Why can’t I host a game in Netplay?

The ability to host a game in Netplay is dependent on two items: giving your opponent the correct IP address to connect to and having your host computer free of any firewall/security measures that might block your opponent from connecting to you.  In addition, if you use a wireless router you will need to setup our port forwarding properly.

To confirm your IP address, you should go to a website like http://www.whatismyip.com

There are three possible firewall/security measures that you might need to disable or configure to properly host a Netplay game:

  1. Windows Firewall. If you have XP or Vista, there is a Windows Firewall available that needs to be turned off. To turn off your Windows Firewall go to the Control Panel, Network and Internet and you should find an option to access the Windows Firewall there.
  2. 3rd Party Software Firewalls. Any software firewalls like Norton Security, McAfee Security, and Zone Alarm, etc. need to be disabled or turned off. Open your respective software and follow directions for disabling or exiting that software.
  3. Hardware Firewalls. Any Wired/Wireless router and some combination modem/routers will have hardware firewalls built into them. These cannot be disabled or shut off. You will need to contact the manufacturer of your hardware and inquire about Port Forwarding. You need to Port Forward port # 6501 to allow the Netplay connection to pass through your hardware firewall security.

Wireless Routers can cause difficulty in playing all PC-based internet games.  That is because when a message is sent to your game from your opponent’s machine it gets delivered to the wireless router, which then needs to forward it on to your PC.  The mechanism to do this is called “port forwarding.”  Every router has its own instructions for defining port forwarding, so the particular method of doing this for any given router is beyond the scope of the technical support that we offer.  However, there are good resources available on the internet that will help guide you through the process of setting up port forwarding for you router.  We recommend that visit http://portforward.com to determine the steps to setup your wireless router for Netplay.