Team Fortress 2 Server Issues (Outbound NAT)

[thezfunk]

OK guys,

I have spent hours searching the forums. I get very frusterated with games that don't spell out in detail how to setup dedicated servers (well). I don't know why there never is any documentation. I end up searching the net for hours piecing together information to try and make something work. I have found all of my issues addressed at some point in this forum and some of the solutions have helped and others haven't. I will explain were I started and the problem I am currently having. Maybe I am not doing anything wrong and hopefull someone here can confirm that.

First off, I am running this on XP pro. No windows firewall. Running m0n0wall as my firewall/router. I have all proper ports forwarded. I can see and connect to my server on the LAN. If I give my IP to my friends they can connect and play. Not myself, or my friends see my server listed in Steam. I have seen comments here saying that I may or may not but everyone else should see it.

At first, I didn't know how to even download and start a dedicated server for TF2. Using info I pieced together from CSS sites I figured out you need that update tool. I found an article online from Value stating the commands needed to (using that tool) download and update TF2 server. I was getting winsock errors and needed about 4 updates to complete. It still wouldn't work and I had to run the update tool with -verify to finally get it to work. I am typing this: srcds -game tf +exec server.cfg. Is this correct? When I run that from console from the orangebox directory I get a GUI that opens. Is this suppose to do that? It asks me questions that it should be getting from my server.cfg file. I put everthing to the way it is suppose to be and then click on 'start server'. It goes to a loading screen and then another gui window opens up. Is this suppose to happen? This new window has 6 tabs. The first one says 'main'. The ip address there is my local ip. Should it have my public listed? Do I have to specify what that is in my server.cfg? The next tab is 'Configure'. There is nothing in the box below the tag. Should there be? Should my server.cfg file be listed there? The other tabs seem to be working fine...'Statistics', 'Players', 'Bans', and 'Console'.

I have a sneaking suspicion it isn't reading my server.cfg...or maybe it is. Can you guys see my server? It's name is '[ABWFF] Anticlan Server'. Can you guys direct connect if you can't see it in Steam? IP is 65.26.195.76:27015. BTW...checking your ip with http://www.moanmyip.com is fun!

Oh and I have sv_lan 0 and sv_region 0 in my server.cfg which is in my cfg folder...and yes the extension is correct. So it is set for internet on USA East.

[thezfunk]

Well I have been doing even more searching and have tried a couple other things that don't seem to be working.

I tried the -console command and when I do that it will startup in console with no gui. When it is running like that I can no longer connect via LAN but I still don't think it is seen in Steam. My guess is that when I start it without the -console command it isn't readying my server.cfg?

Do I have to put a command in my server.cfg to state it's external ip? I have sv_lan set to 0 for internet already. Do I have to enter a steam master server ip somewhere?

[Drocona]

thezfunk Wrote:I am typing this: srcds -game tf +exec server.cfg. Is this correct?

Yes you could use that but it's not recommended, running console is better, as correct startupline would look like this:

Code:

srcds.exe -console -game tf +map cp_dustbowl

thezfunk Wrote:The ip address there is my local ip. Should it have my public listed?

No it shouldn't list your external/public IP

[thezfunk]

Ok,

Quick reply...thanks...that advice has gotten me further. I now get a connection successful message and bam! It seems to be up. Still can't find it in the steam list. I think I know why...

Went searching through the m0n0wall mailing list...found out that m0n0wall NAT is translating outbound packets even though I mapped the inbound ports. So the 'heartbeat' that my server is sending the Steam server is getting translated and steam is trying to connect via the translated port. I think I have to map the correct outbound port as well. I think it comes down to m0n0wall being much more powerful than a store bought router and it requires more indepth setup. Is the 'heartbeat' udp packet sent out on the 27015 port or is it something else? I am going to try and use wireshark (formerly ethereal) to determine.

[thezfunk]

Closer...

Running wireshark I see that there is a udp packet being sent from my server to 69.28.156.250 on port 26901. I have no idea if that port changes or if that is always the same port. I adjusted my NAT for 26901...now I am getting a response back from the master server...will I be able to see my server from the same network on steam? I can see it on LAN...but if it is working properly should I see it on steam too?

[public enemy]

Hi.. I am also trying to start a dedicated server on steam. I do know that you need to click "tools"in steam and then download and launch the "team fortress 2 dedicated server"

once that is loaded , maybe your part will work..

Public Enemy.

[Drocona]

public enemy Wrote:Hi.. I am also trying to start a dedicated server on steam. I do know that you need to click "tools"in steam and then download and launch the "team fortress 2 dedicated server"

once that is loaded , maybe your part will work..

Public Enemy.

That is a different dedicated server version than we use, we use the REAL dedicated server that can be installed through hldsupdatetool.exe


Everything on the SRCDS should go through 27015

[thezfunk]

Well I have it figured out. I would suspect that this may be some other peoples problems as well. Outbound NAT. Short and simple. When the heartbeat is sent from my server to Steam it is run through NAT and goes out whatever port m0n0wall decides at the time. Steam gets that random port and sends a response back...on that same random port. Since it is different every time it is pretty much impossible to forward that back to my TF server. Basically, m0n0wall is too secure. I need to be able to configure outbound NAT. M0n0wall doesn't allow that but PFsense (which is based off of m0n0wall) supposedly does. I will be looking into it further.

[thezfunk]

I have it working now. It took awhle. Some trial and error. Much hair pulling. But my server is up and on Steam. I changed over my m0n0wall box to pfsense last night. Then I went to the NAT settings. Enabled outbound nat...and checked the static port button. Had to reset the firewall state. Still didn't work. Went to bed...woke up today and there it was....

http://www.game-monitor.com/GameServer/65.26.201.187:27015/ABWFF_Anticlan_Server.html#top

[thezfunk]

I received an email from someone looking for more detailed instructions on how to setup static outbound NAT on pfsense.

First, log into your pfsense box. Go to the NAT configuration section. Click on the 'Outbound' tab. Click on the 'Manual Outbound NAT rule generation'. Make sure you have the LAN auto generation box checked (even if you don't it's easy to create an outbound rule). Then click 'save'. Now, one outbound rule for your LAN is created and you should still be able to get to the internet. You will have to create one for each interface that you have. I have three (LAN, DMZ, and WLAN(wireless LAN)). So it auto created one for LAN and then I made idential ones for the other two. Next, edit the rule for whichever interface your server is on. Go down to the Translation section and check the box that says, 'Static-port'. Save it and if it wants you to hit the 'apply' button go ahead and do that. Now you should reload the rules which you can do without a reboot but I just do the reboot. It took 5 hours for my server to show in Steam after that but use Game Monitor to check for your server because you won't see it on the server list from the same IP. I hope this helps.