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Fix for BT HomeHub / Thomson / BeBox etc routers disconnecting - walking into walls

I did post an explanation a while back, but I don't know in which thread. The rule is only on Thomson / rebranded routers because they're the only ones that decided to implement it, and as to what it is supposed to do, who knows. It intercepts connections made on UDP ports 27010-11, and the reason it breaks after 60 seconds is because there is a 60 second timeout on the rule - any connections made in this time via this rule time out. You can increase the timeout period, again only using telnet, and it will then break after the new length of time that is put in there. The reason why the rule affects KF, and in general any game that uses Steam master servers including TF2, L4D and the other Valve games, is that the ports used to communicate with these master servers is UDP 27010 and 27011. When the games grab the server list initially (which is set through Steam rather than the games) it uses these ports, which is why if you join through your Friends list or through the Favourites section of the game it avoids the problem.

Some people did say that if you have an application rule part on the web router's interface and added the preset Steam rule then it worked, but from some of the feedback I think it was somewhat of a placebo effect.

If you ever played Company of Heroes, it also has a different issue with that, at least on the v1 Home Hub, where the type of NAT it uses, the most basic one, doesn't work. You can change that to use a different form of NAT too, another simple 1-line command, but they still thought it would be a good idea to not sort that out either. The big problem for consumers is that obviously you need to be somewhat tech-savvy to sort it out, and it took me long enough to work out what was going on, but they will also blame the game developers rather than their own faulty router. Thomson don't want to fix it, BT won't fix it, and o2 won't want to fix it either. The even worse thing is that with the ISPs often locking telnet access out, people in a lot of cases can't fix it either. I was only able to do it on my updated v1 Home Hub by first flashing an old firmware which had access, before they updated it and removed it.

Anyway, thanks again for doing the video guide, I hope it helps a few people out.
 
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If they feel like messing around with the things mentioned on this page: http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives...ndows-features-on-or-off-optionalfeaturesexe/ then they can possibly solve it - I've not run into it myself. The official Microsoft line seems to be "system restore" or reinstall windows, which is laughable.

You can also use an alternative to Telnet like Putty - http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
Obviously it would need more explaining but you might get away with using captions - instead of using Telnet, just download and run putty.exe, put the IP address or hostname into the IP box, tick the telnet box and click OK and it should get them to the same place, just within Putty rather than Telnet.
 
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Hi, I registered simply because I did see a fix for my problem in this thread, my problem is how I can do it, simply because when I try to remove the rule using telnet, I get "command not allowed" when I hit enter, which would mean that Telnet is probably not supported on this router's software, and I'm not being able to find anything about how to update/change mine, or even, a version of it that does support such a command.
Phoned my ISP and all they could say "Oh sorry, we got no support for such router, so you wanted to open a port you said?" :\ so, ended up in me trying to get them to replace it but, same brand"ish" router, so, wouldn't matter.

All in all, looking for someone to help me trying to find out how to change my router's firmware to one compatible with telnet commands, so I can fix this bad line of code :S.
 
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It totally depends on which router you have, and which ISP supplied it to you. In some cases it is possible to flash the firmware to a version which had Telnet access, and in others, most often it isn't. Without knowing these two facts I can't offer any advice.

Hi, I'm currently using a THOMSON TG784 from a portuguese provider, MEO (www.meo.pt) and the software version is 8.4.2.Q, if it's even any relevant.
 
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Hey just a quick update, since doing the telnet fix i can confirm there is none of the players walking into walls however quite regularly i find that when i click to join a server i often get stuck on the connecting to server(press f10 to cancel) screen, as in nothing happens no matter how long i leave it. But if i cancel it and then find that same server again in the list and connect to it again, it will connect fine. This seems a similar fix to your connect to a server and reconnect when the walking into walls happens but it's not the walking into walls thats the problem its the getting stuck connecting to a server. Any idea what the problem is and if it may be related to the routers you need to telnet access? I'm wondering if there is a similar fix.
 
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Hi, I'm currently using a THOMSON TG784 from a portuguese provider, MEO (http://www.meo.pt/[url]www.meo.pt[/URL]) and the software version is 8.4.2.Q, if it's even any relevant.
I have no idea if there is an unlocked version I'm afraid, best to do a search around - if it doesn't have MEO firmware on it then you should be able to go in via Telnet anyway.
Hey just a quick update, since doing the telnet fix i can confirm there is none of the players walking into walls however quite regularly i find that when i click to join a server i often get stuck on the connecting to server(press f10 to cancel) screen, as in nothing happens no matter how long i leave it. But if i cancel it and then find that same server again in the list and connect to it again, it will connect fine. This seems a similar fix to your connect to a server and reconnect when the walking into walls happens but it's not the walking into walls thats the problem its the getting stuck connecting to a server. Any idea what the problem is and if it may be related to the routers you need to telnet access? I'm wondering if there is a similar fix.
I've not run into that problem so I don't know how or if to fix it I'm afraid.
When i`m in the console , trying to unbind GAME<UDP> it says , command not allowed , how can i fix this ?
Did you do the whole line - connection unbind application=GAME(UDP) port=27010-27011 ? If so then it sounds like you aren't logged in as the administrator / superuser, you'll have to look around on the 'net for the superuser name and password for your specific router.
 
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I have updated the first post with a new file fix for people to try.

If you are still having problems please try this.

NEW FILE FIX - Download the MasterServer2.zip file attached at the bottom of this post, and follow the instructions below.

Anyone experiencing the issue(s) above with these routers who is unable to, or doesn't want to, delete the rule from the router (instructions here), should:

  • download the attached zip file
  • extract the contained "MasterServer2.vdf" file into the "config" directory in their Steam folder, by default usually found at "C:\Program Files\Steam", over-writing the one that is there
  • mark the file read-only (IMPORTANT!) by right-clicking on it, selecting "Properties", and ticking the "Read-only" box and clicking OK
After following these steps, you should be able to play without any issues on KF (and RO:O) servers, and if you had these problems on any other Steam games such as TF2, you might find that this fixes those as well.

If this does not work for you, then you can try the following options: try forwarding your ports listed in a sticky (works for a few people), try the telnet fix (works 100% IF your router allows telnet access and you are able to log in to it), or use a workaround such as one of the following:

  • connect to a game and when it disconnects you (you see specimens walking into walls) open the console with the ` or ' key and type reconnect (you'll have to do this twice)
  • wait longer than 1 minute after refreshing the server list to join the game
  • add servers to your favourites and instead of clicking on internet, click favourites and connect from there

For those who can't download the fix from here, open up the MasterServer2.vdf file (found in your Steam\config directory) in notepad and copy and paste the following in, replacing the contents.
Code:
"MasterServers"
{
    "hl1"
    {
        "0"
        {
            "addr"        "69.28.151.162:27013"
        }
    }
    "hl2"
    {
        "0"
        {
            "addr"        "72.165.61.153:27015"
        }
    }
    "rdkf"
    {
        "0"
        {
            "addr"        "68.142.72.250:27012"
        }
    }
    "gms"
    {
    }
}
Save it and make sure you make it read-only, as above.
 

Attachments

  • MasterServer2.zip
    287 bytes · Views: 2
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Hey,

I had just brought and downloaded Killing floor off steam summer sale. I had connection issues as I use a thompson modem. I followed your instructions but I mustn't of hit the 'read only' option as the file was still a read write file. The game worked for one server and then reverted back to it's old crashes. I tried replacing master server 2, deleting and replacing steam config with an older version and putting a read only master server 2 on it but it still crashes after about 30secs into the match, any suggestions?
 
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You can try replacing both files (masterservers.vdf and masterserver2.vdf) with these from the Steam support article: [url]https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1452-HCVB-6984[/URL] but the outcome should be the same. After you have replaced them and made sure that they are read only, try playing, and if it doesn't work try opening them in notepad and seeing whether they are still the same as the ones you downloaded. If you are able to telnet into the router you should be able to fix the problem altogether - the link is in the first post.
 
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