Unable to join matches in multiplayer game lobby

[Agastya]

I have tried several ways, like using a different IP address, turning off the firewall, and anti-virus. But whenever I try joining a game it says "Failed to connect to a server, This is often caused by UDP port 20595 not being forwarded in the host side, by a firewall, or anti-virus software." I tried reinstalling the game on different devices but for some reason, I still can't. I would appreciate it if you guys could look into this and help me out with this problem. Looking forward to your reply.

[Agastya]

Its the exact error message I got

[dave_k]

Hello,

Have you tried joining various different players' games, or just the game that your friend is hosting?

This error message is almost always caused by an incorrect network configuration on the host side, not by a bug in the game.

Please ensure that the host has the port (UDP port 20595) forwarded at their router to their private IP address, as explained in the error message. Instructions are available at the following links. These are instructions for the person hosting the game, not for the person connecting to the hosted game. The person connecting to the game usually doesn't need to do anything special once the host has the correct network configuration.

​https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/FAQ

​https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Manual_SettingUpAGame#Settingupyournetwork

If you want more specific help with troubleshooting this issue then please join IRC, and I'll help you with it. This is the link for IRC.

​http://webchat.quakenet.org/?channels=0ad

[dave_k]

Thanks for joining IRC. Unfortunately the people who were active at the time were not very helpful. Please rejoin IRC at a time that I'm online. I am usually there between 17h00 and 05h00 CEST (Central European Summer Time zone), since I live in the United States.

For others reading this ticket, here are some relevant IRC chat messages.

10:06 < Agastya> I'm having trouble connecting to matches in the multiplayer lobby, I keep getting "failed to connect to server error"
10:08 < Agastya> I read the mail, and it said that problem generally occurs cz of the host, but the thing is I'm not able to join ANY game like seriously none, the error keeps popping up
10:12 < Agastya> I'm trnna join random people's games, and it almost never happens
10:15 < Freagarach> Have you tried LAN?
10:19 < Agastya> No I haven't
10:24 < Agastya> I use wifi, so no LAN or anything wired
10:25 < Freagarach> I meant whether you have tried to play with someone on the same network?
10:25 < Agastya> No
10:26 < Agastya> So what should I do?

My response to this is: it depends on your network configuration. We need details of the brand and model of each networking device (modem, wireless router, wireless access point, etc.) that you are using, how they are connected and how they are configured. If you rejoin IRC then we can more efficiently determine how much of this information is required.

You may have a "double NAT" configuration, you may have a router that is not allowing UDP firewall hole-punching, you may be using a proxy server to access the web and game lobby (but it's blocking actual game UDP network traffic), or there may be some other problem with your network configuration.

It's also interesting that "it almost never happens". Does this mean that sometimes you are able to join a game? Let's be accurate with how we phrase things. Earlier you were saying that you can't join ANY games. But if you are able to join some games then that is important information.

Please rejoin IRC and talk to me. If I'm not there then ask for a helpful and knowledgeable network troubleshooter. Thanks.