Port forwarding issue

Networking
1

So I've been having issues connecting to Ark Servers.
The server IP i'm trying to connect to is 158.69.22.117:7777
I pinged the IP in CMD and there were no issues.
I have configured my router (ee brightbox 2, sigh) to port forward that port in both TCP and UDP (couldn'd get an answer as to which the game uses)
I also double checked that my PC had a static IP on my network, which it does.
And I have altered my windows firewall to allow these connections.

After all this I still can't connect, any advice?

I have also tried:
Turning router firewall off
Turning PC firewall off
Setting PC to the DMZ of the router

I'm stumped, I also used an online port scanner and it said that 7777 was still closed despite the port being forwarded on the router. Someone know a fix?

2

You shouldn't need to port forward for an outbound connection, so that's kind of a red herring.

If you can't connect to 158.69.22.117:7777 that means that you're either being blocked by the firewall for the server, or the Ark server is just offline. Being able to ping something doesn't necessarily mean that the service you're trying to connect to is online.

3

I have friends playing on the server so I'm confident it is up and running, furthermore it isnt a server that has a whitelist so I don't think I would be blocked... Thanks for the help though, any other suggestions as this has happened for a couple of servers now?

4

Change to DHCP and let your router assign you an IP.

5

Well the fact that my system shows that port as closed as well leads me to one of two possibilities.

1) The server address you're typing is wrong.
2) There is a white list and you/your friends don't know about it.

Additionally, the port is almost certainly TCP, as UDP would make for some REALLY wacky online interactions.

6

After repeated attempts to join I finally managed to connect just fine, I haven't made any changes which was odd, that eliminates it being a white list issue or anything like that

And Eden, I'm more than happy to do that, can I ask what the benefit is however? (I like to understand why stuff works)

7

static ip can cause ip conflicts with dhcp and some other issues like the router not even seeing the device. dhcp with dhcp reservation is almost always works better.

8

In addition to what @Dje4321 said which can happen if you assign an IP that's within the DHCP range. Sometimes you can forget to set settings that DHCP sets up for you and can result in some od network behavior.

Inside your home, theres no reason not to use DHCP, your computer will normally always keep the same IP, and for gaming it doesnt matter what your internal IP is, game servers will only ever see your external IP anyway, which unless its IPv6 is always going to be assigned using a DHCP variant as there aren't enough IPv4 addresses.

On a side note, IPv6 is generally automatically configured as well, though in a way that youd normally be given the same IP unless you specifically configure it not to.

9

Ok :) Thanks for the explanation! I'll switch things over now and see if things improve.
Thanks to everyone for their input.

10

Quick update, I removed my static IP as recommended and I'm still getting the same issue. I have friends on the server so I know it is us. Just seems odd as once I managed to connect last night I had no issues... Perhaps its just Ark being Ark?