Solution: Having NAT Strict/Moderate Issues? "TDU Server Unavailable? Here's THE FIX!

[DAMNSAM77]

I wanna thank everyone on this great Forum for putting in their 2 cents in regards to this issue, there are a couple of different things you may need to do to get the NAT issues resolved, I strongly believe that the reason why MOST of the users are having a problem connecting to TDU servers is because of the NAT being set to "Moderate/Strict" on the router itself, instead of being "Open". This primarily the reason why a lot of us have been getting the "TDU Server unavailable." I have gotten by TDU game Thursday and have been having constant issues with playng online, lets say I only got to spent 30 mins online out of a total of 20 hours of gameplay.

Microsoft XBox Live highly relies on yuor NAT settings to be "OPEN" for a seamless online gaming experience, but the problem is that 99% of the routers out there are set to "Moderate/Strict" NAT settings by default. There are a couple of things you can do to fix this and OPEN up your NAT settings. You might only have to do one of the two, you might have to do both. But it will work and more than likely once your NAT settings are set to OPEN, 90% of your TDU online issues will be resolved, thats what happened to me atleast the minute I was able to change the NAT settings to Open.

STEPS TO CHANGE NAT SETTINGS TO "OPEN":

1- Using your Browser, Log on to your router (by normally typing in the 192.168.1.1 address check your router's manual to see what the default gateway address)

2- If you already know how to log in to your router, then skip this step. If you have never logged on to your router then more than likely you still have the default initial log in credentials (username: admin - Password:1234 ..... Again check your router's manual to be sure). The minute you log in you need to change that password immediately, most network-savvy folks know that 90% of the people out there never reset their router's initial password and they can log on and make any changes to suit their needs, including locking you out of your own router.

3- Once you are logged in, you should be able to find two advance settings (One if for NAT - and the other is for Upnp)

4- Let's start with the NAT setting changes, and we will move on the Upnp at the end. I have personally tried the NAT setting changes and it didn't fix anything, I still had a "Strict" NAT setting on my xbox360, Only when I checked for the Upnp "allow authorized incoming traffic" options when the NAT settings on my XBOX finally came back as "Open" and not "Strict". But I will still explain what I did anyways with the NAT table cause I know it may work for some other routers.

5- So what I did with the NAT setting is this. I located the NAT advanced setting on my router, I click on the NAT (Edit List setting) or whichever link/button you have on your router advanced NAT settings to access the table needed to open certain ports (TCP and UDP - 88 & 3074) .

6- You will need to find out what the static/dynamic (preferably Static) IP address you xbox360 has. To do so, go to the Dashboard, go to the Console settings page, and click on the network settings to see the IP address (should be something like 192.168.1.x). You will need that IP address to enter into your NAT table on your router.

7- Once you got your XBOX's IP address enter it in the NAT Port Forwarding table (From - To - IP address: those are the 3 fields you should have on the table if you are using SUA NAT)

8 - In the first line enter 88 under both "From" and To" fields, then enter the IP address of the xbox in the field where you are to enter an IP address. (this is for UDP port)

9 - Repeat the same step for port TCP (which is 3074)

10- If these changes do not help open your NAT settings, then try the Upnp option. Click on your Upnp Advances settings and click on the "Allow Traffic" option, this is mostly secure because you are only accepting the incoming traffic that matches your outgoing traffic.

Try this and let me know what works for you. You can find me LIVE by messaging my gamertag DAMNSAM77

Click the link below to get easy Step-by-Step instructions on how to change your NAT settings on your own router (99% of routers listed in this link http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm (http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm) )

[EJIRO]

Thanks for this great post! I really appreciate that there are people like you on the forum as I'm one of those sorry players plauged by very bad lag.

I read your post and went through the process to check my NAT settings and Upnp.

Unfortunately I have had no luck eliminating the lag from my system.

I have never had any problems getting on to the TDU servers or seeing people in free-roam. For all intents the game functions perfectly for me and always has. It's just always laggy. Every single other person that I encounter on the road in the game is doing that crazy sliding back and forth knocking in to stuff. So I'm guessing if EVERYONE looks like that to me, then I am the one with the connection issue.

Last night I tried playing the game with Upnp turned on and turned off, no difference.

I mapped the port numbers to my 360's IP address in what I think is the NAT section of my router just as your post instructed and tried playing the game like that.

No dice. People still jerking about all over the roads.

I've mentioned to others on the board trying to help me that I have a Comcast digital cable broadband connection and I'm in the Chicago suburbs. I have my 360 and my computer connected to a Linksys SRX400 router via ethernet cables (I am not using wireless, though I have a high-speed wireless router... yes I'm silly I know). the router is then connected to my Cable modem.

I never experience any problems with my net connection and it always seems plenty fast.

Just to ensure that I wasn't crazy I even fired up PGR3 just to test a different game to see if I still got mad lag. PGR3 ran like a TOP! I instantly got in to a quick race session with a group of players located in England. the race was smooth as silk. No lag jerk on any of the cars. All of the VOIP talk was clear and not chopping up.

So based on my good PGR experience and the fact that I seem to be in the minority of people having MASSIVE bad lag in TDU, I'm starting to wonder if my lag problems aren't somehow geography related with specific regards to the location of the TDU servers here in North America? Perhaps people in the Chicago region are experiencing really bad lag on the TDU network?

I'm at a total loss. How could PGR3 run so well online and TDU run like total crap? I would have to assume it all boils down to server support for my specific region with regards to the TDU infrastructure?

Any clues or ideas on this?

Also I have a question about the NAT settings on my router. I do not have any kind of advanced NAT options. I simple have the ability to either enable or disable NAT. The instructions simply tell me that if the router is connected directly to a modem and is the device distributing the internet connection to all the other computers on the network then NAT should be set to 'enabled' Otherwise, all of other stuff, where I can set the port numbers for the 360's IP are actually under a section called "applications and gaming" and is referred to simply as 'port forwarding'

Is this the same as setting the port numbers for the NAT support?

Also whenever I hear people talking about cheking to see if your NAT is set to open or closed, strict, whatever, etc... I get confused... the way people talk about it sounds like you can somehow see the current NAT setting on the 360 console itself. Have I missed something? There is no NAT information anywhere in the network setup and options on my 360. Maybe I'm just missing it? Where do you look on the 360 to see whether or not your NAT is open or closed?

Ugh I'm very confused and starting to get frustrated. I would love to cruise around and not be the laggy dog that nobody wants to race with :(

Any help would be MASSIVELY appreciated.

Sorry for this very long post.

-ejiro