How many other Steam games offer the option to connect directly to someone else? Not so many. And if they do, like Payday 2 for example, they use their own lobby system.

Fireball dont get me wrong I am trying to understand but I really dont get how they can not have aabsolute power about it. In none other steam games that I own have I experienced such a problem. Nor the develoopers have suggested me to use some other ways dont work at the end. can someone please enlighten me how I am able to play every toher game in my steam library but not Arma3 ?

Well, I think they have to urge Valve to improve Steam.

When they had to switch from GameSpy to the Steam matchmaking system, nobody realized that it would not support double NAT punching, like the old system - or maybe they knew, but had no alternative.

At any rate, they're aware of it, they have priority on it, but no absolute power about it (as far I know).

But are they (Bis)addressing the problem? Or just letting people find their own solutions.....

Just to add, if I switch my router to modem mode it works, and I can host a game and people can join. This is a nasty temporary fix as there's no routing nor wifi!

Even with the latest update I still have this issue.

It's extremely frustrating being unable to play even a simple coop mission with friends!

I recently was unable to create a MP game (freeze crash) until I discovered that some steam files (\Saved\steam\meta) to do with subscriptions caused that issue - once deleted I could then create the game. But now no-one can join the game I have created.

I have opened the necessary ports on my router, even created a DMZ! Nothing. My ISP is Virgin Media on 100mb, router is a VM Super Hub2.
It's a shame that I even have to try these things.

This is miserable fallout from Gamespy going under...

A solution that did work for me was using jgaz-uk's advice and try evolve. We generally only have small coop fireteams though so I wouldn't know what it's like on a full server. Simple to set up, streaming features, Recorder, fps counter. For us it works fine I can find our LAN server every time, without problems.

ps I wouldn't say this was anything innovative? But i'm glad your addressing this problem all the same.

Yeah, pretty much the same problem here.
Tried everything with router/firewall/ports, but problem is only with Arma3.
Quite "frustrating" not being able to play with friends.
No problem at all joining other servos, just cant host any game.
Hope BI will solve this problem SOON.

Sometimes it's more than just work, it takes innovation - else it would have been fixed already.

Nobody is "fobbed off".

Time is money dude, if there's no money in for Bis why waist time on it, easier to fob customers off by issuing another unnecessary ticket. There's no sentiment in business & understandably profit must be made. You cant tell me they dont know what the problem is, Just wish they would say it can/will be fixed or it cant/wont.

I think xLenLenx's last post must be right sadly

Thank you Iceman for looking into this, we really really appreciate it. Some of us are not that technically savvy and have trouble joining our friends use other methods.
Being able to just host the old way would make this so much fun again.

So no change yet it seems.

I think we might need to summarize all of the information about the issue in the new parent ticket, as it says it's awaiting more information or something like that.

I suspect we are just being fobbed off with the new ticked issued. Surely there is more than enough information in this current ticket re the problem. If it cant be fixed just say so Bis, respect yes?

Hey,
this issue just got new priority assignment. It was linked to new parent ticket (will be visible soon) and we'll try to adress and solve all issues.

Thanks for replying Iceman, I appreciate it and I am sure so do all the other players who are waiting and frustrated.

How about a statement Iceman this has been assigned to you.

Is this problem going to be fixed or not? And no bullshit please.

Guys give it up, this problem exists since nearly 5 months!
I'm done with ArmA 3 and BI.
It hasn't been fixed in 5 months and wont be fixed in the near future (if they'll ever do it)
I maybe try Arma3 in a year again :D

I buy a copy of the game for my brother only to play with him online but I cannot do it since this problem appear. To be honest I use to play more offten before but such problem moves me out of the game and is sad to see that after several patches the problem is still there.
I know that is not only BI but they need to fin a solution with Steam and not et players to go away.
Cheers,
Peter

Hi I have the same problem, cannot find friends server. I've opened all ports, not a problem with my router. We can join other peoples servers not in our group. But as soon as we try to create our own server. I will try a 3rd party lan emu. XD

ps thanks for the advice

Yes it seems like BI is letting the customers hang and try and find there own work arounds for the problem with their product, and again back to no word from them saying okay we are working on it, we are trying, I wonder how it will affect future product sales, if you want to buy a game just to play on your own then it is great, if you want to buy one to play with Friends then no longer from BI as it stands right now I guess.

This option has not work for me or my friends for a while now. We are using tungle to play but that should not be necessary. If I create a an internet session my friends are not able to see it even looking for it with filters. We have tried without mods with the same results.
It's a real shame, we had a great time playing battlefield last night, I guess this is it for us and arma.
Thanks for giving us the finger BI

There are at least 2 other similar Issue reports running regarding this issue & I'm sure BI & Iceman know exactly what the problem is, but all you get is platitudes.

For followers of this post there is a way to game with friends PC to PC, and its by using a program called Evolve. https://www.evolvehq.com/welcome
It creates a virtual LAN over the Internet between friends, then one hosts & invited friends can see & join using the LAN option in ArmA 2 or ArmA 3. Owners of Bi's software should NOT be having to do this but until Bohemia pull their finger out & get this sorted, it is a workable option

My router also is working fine, my Friends and I can hook up with any other game we have on steam except ARMA games, again we can see other people who have dedicated servers up, but cannot see the ones we set up for ourselves. And sadly I do not see anything changing very fast to correct it. So it seems without gamespy a lot of people are out of luck with this one until the makers of it decide to get it fixed, and it does not matter if they blame steam, gampespy or the routers, the fact remains it does not work and needs to be fixed.

Before the update everything worked perfectly fine with ports 2302:2303 open.
Since the update my server won't show up in the list (or anywhere else on the internet) and I haven't changed any settings.

Oh come on what did the previous poster just say Fireball?
And it is not our ports that is the problem, because we can link up & game on line with other manufactures games. It's the BIS ArmA games that we now (not previously) have the problem with, so ipso facto it has to be BI's problem

One admires loyalty fireball, but really "malfunctioning routers".
This is one BI have to sort out

I have these ports open. I've had them open even before the problem started, just to make sure I had the best connection. I'm not about to DMZ. No one should have to do that for a game.

I also think the malfunctioning routers are only part of the problem, but if the affected people's router IS indeed not working properly (i.e. ports are not actually open/forwarded) you cannot blame BI for it - they can't fix your router.

FFS! As costumers of Bohemia (Myself since Flashpoint) we should NOT be having to mess about with our various routers to link up & play on line This should be sorted by BIS. They are going to lose customers rapidly if they don't start working on it.

It turned out that my issue was with my router - it seems BT HomeHub 3 and 5 have issues with opening individual ports. I had tried several times, double checking every step, but when I clicked 'Confirm' nothing happened.

After checking online I found many people with these routers have this issue (hence me asking what others have), so I tried DMZing it, which forced all the ports open, and it worked.

Edit - this was not quite correct, the issue came when trying to forward the port to my PC, not when trying to open it.

Im on BT infinity but my friend is on Sky fibre optic, with a completely different router, then Freddy is in Sweden on neither BT or Sky...go figure. Doesn't matter who creates the new game, none of us can see it

It actually should be sufficient if the one who hosts the server/host opens ports UDP 2302-2305 and forwards them to his computer, instead of opening up the entire computer to the Internet (as in using the DMZ option).

Our group have tried every way inc "join server owner in the Steam friends list" also the steam server list with ip address, & either cant find server or Unable to join , every time. Is anyone from Bohemia actually working on a solution?

Just had a thought - What type of internet routers are you all using? I'm on a BT HomeHub3 (Type B) and can get around this issue by taking the dangerous option and putting my PC into a DMZ whenever I host a mission.

Me, Fr3ddy & others cannot see each other no matter how we attempt to go in, via steam, via .exe via invite, via IP. We've waited for time for all servers to load but no matter. I'm not there or any of my friends when they create either

Hi, did you try using right-click "Join game" on the server owner in the Steam friends list?

For those with advanced routers/firewalls try to disable Dynamic Portforward on their NAT.

Hi, new to this forum but myself & 3 friends all can't join each other. Does not matter who creates game, none of the others can see it. Tried normal & latest hot fix 1.28, nothing working

Yeah, I'm having this problem too, most annoying.

Not a lot of point in being able to see (if you even can) other people's hosted ArmA games if you cant join! Is this ever going to be fixed? if for some reason it can't be please let us know.

Your right ColossusA1, I just sent to him as was not sure who else to address the question to as no word from anyone for sometime.

Thank you for the reply Fireball, I appreciate you getting back to me on that so quick.

Shotgun, note that Fireball can't really do anything more than reopen the ticket for us, he's a moderator, not a community manager like Iceman. That being said thank you Fireball for helping and at least reopening the ticket for us. Now we just need Iceman to actually look at this again, try to get it fixed, and hopefully keep eyes on it to ensure it gets fixed...

Fireball you mention it is a Steam issue, and there is no use blaming Gamespy who shut down as they are not in the business anymore. But as for Steam are your people and Steam working together to fix it or is this an issue where each company will blame the other or someone else and no one does anything to fix it. And no I am not being sarcastic, all I want to know is if anyone is trying to resolve the problem for the gamers? I see other servers out there on the weekend that can be joined, now are they dedicated ones only? Does that mean if I buy another copy of the game separate from the one I own and set up a dedicated server will my Friends be able to join me on that server? I even hired a computer service company to come out, called Geeks on the way, to try and help me resolve it and they were not able to. We tried for 2.5 hours and they were not able to figure it out, now I realize they do not know everything but when it comes to computers they are a lot smarter than I am. I would just like to know that someone is working to resolve the issue that is stopping people from enjoying the game.

Shotgun, note that you can install Steam with a different account and download the A3 Dedicated Server for free.

ColossusA1, yep exactly. But Iceman is QA representative not community manager, still his influence is "limited" to creating tickets and pester devs.

That said I think this issue is prioritized quite highly, but I think we need something like UPnP to enable double NAT punching or some other way to enable this, similarly to how Gamespy did, but this will require Valve cooperation.

Ou one more thing, when you make server whit TADST.exe it shows up in LAN, but just jump in login as admin and gaming whit friends can start.

Dayz & Arma Cold War Assault are both Bis games that will connect using Steam join friend, with out any problem. A3 WONT, (Getting same problem with A2 since cahnge to steam).

All to do with port-forwarding, if you know how to change them you can make it work. As most people dont know how, we are stuck. Its like buying a car & having the keys taken from you, & having to hotwire it every time you want to use it!

Can Bis not use the same settings as the Dayz standalone ???

Ou and i delete all workshop missions before installing game again, i found missions in here: C:\Users\"user name"\AppData\Local\Arma 3. Some cant be delete whit out software i thinks thats windows broblem, i dont know why those files can't be delete mut it says something "this files cant be found". Hope this really helps you people, Happy gaming and summer to all!

I install game again, open 2302, 2303 ports, and i use TADST.exe making server. Then you have to jump on server login as admin, and friends can join too, i think they join my server using friend list "join game" button. hope this helps.

Ha! I'm the same boat. Now my buddies give me crap for recommending broken games. Now they keep trashing Arma lol.

Get your sh*t together BI

Well, I can reply, but it doesn't help. It's a Steam issue. Blame Gamespy for shutting down.

It's also extremely frustrating waiting 10+ days between responses. I mean I know the community managers and moderators probably have their hands full, but this issue is quite a bit more serious than feature suggestions and other small bugs. I would normally play anywhere between 20 and 100 hours of ArmA in a month, and I've probably played less than 7 in the past 2 months due to this issue. I even had a friend buy the game during the summer sale and he hasn't even played it because we can't play together. This issue needs more attention.

Are we there yet?

They might not be able to or maybe they will start wanting people to pay more in order to host a private server or even a public one. This has gone on for a long time now and it seems for a lot of Customers it is one of the main reasons they bought the game, to be able to play on a server they create with Friends. I hope they say one way or the other soon instead of leaving people hanging and not knowing one way or the other.

@Shotgundb8 I don't think they want that. I guess that the problem is not as simple as we figure and some coding with Steam must be done...that's the only explanation that is my mind right now.
Anyways dear Devs we need you FOCUS 200% on this issue thus is almost two months since I dindt play a decent game(due to impossibility to play with friens on any hosted game)
Cheers.

I am sure Peter that there is a lot to the problem, and as everyone knows it is hurting a lot of players, I think one of the most frustrating things about it is the lack of any word from the Devs saying okay we are trying, we are working on it or something to let the players know, it has been a very long time that this has been occurring, and stopping people from enjoying the game the way we used to and should be able to

Yeap. No way to try that VR on mp. Issue still not fix.

This is so annoying.
The bug makes it impossible to play your own scenarios with your friends (and thats why I bought this game!). It is a shame that there isn't a solution yet.
I wonder if they aren't interested in fixing it or if they just aren't able to do so.

Seems like we have to wait a long time until this game breaker gets fixed...

Yes, yes I misread. I did reopen the ticket, but anything else beyond that is not in my hands.

P.S.: He clearly wrote "...we still cannot see each other
or connect together...", which is where I got that idea that they cannot connect, even though they may see each other at times.

A similar problem was happening with Arma 2. Maybe they know about it and can't fix it? Either way, squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Perfect summary of the issue Rimp. This process is going far too slowly for such a game-breaking issue. I feel like Iceman thought the problem was fixed and moved on, and Fireball's responses are a little confusing and he hasn't responded in 9 days. This issue has to be affecting a lot of people seeing as how it's also affecting the friends of everyone in this thread. A game breaking issue like this needs to be addressed quicker and more seriously. I say at this point we start a new ticket with all the information we've gathered together here and all vote it up quickly to get their attention.

A friend and I are having the exact same issue here. We haven't been able to connect since the GameSpy system was shut off. As I used to host for our group being the main editor of maps, we are all missing out now.

Shotgundb8 don't worry you stated nothing wrong, it was fireball's misunderstanding. For some reason he even quoted you wrong, at no point did you use the phrase "unable to connect".

I'm having the exact same issue and so is every single person I know who has Arma 3. issue first appeared when an update created the "steam" / "gamespy" server split. the only way to see an in game hosted server was to use the "gamespy" server list. then when the gamespy list was removed, an update later (leaving only steam server list) there appears to be no way to see any server that has been hosted by a friend. all ports required for steam have been opened and all ports required for Arma have been opened. attempts using the "remote" button do not work. attempts using the steam friends list "join game" do not work.

Friends still can't see my server, is there any chance to host my own server again?

Sorry Fireball, I do not understand what you mean, maybe I stated something wrong but the issue has always been before the 1.18 we never had a problem finding and connecting to a server one of us set up. After the 1.18 update we were not able to find or connect together to play. Then Iceman mentioned about gamespy and sadly we had not noticed it before so we tried that and it worked, then once that was removed we were back to no longer being able to connect together on a server that one of the group set up. We can see a lot of other servers and can join those ones, but cannot find or join the ones we set up using the filter, IP or steam invites. All we want to do is what we were doing from the start, have one of us set up a server, put a password on it of we want a private session and play the game. Please let us know if there is something else we need to do in order to get it to work again.

Okay, Shotgundb8, we're talking two different issues now.

This bug ticket was about the server not being registered. Now you're talking about "unable to connect" which is most likely a NAT-punching issue.

This is a completely different issue and it's known too. If both users are using dynamic NAT port-mapping, I believe Steam currently is unable to connect you.

What the hell, I didn't know I needed a degree in computer science to play this damn thing with friends.

Again this was tried today and the same results, we still cannot see each other or connect together to play a scenario. We see other servers but cannot see no matter which one sets it up. Iceman are you still following this post?

Colossus you're right, we should start a new ticket.
Seems like they don't take a look on the issues they "resolved" ;D

I think that might be connected to the hotfix, which changed back the Steam port to gameport +1.

Yeah problem still persists, listening servers are no longer possible at this time. Unless port forwarding is done which many people cannot do.

No sadly, the issue is not resolved and persists, would be nice if gamespy was brought back as at least then it worked. I hope they keep trying to correct the problem as it seems a lot if customers are having the same problem

On dev build, issue still persist for my friends and I. I have my ports forwarded, and now instead of them not having connection to the server they're stuck in the loading screen while trying to join. We should probably start a new ticket seeing as how Iceman hasn't responded in over a week and the issue is very much game-breaking for quite a few people.

This is not working for me either. Ports are open, game is still unblocked from any spyware and antivirus software. I don't know what else to do. I can only play on random servers. My friends and I cannot create games for us to play together.

I was really excited when i saw the update but unfortunately it does not work.
This problem is NOT resolved, friends still can't see my server.

Same here. Issue still exits.

Have been having this issue since the last patch as well. Tried forwarding steam ports, tried disabling firewall, tried setting up echo ping response, nothing has worked. Happens with all of my friends as well, none of us can host a server.

Hello,
yesterday, we applied a hotfix to the Stable branch.
http://dev.arma3.com/post/spotrep-00028
Overall Steam Server functionality in Arma should be improved and also "Join Friend" should now work.
Marking as resolved, but feel free to post notes here, I'll keep track of them.

First of all thanks devs for the hotfix. But unfortunately it still is not working for me. I cant see friends friends cant see me(listen server). Even through remote IP adress. I cant forward ports because my flatmate doesn't have the username and password for the router but my friends tried it and that also is still not working for us. Also when we play with the clan and search the (dedicated) server via filter it takes forever to find the server.

I am also having issues with hosting servers. I disabled my firewall and tried port forwarding, but no joy.

Not able to use the Steam invitations, have now also tried from three different computers and still the same result, not able to see each others servers, but, we do see other servers on the list. All computer driver updates are current, have even turned off the firewall to see of that was blocking it. Other games like Ghost recon, Call of Duty, Men at War, Modern Warfare and others work fine and we are able to connect to the others server that is set up. Have uninstalled the game and tried again but again no luck, would appreciate something to show this is being dealt with or at least that someone is trying to fix it, thank you

Devs please keep us updated, this bug is terrible...

There are a lot of new tickets related to this. There are all the same or related to the same. Hopefully they are looking at it.

Same here, since 1.22 none of my friends is able to host a dedicated server or private game anymore, while everything worked well with GameSpy.

@Devs when addressing this issue:

Please keep in mind that many people can't freely open every port they want. Not due to a lack of skill or understanding, but because of restrictions of their router or internet connection.

So we really hope you will find a solution that does not require additional port forwarding, just as it worked with GameSpy!

Hamachi is not reliable. It has only worked once or twice with my group of friends.

Same problem as discribed, since the last update I can't run a server for my friends because they can't see it. This is very annoying and for me a game breaking issue.

Fix this ASAP!

I have tried from in game IP search to Steam server search various things but neither my friends nor I can find the servers we open. the only thing that I haven't tried (and as it seems it works) is hamachi but I really dont want to install a third party program to make a program(which I bought) work!!

Still encountering the same problems. Every day I wake up and try out a new solution I find on random forums. My connection and my PC have never been running so smooth. I still cannot connect with my friends and they can't with me. But we can all join random servers. At least some acknowledgement that the problem is being looked at would be nice. I've been seeing this problem come up on forums about arma2 and no solution. If this problem only affects a small group of people, would it get ignored? Are we screwed?

Okay last couple of weekends have had no issues joining each other using gamespy now that it has been removed we are back to the same problem, not able to find each other no matter which one of us hosts the game. Port forwarding did not help, we need a fix please as we only buy these games to hook up and play together as a group, I would appreciate any help, thank you

Me and some friends are afflicted by this as well.

Regardless of which of us host the server, the others are unable to see it or join it from the ingame server list, not even when using the "Remote" button to type in the IP and port of the host directly.

Trying to join through the steam friends list results in a server info window appearing that only shows the IP and port of the host, and <not responding>, despite the server being up and running for the host.

Happens on both Dev and stable branch

This a quite critical issue as it prevents our group from playing tother at all.

"Okay last couple of weekends have had no issues joining each other using gamespy now that it has been removed we are back to the same problem, not able to find each other no matter which one of us hosts the game. [...]"

-Shotgundb8

We are encountering the same problem. It worked well until the update to ver. 1.22.125300. Before that we could play, finding the servers via the filter function. Even though we had to change from STEAM to GameSpy (after the update before). Since the update (1.22.125300) it is no longer possible to switch between these options. We also tried to use the Steam invitations, but they didn't work ever since I bought the game.

ICEMAN: Same issue here. Anyways there is a duplicate here with more information: 0018828

Myself and 2 of my friends are suffering the same issue. Steam invites do not help you get to the server, just into the game.

I am having the same issues. I have been playing the game just fine until now. Now my friend can't join and we see each other's ping as 2500. The problem happens on Steam and GameSpy. When I launch a game on Steam my friend can only see it on the GameSpy server browser. Any other game works great and our connection is excellent. I have opened up ports 2302-2305 for Arma3,and 27016 for Steam on my router. I have verified files on Steam, re installed the game, re installed Steam. I have also tried using other programs like Hamachi with no success. I also found many forums about this same issue happening with Arma 2 as well but I have yet to find one with a solution.

Edit:
We cannot always see each other in the server browser. We can only see each other in the browser if we use Hamachi. Normally we cannot even see each other's game in the browser. We are creating the session in the game. Remote join will not work. Creating the session using the other ports like 2305 didn't work either. The problem started happening with the update that brought in the Steam server browser.

It happens on both, we tried this weekend to do it on lan as my Friend came down south for a visit, but still not able to connect online. It did work okay on lan with no issues and we are going to try again next weekend when he is back home as due to work we can only play on the weekends.

Hello,

thank you for reporting this problem. Does it happen when you select Steam or Game-Spy (in the top right corner of the server list)? Also, do Steam invitations work for you?

Thank you.