Links 2001 MSN Gaming Zone trouble with Cable/DSL router

[MoesTavern]

I don't know if this is an issue with my LinkSys Cable/DSL router or with 'Links 2001'.

When I try to join a game on MSN gaming zone, upon entering Links 2001, I can see myself and the host. Nobody else. On the tee, all players are listed, but my screen keeps "waiting for remote player" after the first shot and stays there. Also, I cannot host a game as no connections are seen in the first screen in Links. If I plug the cable modem directly into my pc, everything works great.

Does anyone else have this problem with their router? Is this mabey an issue with The Zone itself? Please let me know if there is some funky setup I can screw around with to make this work. Is is a royal pain in my rear to keep screwing with the cables when I want to enter The Zone. I have 2 other pcs hooked up to the router, and the users get a little upset with me when they get bumped off.

Just FYI, I have no problem with Quake 3 Arena and fragging away online, which leads me to believe it's a problem either with Links 2001 or with the Zone with the addition of a router.

 

[RedRooster]

Have you opened the proper ports? I know I had a very similar problem with my router and after some research I found what ports needed to be opened.

For DirectX7 games(Links 2001) you must open port 47624 and port range 2300-2400.
TCP ports open to connect to the Zone/games must be 6667 and port range 28800-29000.

I've got all those open on mine, and a few others(I'm not sure what the other ones I have open are for), I remember having to open quite a few to get up and running on the Zone.
But try the ones above and see if it helps any.

 

[MoesTavern]

I didn't even think of that!

Forgive me for being ignorant, but where do I open these ports? In the router setup?

Thanks for the help.

 

[RedRooster]

Yep, in the router setup. I'm not sure how the LinkSys routers work, but with my Netgear I can go through the web based router setup and there it has an option for ports. With some routers(as well as my Netgear before the newest firmware) you may need to telnet the router, rather than going through the web based forms.
Have a look around in the manual or on Linksys' site and see exactly how you would go about opening ports and ranges of ports on yours.
Good luck, maybe we'll run into each other on the Links 2001 Zone someday. You'll probably beat me though.