Port Forwarding CAX30 just doesn't work...need help please.

[Wolfa]

I've followed all the tutorials on how to properly Port Forward this router. I'm trying to run an Ark: Survival Ascended Server and i have set all of the ports to be forwarded. However when i go online to check if the port is "open" i'm met with it being closed and this is confirmed by the PC that is acting as the server since no one can see the server nor can anyone connect to it after it has loaded.

I've already restarted the router multiple times after making the port forward changes. Ports are allowed access through the PC's firewall settings and the game is also allowed through the firewall settings. I called Netgear to find out what's going on but i can't afford the "armor" they want me to buy for a feature that should be available as a standard that just doesn't work from the guides written by the netgear team themselves on these discussions.

If anyone can help me figure out what is going on i would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

[Razor512]

Some of the other security features can prevent a port scan. I currently do not have that game, though I do have Arc Survival Evolved, and sometimes if a host does not respond to pings, or have the ports needed to show up in the server browser, a client may need to connect using the console commands and the WAN IP of the host, or the DDNS address if using a service like no-IP.

If possible see if someone can connect via your WAN IP and server port.

[Wolfa]

The port isn't open, so it doesn't even show up anywhere. 😞

That's my issue, even after going through all the steps to open the port it doesn't open.

[Razor512]

Which method are you using to check the ports?

Also did you give reserve an IP address for the dedicated server to ensure it is not getting a different LAN IP from the one in the port forward list?

One common issue with people hosting their own Arc servers, is the server not showing up in the main server browser by name, though sometimes showing up in the friends list, or in some cases not showing up in either location but still allowing users to connect when they open the console window and type in without the quotation marks "open ServerIP:Port" (replacing the serverIP word with the WAN IP address of the server, and port, with the port number).

PS, sometimes if a user is hosting a separate dedicated arc server on their LAN and then using a separate PC on the LAN to connect to the server, may end up with users on the WAN side having failed connection attempts.

Wanted to also add that some port scanners, including ones like shields up in some cases https://www.grc.com/shieldsup

may fail to scan certain ports depending on the behavior especially when pings are blocked and the scanner is doing a wide range of ports rather than a single port.

The reason why it is often a source of confusing is users experiencing a set of issues like that will think the port is not opened and that the router is not working properly.

In some cases, a port forward may not work properly if you only have an IPv6 WAN IP address. Beyond that, sometimes it is also worth doing a factory reset and not restoring a backup and seeing if the issue is resolved. Since the backups are effectively NVRAM dumps, if there is any corruption in that area, a restore of a backup will simply restore the corrupt values, thus a good troubleshooting step is to have a backup just in case a factory reset doesn't work to fix the issue, but do not immediately use it during troubleshooting.

[Wolfa]

Decided to switch to Ark: Survival Evolved so we can work this out since you already kinda know about it.

That's the inside of my router for the ports forwarded for ASE.

I've set my IPv4 to my internal ip address. Setting it to the ip address given by "what's my ip" website makes it so i can't get on the internet at all for some reason... nothing loads and it only works if i use the internal ip setting by the router.

I was using a website to test if the ports were open, the website says they're not. Even connected my other PC to the LAN and tried to find it via the View > Game Servers > LAN (tab) in Steam and still isn't showing up.

It only shows up in the LAN section of the laptop (the server is running off of). When i get game info on the laptop for the IP address / port number and plug it into my other PC to try to add as favorite this is the message im getting.

Leading me to believe that the ports are indeed closed and not open.

So what exactly do i have to do to get these damn ports opened ?? roflmao 

[Wolfa]

It could be i am not 100% understanding what you're trying to explain to me. For that i am very sorry...

[Razor512]

I will have to wait for the forum software to finish processing the images so that they can be visible to others. But in the mean time, if forwarding ports for the ark server, the settings would look like this.

(I embedded the i mage as well as attached it as a file since it takes a while for images to become visible after embedding)

Assuming default ports, you would forward ports 27015, as well as ports 7777-7778.

The internal IP address will be the LAN IP of the PC running the server software. (Do not assign a PC that is LAN side, an IP that matches the WAN IP or you will not have any connectivity.
For example, if the LAN IP of the PC running the server is 192.168.1.100, then that is what will be on the internal IP address setting.

PS, ARK's dedicated server software can often behave weird with the server browser when multiple systems on the same LAN try to access it, sometimes it will not show up in both, but if you use the console command to manually connect to the server. For example if it is 192.168.1.100, then in the console command window in ark, you will type the following command that I put in bold text.
open 192.168.1.100:7777

If the device is on the WAN side of the network, e.g., a friend across town wants to connect, then they will do open WANIP:7777

For example, pretend that the WAN IP is 212.227.94.130

The person on the WAN side will type in open 212.227.94.130:7777

[Wolfa]

The server shows it's up and running on the SteamCMD window... but even hard wired to my modem on both computers i can't see the server even in the LAN section.

I've input the command open 192.168.1.7:7777 and only a "Failed Server doesn't exist" error comes up.

As previously mentioned... i don't think the port is actually opened and i do not know how to open it.

The original picture i posted earlier is of 7 different entries of ports i am forwarding for ASE. After posting that picture i decided to try a single entry forwarding ports 4380 - 27037 as recommending from the port forwarding Ark Survival Evolved wiki. Still getting the exact same problem... 

[Razor512]

No need to forward ports that the server is not using. Beyond that, what happens if you try using your WAN IP to connect to the server?

The gateway device should allow NAT loopback thus allowing the WAN IP to work in the console command for the client PC on your LAN.

PS if you are running the server on the same PC you are trying to game on, try using 127.0.0.1 instead of the LAN IP address if attempting a direct local connection.

[Wolfa]

There is nothing.. .even when i try to connect to the server on the same pc the server is running on i get Unable to  Query Server Info for invite. Network Failure Message.

[Razor512]

That is strange, especially if LAN to LAN and even 127.0.0.1 on the same system hosting the server, often that indicates more of a software issue, since 127.0.0.1 doesn't even touch the router, and LAN to LAN on that router behaves like an unmanaged switch where nothing is blocked, and port settings should have no impact on, with the exception of the guest network.

[Wolfa]

Tell me about it... i took your advice on just doing what was required... 7777 / 7778 and 27015 - those are the 3 that i port forwarded this time. Still on the website canyouseeme.org my ports are showing up as not open. 

I can't help but wonder WTAF am i doing wrong or is it this particular modem? All the tutorials i see show different UI's when inside of the modems web browser. And it just seems like everyone does port forwarding with ease... but with me it just doesn't work or i am to stupid to figure it out.

idfk anymore...

[Razor512]

Usually if you cannot access the game server on the LAN (without using the WAN IP), then the port forwards will not matter much. Currently that canyouseeme site will not report servers using just UDP, and they will also not detect TCP services that are not actively being used, even if the port is forwarded.

But a site that can tell you if a port is forwarded properly without a server active on it, is GRC shields up https://www.grc.com/shieldsup

Click on proceed, then type in port 7777 then click on the button that says "User specified custom port probe". if the port is forwarded but no service is detected running on it, then it will list it as closed, but if it is not forwarded, it will list it as "Stealth"  (you can confirm this by trying a port outside of the range you forwarded as well as a port in the range)

From the looks of things, I suspect that the port is forwarded fine but something on the PC is preventing it from working properly.

I am unsure of all of the causes, but I know that ARK dedicated server has some issues with the split tunnel driver of many VPN client applications (e.g., private internet access, etc.), as well as some 3rd party AV software such as malwarebytes premium (their network shield).

[Wolfa]

GRC Port Authority Report created on UTC: 2024-07-05 at 00:54:55

Results from probe of port: 7777

    0 Ports Open
    1 Ports Closed
    0 Ports Stealth
---------------------
    1 Ports Tested

THE PORT tested was found to be: CLOSED.

TruStealth: FAILED - NOT all tested ports were STEALTH,
                   - NO unsolicited packets were received,
                   - NO Ping reply (ICMP Echo) was received.

[Wolfa]

I've tried it with the server running listening for those ports and i get the exact same response.

I've listed ports 7777, 7778 and 27015 in the firewall inbound exceptions and turned off windows antivirus completely and realtime protection as well.

I have no other AV that laptop. soooooooo.......

[Razor512]

The stock windows defender will not interfere with ARK dedicated server, thus it is fine to keep that on (it is best to have some AV running whenever exposing any server to the WAN).

From the GRC report, it shows the port at closed, thus meaning that the port is forwarded but nothing is actively using it LAN side, thus that data is dropped.
If the port was not forwarded, it would be listed as stealth as the router would not react in any way to the probe, thus causing the probe to time out. In cases like that, something on the PC is stopping it from properly running the server.

In cases like that one potential solution is to run the dedicated server in a virtual machine with the network access set to bridged. It also provides an extra layer of protection in case a server exploit is ever discovered and used, then potential harm would be limited. For example if using my main PC, I will sometimes use a windows virtual machine hosted in virtualbox https://www.virtualbox.org/ though in my case, I can run an ARK dedicated server locally. Though if doing that, I will sometimes need to disable PIA or at least the split tunnel function to avoid this error, unless I run it in a VM.

[Wolfa]

So having the dedicated server running doesn't open the ports? Because that's what i did. Started the server. Made sure it went through all the checks and it is running.

Then i checked it via the GRC link u gave me and it says closed.... 

I'll try the Virtual Machine thing but i have no idea what that even is or how to even use it... so i'll be a bit before i respond more. 

Thank you for trying to help me with this. It's been super frustrating for months..almost a year...

[Razor512]

For a virtual machine, there are many options such as virtualbox. https://www.virtualbox.org/

Then you simple download a ISO of windows or any other OS you want, Microsoft allows you to download a copy of windows directly from them. For example, using the windows 10 installation media tool (which you use the option in the tool to download the ISO file for windows 10)  https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

Or the windows 11 ISO download (3rd option on the page): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11/

The way it works is you create a virtual machine, and then decide on how many CPU cores and how much RAM you would like to allocate to it. Only challenge is running it on a laptop can get tricky if it doesn't have much RAM, since a VM will essentially be doubling the operating system overhead since you are running a second copy of windows as an application.
For me, since I run it on a desktop system, I allocate 8 cores along with 16GB of RAM to it.

Then I have the network driver for virtualbox set to bridged. This makes the VM look like a separate physical system on the network, and also get around any port issues from the VPN split tunnel.

In terms of CPU performance, there is very little overhead if you have the hardware virtualization turned on in the bios, (most laptops will have it on be default). Overall a VM is useful if you want an OS environment tailored specifically to a server you want to run. They are also useful for their snapshot function which allows you to restore it to the condition in the snapshot, which is great for testing random software without risking the main OS, (though the VM will not run software properly that requires GPU acceleration, thus while game servers can run, games themself will not run. (the emulated GPU is slower than what is found in most modern mid range smartphones).

Beyond that, ARK dedicated server is one of the more frustrating servers to set up since it is quite finicky, and even with a proper setup, it can still once in a while require multiple connection attempts especially if you have a client connected over the LAN along with multiple wanting to connect over the WAN at the same time. Most of the time it will work fine, but once in a while there will be errors joining and they will need to retry, and the server gives no good info on why that happens and the devs do not put any effort into addressing those issues when users complain on the forums and on reddit.

[Wolfa]

got the VM running / ASM downloaded and installed with SteamCMD ... set the server up and network to bridged. Port Forwarded the VM and started the server. Same issue, still couldn't connect and it couldn't find the server.

I called xfinity and am having them send me one of their modems so i can get away from netgear entirely. See if that helps... will post back here with my findings.

I'm done till then.. ty again for all the help

[Razor512]

That is really weird at that point, does it at least allow a local connection via the console commands?
If it can connect locally to the VM at least, then one other potential troubleshooting step is allowing the router to respond to pings in its security settings.

Other than that, it would be interesting to see if the Xfinity rental router works any differently, but it is strange to see a VM not work, especially if a LAN client cannot connect.

PS, the LAN browser in ARK is very unreliable, even for me, it does not show up reliably, and I typically have to use the console command to connect. In my case, I simply set a steam launch command so that the game simply connects automatically to the server once launched, via +connect IP:port +password "YOURPASSWORD" (without the quotation marks). For example, if the local server is at IP 192.168.1.10:7777 and has a password of abc123, it would look like +connect 192.168.1.10:7777 +password abc123

In my case, that made it so I don't have to bother with the server browser.