Listen server IP
 

Hello,

I've been trying to host a CS 1.6 listen server through Steam so that people could join over the internet. The problem is, when I start the server via the usual 'New Game' option, the server is registered with my LAN IP address rather than the IP address I get at, say, whatismyip.com, or even a Steam-specific IP.

My question is, how would I go about starting a listen server with a normal IP address (i.e. 68.110.119.217:27015) rather than my LAN IP (192.168.1.100)? I've tried various methods to remedy the problem, but none have seemed to work. The first thing I did was go to whatismyip.com, where I was told my IP is 68.110.119.217. I then went into the Counter-Strike Launch Options and added the command +ip 68.110.119.217. That did essentially nothing, and even prevented me from joining the server via my LAN IP.

Anyway, does anyone know a way around this? It'll be a real shame if I can't get it to work, since I've already got MetaMod, AMX, and even PMB's PODBot currently running on my server. I'd really appreciate any help.

Thanks

Re: Listen server IP
 

Are you using a router?

Re: Listen server IP
 

I have not yet used 1.6 but what I am about to say about 1.5 should apply the same to 1.6


If you are behind a router using NAT, the default for most routers now, the PC running CS will have a non-routable IP address usually starting with 192. This is a non-routable IP which means it can ONLY be used on a LOCAL LAN. It will not go out of the router so the world can connect to it (at least not by initiating a connection from the outside)

For 1.5 if you start a LAN game only people on the LAN will be able to connect.
But if you start a dedicated server and you have the incoming port 27015 set to pas on to the PC running the DS then everything works fine. I ran a sever like this for a long time.

For 1.6 the port may have changed, but you MUST have some port forwarded to the game server for al of this to work.

The other thing you could do is not use the router (not a good idea these days with all the worms and viruses)

Re: Listen server IP
 

If you're not using a router the reason for this is of a completely different nature, it's DNS related:

During startup the engine resolves it's hostname to an IP address. As your internet connection is non-permanent and you have a permanent LAN connection the later one is the first in your local DNS table and therefore selected.

One trick that might work:
- disable your LAN interface
- start the game. It should now register with the internet IP
- reenable the LAN interface

Re: Listen server IP
 

First of all, I appreciate the replies.

I currently am behind a router with an IP of 192.168.1.100; when I start a listen server through CS, it tells me the server IP is 192.168.1.100:27015.

If I'm understanding correctly, all I have to do is open up port 27015 in my router settings so that people over the internet can connect through that IP (192.168.1.100:27015). If that's the case, I already went ahead and forwarded port 27015 for the IP 192.168.1.100 in the router settings.

I've had experience with this before; one of my file sharing clients didn't work until I forwarded a port in the router settings and then specified that port in the client's options. If the same applies to CS and port 27015 is required to be open in order to receive incoming connections, then this should work.

Let me know whether or not I have any clue about what I'm talking about.
Thanks

Re: Listen server IP
 

try going to whatismyip.com and adding that ip:27015 to your favorites. It should pop up if not make sure these ports are forewarded:
27000-27055
this should fix ANY port/router/firewall problems

Re: Listen server IP
 

Works like a charm :D

I guess it had everything to do with the port forwarding.

Thanks

Re: Listen server IP
 

Yup! Tx for lettign us knwo how it worked.
I never tried a LAN game behind a firewall so I didn't know.
But it looks like it works the same for LAN or Dedicated server.

The outside world will see the IP address given to the router by your internet provider, even though the real IP is the 192 one. The catch is that when people try to conect, they connect via port 27015 and the router has to know which one of the many pcs on the inside to send these requests to.

Re: Listen server IP
 

another thing that may help for all you router(w/ firewall) users:
I use dynsite for windows to set myself up with a permanent address (even with a dynamic ip address)
this software runs on your computer constantly updating to see if your ip has changed, if it has, people who use the address you pick (mine's: 420blunt.got-game.org:27016) will automatically get forewarded to your server, as long as the update software is running.
you can then give this address to all your friends or post it on your website, without having to worry about coming back later to update your addy!