Non-Friended Steam-based clients can't connect to dedicated Linux server?

[FlakMagnet]

Server OS:  Debian 10

CPU: Intel i7-4790K

Avorion Server version: Beta 0.26.1 r17098 4e696581fc21

Subject was: "Windows clients can't connect to dedicated Linux server?" when posted on 2019-10-18

 

I set the server up using instructions at https://avorion.gamepedia.com/Setting_up_a_server.  I took the additional steps of setting up a different user account to run the actual Avorion server.  I think that there are interactions between binaries and scripts that are part of "steamcmd" and the avorion server that it downloads which were freaked out by the different file ownerships and permissions of the two solutions.  I had set things up so that group-ownership and permissions should have allowed them to interoperate, but I guess not.  Probably something to do with the umask that just wouldn't be worth tinkering with too much.

So, after I changed the ownership of the steamcmd files and the Avorion server files to be owned and ran by the same user stuff didn't automagically work.  (FYI:  The steamcmd was owned by "steam" and the avorion server was owned and ran by "avorion".  Very original, I know.)

 

The final steps that actually let my friends connect were:

1. Ensure they'd added me as a friend on steam.

2. Have them request to join the server I'm on from within Steam's "Friends" function (I've never used it, not sure I'm decribing it correctly.)

3. Add them to the whitelist, for which the "/help whitelist" could really use some polishing.  I'll do some testing and write something up to add here on that point.

4. They could then both see the server in the Browse Servers dialog and join in.

 

This was with just two players to test, so I couldn't run through many permutations of those steps to see if any of those steps are unnecessary.

 

I have a systemd script for starting and stopping your game-server with the "systemctl" command if anyone's interested.  I can do a write-up on it in a couple of days or so.

 

+++Original post follows:

The server is up and running on a dedicated box with a hosting service.  From my client system running Linux I am able to see the server in the server listings, and connect to it.  When they enter the IP into the "Join via IP" dialog the server shows up as "Unreachable".

 

None of the three friends I've invited to it can connect, and they're running on Windows.  Is that the source of the issue?

 

We've used various networking troubleshooting tools and verified that network traffic between the Windows clients and the server are actually reaching the server on the ports that it's ought to.

 

I'm wondering if there's a problem with Windows clients being unable to connect with Linux servers, or if that's known to work?  (Kind of how people playing Borderlands 2 on Windows can't play with people on Linux, so I've heard.)

 

[WSY]

Is this over LAN or the internet? If they are having to manually enter up info I assume the internet.

 

Can they telnet from their windows client on the port the server has opened?

 

Example

 

Telnet "your IP" "server port"

 

If it goes blank good, if it does nothing, would be network related.

[FlakMagnet]

It's over the internet.  IMO the network has been pretty thoroughly ruled-out as the root of the problem.  I've used tcpdump on the server and watched the traffic come in when port scans were attempted from one of the client machines.

[WSY]

Awesome, glad to see you got it resolved!

[FlakMagnet]

It's not that it's fixed, more like we found a cumbersome work-around.  I have to be online and in-game for them to see it.  If I reboot the server or they restart Steam, they lose it.  It shows as "Unreachable" in their server lists.  I can still see it just fine though, so it's kinda maddening.