Okay, for those of you that have been following my problems with the server going through a firewall,

http://forums.quakesrc.org/viewtopic.php?t=3751

here is the solution we have been using.

OpenVPN (http://openvpn.sourceforge.net) is a free VPN solution. It allows you to make a "tunnel" through your firewall, allowing other people to be seen as on your local network (UDP instead of BKM on the Multiplayer menu). I am not affiliated with them in any way other than as a user.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a major trust issue, as you are giving the person coming in FULL access to the computer with the VPN tunnel.

I will step out a process here, with a sample set of configurations available. This will be my actual config after personal data is stripped. All references to Player1 will mean a generic user that should be personalized for ease of use and tracking.

1. All people need to download and install a copy of OpenVPN. I strongly recommend using the same version for all parties, as it is one less thing to go wrong.

2. The person hosting the game needs to open a port on their firewall for each person connecting to the game. OpenVPN uses 5000/UDP by default.

3. A static key needs to be generated for each connection. This is done through Start > Programs > OpenVPN > Generate a Static key. After the first key is generated, it needs to be renamed to something unique. Using default installation, the key is at:

C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config\key.txt

You MUST have a separate key for each connection.

I recommend using a format similar to

C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config\Player1.txt

4. Each person connecting needs to have a configuration file that refers to them uniquely. This file also refers to the key in step 3. I will put a text file in the next post showing a couple of working configurations.

5. Each connection has to have a TAP network device. One is created during installation, and others can be made from Start > Programs > OpenVPN > Add a new TAP32....

These should be renamed to something relevent.

Renaming is done by going to

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Networking

Right click on one of the TAP devices and select Rename. (Player1 here)

6. Last, you need to set up a shortcut to run the connection(s). The host will need one for each coneection, while other player only need one.

On your Desktop, Right click > New > Shortcut

For the Location:

"C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn.exe" --config "c:\program files\openvpn\config\Player1.ovpn" --dev-node Player1

If everything is correct, when both ends of this are running, you should see the specific Coop or Die player with UDP instead of BKM in the Multiplayer address book.[/i]

If you have questions about this, please contact me through the Coop or Die mail system.

File starts on the first #.



# Edit this file, and save to a .ovpn extension
# so that OpenVPN will activate it when run
# as a service.

# Change 'myremote' to be your remote host,
# or comment out to enter a listening
# server mode.

#This is either a static IP or your DNS name

remote Player1.example.com

# Uncomment this line to use a different
# port number than the default of 5000.

port 5001

dev tap

# This is a 'dev tap' ifconfig that creates
# a virtual ethernet subnet.
# 10.3.0.1 is the local VPN IP address
# and 255.255.255.0 is the VPN subnet.
# Only define this option for 'dev tap'.

#This needs to be a unique net and node for each Player.
#My network uses 10.3 and 10.4

ifconfig 10.3.0.6 255.255.255.0

# You can generate a static OpenVPN key
# by selecting the Generate Key option
# in the start menu.
#
# You can also generate key.txt manually
# with the following command:
# openvpn --genkey --secret key.txt
#
# key must match on both ends of the connection,
# so you should generate it on one machine and
# copy it to the other over a secure medium.
# Place key.txt in the same directory as this
# config file.

#Inside the quotes, \\ must be used for it to work.
#This is the static key mentioned earlier.
#The name is slightly modified from the directions.

secret "c:\\program files\\openvpn\\config\\Player1-key.txt"

# keep-alive ping
ping 10

# enable LZO compression
comp-lzo

# moderate verbosity
verb 4
mute 10

Thank you Chrystoph for your infos.
After tomorrow, I will be in holiday for 3 week, I promise I will look at the code for this port usage / firewall issue.
CU