Not sure how a 'puter picks up viruses without you trying new software all the time. I have never had a virus on my 'puter *knocks on wood*. I could have some hacking attempts as I have had some odd crashes relating to an Event ID 1000. Unfortunately that relates to an event that the server has no info on. It also implies another 'puter has that info and is causing said event. It always happens in different flserver files only.

I have got ZoneAlarm to work with both FL and flserver. Because of an issue with the TrueVector file taking up too much CPU utilization, I switched to WinXP's firewall which also works just fine. Unfortunately I can't do file and directory sharing (not an issue for playing FL over the LAN, just can't share files between the server and 'puters in my LAN) but some day I will just go back to ZA.

Odd that there would be a problem, doesn't most firewalls block incoming ports? ZA is the only one I know that blocks both incoming and outgoing. Maybe your firewall only lets one user to be logged onto any one port when it should be set to infinite. flserver only needs one incoming port open and it states in the FL documentation that port is in the range of 2302-2304. For my server I don't want a range open where some ports are not used so I fix my server to port 2304. That is what is set in both the software firewall (WinXP's) and my hardware firewall.

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Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server
See server rules and server news for more info.

One additional note on ZA. You might want to allow the executable for both the game and the server to "act as a server" (put checkmarks in the line) within ZA itself.

Rob "Stinger" Lordier
Moderator - Lancers Reactor
Creator Privateer FAQ
no good deed will ever go unpunished
Current server obsession - Boston Freelancer Server - very nice community
"Corwin02 spell-checked" for ackuracee

I can strongly recommend the Norton Series and especially Norton Internet Security which offers Firewall & Anti Virus in a package.

I have hosted almost every 1st Person Shooter you can think of with this running and used it through a router and on 2 P.C's, it can get funny if you run it through a LAN system and I have had to allow others access by putting their I.P's in individually but out on the net i've had no problems.

Dont know if your gonna be running 2 pc's (1 to host & 1 to play) but if so you might be wise to purchase a 2003 copy for use on both PC's as all new Norton Software now comes with one license per PC, so you have to buy 2 copies for your setup

I have never got on with Zone Alarm and don't rate it BUT it is free and may work well for you so always worth a try first.

Savvy

If you have a router or other built in firewall then you need to enable ony the ports needed for Freelancer.

I would suggest Norton proffesional firewall as I have had no problems with this.

Whatever your firewall is you need to do the following:

Create A New Service With The Name "Freelancer"
Conifugre It To A "UDP" Service

Open Ports 2300 - 2400 incomming

All of these ports are required for running FLservers and no more ports are left open if you can set it up like this, you wont have anyproblems.
(dont try this if you dont understand it!!)

E-mail me if you need any help

The Mercenary Navy - Power Is Everything
Vist The Mercenary Navy Online .

MN, you don't need to open so many incoming ports. flserver will use only one incoming from 2302 to 2304. Usually it's 2302 because it starts with the lowest and when it's free (no other DirectPlay utilizing programs are running except FL, right?) it uses that. I personally don't like even the other two ports open so I just open the one port 2304 and force flserver to use that port.

@Stinger - Golly gee! What a nice thing to say in your sig about Boston! Yet I'll know you're obsessed when you fly an RPG character! Hehe!

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Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server
See server rules and server news for more info.

Are you sure?

There is a document on the microsoft knowlage database that staes that they are the ports you need to have open to run FLServer and that you need them all?

The Mercenary Navy - Power Is Everything
Vist The Mercenary Navy Online .

There is a readme.rtf file in the Freelancer directory whether you install the client or the server only. This is an excerpt from that document.

---

Firewalls
Freelancer uses the standard DirectPlay ports, so your firewall needs to pass UDP ports 2302-2304 to the server machine.

Freelancer clients do not require any firewall configuration.

---

As you can see FL suggests a small range that is within the larger range of what DirectPlay can use, the 2300-2399 range. I have found that flserver actually only requires one port for players to come floating in from the Internet and ask to play.

Remember this is pertains to INCOMING ports only. I think flserver, and thus DirectPlay, use something like a dozen ports OUTGOING. Since most firewalls work to block incoming ports, that is what I'm talking about above.

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Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server
See server rules and server news for more info.

Yeh outbound traffic generally isnt a problem, but I'll try changing my incomming ports and see what happens.

The Mercenary Navy - Power Is Everything
Vist The Mercenary Navy Online .