Welcome guest. Before posting on our computer help forum, you must register. Click here it's easy and free.

Author Topic: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?  (Read 8180 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Gilgamesh21

    Topic Starter


    Intermediate

    port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
    « on: December 03, 2016, 03:09:43 PM »
    Hi all,

     I am abit confused and a noob on how to "correctly" port forward battlefield 4 on the Huawei e8258ws and I cannot seem to do it right.

    In this picture below you can see how it looks inside the router, and I am confused on choosing virtual server or special applications. Also, how do I go about filling up the boxes with the right numbers?

    Can anyone help, please?

    [attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]

    DaveLembke



      Sage
    • Thanked: 662
    • Certifications: List
    • Computer: Specs
    • Experience: Expert
    • OS: Windows 10
    Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
    « Reply #1 on: December 04, 2016, 05:22:33 AM »
    https://help.ea.com/article/online-ports-for-battlefield-4/

    Should be able to just configure according to this and get it working.

    Note: I was able to google search but unable to check out the site through my internet connection, but all info should be there on which ports and what to configure.

    Gilgamesh21

      Topic Starter


      Intermediate

      Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
      « Reply #2 on: December 04, 2016, 02:51:54 PM »
      Thanks DaveLembke, I had managed to get to that web page to get the port numbers earlier, however, I did not know which options should I choose when putting the number in - is it virtual server or special application?  and maybe you could provide a little example on how to fill them up.

      DaveLembke



        Sage
      • Thanked: 662
      • Certifications: List
      • Computer: Specs
      • Experience: Expert
      • OS: Windows 10
      Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
      « Reply #3 on: December 04, 2016, 08:00:10 PM »
      I have always used static port forwarding. This requires the computer or device on network using this port forward to remain at a fixed static IP address.

      The website has the list of UDP and TCP ports. I'd go with static and set this computer or game console to a static IP address. You will need an entry for each port added. Once configured those ports will allow traffic through the internet to that computer or game console specifically allowing communications on those ports. As long as ISP doesnt block specific ports it should work.

      Not familiar with that routers interface, but it looks like you go with virtual configuration for static configuration.

      You need to enter the info and click add or click add in order to enter the info, then click apply each time to save each line maybe in which the router might refresh or it might be ready for the next port right away. As you add them they will start to list below. In the example I gave port 443 TCP would have been entered first and thats why its listed below. Port 80 is then entered and needs to then be applied to add it to the list. Order of ports entered doesnt matter, but its best to go with ascending to make it easier to look at when troubleshooting with lowest port listed first and highest port last. The common port selection might just be a drop down for common ports like port 80 and 443 etc, not sure what this drop down will give you but a selection here might automatically populate the LAN and WAN port fields. In the list of ports entered I see a Modification column but not sure what populates here so I added ------ as the unknown. The name field you can name anything you like such as BF4. The static IP address entered is 192.168.1.14 this is the IP that the computer or console will be always at. If you dont set the IP to static and its working on dynamic, if the lease is lost for that IP then port forwarding will break as for if the computer or console goes to a different IP address then whatever device gets 192.168.1.14 will be getting that port forward improperly, this can be a security issue if a system that is not properly secured wanders into a port forward. Port forwarding is basically allowing communications through routers firewall to a specific system or device. The system that is connected to the port forwarding is exposed on the DMZ to port probing and hackers targeting specific ports. Some ISP's block port 443 commonly used for FTP.



      [attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]

      Gilgamesh21

        Topic Starter


        Intermediate

        Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
        « Reply #4 on: December 05, 2016, 09:06:00 AM »
        It is a terrific answer from you DaveLembke and am grateful for it as it is setting me on the right track and clearing some confusions.

        However, I still have few questions regarding the issue:

        1-  I believe the IP the 3G router has given me is 192.168.1.185 as I have seen under Connected devices in the router config. Is this the Static Ip address I have for this computer, because if I went to a website such as canyouseeme, the ip address is different and starts with something like 2.68...etc.


        2- The ports number WAN and LAN should be filled with the same number (i.e. in the BF4 port list, there is a 14000-14016 for example, should I fill 14000 in the LAN port and 14016 in the WAN port as some sort of range? or they should be the same in each instance as I did in the screen shot.

        Btw, I am unable to add more than 8 ports to the router. I think it is a hardware limitation. Would I be fine with half 4 TCP and 4 UDP ports only?

        Regards

        [attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]

        DaveLembke



          Sage
        • Thanked: 662
        • Certifications: List
        • Computer: Specs
        • Experience: Expert
        • OS: Windows 10
        Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
        « Reply #5 on: December 05, 2016, 09:48:39 AM »
        It limiting you to 8 ports... hmmm... Id get a different router that allowed for more. As for the only way to get around this 8 port limitation would be to open it wide open with a port range and create a security risk of ports not necessary to to be open for targeted computer at that IP address. The dynamic port forwarding from the looks of it is the only one that allows for ranges to be set. Ive never gone dynamic with any of my routers as for i feel more secure with static values of strict permission. Dynamic to me is too lax of strictness. It will allow looser security. You could get it working, but at a cost of lesser security to systems within your network.

        One way to force the computer to always be at a specific IP would be to set the IP address on it statically to say 192.168.1.251. Then alter your DHCP setting for your router to only offer 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.250 as part of the DHCP IP pool, and this way no dynamically IP given device will ever be the same IP as this system at 192.168.1.251 as well as yoru computer will even work without the need of DHCP. To do this you go into the network settings for the network adapter and select Use the Following IP Address and then enter 192.168.1.251, then your subnet mask the same as the subnet mask you had when you were connected to router through DHCP given IP address, and use same gateway as that of DHCP issued addresses which is usually 192.168.1.1. You then will want to also set up the DNS with static values as well. Before going in and messing with values you can write down the info from running cmd at start run and the enter IPCONFIG/ALL and press the enter key. You will see an IPv4 address, subnet, gateway, and DNS IP addresses. Write these down. Then go into the adapter properties for the NIC and specify the static information where you will be entering everything you wrote down the same in appropriate fields except for that your IP Address you want to be 192.168.1.251

        Remember you need to go in and change the DHCP range to end at x.x.x.250 or else another device could be given x.x.x.251 and have duplicate IP conflict.

        There is the local IP address which is 192.168.1.251 and if you go online to see what your IP address is, you will see it as the IP Address that is issued to you by your ISP. This IP Address is the address your modem is connected as, Your router connects to the modem and acts as a gateway to allow your own IP addresses which are in the 192.168.1.2 thru 192.168.1.254 range until the DHCP range is properly adjusted. This is why you see the 2 different IP Addresses. When connecting elsewhere to your computer that has the port forwarding you would be connecting via the IP Address that the ISP gave you, so if your address was 68.103.74.128 and you wanted to connect on port 443 for a file transfer it would look like 68.103.74.128:443 where the colon specifies that the following value is the port to pass the communications over vs standard port 80. Traffic would come into your modem as 68.103.74.128:443 and pass this to the router. The routers firewall will see traffic for port 443 and with the port forward rule would then direct the traffic to 192.168.1.251:443 and to the outside world they dont know your internal address scheme unless there is a script that scans the system that its connected to and reports back the local LAN IP address. If your IP Address issued by ISP is 68.103.74.128 then that is what hackers and others see. and whatever ports or port ranges are added to the rules, those are all the ports that a port probing would detect at your IP address of 68.103.74.128 if your ISP issued IP address that the modem was connected to is that IP address.

        I dont want to steer you wrong with dynamic configuration, so maybe someone else here who uses the dynamic setup would tell you the most secure way to carry out this since your limited to just 8 ports. I use DD-WRT on my D-Link router and I havent found a limit yet and I have all sorts of ports open or on hold just needing me to select to activate them for VoIP phone, FTP,  and other purposes.

        Is getting a better router with better custom configuration options a choice or you have to get by with this specific router only?

        EDIT: You might be able to get by more securely with this router keeping the static entries for specific ports and adding the ranged ones in the dynamic option at bottom. This might give you ability to go beyond 8 and maybe 8 static and 8 dynamic ports or ranges for 16 port rules.

        Gilgamesh21

          Topic Starter


          Intermediate

          Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
          « Reply #6 on: December 05, 2016, 10:27:38 AM »
          I have to read thoroughly through your post to get a complete idea but I just wanted to mention that I am the only one connected to this router, I am in a hostel and using a 3G modem as the hotel's network isn't good enough for gaming. I connect to the hotel's network when I am not gaming. Would this make things easier at setting the static IP address for my laptop?

          DaveLembke



            Sage
          • Thanked: 662
          • Certifications: List
          • Computer: Specs
          • Experience: Expert
          • OS: Windows 10
          Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
          « Reply #7 on: December 05, 2016, 10:32:15 AM »
          With no other devices on the router there is no competition which means you get maximum bandwidth. Setting IP static would be important so that the rule always applies to your laptop vs turning laptop off and turning it back on and getting a different IP address which then breaks the static port forwarding if you leave the network configuration dynamic could occur.

          Gilgamesh21

            Topic Starter


            Intermediate

            Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
            « Reply #8 on: December 05, 2016, 01:47:25 PM »
            I have turned off the laptop and back on and the IP given to my laptop remained the same 192.168.1.185, I do not remember seeing the laptop on other days with another IP address. Is it still necessary then to change the IPV4 settings in the adapter to 192.168.1.185 ?  The DHCP server settings has a range from 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.200 and the lease time is set to 86400, if I turned that DHCP server off, would I get better bandwidth for my laptop? Also, if I turned it off, does this mean I will lose the ability to connect any other device to the 3G router? You have been a great help DaveLembke :).


            I have read through your description and in layman words I could summarize what you have thankfully explained by saying that my 3G router has its own IP address(e.g.68.103.74.128) assigned by the ISP and the router in turn spreads out IP addresses across connected devices from a range that can be configured in the router, the DHCP setting (e.g. 192.168.1.185). The port forwarding works in a way that when information is sent through the port(e.g.80) to the IP set to my router (68.103.74.128), the router could in turn send that information through somewhat "better" if I assigned a port ONLY to the IP address the router has given to my laptop. So, in other words, ports acts as a medium that delivers data better between two different IP addresses.

            To answer your question about my access to a better router, sadly I must say no. I have been looking for a good 4G modem replacement that has port forwarding but I have not been able to find one yet. Using other kinds of router currently is not possible for me as I am staying in a hostel.

            I could do as you said about setting the "rangey" battlefield 4 ports to the virtual dynamic server to overcome the 8 ports limitation with the 3G router, but will it affect security?
            One more thing, as you can see the in first picture, there are four options to fill for the dynamic port forwarding. Should I use the same port number (e.g.20000) for " Trigger Port Start" and "Open Port Start", and similarly use (20100) for "    Trigger Port End" and "Open Port End"?
            « Last Edit: December 05, 2016, 01:59:53 PM by Gilgamesh21 »

            DaveLembke



              Sage
            • Thanked: 662
            • Certifications: List
            • Computer: Specs
            • Experience: Expert
            • OS: Windows 10
            Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
            « Reply #9 on: December 05, 2016, 11:05:16 PM »
            Quote
            I have turned off the laptop and back on and the IP given to my laptop remained the same 192.168.1.185, I do not remember seeing the laptop on other days with another IP address. Is it still necessary then to change the IPV4 settings in the adapter to 192.168.1.185 ?  The DHCP server settings has a range from 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.200 and the lease time is set to 86400, if I turned that DHCP server off, would I get better bandwidth for my laptop? Also, if I turned it off, does this mean I will lose the ability to connect any other device to the 3G router?

            Static on laptop would ensure that it always stays the same. If you turn off DHCP then only other devices that are set up with static IP, subnet, gateway, and dns would work on network. Devices looking for a DHCP lease simply wouldnt get a lease and so they wouldnt communicate. With your DHCP server settings in the router set for.100 to .200 you can essentially pick any IP addresses between .2 and .99 and .201 and .254 for your static IP of laptop.  I wouldnt suggest shutting off DHCP as for you have concerns of getting other devices to connect to it. Bandwidth on laptop is whatever your getting through the router. If you had other devices on this connection it would slow it some when they are active and using the same network connection out to the internet. But with laptop only connected to it, you then have maximum bandwidth with no bandwidth competition with others. However with 3G connection as your internet connection, the signal strength with the tower will affect bandwidth. The stronger the signal the better the speed, the weaker the signal the more lag due to resending of packets and  lower sync rate of say 1X vs 3X etc for 3G wireless connection to ISP.

            Quote
            I could do as you said about setting the "rangey" battlefield 4 ports to the virtual dynamic server to overcome the 8 ports limitation with the 3G router, but will it affect security?
            One more thing, as you can see the in first picture, there are four options to fill for the dynamic port forwarding. Should I use the same port number (e.g.20000) for " Trigger Port Start" and "Open Port Start", and similarly use (20100) for "    Trigger Port End" and "Open Port End"?

            The more ports open the more prone you are to hackers poking around when they port probe and find your system. They then will try a number of ways to use these open ports to gain remote access passing attempted overflow conditions and more to gain control. The dynamic configuration you will have to just try out to see if that would fix this I havent messed with dynamic forwarding and trigger ports. Everything I have done is in static config and I dont want to steer you wrong.

            Most secure is running the game with no port forwarding at all. Open Ports come with some risk. The more of them open the more prone you are to hackers trying to get in when they perform a probe sweeping looking for open ports. Then based on the port number they find open they will use tools targeting that detected port to try to get in, usually with hacks that target specific port numbers most common uses.

            camerongray



              Expert
            • Thanked: 306
              • Yes
              • Cameron Gray - The Random Rambings of a Computer Geek
            • Certifications: List
            • Computer: Specs
            • Experience: Expert
            • OS: Mac OS
            Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
            « Reply #10 on: December 06, 2016, 07:45:27 AM »
            Does the router have an option to show it's external/WAN IP address, if so, is this the same as your public IP as shown from websites such as http://icanhazip.com/?  Many (or pratically all here in the UK) mobile data providers do not give you your own public IP address, instead they share a single public IP address amongst multiple customers using a technique known as CG-NAT (Carrier Grade Network Address Translation).  If they are doing this then unfortunately it is impossible to forward ports from the internet to your local machine.

            DaveLembke



              Sage
            • Thanked: 662
            • Certifications: List
            • Computer: Specs
            • Experience: Expert
            • OS: Windows 10
            Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
            « Reply #11 on: December 06, 2016, 07:55:32 AM »
            Thanks for sharing that info Cameron. I just learned something new about mobile data providers. My extent of mobile data providers is limited and this would definitely stop port forwarding in its tracks if he is getting a same IP shared with others vs his own IP.  :)

            Gilgamesh21

              Topic Starter


              Intermediate

              Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
              « Reply #12 on: December 07, 2016, 03:31:17 AM »
              Does the router have an option to show it's external/WAN IP address, if so, is this the same as your public IP as shown from websites such as http://icanhazip.com/?  Many (or pratically all here in the UK) mobile data providers do not give you your own public IP address, instead they share a single public IP address amongst multiple customers using a technique known as CG-NAT (Carrier Grade Network Address Translation).  If they are doing this then unfortunately it is impossible to forward ports from the internet to your local machine.

              I believe the answer is yes, the router shows an external (WAN) IP address and it was similar to the icanhazip.com showed... I live in Sweden so I am not sure if use the CG-NAT feature you mentioned..

              @DaveLembke

              I tried setting my own static IPV4 settings in the wireless adapter preferences but I am not sure it did make a lot of difference. Also, it is annoying as I also connect to the hotel's network which would force me to change the settings back to Auto every time I stop gaming.

              I have tried something today to test if port forwarding works and that is Tunngle, I set up a port rule for using the same IP the router has given me and face at the bottome right corner turned green. Does this mean it is working correctly?
              I have also noticed when logging in a battlefield 4 server, I am not seeing the list of "connectivity issues icons" that appears on the right corner when you first log in to a server. That happened after setting up the port rules.

              There is an option in the router config to enable Upnp as you can see in the picture, would it help if I enabled it?

              One more thing, can you please check if I have set up the port forwarding rules correctly? :)

              [attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]

              DaveLembke



                Sage
              • Thanked: 662
              • Certifications: List
              • Computer: Specs
              • Experience: Expert
              • OS: Windows 10
              Re: port forwarding Battlefield 4 on a 3G modem Huawei e8258ws-2?
              « Reply #13 on: December 08, 2016, 02:16:23 PM »
              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Plug_and_Play

              Ive only seen this used for network printers that are shared etc.

              Ports look to be correct comparing back and forth from what you have and listed.

              Regarding the static IP, yes it would have to be switched between static and dynamic or else you cant connect to their wifi. If your happy with the chance that your IP address can change, you can set your computer to dynamic. If you get it working and some day all of a sudden its not working you then just need to confirm that you werent given a different IP address from DHCP.