Must have internet connectivity for dedicated LAN server.

[XZaapryca]

Must have internet connectivity for dedicated LAN server.

I wish Wildcard would simply come out and say,"If you don't have an internet connection, or at least the kind that most people have, you can't run a dedicated server."  For years we have had several servers running in a cluster on one dedicated system, but our living situation changed and our internet is now via an 4G/LTE antenna.  So basically, we're behind a double NAT.  Pretty sure AT&T ain't going to pop open ports for us either.

We can play on other servers, but 100-400ms via WiFi vs 12ms on Ethernet and our own local server is not a real choice.  I've spent days trying to work around it but the only solution seems to be a VPN that will allow port forwarding and most don't.  Not a free solution either.

We're a corner case for sure, but it sucks all the same.  LAN servers used to be so much easier.  Thanks for letting me complain.

[Larkfields]

Have a look at your internet router to see if it supports NAT-Loopback, or can run in "modem mode".

Some routers need to have NAT-loopback enabled.  Some don't support it.  Others (Virgin Media in the UK) have it on by default.  If you have an Ark server and client in your house, you need NAT-loopback.

As far as I understand it, modem mode will pass all traffic onto a second device router of your choosing.  This router can then be configured for NAT-Loopback and port-forwarding so you can run your own server from home.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

[XZaapryca]

I probably didn't make this clear enough, the 4G/LTE router/antenna can only accept clients via WiFi.  There is no Ethernet port on the thing at all.  So each of our systems have a WiFi adapter to connect to the internet.  The LAN is Ethernet and on a completely separate network that's not bridged.  So each system has two NICs, one WiFi for internet, the other built-in Ethernet for our LAN.  

Even in offline mode, WiFi nics disabled or simply unplugged (USB), no bueno.  When ASM looks for it's public IP, which it will get via the WiFi NIC if I let it, the result doesn't match what we see when querying via the web.  Aka, double-nat.  Without getting AT&T to poke holes in their firewall, which would never happen, then we're screwed.  

Bought a new router today, Netgear AC1750 (6400v2).  Confirmed to support NAT-loopback.  Still nothing.  Same behavior as before.  I can add the server manually in Steam, but it doesn't know the map or how many max players.  When I try to connect there's the dreaded "Unable to query server info for invite".  I was able to get this far yesterday with the crappy TP-Link that did not support NAT-loopback.  All ports are forwarded as before.  Steam/Wildcard really want you to be always-on and accepting inbound connections.  

I don't get defeated easy, so perhaps busting out the credit card for a VPN service that allows port forwarding will be the hill this dies on.  After that, I'm calling it impossible.  The sad thing is that barring this from working, there will be very little to convince my gf that we shouldn't try WoW Classic.  Sigh.... 

[XZaapryca]

VPN was a bust.  Not sure adding another layer of baloney on this crap sandwich would work anyway.  Only lost seven Euros.  Whatever that is.  lol 

I guess 5000 hours of ARK was enough.  Instead of $35x2 for Gensis, I get to spend that on reactivating WoW.  "yay"

I've always appreciated the ARK community over the years.  A bunch of stubborn and scrappy tree punchers to be sure.  Thanks for your help and suggestions! 

[Pipinghot]

19 hours ago, XZaapryca said:

Steam/Wildcard really want you to be always-on and accepting inbound connections. 

That's true, it's a crappy "feature" of just about every game that is distributed via Steam. The game server must be able to communicate with the Steam infrastructure in order to allow authentication and authorization for each of the clients, which means the server must have full internet access. Other than some of the older games that are still available from Steam, there's no such thing as a true LAN server for a Steam game anymore. The game had to be originally coded for true LAN play (like Half-Life 2: Deathmatch) and even then, even if here is a server version that's truly a LAN server, if you buy the game via Steam a lot of the clients have to be connected to Steam in order for them to get A&A before they can connect to the LAN server.

You might want to look into the non-Steam, UWP (universal Windows program) version of ARK, just be aware that it has its own quirks and difficulties (as far as I know, it doesn't support mods yet), and it might have the same issue. Considering that the game client has to connect to WildCard's infrastructure to "see" the list of available servers, I'm betting that the UWP version also has to have an always-live connection to the internet too.

[XZaapryca]

FYI, I hosted a non-dedicated and my gf's ping was 200+ ms.  Can't connect at all if we turn off the internet.  Adding a server with the local IP does nothing.  Offline mode does nothing.  Installing ASM locally exhibited the same behavior as our dedicated server regardless of connection state.

So, what I've learned from this is that unless you have a fast, low latency connection to the internet that allows inbound connections, forget having a dedicated server of any kind.  If your connection to the internet is cellular based or crummy WiFi then don't even bother with a listen host.  I hope that these posts help someone who is also a gamer and a full time RV'er.  

For giggles, installed Quake2 from our NAS, deep storage.  We were killing each other in less than 90 seconds....on the LAN.  Not many under 30 realizes what we've lost.  I'm going to go be old somewhere else. 

"All your game LAN's belong to us!" - STEAM 

[Larkfields]

Hey XZaapryca !

Stay old here with us...  it's good having someone else who understands how things could and should be ?