"Failed to Connect"/ Commonly Overlooked Solutions?

[Buckycarbon]

Hey folks, 

I'm just throwing this up here as a sort of last ditch effort, I've all but given up on being able to play multiplayer with my friend on a server I'm hosting.

I've tried several of the troubleshooting tips that you can find around the net, port forwarding, using Tunngle instead of Hamachi etc.

Do any of you know if there's common slip-ups or mistakes when trying to get a friend to connect via LAN simulation?

I feel like the ports are all forwarded, the Hamachi client is running, my server is running on my PC... we've tried a million permutations lol Feels like it should work, but it just fails to connect. Zomboid seems really fun online and I'd love to give it a whirl

Thanks for your collective time

[EnigmaGrey]

By LAN, do you mean you're both on the same Internet connect (in the same house, on the same router .etc)?

[Buckycarbon]

No, just using Hamachi, which attempts to simulate a LAN connection by creating a tunnel IP. I've played games before with Hamachi and had it work just fine, even recently, but for whatever reason *shrugs* 

[EnigmaGrey]

Can't really help with that, personally, as I don't use Hamachi. Though this is a bit old, some have said it's a good guide: http://steamcommunity.com/app/108600/discussions/3/540735426498254264/

Antiviruses/firewalls have blocked users before; I take it both you and your friend tried temporarily disabling these to be sure they weren't interfering?

[Buckycarbon]

That's a great guide, actually what I used to set up in the first place. 

I can connect to the server, I can see my username come up in the cmd console, so I think my side is fine. I can't attest for him though, in entirity. I would assume he knows that sort of thing, but maybe not. I'll try next time we connect to get him to look through his allowances and make sure Zomboid is in there.

Thanks, that little problem is easy to overlook!

The bizarre thing is we used the exact same sort of set up that failed in Zomboid, for Unturned and it worked just fine. It very well could be firewall settings.

[Rathlord]

Different games also handle servers very differently. I've had one game work with Hamachi and another not- the one that didn't wasn't Hamachi's fault, it just required a different setup.

 

Make sure your friend is connecting with the Hamachi group IP, not yours. If that also fails, it may be worth trying to have him connect using the word "localhost" without the quotation marks instead of an IP.

 

Make sure the connection in the Hamachi group is green for both you and him- if it's blue (or any color other than green) that means there's something wrong on Hamachi's end.

 

Hamachi also uses different ports than PZ. You might need to port forward the ports Hamachi uses- you can find them buried inside Hamachi's user options, however this stuff can get pretty advanced.

 

Assuming you're already port forwarding, why aren't you just running the server normally rather than complicating it with a fake LAN setup. There's no advantage to it if you know how and are capable of port forwarding.

[Buckycarbon]

There's a lot of food for thought there, thanks!

As for why I'm using Hamachi while also port forwarding... I don't know lol

I was under the impression that Hamachi would help make things easier, though we did try some straight up connections. What would I use if it was the straight connection? My external IP? Also that would just use Zomboid's port, correct? 

Maybe that would be the easiest way to give it a go... I don't know, I find it quite complicated to begin with so I could be adding needless steps that cause failure. Your info helps though, thanks a lot, I'll try out some more of this tonight when we're both done work.

[Rathlord]

Heya- ya, the main point of Hamachi is to help people who can't figure out port forwarding. Given that you seem a smart chap, you should e fine without it!

You'll want to open up the ports for PZ (can't remember it off the top of my head right now as I'm at work). That means the first port open, and then one port after it for each person you want to be able to play including yourself. If the first port was 16610, you'd open 16610, 16611, and 16612 for you and your friend, for example. Make sure you open the ports in BOTH TCP and UDP.

Then open the server, Google "what's my IP" and give that number to your friend. He types in your IP and the first port (16610 in my example) as the port.

Just for testing purposes is recommend you both turn off your firewall and Hamachi when you try to connect. If it works, enable them again and see if that breaks it.

Good luck!

[Buckycarbon]

Awesome! That sounds like some things I haven't heard before too.

My router is pretty annoying, in the port forwarding section, it only allows me to choose between UDP and TCP. I've had routers in the past where the option looks like "TCP/UDP" but that's flat out missing on mine. Gotta love non-standardized equipment.
 

I'll see if there's a way to create two versions of the allowance, maybe I can select one and then the other and have them both open and running (TCP/UDP)

I'll post up here once I try some things.

[Rathlord]

Yah, the router should be able to have an opening for both; even if it means doing one exception for each, you should still be able to do it that way with no problems. Best of luck!