Can't connect to friends

Games Halo: The Master Chief Collection
1

Hi, my friend and I are unable to connect to each other anymore for some reason. We used to be able to, but now it just gives us a “Connection to the game session has failed” error.

I have a strict NAT type because I’m at a university, but matchmaking works just fine, as do other games.
I also cannot mess with the router because I’m at a university.
I have tried hard resetting my Xbox, as has my friend.
We have played together before, through all of Halo 1 as a matter of fact.

Is there anything you guys or I can do to fix this?

2

This is not a cause of 343 Industries this is how Microsoft Xbox Live has been since the original Xbox. This is likely due to your strict NAT, however it requires you to reset your network devices. You may want to contact your network administrator and ask, the MTU needs to be set at 1500 and NAT open. Sometimes to bypass this you can both join a new host, have a third party start a game then invite you both. If you are unable to hear your friend communicate via mic, it’s on your end. Hope this helps.

3

As I said in the original message, we have played the game together before. By that, I meant that I was here, at the same university, with the same network and strict NAT, and we played the game together. I was talking to my friend via the party app, and I don’t have this problem with any other game or any other app, so it’s not an Xbox Live thing, it’s a MCC problem.

4

> 2533274833199992;3:
> As I said in the original message, we have played the game together before. By that, I meant that I was here, at the same university, with the same network and strict NAT, and we played the game together. I was talking to my friend via the party app, and I don’t have this problem with any other game or any other app, so it’s not an Xbox Live thing, it’s a MCC problem.

Did you try joining another host with your friend? Did that work?
With you not knowing anything about your U network, it’s hard to troubleshoot.

> I have a strict NAT type because I’m at a university, but matchmaking works just fine, as do other games.

This does not block MP, it just limits the connections you can join. This acts as a routing protocol, but it is not a true routing protocol.

> I also cannot mess with the router because I’m at a university.

There is more than just a router. What do you know about the network other than you can’t reset the router?

> I have tried hard resetting my Xbox, as has my friend.

The XboxOne stores offline cache memory to erase you need to remove power completely. If you have ever encountered an issue when a game would not launch this is the fix.

> We have played together before, through all of Halo 1 as a matter of fact.

Do you remember the date? If so this goes back your university network, it’s not a home they do run maintenance do you get notices of work that is done? If not again I recommend speaking with your local network admin. Simple things might need to be done maybe flush the ARP module and DNS. NAT setup a configuration for a basic firewall and being strict as you know I am sure it means port-assignment policy is aggressive.
If you can speak with your network admin let them to add following ports to the NAT rules on the router, and this would be considered open:

UDP port 5060;
UDP port 5061;
UDP port 3074;

You could also try to manually enter in your IP address to the XboxOne, to do this get a computer. Run either ifconfig or on Windows ipconfig /all write down your IPV4 address, subnetmask and default gateway. I assume your university has a dynamic allocation setup and does not run any type of mac filtering for you students. After doing this did this help resolve your situation?

I know you are telling me that this is a MCC thing so I will not quote the MSXBL networking so here are the options that have resolved this issue before:
Resetting your console to factory settings.

Then it repeats almost what I have already suggested you do but adds:
Private IP addresses are IP addresses that fall within certain address ranges. These address ranges include:

  • 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255 (THIS IS PROBABLY YOUR RANGE)
  • 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255
  • 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255A device with a private IP address is being routed, which means it is connecting through a router or other device that performs Network Address Translation (NAT). Some ISPs will route information before it arrives at your home. This creates a NAT issue before the connection reaches your modem or network hardware.
    A public IP address is an IP address that is outside the ranges for private IP addresses. Public IP addresses are assigned to devices that connect directly to the Internet. For example, blocks of public IP addresses are assigned to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which then assign the addresses directly to customers.
    If you have been assigned a private IP address, you will have to contact your ISP to request a public IP address to eliminate a NAT issue on your Xbox. If your ISP cannot supply you with a public IP address, you will have to change ISPs, or you will not be able to resolve the NAT issue.

I know this is a lot, and we both know TMCC was thrown together maybe there is a few networking issues that are not out, but you did play Halo: CE together at one point and knowing that date you could look to see if it was one of the 10 patches sent out by 343i or if it’s on your end. Start with the easy stuff, I have given you more than enough to work with. Normally I get paid for this, it’s alright I am getting paid to type it up. Good luck :slight_smile:

5

Hello again, I got the whole problem fixed and I figured I’d post my eventual solution for posterity’s sake.

I actually just went without playing with my friend for a while and got through Halo 2, 3, and ODST on legendary by myself before I had fall break. Once I got back from break, there was an update for the MCC. My Xbox couldn’t download it, and even after I uninstalled and reinstalled the game it would get stuck at 17%. I found other posts about this same problem and eventually found one where they got it fixed. They had said that the problem was their university’s network blocking the download due to it being mistaken for some sort of malware.

I figured that nothing else had worked and I might as well, so I called my university’s I.T.

To be honest, I didn’t expect them to help at all, seeing as I was just trying to download a game on my xbox, and not something that I needed for a class. However, they blew my expectations out of the water and fixed the problem overnight, opening certain ports to give my Xbox an open NAT and allowing the download to finish before I even woke up.

I had a hunch that this might have fixed my problem of not being able to connect with my friend, and (after restarting the game) it did! We are now almost done with Halo 4 legendary and are aiming to finish Spartan Ops before Halo 5 releases.

TL;DR:
I.T. is actually really helpful for stuff that students like to do as well as stuff they have to do.

6

I had similar issues. I was at home, so resetting the router was an option for me (unlike you)

Glad the IT department was Xbox-sympathetic! Hahahahaha