Question Multiple gaming PCs

[CountJukeYou]

So me and my roommate both play the same games together and we were using a 100mbps speed with the basic modem/router combo that came from our ISP. We upgraded to 400mbps and they gave us just a modem so we bought the nighthawk r7000 ac1900 router. So before when we were using the combo unit on the low speed we could play any of our games together without any connection issues but some ping issues from time to time. Now with the new router and speeds we have a lot of connection issues when we try to play the same games. We have tried UPnP and port triggering and stuff like that and it helps for some games but we still have connection issues in a lot of other games and we never had any of these issues when we were using the combo unit. So my question is, is there a setting or new router that allows multiple PCs on the same network to play the same games like our combo unit did, or is there something special about a modem/router combo that allows this to happen? We just want to be able to play games together again without fighting with the network issues.

 

[bill001g]

It should make no difference really since you didn't have a bandwidth issue at 100mbit unless someone was downloading something big. Games use almost no bandwidth.

It is very strange since many people have and like that r7000. UPnP and port triggering is mostly used by console type of games because there is no central hosts. Games like wow or fortnite use central servers and do not care about multiple machine behind the same ip.

There are some issues like when you want to play between 2 consoles in the same house that you can have issues. Some routers handle this better than others since it is confusing to the router to access a internal device using the external IP.

It is really going to depend on what your actual issue is. Maybe a firmware upgrade on the router but that router has been on the market a while so the firmware shipped now is fairly stable.

....A note on strangeness you find when you get a your first very high speed internet. Routers use a feature that bypasses the CPU for the NAT. Some features...mostly QoS or firewall features..turn this off and force the traffic via the CPU and you top speed will drop to 250-300mbps. Be careful what features you attempt to use or you will trade those for your high speed. I think UPnP is supported by the offload so it should not cause issues.

 

[CountJukeYou]

There are some issues like when you want to play between 2 consoles in the same house that you can have issues. Some routers handle this better than others since it is confusing to the router to access a internal device using the external IP

This seems to be our biggest issue right here. Even though we are both using wired connections to the router on our gaming pc’s games like anthem, apex, COD, rainbow 6 siege etc. will have connection issues when we try to play together. Is there anything specific we should be looking for in the settings or in a new router that will allow it to play on multiple machines without getting confused by the traffic? Is there any newer routers that work well with two machines? Like I had said we were using the combo router/modem from our isp and somehow that worked better than our r7000 for both of us playing together.

 

[bill001g]

The function is called hairpin nat but they don't actually even mention if a router supports it or not. The problem is related to trying to use the WAN address to communicate between the machines. Normally you should be able to use the lan ip but many of the games you talk about use a central match making server so I don't know if you can use lan ip.

 

[CountJukeYou]

I’ve read that using the 3rd party FW updates like Merlin or Kong did-wrt help some people with a lot of multidevice gaming issues like ours. Is this because they have hairpin nat settings and is this something you would suggest trying?