Moderate NAT type being appropriate for gaming?

Hello,

Recently I ran into this reddit post here https://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/2bl9ec/why_cant_i_get_an_open_nat_type_1/. I was wondering if anyone has any issues with any of their consoles, or PC connecting to online matches with a NAT type such as NAT 2/Moderate in any game? If you set up a NAT outbound rule for your consoles/PC (with a static port), and enable UPnP. Does this limit your online playability?, or is this necessary in order to play with little compromise? Is anyone familiar of a way to test if an xbox/pc has a NAT type 2 as well?

jax7778

If you have one console, and you setup a static port and Upnp, you should have open NAT on the system. I have had some problems playing with moderate NAT. I have problems with in game chat working, and people joining parties.

How your platform performs NAT is going to have a big impact on your play experience. Pfsense uses symmetrical NAT (in essence) because it is the most secure type of NAT, and because this is how packet filter(PF), the underlying BSD program, was designed to implement NAT. Setting a static port mapping rule will resolve this for one system, but it will cause problem if done with multiple. It is really more a jury rigging to help the problem than an actual solution, but it defiantly works for one system, (and should work for multiple systems of different types, like 1 PC and one xbox, just not multiples of the same type)

To test an xbox one's NAT type, go to Settings > All Settings > Network > it should show the NAT type there, if it does not, then test the multiplayer connection, then when it finishes, before hitting continue, hold down the following buttons in this order: LT +RT + LB + RB. It will give you a detailed NAT information page, and if you have a non-open NAT, it will attempt to make a new UPnP request to resolve it (if your console is not set on static IP on the console).

On PC, I have no idea how to do this, there might be an option in the game itself but I have no idea, maybe google?

Isegrim

I have a moderate nat on my ps4 and every other system, it depends on the game though, some games report an open nat despite the ps4 saying NAT Type 2 in the network section.
I did what most of the other users did: enabled upnp, static port and set up the neccessary nat outbound rules. it works fine for me, i have no issues with VIOP, chat or connecting to games.

@Isegrim:

I have a moderate nat on my ps4 and every other system, it depends on the game though, some games report an open nat despite the ps4 saying NAT Type 2 in the network section.
I did what most of the other users did: enabled upnp, static port and set up the necessary nat outbound rules. it works fine for me, i have no issues with VIOP, chat or connecting to games.

I have all that in place now as well but I recieved an Open NAT (some problems with my NAT type with Call of Duty games) but I read that having a Moderate NAT type can be expected with how pfSense works, and in other cases people will say they have a harder time getting connected to games.