router ?
Besides that, your local network has a seperate IP range. Let's say it's 192.168.2.0. All computers on the internall net including the routers LAN port have a IP in that range. If not they can't send any data to eachother. So when you force the WAN IP to a single local computer. . . . that computer is beyond the 192.168.2.0 range and will therefor not be able to communicate with the router nor any computer on your LAN.

Only option slightly like it I know of if using a secundairy IP address in the network settings of your adapter. rigth clicking on your network adapter, select properties and then the advanced options of the TCP/IP protocol. Second tab [ in Win2K ] shows the IP address and enables you to use a second IP for the adapter. Although a first IP is needed for that and it won't have any result behind a router as the router itself can't use 2 IP's for the LAN adapter.
Concluding, any router that enables the user to use the WAN IP address for any of the local LAN adapters should be returned I think. . . . ..sorry. .
[ again, verry short. . . you get only one IP of your ISP. If that one is given to an computer behind a router, then which IP is the router using so it can be accesed from that computer in your LAN ? ]

About it being OS dependant, your router has a seperate OS which handles all the settings for it. Internal IP's, WAN IP. . hosts, port block things like that. . . .you shouldn't be able to change those settings from an OS on your computer [ in the LAN ], that is a pretty big security flaw. You should only me able to configure the router while logged into the router. Not from any computer on the LAN.
And hence it should only be possible from the router, the most common options are to telnet or HTTP to the thing. Making it totally not OS dependant.

Those where ment as 2 seperate thing. Sorry for not making that more clear. Disabeling the firewall. And if that doesn't work place the computer in a DMZ.

Even more strange about Microsoft, MSN messenger was unable to transfer files from behind a Win2K router. That had been fixed with MSN 6. Their own software isn't even working with their own servers. . . .. besides that, ensuring they work behind a nat router as that would bypass Microsofts Windows. . well. . . .Win2K has the option of NAS routing in the ISA server .. . ..

Now for the most informatieve part.
I had to allowd some UDP ports which where all blocked by default on the router's firewall. That and some ports for ntoskernel. If I wouldn't have done the first, connecting to online servers wasn't possible. If not the second joining a game prooved to be impossible.

[thudo]

So how do I know what UDP and NTOSKERNEL ports are blocked by my Linksys Wireless-G router? I'm in the process of getting someone not behind a Nat/Router to test my changes to see if I've made any headway.

Again.. this may all fall assunder since the expected ZERO HOUR addon may/may not FINALLY fix this whole bloody mess EAP started! ! I just want to be ready for it especially since I'm an AI script writer for the game making my own custom Skirmish AI scripts which are brutally hard but nicely challenging!  

[gryphon]

your router shouldn't be blocking those ports. It was the firewall on my Win2K router. [ 1 in 2 ] blocking them. Any hardware router [ single bock you buy in stors like a D-Link, Lynksys, Cisco ] shouldn't block those ports. You could do a port scan from outside your router and set up something behind those ports to see if they respond to check it.

If you are behind a NAT router the commonly used alternatieve used to connect several computers to the internet is a proxy server. Els it would be an direct connection I figure. And a Direct connection is working in your situation I thought ?

The thing irritating me is why the router is giving you those troubles. [ besides Westwood mentioning it could give errors ofcourse ] It shouldn't be doing that

If you go to this page you will see the full internet name in the host part. Could you check your Linksys router and see if your computername is the same as the name before the first dot [ . ]. And if there is a network name filled in below that ?
The network name should be the remaining part [ without that dot between your computer name and the remaining part of the domain name ] including the .com or .whatever it ends with.
It's a trick that solved some of my problems I have had with a Linksys router.

Are you in a position to replace the router to test your network with another brands router on default settings, or to use an old PC just to install Windows and Generals on without anything else just to test it ?

[thudo]

I went to that page you suggested and it says under HOSTS:

CPE000625df611e-CM00e06f244104.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com

There is no computer name like this in the Linksys Wireless-G Router - it just shows WAN IP, Subnet, Gateway, and DNS. Under SETUP tab in the Router in the HOST and DOMAIN NAMES its blank.

Are you saying that under HOST or DOMAIN NAME (in the Router) I should put "CPE000625df611e" or "CM00e06f244104" or the whole "CPE000625df611e-CM00e06f244104.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com" ?

I don't have a second Router - heck.. this is THE LATEST Router from Linksys so I'm not switching to something else + I know the game would work without the Router connected but thats not the point as I won't bring my network down just for one game's follies!  

Once again.. thanks soo much for answering all these questions.. can't believe the level of professionalism on your part! Imagine: a site that actually helps rather than window dresses..

[gryphon]

That is the longest computer name I have ever seen .. ...

try to put the CPE000625df611e-CM00e06f244104 part in the host name field of your router, and the remaining cpe.net.cable.rogers.com in the network name field on your router.

If that doesn't give you any results keep the host name field empty and place the whole string of CPE000625df611e-CM00e06f244104.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com in the network field. Although I doubt that would work

I presume your ISP didn't gave you a computer name with your account ?
Should be ok, some do and some don't.

And thanks, although sofar I havn't solved anything yet in your case. . ..

[thudo]

Here is something interesting. I managed to try this with a friend who is also behind a Linksys BESFR41 Router/NAT (the 4 Port 10/100 one not Wireless-G) and he is running Win2k. He has forced his IP to his WAN IP rather than his LAN IP (192.168.xx.xx).

If I put myself in the DMZ, he can connect to my game but just sits there and gets booted out of the game in 10-20sec. He can't type to me in the game but he sees changes made in my game but not when updated while in the game (he sees my option changes just as he join but nothing updates for him when he comes in). This is all Direct Connect, btw.

If I disable DMZ he cannot connect (connection timed out). If I try to connect to him it connects but hangs for me.

Now.. I disconnected from the Router/NAT completely and went raw with the ISP. Now having a 24.xxx.xxx.xx IP he can join my games flawlessly but when I try joining him it hangs as before.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!??! What a bloody mess of netcode!  

Btw.. I'll try the HOSTS and DOMAIN but my friend is away so I'll get back to it. It seems using the PortForwarding does nothing (ie. FirewallPortOverride=27901) is just window-dressing. In fact, my friend with the BESFR41 has nothing special set except the additional IP address thing (how do that in WInXP is still a mystery) and he connects fine. Bloody pain.. Shheshhh.. We'll get it working..  

[gryphon]

I hope you get it working.

just curious,  He has forced his IP to his WAN IP rather than his LAN IP (192.168.xx.xx)., if you are at that network again, could you check the IP's on eatch of the computers on the local net, the IP of the routers WAN port and the IP used to contact the router ?

[thudo]

Well well well.. THE PLOT HAS INDEED THICKENED! Even Holmes would have been dafted! Heres the deal:

I tried your HOST and DOMAIN recommendations but unfortunately nothing. Now my network bud tells me this:

"Dude.. I have WINXP Pro as a second box.. Just go into MY NETWORK PLACES then to LOCAL AREA CONNECTION then PROPERTIES then TCP/IP then simply do this: Disable the Dynamic IP/DNS by manually adding your WAN IP, Subnet (255.255.255.0), your Router's Gateway (192.168.1.1), then finally add the DNS(es) given by your Router. Click okay and wait 5-10sec and bingo - Internet connection comes back and now you have your WAN IP instead of your LAN's (192.168.1.100)."

I laughed! I told him I tried that 10x and the Inet connection just dies.. Of course I tried it with him while he did it on his WinXP box and his worked (he's behind the Linksys BESFR41 4-Port 10/100 Nat) but mine did not. He is running off DSL and I'm on High-Speed Cable. He noted that my WAN subnet was 255.255.255.128 while his was 255.255.255.0.

Now.. WHAT THE BLOODY IS GOING ON? This really friggn just galled me! His works but mine does not and why are the subnets difference? The Subnet supplied by my ISP is xxx.128 but his DSL ISP provides xxx.0. This is simply too weird. I have the latest Linksys Router/NAT and his is the 2-3 old model. I don't get it..

CAN SOMEONE VERIFY THIS WORKS UNDER WINXP?

This is my problem and he solved it in WinXP but for me my connection dies when I try to force the WAN IP in TCP/IP. Quickly go back to dynamic and it works fine. Arghhhh...  

[number6]

Wouldn't that make the PC you setup to point to 192.168.1.1 act as the router? Do any other machines on the network still have internet access with this configuration? If they do they must be going through the machine you setup on the network to point to the router IP address. I guess it was also mean that the machine would be very vunerable.

[thudo]

The only other machine on the network is a Win98 laptop using the Wireless-G connection. Not sure why my 192.168.1.100 (WinXP box) would be the router and the 192.168.1.101 (Win98 laptop) would be trying to use it. What I could do is ask the guy to have the WinXP box only plugged into his Linksys 10/100 4-Port Nat and see if he can do the same.

Bet it will work for him. Something is screwy here and I feel I'm close to resolution.. real close!  

[number6]

I guess what I was trying to say is the machine that you do set to the router IP address will be fully exposed to the internet. If you use something like Zone Alarm I guess that is not a big deal.   I have never tried anything like what your friend is doing. It just sounds weird to me.

[gryphon]

when you manually place your WAN IP in the network properties [ let's say it's 220.20.20.3 ] your computer will only be able to see IP adresses in the range of 220.20.20.XXX. Others arn't possible to connect to [ except from 127.x.x.x which are loopbacks ]. So placing the 192.168.1.1 as the default gateway has no real purpose I think as it will not be reachable from that machine. Besides, at that time your routeres WAN IP is the same as the IP on your local computer [ not forced, just manually entered ]. Any IP packet send to that IP address will be send to your router which accept the packet as his IP is on it and he shouldn't be sending it to any one else.. .it has reached his destination. And as your routers internall network adress is 192.168.1.XXX, he won't send anything to that range. ... So it won't route that packet through to the internal computer. Or it shouldn't do that.

So your computer is acting as it should, as when you put it on an IP range of 220.20.20.X if won't be able to send anything beyond that range. So the default gateway of 192.168.1.1 is pointless. It can't send anything to the 192.168.1.X range.

Sofar, it is not screwd with you, but with your friends router. If he hasn't got any other setting on his router then you are running with.

[thudo]

I'm not concerned about exposing the computer for the 3-4 hours of gaming. Security is not an issue for such a small parcel of time.

As for Gryphon.. well thats all well in good BUT it works for him on his WinXP box and he can play GENERALS without completely disconnecting from the NAT. How does what you just said now apply to finding a solution for my circumstance or am I screwed? What default Gateway should I use - the one supplied by my ISP? I've used that but no difference. Gawd what a pain just for one game.. imagine if most developers starting screwing around with NAT connectivity with their netcodes? ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!  

[gryphon]

If it works for him he has changed something else, or his router or Windows version is heavelly adjusted or malfunctioning. Any computer on an IP net of 192.168.1.XXX for example can only access computers with an IP of 192.168.1.XXX. When one of the first 3 network numbers is different they won't be able to contact eatchother.
[ this becomes possible when you ad a router, proxy or bridge into the network, without that, it simply doesn't work ]

When you are behind your router, you should enter only things of your internall IP range as host IP and gateway IP. When you are connected to the internet [ as your routers WAN port is ] you should enter the IP your ISP gave you. Or use DHCP.

About that forcing the IP on your local computer. There is nothing forcing about it. You just manually enter an IP address for your local computer. The fact that he has entered his own WAN IP doesn't force anything to that compuer or from that WAN IP to his computer. To be more correct,  it shouldn't be working for him. Not when he is behind a router.

About security, even 1 minute is enough to get a worm in your computer. . . time is not an issue. . .conection is. . . .

His router will have another firmware [ as it is 2-3 years old ]. It could be a flaw in it which have been changed during the years. When you just enter an IP manually that falls beyond the internal range of your router you loose all connection to the router and anything beyond that.

He might have used his routers IP as secundairy IP address on his WinXP computer. [ that's under properties in the tab where you fill in you IP address manually ] Although as primairy IP address, that should not be working.

Have you checked his firmware and your version, and if there is a newer version for yours you could try to use that. Or any filtering roules you have set up in your router, mayby turned the firewall on.
You could try to reset it, don't enter any forwarding rules and don't use the firewall.
Do you happen to know if your router supports VPN passthrough and if his one does ?

[thudo]

Well here is the thing now..

When I disconnect from the Router completely then connect direct to the Cable modem my IP, Subnet, and DNS are totally different! DHCP is obviously different as DHCP is now coming right from the Cable ISP. In fact, some sites tell me I have 66.185.85.xxx or even say:

Your IP (24.192.191.xxx) appears to be behind a web proxy server (66.185.85.75) and results shown might not be for your system.

Whats the deal with all this? Why do I get a totally different IP, Sub, and DNS from the Cable ISP then go back connected to the Router and I get my old WAN IP (24.192.248.xxx) , Sub, and DNS?  Could this be the problem?

I tried to manually-add these new IPs, Subnet, DNS, and even DHCP/Web Proxy into  the Primary TCP/IP settings but no go - could not resurrect my Inet Connection.

Btw.. firmware for this Wireless-G Linksys is the latest (although I bet anything newer won't make much difference), there are NO filtered rules (no Filtered Internet Port Ranges, or Port Range Forwarding (I have no Port Triggering tabs as this Router is newer than his and they seem to have removed it), and YES this Router and his older one DOES support VPN passthru (mine is enabled via IPsec and PPTP).

So with all this does this now sound more interesting or what?

[gryphon]

Which internet browser are you using ?
Could you check in the settings if there is an web-proxy enabled ?
For IE it is in controle panel - internet opstions - connections - LAN settings - and then proxy server.
If there is one you can disable the proxy server settings to try without it.

The minimall things you should get are an DHCP server, your own IP, the IP of a default gateway and at least one DNS IP. When you connect from behind your router these are probably all the IP adress of your router, and when you connect directly to your cable modem the most likely arn't all the same. And they shouldn't be the same as the ones you get from behind the router. Non of them. When you are behind the router your routers WAN adapter should have the same information as you have connected directly to the cable modem.

You have tried this with WinXP ? If so you can just enable and disable your network adapter after you change to which other ethernet device you are connected. ID it's another Win version you better reboot your computer every time you change the device giving you the DHCP address. Just to be shure.

It has been interesting from the start.

From the DHCP settings of your router. Which IP range does it give to it's clients and combined with what subnetmask ?

[thudo]

I'm directly connected to the NET in IE6 - no proxies or any manual settings. Under TOOLS/INET OPTIONS/CONNECTIONS/LAN SETTINGS nothing is checked. Its all automatic!

I think you contradicted yourself and confused me in the process when you said:

"When you connect from behind your router these are probably all the IP adress of your router, and when you connect directly to your cable modem the most likely arn't all the same. And they shouldn't be the same as the ones you get from behind the router. Non of them. When you are behind the router your routers WAN adapter should have the same information as you have connected directly to the cable modem."

Its the last sentence that perplexes me: I always thought that the Router's WAN info (IP, Subnet, DNS) MUST BE THE SAME as if I was directly connected to the Cable Modem. Seeing them totally different is a mystery to me.

I don't quite understand about disabling my "network device" although I assume you mean my NIC (its built-into this MSI FIS2R 875P Mobo!). How is disabling/re-enabling my NIC gonna help in all this? Also.. rebooting for what purpose.. please elaborate?

As for the DHCP range.. I've set it between to 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.101 as there are only two machines involved. Subnet is 255.255.255.0. Strangely enough the Router shows the WAN subnet as 255.255.255.128 and when connected to the Modem directly its 255.255.255.224.

Thanks!

[gryphon]

it was a bad explenation on my part. I always thought that the Router's WAN info (IP, Subnet, DNS) MUST BE THE SAME as if I was directly connected to the Cable Modem. that as you have mentioned was what I tried to say.

Sometimes when you have an older version of Windows then WiniXP you won't get a new or the correct IP address of the DHCP server. When you have a firewall for example you will have to lower that, or Win2K just won't accept a new one. [ thought that has been fixed with SP4 for Win2K though ]. So disableling - enabling your nic doesn't always work. WinXP seems to do a better job in that although as it is and stays Windows you never know.
Rebooting makes shure that you get a new IP from the DHCP you are behind at that time. In most cases it should work, although there is always the exemptoin, that was why I asked for it.

I IM'ed you about the IP thingy you have mentioned in the post prior to it. you can look at it here.  If you arn't using a proxy [ which can be configurated automatically in a Windows domain , but I know, you arn't in one. ] this message Your IP (24.192.191.xxx) appears to be behind a web proxy server (66.185.85.75) is really weird.
Although you both seem to be part of the rogers.com domain.
First guess about that IP is that it can be located in Toronto. Although no clue about why any site would indicate that as your proxy.

The differance in subnet that your router get's from your ISP and the one you are getting when connected to it directly is verry strange.

There are a couple of things running through my mind at the time, not shure if any will work but if you wouldn't mind you could try them.

Your router should have the option to clone your mac address. That option should be in your routers settings somewhere. It will change your routers WAN mac address to the one of the computer connected to it making the change. So if you do it try to do it from the one you play Generals on.
[ it won't do any harm in most cases although if you would like to change it back to the routers own WAN mac address you can manually enter it. The WAN address is the same as you LAN mac address only with a +1 in the end. So the origionall LAN address is 0F-30-FA-50-40-A1, which would make the origionall WAN address 0F-30-FA-50-40-A2. Note that the mac address is the example is a fictionary one ]

As for the second thing, unless the above solves your problem. And I am really curious if your router would get the 255.255.255.224 subnetmask after you have cloned the mac address.
Could you write all the IP settings down your routers WAN adapter is getting from your ISP. And then changing the WAN status from DHCP to static. Then manually enter the IP settings and try both the subnet masks. [ 255.255.255.224 - 255.255.255.128 ]
That most likely won't work I guess, but it never hurts to try.

[ just a note, when you try the above make shure all changes you have tried prior to this have been resetted.no ports forwading or computer name for the router. The only thing you might want to have enabled is a DMZ for the computer you play Generals with, but that's a might want to have thing, if you can tried it without a DMZ first. ]

[gryphon]

On a smaller note, there is an option in the C&C Generals settings for send delay, have you tried the game with that checked and unchecked ?

[thudo]

I'll try the clone MAC address thingy shortly to see if that does anything. Good recommendation btw!   I have all the IP, Subnet, Gateway, and DNS info both from behind and in front of the Router. Nevertheless I'll try the cloning MAC address option.

I have tried the SEND DELAY option but its always been a no-go. I've tried EVERYTHING that the Generals FAQ recommended (Filtering those select TCP/UDP ports, specifying a unique port in the options.ini) but nothing goes through EXCEPT when I connect direct to the modem without the Router. Bah!

The game simply will only be useable via DirectConnect ONLY WHEN the game sees the actual IP address of the WAN and if the Internet Connection is still working.

I tried turning off both Modem and Router for a 2 day period then coming back turning both on to see if the IP, Subnet, and Gateway would have changed but no go. Mind you, the DNS info NEVER changes whether behind or in-front of Router..

Thanks for your help..

[gryphon]

Hope it helps.

Must admit I never have seen such a strange connection like yours.

I have used a Linksysy router myself for a short period, although it was giving me way to many problems with it's WAN network identification. Not showing up my domain name, not linking my domain name to the ISP DNS. . thinks like that. After a few days it was giving me tremmors and such. . . [ no really, I got fed up with the thing and returned it to the store I bought it ]
At that time I found out some Liksys routers could have verry tricky ways to configure it [ if possible at all ]. Some even related to specific ISP's.

[thudo]

Cloning the PC's MAC address now shows in the Router the correct IP, Subnet, and Gateway as if I were connected directly to the Modem itself! Still.. if I try to force the IP in WinXP the Internet will still not work. Strange though that under NETWORK PLACES it doesn't show the icon INTERNET CONNECTIONS anymore but the Internet works.. weird. Wonder if thats a function of the MAC cloning? Looks it..

Now.. I wonder if things like DMZ or FirewallPortOverride= (Generals Options.ini to force game to use a specific Port)  will work now? Have to try it with a bud..

But get this: this is the second Linksys router I've owned where sometimes if I make a change in the Router (ie. Changed the LAN's subnet from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.255.224) then the Router CAN NOT BE ACCESSED AT ALL! Can't even ping or get into it via IE! Took me 20mins to finally get in after holding down the RESET BUTTON in the back for 10sec! Arghhh.. WHATS THE DEAL WITH THAT?!? Its a brand new Router with the latest tech from Linksys and it still does this BS like the older one I had! Have a right to give those asses a piece of it!  

Anyway.. now that the Router is showing the IP, Subnet, and Gateway from my ISP it should be interesting to try. Will update.

[gryphon]

Have you tried to play online with a cloned MAC address ?

Subnet's are dependant on your IP address. You can't just change them ...
I would suggest to use an reserved IP range for the internal adres with the 255.255.255.0 subnetmask.

[thudo]

I'll be giving it a shot soon.. The Zero Hour expansion went gold on the weekend so now its a week away from release!!    Yippee!! Hopefully it'll change a ton of nasty netcode-related issues! I can't wait..

[thudo]

AGGHHHRHHHHHHH!!!    

ZeroHour Addon still doesn't pass-thru my Router DAMN IT! We tried it last nite via Direct Connect and still no go. My WAN IP through my router is the same as if it were directly connected to the Cable Modem.

This game absolutely refuses to work if it sees 192.168.1.100 - it must see 24.xxx.xxx.xxx.. BAH!!! Mind you, my LAN subnet is 255.255.255.0 but my WAN IP says 255.255.255.224 and yes I have cloned my PC's MAC address. I even tried the now built-in FirewallPortOverride within ZeroHour but no go.

I've been trying to contact Linksys for support on this to no avail - wow.. wonderful support eh?    

Now what? Frustrating as heck!!