Port Forwarding for Microsoft Flight Simulator

[mutley 4,497]

For anyone who may be having connectivity problems with the new sim, it could be down to your router not having the correct ports open. You may have been through this before with FS2004, FSX, or P3D. We covered this topic when the old FSX Gamespy multiplayer service was terminated and we all had to connect directly. Jess wrote a guide at the time here ..

Here's a brief summary.

Before you can forward a port you need to know the following things:

• Your router's IP address.
• Your FS machine's IP address.
• The TCP and UDP ports that need to be forwarded.

IP addresses

To find the IP addresses (in Windows) type cmd in your search window. When the window appears, at the command prompt type ipconfig you will then receive network info like below.

'IPv4 Address' is your flight sim PC IP address (presuming this is the machine you are logged into). Note: if your system is set up to use IPv6 addresses you can swap to IPv4 in your network adaptor settings.

'Subnet mask' - Always 255.255.255.0

'Default gateway' - Your router IP address. You can often access your router admin via a browser using the IP address given, you will also need your router admin password. Whilst in your router it is recommended that you use static addresses for your home network IP addresses.

Ports

So it looks as though the ports for the new sim are different, the ports that need to be forwarded in your router for Microsoft Flight Simulator are as follows:

TCP: 3074

UDP: 88,500,3074,3544,4500

The usual process for forwarding a port is:

• Login to your router.
• Find your routers port forwarding section.
• Put the IP address of your computer (or gaming console) in the applicable box in your router.
• Put the TCP and UDP ports for your game in the corresponding boxes in your router.
• Reboot your router for the changes to take effect

This is how my set up looks:

 

If you are already flying MSFS without any connectivity problems then don't mess with it! There are no guarantees that this will work for you so only try it as a last resort after to have backed up your existing configuration. All the usual disclaimers apply. 

 

[hlminx 301]

Great idea to post this thread Joe.

[mutley 4,497]

Thanks Steph, all I can say is you were the inspiration!