H2H Vox...HELP PLEASE Skuzzy

[guttboy]

Skuzzy,

Shut everything down and just AH running with direct connect to modem....no vox.  Really unsure on this ....at least I can get the room running and hopefully someone in my squad can host for vox.

PS....I always shut everything off while running AH.  Really strange that I dont have vox in H2H but I have it in MA.

Regards!

[bbosen]

Lerch and Skuzzy:


I have EXACTLY the same situation when I host, but I am using a Netgear router connecting to the Internet via DSL. I can use AH voice in the main arena and in most H2H arenas, but not in my own H2H arena. Many players in my arena report that AH voice does not work for them there.

I can add some more information which will raise the mystery to new levels. I have been troubleshooting this for several weeks. Among my experiments, I subscribed to a second, separate ISP via a modem, so I now have 2 completely independent ISPs.

While hosting H2H from my main computer thru my normal Netgear NAT router and DSL connection.....

I have a second computer on my LAN and I bought a modem for it. When I use the modem to dial in to this second, remote ISP, that computer gets a new IP address, in a different subnet (exactly as you would expect). From that second computer I can fly AH in H2H mode and everything works just great in the Main arena and in most H2H areas.

In fact, I can use both computers to fly AH in H2H mode simultaneosuly, and I can use AH voice on both of them simultaneosuly when I go into the Main Arena or into most H2H areas.

As an experiment, I used my second computer/ISP (the modem one) to access my own H2H arena (the Netgear/NAT/DSL one). I can fly in my own arena without problems. At first I thought I had no AH voice in that situation, but after probing further, I found I can ALWAYS get it to work if I begin by tuning directly to another player using his handle. After I've done that once for any given player, I can then speak with that same player on any shared channel. This is so wierd that I've done it dozens of times just to convince myself that I'm not going nuts. It works reliably, 100% of the time, with good audio quality. Never misses. My two computers can converse in my arena with AH voice til the cows come home! And the host is behind my Netgear/NAT firewall.

(As I write this I realize perhaps I should disconnect the ethernet cable from the second, modem-equipped computer, just to make sure I've eliminated every possible back channel. I haven't tried that.)

I've encouraged others in my arena to try the same thing (tuning directly to me by name), and NOBODY ELSE can do it. But it works EVERY time for me, between my two computers, each connecting to each other through separate ISPs across the Internet.

Does that shed any useful light in Skuzzy'z fertile mind?


Regards,



Peabody


(My setup is described in great detail in this slightly out-of-date web site:)

http://www.geocities.com/rjbosen/fslab.htm

[bbosen]

OK. I have the results of another experiment and I think the new information is significant.


I disconnected the Ethernet from the SECOND (modem-equipped) computer described in my posting immediately above. With the ethernet disconnected, AH voice QUIT working. When I reconnected the ethernet cable, AH voice began working again within a minute or so. This was while using 2 computers with 2 separate ISPs to access my H2H arena, hosted behind a Netgear NAT firewall router and DSL connection.

As described in my prior post, I have been able to get AH voice to work between these 2 computers, but I now conclude that the AH voice logic was using the ETHERNET connection between them even though the remainder of the AH logic was using the modem connection.

As is usual and customary in NAT situations, the two computers, each equipped with Ethernet adapters, normally negotiate IP addresses within the class "C" 192.168.0.X subnet, and they can communicate with one another directly, with no need for an intervening router. Evidently AH Voice uses that nonrouteable connection by some kind of default. I conclude that when AH voice in one computer wishes to communicate with some other AH voice node in another computer on the Internet, it gets addressing information from some kind of "discovery" logic that found the ethernet back-channel between my two hosts until I disconnected it. Evidently this AH address discovery logic is independent from whatever logic finds the IP addresses of other AH nodes in support of the other components of AH.

I don't know how this AH Voice discovery logic works, but for some reason it appears to be incompatible with NAT.

Repeating an earlier question from this thread:

"Has ANYBODY ever hosted an AH H2H session from behind a NAT router and had success with AH voice?"


Maybe the AH voice protocol is fundamentally incompatible with NAT?



Regards,



-Peabody-

[Skuzzy]

Actually, it is NAT and UDP, which is the problem.  NAT has never liked UDP, especially async UDP where the computer behind the NAT does not initiate the connection.

Thanks for the details bbosen.  It helps.  I'll get a look into this a bit further tomorrow.

[guttboy]

I have tried tuning to people directly to talk to them but no avail.

I can, however, Tune to my handle and talk....is there something odd with that????

[bbosen]

I too can always tune directly to myself and hear my own voice, echoed back to me from within my own computer, while hosting H2H from behind my Netgear NAT firewall. I think this is further evidence that the problem has something to do with NAT's well-known limitations when trying to map UDP packets, since the echo path never hits the NAT router in this case.

It is becoming clear to me that AH use of UDP in support of AH Voice is different (and less robust) than AH use of UDP in support of other functions. Although I wish that were not the case, I guess we are just lucky that AH works in this setup at all.....   ; )

Note that some of my squadmembers use "Roger Wilco" simultaneously with Aces High when we want to converse via voice while I host my arena. This works quite well so long as the  Roger Wilco host is NOT behind a NAT firewall. Sometimes I host Roger Wilce from my second computer (the one with the MODEM) using my second ISP (No NAT). That works splendidly, but it's a bit of a hassle to set up and I can't just leave it set up all the time because it ties up my phone line.

(Hint..... is AH voice really a repackaged Roger Wilco derivative?)


-Peabody-

[Skuzzy]

Sigh,..AHVoice is 100% developed by HTC.

[Jougal]

Just a thought...Could it be that some of us have been denied Vox in AH becuase we might have said something we shouldn't have?  I am an ex-Marine and I have the foul language to prove it.  While I do honestly try to control my poor language I do slip up from time to time.  My Vox never had a problem until just recently.  With and without my Linksys.  Understanding one of my failures returning to civilian life the thought has occured to me that I might be Permi-Squelched by AH so I can't pollute tha airways anymore.  I can't remember saying anything but I'm sure it has happened.  Could this be a reason, Skuzzy for some of our problems?  My current AH ID is Wyvren.


Thank You,

Jougal A.K.A Wyvren

[bbosen]

Well.... No.

I am absolutely certain that my problems are not related to the foul word filter.


-Peabody-