Why this game stinks

[:1]This is why this game stinks. You need to have a router compatable with xbox live or else you can't do any co-op stuff. For those of us who do not have such a router or cannot afford to get a new compatable router we are in trouble.|||Not true at all. Any router which allows you to do simple portforwarding and/or enable UPnP (which has a list of known ports/applications) is compatible with the game. You only need to know how to properly forward traffic to the ports GFWL uses on your router. There's a lot of tutorials on the internet on how to portforward for specific routers. If you can't find yours, you could always contact the support of your router's manufacturer.
|||nvm|||

is it even worthy of a LOL?

well, LOL

|||If you think that this game stinks. Why are you playing it? If you don't like it just stop playing.|||This is why 50% of the people whining are clueless and have no idea what they are talking about.
|||I think you just got schooled, AOEO doesn't need fools who don't know what they are talking about.|||

ive also had this problem, espicialy in aoe3. was a pain in the back since i couldnt join 90% of the games. but then i learned about dmz hosting from this site and im able to join 75% of the games

go to this site if your intrested, dont worry about making mistakes, its totally reversible and even an idiot cant make permanant damage here, you just have to press defualt or automatic settings if you want to restart

http://www.trainsignaltraining.com/windows-vista-ip-addressing

this also works well for windows 7,should for xp. the video is amazingly helpfull as well

for those who want a fast simple way to do it with pictures, heres some help. dont worry, for once this is easier than it looks. way easier. im talking about being able to do this in 1 minute or less without a sweat

Part 1: open controll panel, then open network &internet or a similiarly named icon

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/5999/networking.png

Part 2: then, open network and sharing center

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/9697/networking1.png

Part 3: then click on change adapter settings, to the side

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7825/networking2.png

part 4: right click your adapter, the one your using for internet (if your using a wireless conection right click the wireless adapter) and press properties

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/8827/networking3.png

part 5: double click the ipv4 bar. disabling ipv6 is optional

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/5821/networking4.png

part 6: this is where you actually get to change some stuff.put these settings in. thyre simple numbers that will give your computer a static ip to your router. dont worry about making mistakes, you can always press the obtain ip adress automaticly to go back to defualt.

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/3357/networking5.png

part 7: now type in this on the internet adress bar (Not the search bar. or google): 192.168.0.1 these numbers are the adress for your router, you should be able to see your router homepage now. press on advanced options if you have it, or firewall/nat/dmz settings.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/690/networking6.png/

Part 8: find the options for DMZ hosting

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/594/networking7.png/

Part 9: enable DMZ hosting if your router supports it. to do so just enter the following numbers, the firstone you added earlier to your adapter: 192.168.0.99 or you can choose your computer name from a list if your router is awesome like mines. congratz, you are now in dmz mode, and can pretty much join any game*. this is totally reversible as well, you just press "disable" or "off". Note: sometimes prolonged use of dmz hosting will make it hard to visit websites, so its only really recomonded to use it when playing online. you dont really need it if your visiting facebook or something

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/7/networking8.png/

hope this helps,dont worry about making a mistakes, remember you can always go back to defualt easily, and even a moron cant dopermanant damage on this one. the only thing youll lose if you make a mistake is internet acces, whichyou can getback easilyby pressing automatic settings on theipv4 bar

*Firewalls are the bane of dmz. even if you enable dmz hosting, with a firewall chances are your gains are gonna be small. while i know alot of people wont leave thier firewalls for 'nuthing, that security comes at a price of freedom (thinking of airports while typing this one). while you might want to keep your computer safe, i personally dont feel threatened by just playing vedio games online without downloading or something in the background. ofcourse thats totally up to you on this one. this includes windows, antivirus and router firewalls

|||I have windows XP. any advice for that?|||

This game does not ...

It is a great game indeed!

But ...

I opened the ports in the windows firewall and on my Belkin Router. I still get a strict NAT warning. I have to turn on the DMZ setting to avoid this.

But ... I do not want to do this

and ...

and I do not have to do this with any other of my multiplayer games. Microsoft please handle this like everybody else :-) and do not force your customers to take security risks.

Regards

Happy Age of Empires Online Player

@oligx:

Playing while in the DMZ (and running anything else) is not safe if ...

... any of your OS software services running in the background has a soft spot. Then a scan from the internet will detect it and abuse it. So while I take the risk, I do still not want to take it.

|||

i can understand why you dont like taking the risk, trust me, i dont like it either. butguessing from how this game communicates with our computer, it doesent seem it will change anytime soon. and imconfident in my computer, so i take the risks to enjoy a game online

maybe they could make it the same way other games like bad company and motorstorm work, there never seems to be a nat error when joining those games. the ps3 takes the same nat from the router as my computer, so it must be something about how those games work that allow people with clashing n.a.t. to play eachother. cananyone with knowledge of stuff like this confirm? (looks at bill)

as for xp, im not sure, but if you can find your internet adapter it should be fine. just add the settings from part 6 upwards

|||still couldn't change anything. Not sure what I'm doing. God, this game really stinks.:(|||did you find your internet adapter? or are you stuck on the webpage part|||couldn't find my internet adapater.