TF2 dedicated server problem

Whenever I set one up, none of my friends can connect, What should I try? My IP on the server starts out as 192.168.0.xxx:xxxxx. Could that be a problem? Please tell me what I need to do

That looks like a router IP rather than an actual internet IP to me. I've never set up a dedicated server for anything, so I won't pretend to know how to do it, but I would think you'd have to set your actual internet IP (assigned by your ISP) in the server for others to connect to you, then have your router configured to forward traffic to the server.

Dang! I hate when I accidentally hit back and erase my response!

Well anyway, what you are seeing is your internal router IP. Your router routes data from 1 ISP connection to several computers, and so each one needs its own internal ip address. But to the outside world, they are all viewed as your real ISP address.


It is that real IP address that your friends will have to connect to. But your router won't know which computer within your internal network your friend is trying to connect to unless you forward ports. You know that :27015 thing at the end of the IP addresses in TF2? That's the port #. You need to setup your router to forward port 27015 to the internal ip address 192.168.0.xxx.

The IP address you give your friends is your ISP one, get it at whatismyip.com.

If you don't know your server's internal ip address, open a cmd box and type ip config. That's where you should foward your port on your router config.

Go to portforward.com for specifics for your router.

Found the problem, needed to go straight through the modem. Thanks for the tips though!

no, you don't need to go straight through to the modem!! you didnt fix anyhing, you just made the system wide open to the internet for any script kiddie to come in and hack to all heck.

you need to set up NAT oin your router, which is easy and FAR more secure for you