Xbox Live - it half works...

So I finally brought my 360 up to my room in Cartmel (therefore using ResNet) and I'm looking forward to playing some Left 4 Dead over Live.

The only issue is, the game doesn't seem to like it.

My console will connect to Live just fine, and I can browse my friends list, etc. Some content has issues but that's been documented before and it's no big deal.

The problem comes when I try to connect to a game, or host one and other players try to connect. The game just displays "Failed to join game" and, well, fails to join the game.

Is there something I'm overlooking here? I've registered the console on ResNet, registered my Mac on ResNet (which might be important since both are technically running through my Apple Time Capsule), but still no dice.

ISS Monkey 2, help!

Reply 1

Big_C.

Check your NAT types, could well be a ports problem

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Reply 2

chedabob

One of my housemates played L4D over Live the other day...

Reply 3

jadias

Well Live displays Strict NAT, but:
1 - this is universal for all on ResNet as far as I know
2 - Live will literally call anything Strict NAT anyway, so it doesn't mean much

If someone had it working, though, then there's hope yet. Anyone else?

EDIT: Just occurred to me that I should make it clear I've got my 360 connected to my Time Capsule with a wired connection, NOT WIRELESS. I know TCs have certain compatibility issues with 360s, but only when using a wireless connection, so that's not the issue here. Maybe some of my settings are wrong for the 360, but the hardware itself is solid.

Reply 4

jadias

Ok, so, I managed to join a game just now. Not with my friends, so I don't know what the NAT settings of the other players were, but I actually joined and played a smooth game. I'll try another one with friends tonight.

I followed these instructions:

My guess is that the problem you're having is due to your Time Capsule ignoring stuff (as a security measure) that Xbox Live is sending the Xbox, so what I think you need to do is tell your Time Capsule to stop doing that for the Xbox. You do that by getting your Time Capsule to give the Xbox the same IP address every time it connects, and to not block anything sent to that IP address.

First we need to get the Xbox's MAC address, which you can find either on the back of the Xbox itself, or by going to the System blade on the Xbox Dashboard, selecting Network Settings, Edit Settings, Additional Settings (push the left thumbstick to the right), Advanced Settings, then the MAC address should be displayed.

Just to be clear, a MAC address has nothing to do with Apple's computers, standing for Media Access Control, and is a quasi-unique code that nearly every network adapter has. We're using it here so your Time Capsule can recognise the Xbox.

Now you've got the MAC address, open AirPort Utility, select your Time Capsule and click Manual Settings, the Internet toolbar icon, then the DHCP tab. Click the plus button under the DHCP Reservations box, type Xbox 360 (or whatever you want) as the description, and click Continue. Now type the Xbox's MAC address into the MAC Address box, then click the IPv4 box, change the last number from 2 to 35 (so it's something like 10.0.1.35), and click Done.

Now we have the Xbox getting the same IP from the Time Capsule, we need to tell the Time Capsule to stop filtering stuff that's sent to that IP, to do that, click the NAT tab (inside the Internet section), then "Enable default host at:" and enter 35 as the last two digits (so it matches up with the IP address we put in the IPv4 box earlier). Finally, click Update, and when your Time Capsule has finished restarting, try the connection test on the Xbox again.