After today's maintenance to relocate DDO to the new data center, the game will be using more ports with which to connect and communicate.

If you previously setup port forwarding (or port triggering) on your router and/or modem for ports 9000-9010 UDP, updating the range of ports to 9000-9058 is now recommended.

If you have not previously done this and are experiencing disconnecting issues on transitioning areas in game or in general gameplay then you might need forwarding enabled. If so perform the following:

(Note that these steps below require you to have direct access to the configuration settings of your network hardware, if you do not have this access you may need to contact someone who does.)

First make a note of whether you connect to both a router and a modem or just a modem provided by your internet service provider. If your system(s) connects via wired/wireless Ethernet to a router and that router then connects to a modem provided by your ISP then setup port forwarding on the router (the one your system connects to).

If you only connect to one device (typically) provided by your ISP it is likely a residential 'gateway' (essentially a router with a built in modem for your connection type). In that instance you may need to have your ISP set this up as some lock out user based changes (but often if you cannot do so they can do this remotely).

Step One: Determine the make/model of the device (usually a sticker on the housing somewhere lists this). Using that info search the manufacturer's support site for "Make/Model Port Forwarding" which should bring up a guide (if your model does not support this the page that comes up should indicate that but it's exceedingly rare).

Step Two: Many guides will indicate that you want to set your computer to use "static IP"* (e.g. you manually assign your computer an IP address from the pool that the router uses) and typically this is something in the 192.168.0.100 to 200 or 192.168.1.100 to 200 ranges (but varies based from model to model) but that is not fully necessary since the IP addresses given out by the router dynamically change (somewhat) rarely. Though if you do choose to leave your computer using a dynamically assigned IP, be sure to periodically check that IP address versus what you used for port forwarding, so that when it changes you are updating the rule set as needed.

* Note that Static IP in this context means normally your computer gets assigned an IP typically dynamically (automatically) by the router or modem so that it can join your local home network but you are setting a 'static IP' instead. To do this you are simply taking one of the addresses it would normally assign automatically and instead manually assigning it. Static IP per your internet provider can mean something else though, in that context your internet provider assigns your modem one of their (public) IP addresses manually instead of automatically (which usually carries a fee), however this is not what is meant by static IP for port forwarding, so keep in mind that for port forwarding it is 'internally' static, and for your ISP to do it refers to your external or 'public' IP address which is not needed.

Step Three: Using the guide they have and your computers current IP address (the "destination"), you want to create a port forwarding rule set for port range "9000-9058" via the "Both UDP/TCP" option (it's usually listed as TCP or UDP individually, then a "Both" setting, for ease of use select both when given the option to choose the packet type).

Items to remember:

If you left your computer using dynamically assigned IP addresses just keep in mind that you should check that address periodically and update the port forwarding settings to match if/when it changes.

If you have more than one computer playing the game together port forwarding is very specific (since it uses a specified internal IP address). In cases like that we recommend port 'triggering' instead. Triggering works in a similar method to forwarding except that you specify a trigger 'port' instead of an IP address, when a connection is attempted on that port you have also specified a port range like you do with forwarding (9000-9058 for DDO) instead of an IP specific to one system. Triggering is usually in the same section of the options menu of the device as forwarding is and the steps are only slightly different.

Triggering usually also requires an edit of the game's settings. If you have multiple computers on the network that may be playing the game simultaneously, then on the primary one open your Documents > Dungeons and Dragons Online folder. Within there open the userpreferences file. You'll want to look for the option "UserSpecifiedPort=0" (0 is default it means 'automatic'). Change that line on one system to (as an example) 9000, e.g. "UserSpecifiedPort=9000" and save the changes to the file. Then on the port triggering settings set the 'trigger' port to 9000 as well. This way when that system connects all the ports in 9000 to 9058 are open for connections. (I know, why not just use triggering instead of forwarding? Because triggering is less specific there is somewhat more of a risk of 'cross talk' on any given port in a range and if you only connect on one system forwarding is usually better being more specific using IP instead of an outbound port)

If you need any help with this definitely contact Technical Support via a ticket submitted at http://support.turbine.com