We’re trying to create a game that allows users to create their own rooms and join rooms created by other users. At the moment, the choices are either run the game on a LAN or use port forwarding to open up port 7777 so you can host a game. I really need a way to let users host a room without having to mess with their router settings. It’s unlikely that our users would have access to router settings in a university environment (where we expect most of our users to be), and it’s above and beyond being not user friendly in any case.
I tried using MiniUPnP (according to this AnswerHub thread) but I couldn’t get the library working and my question provoked no responses.
So what is another solution for not requiring users to forward ports? This is obviously possible because Unreal Tournament uses the same architecture. I’m guessing some form of UPnP is needed but I can’t figure out how to integrate it.