Port forwarding with two routers and two machines

I am having issues with a specific game regarding restrictive NAT. The game is AOE online. When I try to play online matches I get a message regarding having a restrictive NAT and can not play. I have read the following instructions: here.. I do not know if I am able to port forward specific ports as both PC's listed below are looking to play this game on the same network.

My set-up at home is as follows:

Router1 (Netopia 2247-02)

Connected to internet directly (ADSL)
IP: 192.168.1.1
DHCP: ON - from 192.168.1.11 to 192.168.1.25
UPnP: ON
Firewall: OFF

Router2 (Linksys WRT54g - DD-WRT v24 RC-5 (11/22/07) micro)

Connected to Router1 via LAN.
IP: 192.168.1.2
DHCP: OFF
UPnP: ON
Firewall: OFF

PC1

IP: Static - 192.168.1.10
Connected to Router2 via LAN.

PC2

IP: Dynamic - coming from Router1 - 192.168.1.20
Connected to Router2 via LAN.

What can I do to remove this restrictive NAT issue when I have two PC's trying to play the same game on the same network/router?

Thanks in advance.

Update

If I connect PC1 directly to Router1 and port forward to that IP address i.e. 192.168.1.10 it does work.

Network Diagram

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Seany84

Posted 2012-12-22T14:26:01.547

Reputation: 139

You might want to add Router2 to the DMZ in Router1, so you only have one level of NAT (is there a a reason you need NAT and DHCP on Router1?) – user55325 – 2012-12-22T18:15:16.983

I added Router2 as static NAT on Router1 (There is no DMZ option from what I can tell on that router). There is a third and fourth PC connecting to Router1 so I left DHCP on that as they aren't connecting to Router2 and have dynamic IPs. – Seany84 – 2012-12-22T19:29:49.287

What is the routing mode on Router 2? It should be bridge mode. – John Siu – 2013-01-06T06:43:16.600

Have you opened the 7 ports as described in this article?

– harrymc – 2013-01-06T08:28:07.990

@JohnSiu Router2 is in bridge mode. – Seany84 – 2013-01-06T13:42:09.670

(1) Is PC2 the only having problem or both? (2) If only PC2 has problem, can you try plugging both PC1 and PC2 to router 1 and play at the same time? – John Siu – 2013-01-06T22:15:10.823

@JohnSiu (1) Both PC1 and PC2 are having the problem. Even on their own when one or the other is switched off. (2) Unfortunately that's not an option due to the layout of the house. There's only one LAN cable running to Router2. Note: If I connect PC1 directly to Router1 and port forward to that IP address i.e. 192.168.1.10 it does work. – Seany84 – 2013-01-06T22:24:28.010

(1) OK, then the issue is actually router 1 (2) you can plug the router 2 cable directly to PC2, but it is not important now. We have to fix router 1. – John Siu – 2013-01-06T22:27:06.743

For route 1, is it a adsl modem(phone line go into it) also? – John Siu – 2013-01-07T02:05:11.500

Could you look at my link above and do the port forwarding as it is described there, without specifying an internal IP? The article seems to imply that this works on the Netopia. – harrymc – 2013-01-07T06:42:28.697

@JohnSiu Yes the phone line is connected directly to Router1. – Seany84 – 2013-01-07T09:12:29.513

@harrymc I have previously tried the information on this site before posting on SO. Also, the problem here is the correct article is actually: http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Netopia/2247-62/Age_of_Empires_Online.htm Please note at the end of that article it says: "Use the Select Host Device box to choose a computer to forward ports to. This box contains a list of computer names that are visible on your network." This is a problem as I have two machines that need these ports opened/forwarded.

– Seany84 – 2013-01-07T09:14:49.460

There is a lot of information you haven't told us. A router has at least 2 interfaces (and 2 addresses!) - at least 1 "WAN" and 1 or more "LAN". Tell us what is plugged where, and both addresses. Also, what is your modem doing? It might be a modem/router and also doing NAT! – Hugh Allen – 2013-01-07T09:27:21.623

You need to turn off UPnP in router 2. – David Schwartz – 2013-01-07T10:32:23.377

@DavidSchwartz I have tried it with UPnP on/off on Router2 – Seany84 – 2013-01-07T20:40:28.907

@HughAllen I have added a network diagram to hopefully answer any outstanding questions. – Seany84 – 2013-01-07T20:41:03.930

This might be a coincidence, but I've had some port forwarding problems too when using dd-wrt as just a switch (WAN unplugged, no DHCP or UPnP etc.). Can you try re-flashing the original firmware? And your diagram and question still say UPnP is enabled on router 2 - it should be disabled if it's not doing NAT (which it isn't if its WAN port is unplugged). – Hugh Allen – 2013-01-07T21:43:22.087

@Seany84: Don't try with configurations that aren't supposed to work. It's counter-productive. What will happen is you'll have everything right but one thing, try a configuration that's not supposed to work, and it won't work because of the thing was wrong before, and now you have two things wrong. – David Schwartz – 2013-01-08T07:17:49.273

I like the look of point 3. I have created a registry entry,LivePortOverride, on PC1 - value: 5050. What should my next steps be? Should UPnP be enabled on Router1 or Router2 or both? thanks a lot – Seany84 – 2013-01-07T20:12:43.283

I went with option 3 and changed the port it runs on my machine. This works on my machine at least as I haven't been able to do it on the other PC yet (room-mates PC). All I need to do is set it up on the other PC and it should be sorted. Thanks – Seany84 – 2013-01-10T02:54:06.960