JohnDraugr: Hi Everyone,

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me. I'm trying to figure out why my ROM2 HAT isn't accessible from Internet users. I'm not a newbie at hosting dedicated Internet gaming servers, but the old age of ROM2 I'm sure is the culprit. I've tried surfing the web for hours and hours and everything I tried does not seem to work.

Here is my setup and test results...

1.I have ROM2 installed from GOG on my gaming PC.
2. I have the HAT & Server files on my dedicated server box.
3. I've tried using the following files available on the Internet for the game and HAT usage.
Hat.Zip, ROM2 Hat to NAT Fix.rar, and rom2pack.zip

My Firewall/Router is a Linux system that allows me to have 3 separate networks. My home network where my gaming PC is uses 192.168.0.x. The network that my game server is on is 192.168.40.x. and the last is the network or WAN port out to my cable modem which then goes out to my ISP.

Also, ports 8000-8024 TCP & UDP are forwarded to the dedicated server box in my firewall.

So here is the situation...

When I connect to the HAT from my home network on my gaming PC, I use my external ISP assigned IP address and connect to my HAT fine. I can also join servers and play without issue.

When my friend tries to connect from his location (in another state) he can apparently join the HAT, see the servers on the HAT and select a server. This is where the issue comes in.

My friends client sits on the Connecting to Server screen the same screen that typically shows the downloading of the currently running map on the server. Instead of seeing that my friend gets an error similar to "Can't connect to server. The IP/URL may be invalid".

So, I did some further troubleshooting including making sure my friend had the exact same installation (client) as me. Still no good.

I then tried connecting my gaming PC to my cell phone via bluetooth tethering. This gives me an external IP so my connection is now similar to my friend (External IP not related to my internal network). I then tried to connect and get the exact same issue as my friend.

So, it seems that external connections are having this connection issue only. I know there has got to be a fix for this. I see that there are a few groups out there with working HATs so there has got to be a way to get this working. I'm hoping some of you here may have some advice or info to help me.

I think that the HAT software I'm using might be older than what these current groups hosting working HATs have. I tried searching the web for newer versions of the HAT and or the rom2server.exe file but I can't seem to find any thing.

If anyone can point me to the latest known working HAT or Rom2Server files I'd be extremely grateful. I've spent alot of time trying to get this working for my friends and I, and so far I'm so close but the door gets slammed in my face when I try to get my friends and brother to connect. Doh!

Sorry for the long post. I hope someone might have answers for me or as mentioned links to the latest server and/or HAT software.

For now I'll continue trying to figure this out.

Thanks,
John