Error Codes FFXI-4002 and POL-0512

[Gilus]

I recently purchased a new wireless router and I am now having troubles staying connected to FFXI on my laptop. I can login and everything fine, but after about 5-10mins, I see the red dot pop up, but I'm not R0'ing and I still get current chat popping up. But then it goes to a black screen with the FFXI-4002 error, followed by the POL-0512 error. I've done port-forwarding, having 25,80,110,443, 50000-65535 in the TCP and 50000-65535 in the UDP. I believe I have the laptop setup on a static IP, it was done through the router rather than through windows so I'm hoping it's the same thing. Even with this, I am still receiving those errors. I know about setting up the laptop as a DMZ host, but I'm wanting to avoid this. The router I purchased is a D-Link DIR-632 N 8-port router. And I have tested this on wireless and a wired connection with the same results. Now, I'm not very techinical savy, what I've type here is about the extent of what I know, but I was wondering if anyone has some ideas of anything else I can try.

[RAIST]

might have to do with how your router's security is addressing NAT filtering. Hard to point you to what to look for, as every router is different, but somewhere in there you may see options concerning NAT filtering that you can try toggling to see if it helps. Most likely will be in the WAN section, where you have options for responding to Ping at the router, disabling the router's firewall, and setting up DMZ. Netgears lable it an SIP ALG option.

Bear in mind, this may open an additional security hole....if you aren't using a local firewall, might want to setup the Windows one at least, but make sure to create the exceptions for FFXI and POL when you do.

[Gilus]

I've found something in my routers firewall settings called NAT endpoint filtering. It has UDP endpoint filtering and TCP endpoint filtering, they both have the three options of "Endpoint independent", "Address Restricted" and "Port and Address Restricted". Should I set both to "Endpoint independent"? And would a firewall program be enough to keep the laptop atleast somewhat safe if I set it as a DMZ host?

[RAIST]

Found this via a quick Google:

ftp://ftp.dlink.fr/Emulateur/EMUBund.../Advanced.html

NAT Endpoint Filtering
The NAT Endpoint Filtering options control how the router's NAT manages incoming connection requests to ports that are already being used.

Endpoint Independent
Once a LAN-side application has created a connection through a specific port, the NAT will forward any incoming connection requests with the same port to the LAN-side application regardless of their origin. This is the least restrictive option, giving the best connectivity and allowing some applications (P2P applications in particular) to behave almost as if they are directly connected to the Internet.
Address Restricted
The NAT forwards incoming connection requests to a LAN-side host only when they come from the same IP address with which a connection was established. This allows the remote application to send data back through a port different from the one used when the outgoing session was created.
Port And Address Restricted
The NAT does not forward any incoming connection requests with the same port address as an already establish connection.
Note that some of these options can interact with other port restrictions. Endpoint Independent Filtering takes priority over inbound filters or schedules, so it is possible for an incoming session request related to an outgoing session to enter through a port in spite of an active inbound filter on that port. However, packets will be rejected as expected when sent to blocked ports (whether blocked by schedule or by inbound filter) for which there are no active sessions. Port and Address Restricted Filtering ensures that inbound filters and schedules work precisely, but prevents some level of connectivity, and therefore might require the use of port triggers, virtual servers, or port forwarding to open the ports needed by the application. Address Restricted Filtering gives a compromise position, which avoids problems when communicating with certain other types of NAT router (symmetric NATs in particular) but leaves inbound filters and scheduled access working as expected.

UDP Endpoint Filtering
Controls endpoint filtering for packets of the UDP protocol.
TCP Endpoint Filtering
Controls endpoint filtering for packets of the TCP protocol.
Formerly, the terms "Full Cone", "Restricted Cone", "Port Restricted Cone" and "Symmetric" were used to refer to different variations of NATs. These terms are purposely not used here, because they do not fully describe the behavior of this router's NAT. While not a perfect mapping, the following loose correspondences between the "cone" classification and the "endpoint filtering" modes can be drawn: if this router is configured for endpoint independent filtering, it implements full cone behavior; address restricted filtering implements restricted cone behavior; and port and address restricted filtering implements port restricted cone behavior.

looks like you may need to set it as Independent, as the POL server IP may change as you zone and such. The restricted mode may cause blocked connections during the black screen (data loading) when you zone.

And for the most part, a generic firewall (zonealarm, komodo, Windows) should suffice if all you are doing is generic browsing/gaming. I would highly reccomend something a bit more than a generic virus protection though. Don't have to go out and buy it, necessarily. Some decent free ones out there. Avast free has some decent features in it (sandboxing for questionable files, script blocking, site blocking, web rep pooling to track malicious sites....some are off by default though). Malwarebyte.org has free scanner that is really good scanner to hit your system with periodically--but no real-time protection. Have to get the Pro (ie: paid) version for that and more features.

[SE_Chris]

We would like to apologize for the problems you are experiencing, and we can offer a few suggestions to try to assist you in resolving this problem.

Suggestions:
1. Check to make sure you have properly configured or turned off any of the following: Routers, Proxy Servers, NAT Servers, Internet Connection Sharing services.
2. If you are using any kind of software/hardware Internet Sharing service/device the following ports need INCOMING access to your PC: TCP 1024 - 65535, UDP 53, and 50000 - 65535. Also, check to make sure that the ports mentioned are not blocked by your ISP for INCOMING access. Proper configuration of any of the above items mentioned should be done by following the instructions in the software/hardware manual or calling the manufacturer's technical support.
3. If you are using a router, and have configured that router for port forwarding, temporarily bypass that router and connect directly to the modem via a wired connection as to eliminate any interference or variables caused by a wireless connection.

Please take note of the following:
• Proxy servers, and satellite connections are not supported and do not work correctly with FINAL FANTASY XI.
• Your router may require that you use a PC to configure your network settings. For more information about how to configure your network settings, please refer to the instruction manual that came with your router or contact the manufacturer directly.
• In general, most of the settings will be "obtained automatically", this may apply to the laptop's IP once initially connected (as opposed to setting a specific IP).
• If it is a brand new router there may be firmware updates that need to be installed from the manufacture's website.