"Failed to connect to Lobby"

Bathawk · Post by **Bathawk** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:07 pm

After solving a few Problems with Allegiance I have finally met my master: "Failed to connect to lobby"

Windows Version (and Service Packs): XPSP2
Processor Speed: Athlon X2 5200+
RAM: 2GB
Video Card: Radeon X1950 Pro
Sound Card: onboard, shouldn't be relevant anyway
Connection Type: DSL
Router: Dlink DI524

Problem Encountered at Step #: 9
Which Program (ASGS/Allegiance): Allegiance
What Error Message:"Failed to connect to Lobby"

Installed:
- NET 1.1 SP1, 2.0
- AVG, Zonealarm (allowed both ASGS and Allegiance)
- C++ Runtimes 2005 & 2008

MSN gaming Zone is activated, but even with AVG & ZA deactivated while in DMZ I can't connect to the Lobby, MOTD is fine, also tried forwarding ports, Beta and Safe mode. (Safe mode doesn't help, Beta mode is "Unable to secure Allegiance Installation", maybe I'll try to reinstall later).
Any ideas are welcome, as is the IP of the lobby server.

EDIT: The allegiance.cfg tells me that 69.93.201.146 is the lobby server, ping works, but is a bit slow (156ms)

GiGaBaNE · Post by **GiGaBaNE** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:06 pm

i guess the first thing to check is to run your router as standard (not DMZ), then remove your security software completly and restart.

thats the quickest way i can think of for eliminating your software security as the problem (note: merely disabling the software very rarely works as i have discovered myself)

let us know how it turns out.

ogorass · Post by **ogorass** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:14 pm

OK. Couple of thouhts:

1. Never, ever run DMZ setup on your home network. That's not necessary for anything you might want to do at home and is a huge security risk.
2. If you are behind a router, you don't need any software firewalls, as the router's built in one is vastly superior to any software one.
3. Port forwarding is unnecessary to play Allegiance, remover the forwarding rules.
4. Remember, that any changes made to firewalls are (in most cases) applied after you reboot your system. That includes enabling/disabling the firewall feautre in most protective bundles. Keep in mind tough, that many of the bundles don't really disable the firewall even if you reboot.

Now, if you want constant AV protection and play Allegiance, I'd suggest switching to some non-bundled AV software, like NOD32 or non-bundled release of Avast.
First though, try removing the Zonealarm, as, IIRC, Alleg should work with AVG.

Bathawk · Post by **Bathawk** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:11 pm

Thanks for your answers, both the DMZ and the port forwarding were only active for a minute or so to make sure they weren't the problem.

I uninstalled AVG and ZA and restarted, unfortunately to no effect, so the software seems to be okay. I'll probably have to go back to playing with the router settings.
Do you have any other ideas?

Bathawk · Post by **Bathawk** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:25 pm

Threadsplit of Doom has found a victim:

ogorass wrote:QUOTE (ogorass @ Apr 29 2008, 09:53 AM) Hmm. See if for some strange reason the 'MSN Gaming Zone' allowance rule is off under the Applications (IIRC) tab in Advanced settings in your router's properties. I've used the exact same router to set up a temporary network at my parents' house and, as crappy as it is, it never gave me any problems with Allegiance or any other online game. I use 514 in my other network and it also works fine, have used 624U for some time and it also had no issues with Allegiance.

Nope, i set it to on before i posted here, no effect.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but setting the Router in the DMZ should prevent the Router from interfering with the transported packages in any way, right? So basically, this would eliminate the Router as the source of the problem?

Post by **FreeBeer** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:15 pm

That's correct. The router does no work for you other than acting as a switch to your modem.

Bathawk · Post by **Bathawk** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:47 pm

just installed the game on another computer behind the same router, works fine, so it's definitely a software issue. Any other ideas on which programs could cause trouble?

Post by **FreeBeer** » Thu May 01, 2008 5:14 pm

Double-check your status of Windows Firewall (or any other suspicious program, for that matter). It's been my experience that Windows Firewall tends to turn itself back on without your permission (very often after a Windows Update).

Bathawk · Post by **Bathawk** » Fri May 02, 2008 1:21 am

No, the process of the windows firewall is deactivated, just went through a rather lenghty msconfig-session and deactivated most of the unnecessary processes & uninstalled everything remotely firewallrelated, but still nearly nothing. (instead of the previously instantaneous "Failed to connect to Lobby" I now get a split second of "connecting", followed by the error message)

On the positive side, my pc now boots 15 sec faster.

EDIT: Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, why did I forget about dxdiag? Someone or something (probably the latter) shot the registry information for DirectPlay8 which Allegiance uses, so no connection was possible, regsvr32 dpnet.dll solved the Problem and I can now connect to the lobby and games /cool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

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Grimmwolf_GB · Post by **Grimmwolf_GB** » Fri May 02, 2008 7:30 am

Thank you for your feedback, enjoy the game. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />