A question for network/router savvy folks.

I ran across that post in the General forum section regarding port forwarding just now and I got to thinking.

I have an external IP address I pay for along with my broadband connection, however, I use a personal router to allow my PC and a laptop to access the net via one connection.

The thing is, I've not set any port forwarding and Demigod has been working just fine. So I'm curious, should I setup port forwarding anyway, or does my having a non-NAT IP address provide me with a benefit, even though the address is sometimes used by two computers at the same time?

Probably a vague question without seeing my router settings but there's not much to say regarding them. I don't have any ports forwarded. So I'm wondering if one of these days I'll have some sort of conflict when both computers are connected via the router or whether it'll remain perfectly fine the whole time.

Somehow, I just don't feel like adding port forwarding unless it's absolutely required.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it?

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your sure you pay extra for an external IP?

almost all ISP's (exceptions being isps in poor areas or very big cheap ISPs) only asign "external/real" IPs however you will be assigned a random IP from a pool assigned to your area.

the most comon extra you pay for is a static IP so that each time you reconnect you get assigned teh same IP, usefull if you want to run a server or similar from your home, as it allows you to set up an NS record.

as to your question regarding ports, i agree with zehdon, you are one of the priviledged few who are able to play. so dont go chaning things unless it breaks of its own accord.

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@novex: He is probably paying extra for a static IP address, but I'm not sure why he'd need one as a residential user.

@LordMerlock: Your game is working because of Demigods NAT punchthrough doing its job, taking away the need for you to forward your ports on your router.

You will connect to players faster if you forward your ports, but it isn't going to affect your latency in game.

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Quoting Denominus,

reply 3

@novex: He is probably paying extra for a static IP address, but I'm not sure why he'd need one as a residential user.

@LordMerlock: Your game is working because of Demigods NAT punchthrough doing its job, taking away the need for you to forward your ports on your router.

You will connect to players faster if you forward your ports, but it isn't going to affect your latency in game.

Aye, I pay the extra for a static IP, and not really all too much. I just can't stand NAT. Say, I want to launch my httpd or some other server...but no one can connect to it. I just prefer the freedom of having a static address.

And thanks for that last line. Think I'll leave it as is. User connections take time anyway. It's the latency I was worried about.

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umm static IP has nothing to do with NAT...

INTERNET (all the IPs) <--> (your static IP) [ROUTER] (routers internal IP) <---> (your internal IP's)your computer & laptop

if you look at your network settings on your PC you will have an IP something like 192.168.1.10 (last couple of numbers will differ most likely)

if you want to run an HTTPd or anything on your PC then you will still need NAT (Network Address Translation) set up on your router. using http as an example what it does is translate/forward all incoming traffic to your static ip on port 80 to your internal IP(192.168.1.10) making it appear to the world that your router/static IP is hosting the website.

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My router has the static IP. I used to only have one PC with it. Now that there are two computers in the house, I got a router.

So both computers use the router via DHCP.

I understand that the router requires configuration, but that at least can be configured as I need it. At lack of a static IP (router aside), I'd not be able to get any outside connections and whatnot, since I'd be behind the ISP's NAT with IP masquerading or what have you.

No static IP = no control over who can and can't connect to me. That isn't comfy.

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as imentioned in my 1st post its very rare for ISP's to assign a "internal" IP to a customer, they will assign a random IP from their assigned pool of IPs. Meaning you will be given a random but fully accessible IP which you could then set up a dynamic domain name for (dynDNS) theres a fair few providers of this, and many routers now come with support for automaticly logging into a dynDNS provider upon connection.

however i cant say for sure what your isp does, but the only ISPs i have heard of that do assign "not-real" IPs on a regular basis are in some poorer eastern european & african countries where the ISP cant afford a decent block of real IPs to assign their customers, so basicly run their customers as a big network that they rout through a few real IP's.

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