Master Server heartbeat
Trying to run a TribesNext server from my house and I can't get on the master server. I have forwarded ports 80 (tcp) and 27999 thru 29000 (udp). I am getting this message:
-- Sent heartbeat to TN Master. (master.tribesnext.com:80)
- Your server could not be contacted.
- Check your IP / port configuration.
I shut down Windows Firewall. My Battlefield 1942 server on the same machine is working and being advertised on that master server.
Any ideas?
Comments
There's no need to forward port 80, just the UDP port your server is bound to (default 28000). You don't need to shut down your firewall, just make sure the Tribes2.exe isn't being blocked.
The master server performs the same query a player looking to join your server would run, so if it responds with this message it means that the server you're asking to add either took far too long to reply or simply isn't connectable.
By default the master server will attempt to detect your server address based on the source address of the client connecting to the listing server, which is correct in most cases but not under all network configurations. If you type echo($IPv4::InetAddress); it'll show the IP address that the master will believe you're connecting from -- if this is not accurate for whatever reason (e.g. if you have multiple network adapters) you can try binding the server to a specific address with the $Host::BindAddress variable in
prefs/ServerPrefs.cs, which will be sent in your listing requests. You should generally leave this empty if you don't have a static external address or don't know what it's used for.I ran echo($IPv4::InetAddress); just now, and it gives my public-facing ip address. Beginning to wonder if my ISP is blocking certain ports. Do you know what is the lowest port number allowed is?
I tried $Host::BindAddress with and without my public-facing address... no change.
Welp, I changed my router to forward just port 28000, instead of doing a range from 27999 to 29000. It now works. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ahh, interesting. Not too surprised it was a forwarding issue, but that's a bit of an unusual it didn't activate on a range.
As a point of curiousity the lowest port number the master server will accept as possibly being allowed is 1024 - just because below that are well-known ports typically reserved for core services. It's not picky beyond that as long as it's a valid port number and responsive, but there's always a possibility of some networks or software filtering or manipulating traffic on other well-known ports.