I have read the sticky and Coq Rouge personally helped me sort out my random crap.

I have two custom ports on my trusty D-Link router (forgot #s and too lazy to look), a TCP and a UDP, specifically open to 23073 and 23083 (he said one was for connecting and the other was for downloading stuff).

Connections to my server are very sporadic. Sometimes they work with Never Forward Clients and the Windows Firewall on and off. Other times no one can get through no matter what. Sometimes third-party map files can be downloaded, sometimes they can't. oO'

Almost everyone who I tested my server-hosting with said that the port changed to some random # (so far, either in 30000s or 40000s) and some had to change it back to 23073 to connect, and even then some attempts have phailed (so badly it has to be spelled starting with "ph," not "f").

Distribution of third-party maps are the only reason I want to host. Help me out here (n00bface, that means you :-P)! Thanks in adv.

EDIT I think I should put that Carl also suggested running a ded., saying that they are more stable than those that aren't dedicated. I got the files and stuck in the two "necessary" files according to him (I don't remember what they were called as I'm on a diff. comp. right now but they both went into C:\Soldat\ and one was an .EXE and the other was something with no filetype but of the same filename as the .EXE). He told me to run the .EXE (this was from the Soldat Dedicated Server on the soldat.pl homepage).

I ended up sending Microsoft 8 error reports after ~10 min. and gave up.

EDIT #2 Sorry, Flies'; that must've been out of lag. I didn't realize, or I would've just trashed it.

EDIT #3 My IP is dynamic if that might affect anything.

im currently suffering the same affliction, sans brand of router; in my experience so far, with identical servers with identical configs, it seems to be only the windows server that has issues, whereas the linux one runs fine. windows one fails after a few file downloads, where if people try to connect without maps/other files their game just hangs on "Requesting <file>"; the console shows no request for the file which leads me to believe that its an issue with the dedicated server on windows. If I have any luck, I'll let you know.

my initial thoughts are that on windows you might have to disable file downloading unfortunately

Let me guess, its a D-Link DSL302G?

1) You should definately use the dedicated server, not the one that is "included" with the soldat client"
2) Try forwarding TCP and UDP for 23073
3) You should probably turn your windows firewall off. since you're behind a router with its firewall, there is no point in making your computer run an additional one
4) Disable forwarding through the lobby to prevent those random ports from showing up

@EnEsCe: no, mine has no G in it whatsoever (I don't recall the exact brand but I know it doesn't have a G; it's like an F or something).

FLAB:
1. I did. I downloaded the Soldat Dedicated Server from soldat.pl (the one that comes with the extra bots Abe and Dummy). It crashed every time I tried to run it.
2. I think I already have it set to that but I'll recheck later.
3. Sometimes the server worked with it off as well as on, and sometimes people can't connect even if it's off. It's really sporadic, and I have no clue why.
4. Same as #3 if you're referring to "Never Forward Clients" (I play with different combos on the firewall and NFC all the time)

Is there a help IRC for this with bored Soldat players who don't mind constantly testing a server?... :-P And I'll go look at the exact D-Link brand later.

#soldat.forums might help you out.

Keron, for consistency,turn off the windows firewall and lobby forwarding until we get this solved. They could be hurting your progress or the could not, but it won't help to leave them on.

Are you sure you had the dedicated server configured properly? It shouldn't crash unless it is configured wrong or you have major hardware problems on your computer

this now appears to be the return of an old, previously fixed bug. on windows servers, file transfer connections are never closed, meaning that after only a few files the MaxConnections line in soldat.ini is reached, preventing any further transfers (I believe the default limit is 8). See this, from MM himself:

[5:54 AM] EnEsCe says:
" I think that's what I fixed some time ago but hell got even more loose and nothing was working good. So I returned to the original code which isn't perfect but works. It's a hard thing to fix. I'll check it again when I'm doing a patch."
-MM

the workaround for now on windows servers is to change MaxConnections in soldat.ini to an excessively high value. Even then, the server will require restarts to close all those open connections.

I dont think thats relevant chris.

Well Keron, if your modem is a 302whatever then the problem is the modem's NAT, you need to log into your modem via http://10.1.1.1 and go to the NAT rule page, remove the 'NAPT' rule (this will disconnect you from the net btw), and then add a 'BIMAP' rule and you will be back online. Then when you host a server, the port will be normal rather than random and people will be able to connect to you.

it would be relevant as far as custom map downloading goes, since he says that is the only reason why he wants to host a server.

keron, for testing do one thing at a time, ie: test the server with only standard maps, and get it working, without having to worry about people downloading. then, work on getting custom map downloading working.
being able to only connect to a server when you dont have to download files, versus not being able to connect all the time, suggests different problems.

enesce's solution will probably fix your connection problems, i've heard of other people having issues with d-link routers in general even when in DMZ, leaving only NAT to be the culprit

chrisgbk, I have to say that i agree with EnEsCe that this is not the problem with the file server connections being left open, that is most unlikely and MM is well-aware of that problem, especially because he fixed it. That problem is not going to come back unless MM gets dropped on his head.

Blast it, I can't find my D-Link box (the thing's directly attached to my motherboard; it's like "AirPlus" or something).

I will try what EnEsCe said, if I ever find out what a NAPT or BIMAP is... oO'

I think NAPT means network address port translation, and BIMAP is just D-Links word for DMZ (demilitarized zone)