How to host a server

[aistiscoolboy]

Im trying to play il-2 with my friend but i cant figure out how to host a server, when i host one in game and he tries to join it it freezes for him.

[Turbine]

@aistiscoolboy if you need a server for you and your buddy to fly on check out Nerd Navy.  Ive got a EMG running on it. But can load just about any mission needed.

[Arty_Effem]

Basic things you must do, for which instructions are searchable:

Configure your router to forward ports 28000 and 28100 (UDP & TCP) to the machine hosting the server. This requires the login credentials for your router. You do not need any port-forwarding software to do this.

Configure your firewall to allow il-2.exe to access the internet.

It's advisable to configure your network adapter to give the hosting machine a static IP address. You do not need to rent a static IP address.

To test outside connnectivity, start your server then browse (Alt +Tab) to canyouseeme.org and enter your port numbers.

[aistiscoolboy]

5 hours ago, Arty_Effem said:

Basic things you must do, for which instructions are searchable:

Configure your router to forward ports 28000 and 28100 (UDP & TCP) to the machine hosting the server. This requires the login credentials for your router. You do not need any port-forwarding software to do this.

Configure your firewall to allow il-2.exe to access the internet.

It's advisable to configure your network adapter to give the hosting machine a static IP address. You do not need to rent a static IP address.

To test outside connnectivity, start your server then browse (Alt +Tab) to canyouseeme.org and enter your port numbers.

how do i configure it to foward

 

[Arty_Effem]

4 hours ago, aistiscoolboy said:

how do i configure it to foward

Alll routers have different software. Once logged in, check the main menu for an option like Forwarding or Game Sharing. You may find an instructional video for your router.

[MrShooty]

Are there servers where I and a friend can each jump on just to practice airfield activity and do a bit of sightseeing. The map would need to be Normandy. I've been looking in the MP servers and can't find anything suitable even though it strikes me as being a pretty straightforward need.

[Gutholz]

22 hours ago, MrShooty said:

Are there servers where I and a friend can each jump on just to practice airfield activity and do a bit of sightseeing. The map would need to be Normandy. I've been looking in the MP servers and can't find anything suitable even though it strikes me as being a pretty straightforward need.

"Combat Box Training & Dogfight" is a good server for practice. (note: The training server, not the normal Combat Box server)

Almost any plane can be selected.

The map is not Normandy but there are several zones to practice certain activities. One zone is "take-off and landing" in the bottom left corner, if I recall correctly. There are colored rings to help with take-off/landing. Also there is a "taxi" area where you can follow a course through some gates on the ground.

In others areas you can train attacks on ships, ground targets etc. For sightseeing it is good to start in the "take-off practice" area and follow the rivers and channel north towards the city. Popular tourist activities are circling the cathedral tower, bombing oil tanks in the harbour, shooting at the train and refueling at the airfield.

[undeadasharak]

a few friends and i are trying to host a PWCG campaign for ourselves, i'm the one they've chosen to host as i have the best pc and the best internet. i have port forwarded and everything they are able to connect to me and enter the mission just fine, however we are all invisible to each other and the ai might be invisible to them for some reason.

do they also need to port forward their routers to connect properly? i've tried hosting both through the in game server hosting menu and went through the hoops to get a separate Dserver instance running, and neither seem to work. i have ports 28000 both TCP and UDP and 28100 TCP forwarded, is their any other ports that may need to be forwarded? i read somewhere that port 80 may need to be forwarded but from what i've seen that's a default HTTPS port and should be open anyway?

i've tried both the default coop mission that came with the game as well as a few different PWCG generated missions with two different people. all the same result were completely invisible to each other, and can't see each others tracers or bomb explosions. so i'm not sure whats going on exactly other then a port forwarding issue or a server setting somewhere im not seeing? do i need to put the coop mission in the dogfight category and boot the server as a dogfight server? we've all had our firewalls off when trying to play so that shouldn't be it either? like i said they can connect fine were just completely invisible for some reason its like they are ghosts in my game.

i have the ping limit set to 1000 i have the traffic limit set to 10,000 and none of us have a ds lite gateway router. i've followed the set up instructions on two separate online guides and nothing seems to work for this invisible player issue. i can't find anything on it except a post from like 4 years ago on this forum talking about it possibly being a specific issue on one of the popular dogfight servers with no solution mentioned. 😕

any help would be greatly appreciated as i've been banging my head against this brick wall for over a week. if you know of a discord i could possibly join that's more active than this forum where i might get some in person help that would be greatly appreciated too.

 

 

Edited March 8 by undeadasharak
added additional info of issue

[Doctor_Ramble]

I just thought I'd put this here as some people may find it useful (I spent 3 miserable days trying to get a small server up and running before I found this out!):

If your ISP uses CGNAT by default then you will have to get it disabled.  CGNAT puts multiple routers under the same IP address to conserve IPv4 addresses, and if it is enabled you cannot do port-forwarding (Simplified).

For me it was as simple as ringing up my ISP to kindly ask if it could be disabled.  If you go to your ISP's website then you should be able to find information regarding whether it is enabled by default or not (and whether there is a charge to disable it).

As well as that, you do not need a static IP address (they might try to sell that to you).  It is useful but not necessary!

[Doctor_Ramble]

11 hours ago, undeadasharak said:

do they also need to port forward their routers to connect properly?

I am unable to help with your problem (I have never created a GB server before), but I can answer that question.

No, your friends do not need port forwarding on their routers; port forwarding just opens up a port on your router's firewall* and allows other computers to access your server from the internet if they are trying to access it via that specific port.

* For anyone interested:  You need to open that port on your router (via port-forwarding) and on your server itself in the firewall settings.

Edited March 8 by Doctor_Ramble

[Arty_Effem]

On 3/8/2026 at 10:16 AM, undeadasharak said:

trying to host a PWCG campaign for ourselves

 

To eliminate a map problem, I suggest you try hosting any multiplayer map, of which you should  have several saved on your system. Ensure you have mode=1 set in the sds file.

Clients don't need to port forward, nor disable their firewalls.

Edited March 14 by Arty_Effem

[undeadasharak]

so forgive me mode =1 needs to be set even for coop? if so how do i get pat wilsons campaign generator to generate spawn point for a dog fight mode server i have the campaign im trying to run set as a coop campaign but when i set the sewrver to mode =1 theres no way to spawn if i set it as mode =0 coop mode we can noth spawn but were invisble to each other and the ai is invisble to the people connecting to me

[Arty_Effem]

7 hours ago, undeadasharak said:

so forgive me mode =1 needs to be set even for coop?

No - that's for testing your server with a dogfight map.