Left 4 Dead Game port setup

[Defunct]

Trying to figure out how to set up my firewall for the new Valve/Steam game Left 4 dead for online multiplayer.
Currently if I have the firewall on, I can't host games on a dedicated server, and sometimes I can't connect to a game.  If I turn off the firewall, everything works fine.  I'm behind a router as well, so that's preventing some incoming traffic.

Any pointers or ideas on where to start would be appreciated.  I looked through the game rules sticky, but the last time that was posted to was in January so it looks pretty abandoned.

At this point I'll just continue to disable the firewall.  It works, and I'm not particularly worried about it.

[kail]

Hi Defunct, welcome to the forums.

Rather than turn the firewall off, try putting the Firewall & Defense+ into "Training Mode" (right click systray icon).. don't do anything else in this mode, just run Left 4 Dead through its paces.. joining games, playing, hosting games, etc.. Then return the Firewall & Defense+ back to the normal modes (no, not disabled) & try it again.

Router: I don't have a router, but I've recently seen some free software that does router port forwarding for game, etc.. I'll dig it up.


edit: Opps.. CFP 2! Scrap the Defense+ bits & confirm your version please. Thanks.

[kail]

Right, assuming you do have CFP 2. Go to PortForward.com & select a game like Left 4 Dead (Half Life 2 Steam and/or the Server probably?). This will tell exactly how to set CFP 2 up to make the game work.

Routers.. perhaps this may help: Simple Port Forwarding v.2.1.2

[Defunct]

Sorry, thought it was clear I had 2 since I was posting in version 2 help.  I have version 2.  I had it in learning mode.  If version 3 has a better learning mode, I might download it and try it again.  I didn't like 3 when it first came out.

I'm not actually having any problems with the router.  Like I said, if I turn off the firewall, everything works fine.  Just saying I had a router so you didn't freak and think my system was totally open to the web.

Thank you very much for the responses.  They're very much appreciated and will hopefully help and put me in the right direction.  Very quick responses, too, so thanks!!  I've never played a game like this online before, so I didn't know about portforward.com

[kail]

No, it was my fault I was not paying attention (I'd picked your post out of unread posts). But, we do get a fair few misplaced posts & I was edging my bets when I realised you'd posted in the CFP 2 section. 

PortForward.com should help you out with CFP 2's set-up for games (as you've probably seen). You might have to change the Left 4 Dead port(s) for the Half-Life 2 one(s) if they're different. But, since its Steam, you might not.

The only time I suspect that your router might pose a problem is with hosting games, where other users connect to a port on your system. This is often called an Unsolicited Connection & a router's hardware firewall will usually reject these without some configuration.

Anyway, happy playing.