Port Forwarding on the TP Link VR 1600 V2

[patelkishen97]

I have tried to port forward but i found it difficult. I am trying to add a port for a game called Ark Survival Evolved so i can host a server for my friends and i to play on. The router i have is a TP Link VR 1600 V2. Any help on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.

Ark Ports to be forwarded: UDP 27015

                                           UDP 7777

                                           UDP 7778

                                           TCP 27020

[david64 · Accepted solution]

Make an ip address reservation for your game server on your router. If the router is 192.168.1.1, the game server could be 192.168.1.2. If the game server is rebooted, it will always come up as this address.
You have identified 4 ports required by the game, so 4 forwarding entries.
Go to Advanced > NAT Forwarding > Virtual Servers, click Add.

For each external port, you enter the same port number as the internal port, the internal ip address is the reserved one for the game server and the protocol is UDP or TCP (whichever it is for that port). Enable each entry and save it.
The router should show you its current external ip address (dynamic). Reboot the game server so it gets its reserved ip address. You can access the game from your own computer using the reserved ip address. Your friends should be able to start their game client using your external ip address.
Last thing to do is activate Dynamic DNS on the router to handle occasions when your external ip address changes. You may need to subscribe to a commercial service for this. The DDNS function in the router works with the commercial service to keep the ip address of your web site up to date.