pings not showing up for servers, but can join fine.

[{XG}Gijs007]

hey guys,

im the hoster for the {XG}clan servers, I have set up my router to allow pings, and open the ports for the servers but in the server browser the pings still don't show up.
the server works fine for the rest, you can join and play on it but the pings don't show up while in server list.

does somebody knows which port/setting I need to change in my router to allow these pings?

thank you for your time:downs:

[Cortexian]

It seems to be a glitch with 1.09, my server and the Modacity servers don't display pings in the server list either.

[Vicky]

Except that this started weeks after v1.09 was released, my guess is still gamespy but of course they deny being the cause :P

[supersniper]

i think it's just home hosted computers, if you rent one at gameservers the ping shows up fine correct?

[Amit]

Well, since the Modacity servers kick anyone over 400 ping and Lancer's Edge kicks (supposedly) anyone over 350, I can guess that the server pings are 350 or below.

[Vicky]

Wrong thread?

Anywho, yes it could be possible that big gamehosts still get their ping through, i believe a bunch of CE servers are hosted in Rotterdam by I3D and those do have pings. However when i set up a ded it won't have a ping and this has never been an issue in the past, lets say some time before the 1.09 version came out. I think this may be due to the fact that we're in Europe (or something) because in the U.S everything seems to be fine from what i've heard.

[Cortexian]

Modacity and Lancers Edge servers are hosted in the US and don't show their ping in the server list, it's not a locale issue at all imo. If anything it probably IS a problem with gamespy or the communication between the dedicated and gamespy.

[Vicky]

True, didn't think of the modacity servers... so, now we all call gamespy? See if that gets things done :P

[supersniper]

are modacity servers hosted on a home computer or at a server hosting company?

[{XG}Gijs007]

it did work fine for me when I had my pc directly connected to the internet, but now im running the server inside a virtual pc with windows server 2003 32 bit cause halo servers crash a lot with 64 bit os...

so I had to put a router between the server and the internet cable modem.
or maybe its cause my firewall blocks some stuff on a virtual network adapter... idk...

[Vicky]

Firewalls can block pings too yes, even when players can still join...

So you host from home right? Hosting v1.08 or 1.09? Maybe we can compare some things, NL here too.. Starting to wonder if it could be the ISP perhaps :S

[Cortexian]

Technically the Modacity servers are "home hosted" but they're on a 25/25 internet connection and running on professional server hardware.

[n00b1n8R]

As long as I've played Halo I've seen servers with invisible ping v:raise:v

[supersniper]

well that was my theory, home-based servers don't show ping, while non-home based servers do show ping, IE server hosting companies.

[Vicky]

But this wasn't always the case, lets say up to v1.08 home-based servers also had a ping.. if not blocked by a firewall in some way.

[Patrickssj6]

Î don't know how the ping system works for Halo. Korn can correct me here but I guess that GameSpy passes the IP of the servers to you and your client pings them. If this is true the client either pings the system (which can block the ping request; ICMP Blocking by the router) or the dedicated server. Duno.

[jcap]

I've been trying to figure this out today, and I don't get it at all. From what I can tell, the ping in the server list is a real ping, unlike the ping you see on the scoreboard. Each time you request the server list, the Halo client chooses a random port to ping the servers from. The destination port actually appears to be the port the dedicated server is running on, so I don't think there's any random port we aren't thinking about.

[Patrickssj6]

The question is if Halo is ping'ing the machine or the dedicated server application.

So basically just a simple windows "ping modacity.net" or a custom system implemented into the dedicated server .

[jcap]

Also, here's a list of ports open while the server was running:

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP GPC2:epmap GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:microsoft-ds GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:3389 GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:4400 GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:netbios-ssn GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:1026 GPC2:0 LISTENING
UDP GPC2:microsoft-ds *:*
UDP GPC2:isakmp *:*
UDP GPC2:1035 *:*
UDP GPC2:2303 *:*
UDP GPC2:2304 *:*
UDP GPC2:3776 *:*
UDP GPC2:4500 *:*
UDP GPC2:ntp *:*
UDP GPC2:netbios-ns *:*
UDP GPC2:netbios-dgm *:*
UDP GPC2:1900 *:*
UDP GPC2:ntp *:*
UDP GPC2:1045 *:*
UDP GPC2:1066 *:*
UDP GPC2:1900 *:*
And afer I closed it...

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP GPC2:epmap GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:microsoft-ds GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:3389 GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:4400 GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:netbios-ssn GPC2:0 LISTENING
TCP GPC2:1026 GPC2:0 LISTENING
UDP GPC2:microsoft-ds *:*
UDP GPC2:isakmp *:*
UDP GPC2:1035 *:*
UDP GPC2:3776 *:*
UDP GPC2:4500 *:*
UDP GPC2:ntp *:*
UDP GPC2:netbios-ns *:*
UDP GPC2:netbios-dgm *:*
UDP GPC2:1900 *:*
UDP GPC2:ntp *:*
UDP GPC2:1045 *:*
UDP GPC2:1066 *:*
UDP GPC2:1900 *:*

[Patrickssj6]

Ping'ing doesn't use TCP/UDP...it uses IMCPv4 (if this is system based).

[jcap]

Yeah. I was just wondering if Halo did it in a special way like Gamespy suggests with their ports list, but it appears that is not the case. The thing I don't understand this this: If the server is pinged with just ICMP, then why is it not replying? I can ping the remote network just fine.

[Vicky]

If the serverlist ping is a real ping nowadays it explains why my server doesn't have a ping in the list, been messing with it too, for some reason i can't ping my WAN ip anymore (using a remote ping-site) nor do i have setting for that in the crappy modem/router from my ISP nor can i telnet the damn thing. Got some questions for my ISP... :toughguy:

[jcap]

I actually don't think it's a standard ICMP ping. If it was, it would be appearing in my firewall log, like when I manually ping it.

[Patrickssj6]

If the serverlist ping is a real ping nowadays it explains why my server doesn't have a ping in the list, been messing with it too, for some reason i can't ping my WAN ip anymore (using a remote ping-site) nor do i have setting for that in the crappy modem/router from my ISP nor can i telnet the damn thing. Got some questions for my ISP... :toughguy:
Is your WAN IP (inside the router) a 10.X.X.X thing?


I actually don't think it's a standard ICMP ping. If it was, it would be appearing in my firewall log, like when I manually ping it.

Then it's a custom packet inside the dedicated server in which case we need KORNMANNNNN :ohdear:

[jcap]

If it's not ICMP, how else could it be getting a response? The only other way I thought was by sending a packet to the port the server is running on, the same way it can request the most up-to-date information for the server (like current players, gametype, map). But if that's the case, then why doesn't ping work?

:|

[Patrickssj6]

not to mention it would be pretty stupid since a simple ICMP packet is much more effective.

[Vicky]

Is your WAN IP (inside the router) a 10.X.X.X thing? Nope, there are rules for local IP ranges, what you mentioned is a local IP (range) like 10.0.0.1 for example.


Re: pings not showing up for servers, but can join fine.
If it's not ICMP, how else could it be getting a response? The only other way I thought was by sending a packet to the port the server is running on I think that was the way it used to work, hence the bunch of traffic going to the server back when things were still normal.


Re: pings not showing up for servers, but can join fine.
not to mention it would be pretty stupid since a simple ICMP packet is much more effective Except that a router could answer the ping while having no ports open to the server i guess.

E: How about getting sawnose into this? Let him and gamespy sort it out, either way something has changed.

[jcap]

OMG!

Guys, I have a lead...I finally understand some shit that's going down!

Alright, so when a server has a ping displayed in the server list, it is because the client is talking with the server directly over the UDP protocol. The client sends out a packet, and the server responds with one packet with the gametype, map, players, etc. My guess is that the client also times how long it takes to receive the data after it requests it, and so we end up with a ping!

But, when a server doesn't have a ping displayed next to it, the client actually doesn't reach out to the game server. Instead, it contacts Gamespy with a very short packet containing the IP address and port of the server over TCP! (WTF?) I guess Gamespy then relays the most recent information it has about the server on record.

On an unmodified dedicated server, it sends information about its current status at constant intervals from the server port to port 27900 at Gamespy. I've noticed that occasionally, it will also receive communication from Gamespy at 27900 to the dedi's port. Additionally, I noticed the server contacted Gamespy at 27901, and sometimes 27901 hits back at ports 1226, 1227, 1228, 1229, 1230, and 1231 on my network. The port number appears to increase by one every time it contacts me, and I don't know why.

So now the question is, WHAT THE HELL IS MAKING THIS HAPPEN!?

E: I need remote access to someone who has a home server that has a ping.

[Vicky]

Good find find so far :)

Well the increase in ports normally comes from within contacting something out there on a 'short' interval, like opening 10 instances of a browser and let them connect to the same site.. they'd all be connected to the same site but with a different binding, locally they'll have ports like 1000,1001, 1002 etc. e.g. but the external port would be 80 for all of them.. can only be TCP btw.

How bout opening 27900-27901 TCP incoming?

[jcap]

I'm beginning to think it has nothing to do with the ports. I've opened everything I've seen, and it makes no difference one way or another. Skyline's dedicated server shows a ping when it's running for testing, but he has only 2302 open.

[Vicky]

And running v1.09 ?

[Patrickssj6]

The ports increase probably because of improper port handling. The client always requests the IP/Port information from GameSpy first. Then it sends the UDP packet to the client to request information.

[Vicky]

Aint no real pings though, was able to ping both servers with and without ping.

[{XG}Gijs007]

I have send gamespy a email:

thanks vicky for the email and ticket number:)

Subject: Ticket #2833-8328182: (ticket number of Vicky (http://www.modacity.net/forums/member.php?1192-Vicky) on the modacity forums)

Dear gamespy support,

I have used his ticket number cause he is having the same issue, and we where discussing this on the modacity forums.

under the following topics: http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?19613-HALO-1.09-CE-%28personal-dedis-ping-not-showing%29&highlight=pings and http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?23041-pings-not-showing-up-for-servers-but-can-join-fine.

Lots of people have this issue, including me, vicky and freelancer.
all home hosted connections behind a router have this issue, we have tried opening the following ports:
Found this on bungie.net:

For Halo:
80 (Transmission Control Protocol [TCP]) - Halo looks to see if there is a Halo update available. If there is an update, Halo downloads the update through this port.
2302 (User Datagram Protocol [UDP]) - the game host listens on this port.
2303 (UDP) - the game client connects to the game host through this port.

For Gamespy and Arcade Application:
6667 (IRC)
3783 (Voice Chat Port)
27900 (Master Server UDP Heartbeat)
28900 (Master Server List Request)
29900 (GP Connection Manager)
29901 (GP Search Manager)
13139 (Custom UDP Pings)
6515 (Dplay UDP)
6500 (Query Port)

I have also tried dmz mode and disabling my eset firewall and virus scanner without results.

This seems to be a game spy issue, possibly related to not allowing to change the ip of the ping packet by nat (cause the internal ip dressmaker is different then the external one).
If the internal and external ip of the server match, everything seems to work fine however this is not possible with a router with dhcp.

Yours sincerely,
Gijs van der Velden

as stated in the email I think this is caused by dhcp or nat, could anyone test by disabling dhcp on the router?

[Cortexian]

I always use static DHCP settings on my routers in order to maintain the same IP for certain PC's on my internal network. In setting all my network devices manually I've essencially disabled the routers internal DHCP assignment server.

Is that what you mean? Because it doesn't help.

[Vicky]

I don't use DHCP at all and no ping showing up. 'Funny' thing is, this is no longer just a halo ded. issue.. when i host a Crysis ded. (uses gamespy too) the exact same thing happens; others and myself can join it but the ping of my ded. is N/A.. Many others, not all though, are too.

[{XG}Gijs007]

idk if bad company 2 uses gamespy, butI cant see pings in the server browser of bad company 2 either, but that only happend after an update for bc 2, and I didn't open any ports of firewalls for bc 2.

but anyway, is your internal(network) and external(internet) ip the same? that's what I mean.

[{XG}Gijs007]

gamespy still didn't respond to my email...
any progress?
maybe we should send a community mail(physical)/letter to their HQ to ask them about this and resolve it?