Hey all!
After such a long absence, I decided to come back. Hopefully I will start to write stuff on a regular basis. Anyhow….. hope you didn’t miss me XD.
Moving to the matter on hand…………………
Seems like you are having some real trouble hosting your own Cod4 game on a VLAN (virtual LAN e.g. Hamachi).
A little explanation of the problem:
Basically, when you try to run CoD4 to play on LAN, it automatically assumes your ‘very’ LAN network as the primary network. However, your Hamachi is actually another network you are connected to. (It is literally a Virtual LAN, a LAN that doesnt exist). So what you have to do is to force CoD4 to connect to the Hamachi network.
But that is not really do-able. So you need to create a Windows Socket which makes an invisible link between your ‘real’ LAN network and your hamachi network. This is done by using ForceBindIP. The rest are really configuring the router to forward certain ports and configuring your firewall.
Here is what you gotta do:
1) Get a copy of ForceBindIP –> Credit goes to http://www.r1ch.net/stuff/forcebindip/ <– Click on the link to see the usage.
2) Click on this link to see the usage (scroll down) -> Using ForceBindIP
3) Install ForceBindIP – It automatically installs itself to the System32 folder, so it is automatically added to the PATH variable. That means that you can use the program in the ‘Command Prompt’ without mentioning the path to the file/program.
4) Start your Hamachi client and connect to the server.
5) Now, this is what I usually suggest ->
a) Navigate to the Startmenu item for your Cod4 Multiplayer. Right click on the shortcut and select Properties.
b) In the field named ‘Target’ add this:
ForceBindIP x.x.x.x “y” where ‘x’s are your Hamachi’s IP and ‘y’ is the path to your CoD4 file (leave the path to your CoD4 file untouched).
c) Press the ‘Ok’ button, and launch the game.
6) You are set and ready to go.
7) Now, the following parts are for those who have ABSOLUTELY no idea on how computers, CoD4 and networking mix all together!
8 ) In your Cod4, click on Create New Game/Server (I dont have the actual game running, so guessing some of the names).
9) On the new windows, there is a little field which says ‘Dedicated’. You want the game to be dedicated so it uses the Hamachi network. Click on it, till it changes to LAN.
10) Tweak your server settings, and hit ‘Start’. The game closes, and a little window called ‘CoD4 Console’ starts again. DO NOT CLOSE THE WINDOW. That is your server running! Notice: PunkBuster does NOT work with Hamachi, so ‘disable’ the PunkBuster option.
11) Now relaunch the game. This time click on ‘Join Game’. On the top of the page, there is a field which you can change which results in you seeing games which are available Locally (LAN), Internet or your favourite server. Click it till it changes to Local.
12) When you found your game (if you have followed this little tutorial, then it is gonna be there), click on Server Info (on the bottom of the page). In the new window, there is something called (guessing) ‘Server IP’. Give that x.x.x.x:xxxx to your mates (who want to join the game).
13) Now click on it and you are set. Make sure that your firends are in the same Hamachi network and that you have configured your firewall, and also your router for port-forwarding (very very important).
14) Your mates may not be able to see your game, just the way you saw, so tell them to press the Console key (the key above the ‘Tab’ key on the keyboard’) and type “connect x.x.x.x:xxxx” where x.x.x.x:xxxx is the server IP (re-read point 12).
That is it! You are set to go.
If this tutorial was useful, please leave a comment below 
I have already forwared, the ports needed, and the port forward checker finds them opne (28960 UDP/TCP for CoD4)
I dont know if there are any other ports to be opened thoug!
I have also opened one port for Hamachi, but I dont know if it is the correct one, I found it in the preferences of my Hamachi…
Although you said that it is possible to change the port hamachi uses I dont know how to do it!
But I have already forwarded the ports that are needed, or I think so, I have forwarded 28960 TCP/UDP for CoD4…
And also one port UPD/TCP for hamachi although I dont know if it is the proper one, I mean i dont know if it the one that hamachi uses for sure!!
Which ports are they needed to be forwarded
Ok, so I did test it with CMD and indeed a window popped up telling me:
—
Error during initialization:
No IWD files found in /main
—
Also I had my friends ping me in my Hamachi IP, while they were conected to hamachi and in the same network, and everything was all ok, they could count the ping send and receive packages!
I want to add also that, I run CoD4 from an external hard drive, so I dont know this might cause some problem too!
Hey. No that error counts towards the actual game and it is nothing that you need to be worried about. I think that now that you can see yourself in the ‘Local’, it is a problem with your router and forwarding packets to you. Unfortunately, that I can’t help you with you, since it is different for every router. However, Google the router name and model and there are pages you can read to configure the router properly.
Sorry. I hope that you can get it to work soon.
Mo
Ok I now can, see my own server, but as usual my friends cant join, the ip is indeed similar to hamachis one firewalls ports and things all set.. still the same prob!
Ok, lets see…
Hamachi IP is the number on top of the window (for me, starts with 5.x.x.x) – the target field should look something like this:
[[ forcebindip 5.10.15.20 "D:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare\iw3mp.exe" ]]
without the [[]]. I am running 64bit windows 7, so your path might differ from mine.
Just to make sure that the game actually uses forcebindip, go to start menu, run, and type ‘cmd’ and hit enter. Once the black window came up, copy your target field and paste it there and run it. If any message appears, copy and paste it here so I can see what the problem is.
If your friends can’t join you, it is a symptom of one of the following problems:
1) you haven’t set your router to do packet forwarding – so basically your router’s firewall prevent them from connecting – get them to ping you to see if they can connect or not. This is the problem for about 90% of the cases.
2) you aren’t connecting to hamachi through forcebindip – just do what I said above and paste the output here so I can help you from there on!
Mo
No Luck
When you say hamachi IP you mean the one showed up in the mains hamachis window top?
If yes well I dont know, if not tell me what is the hamachi IP… also if you could give the exact example of how the target field should be like!
I did everything step by step, I read and applied everything that was needed(even for x64 bit)
I made the server, but not even me cant find the servers on the local!! plz help
Hey. First of all, check all your connections, and check your peer connections too. Try and ping to yourself, and ping to your mates, to see if you get a response back.
I also recommend that you turn of your firewall and anti-virus for the time being. Once you done everything, then make sure that the instance of the CoD4 that you are running is being injected with the ForceBindIP (so it connects to Hamachi instead of your own LAN network).
Once thats done, try to see whether you find the game. If you still have a problem, press on the button next to the ’1′ key on the horizontal keypad (the key on top of the ‘Tab’ key). Then type ‘connect x.x.x.x’ where X is your Hamachi IP. If you succeed, you have to tell your mates to do the same thing.
Hope that helped.
Mo
I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!
Ammad, you only get the key authori error if you have a pirated copy of the game.
If that is the case, or for any other reason, you have to get a copy of the cracked version of the server (iw3mp.exe). Because of legal reasons, I cannot go any further than that.
Good luck
do i need any crack files for LAN also in order to run server
Dude….
i have done all the steps but still ma mates finding the error msg key cod authorization i m running a server in LAN mode……also use force bind but didnt works
I’m having trouble finding the “target” field. It doesn’t seem to be under properties. Am I clicking the right icon? It says iw3mp.
Hey mate,
When you right-click on the shortcut to the game (the one either on your desktop or start menu), then you get the “Target” field. If you right-click on the actual game executable file, you won’t get it.
Let me know how you get on.
Mo
pls help me out to host server over hamachi i did all step mention by you over.
but i find problem in key code authorization.
pls help me out i done all the things but i still not able to use cod4 over hamachi and it showing key code authorization pls help me out
Hey mate,
If you would like to use CoD4 under local network, then just select LAN – if you want to make a game which others (only those you would like to play) select Internet, but make sure you set some sort of a password for it.
From your comment, I get the expression that you are trying to run a server using Hamachi over net, to avoid connecting to Activision (possibly because you have a pirated copy). If that is the case, you have to get your server file cracked as well.
Because of all the legal issues, I cannot point you anywhere else after here, but I believe there are sites out there which offer the cracked version of iw3mp file.
If there is anything else, let me know.
Mo
man im a lil confused. I got this almost working id say. I can see the game but it stays at Awaiting connection for hours until it times out… the port forwarding part is the only thing that Im not sure about could you help me with it
Hey alex,
Yes and no. I had done some furthur testing, and it seems that you actually dont need the port forwarding to get the game working, however, it will slightly boost your connection. On the other hand, you need to have the port forwarding enabled for Hamachi to let the connections directly to you. You can set the Hamachi to use a certain port (I use 23456).
However for your remedy, I would say do the following:
1) Disable ALL the firewalls, that is all third party as well as Windows Firewall. Completely turn them off. DON’T turn off your router’s firewall <- very dangerous.
2) Re-run the game and your settings <- disable punkbuster. See what happens now.
Also, one last question, are your running the server, or a mate of yours and you are trying to connect to them?
Hey Vikram,
thanks for the heads up. Sorry but I dont run 64bit windows so didnt really knew about it…
Thanks anyhow.
Cheers
Hey dude,
Thanks a lot for helping me. TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS IN 64 Bit of Windows Xp, Vista or 7 , PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE ZIP FILE FOR THE FORCE IP THAT HAS ITS DLL AND THE .EXE FILE. COPY BOTH OF THOSE FILE AND MANYALLY PASTE IT.
Actual issue: U Cannot rename the TARGET PATCH by mentioning FORCEIP for any appliation in 64 bit windows.
Reason:– The forcebind Installs the .exe and .dll in the sysWOW folder of the 64 bit windows. Instead of installing it automatically, simply copy the .exe and the .dll (included in zip file) and manually paste it in c:\windows\system and c:\windows\system32