Nintendo Switch - Needs static port on its outbound NAT

jimp

At least with the one online multiplayer game I have used so far (Fast RMX) the only requirement for Nintendo Switch online multiplayer is static port outbound NAT. It did not appear to require UPnP, but it's safer to enable that in case another game needs it later.

So as with the Wii U, 3DS, and other similar consoles the best course of action is:

1. Set a static IP address for the device via DHCP static mappings

Status > DHCP Leases, find the device, click + to add a mapping, set a static address, save, etc.

2. Switch to Hybrid Outbound NAT

Firewall > NAT, Outbound tab
Select Hybrid Outbound NAT, Save

3. Add Outbound NAT rule

Firewall > NAT, Outbound tab
Click +
Set the console address as the source (Type = Network, then enter the IP address, pick /32 for the CIDR)
Check Static Port
Save/Apply

4. (Optional, So far) Enable UPnP & NAT-PMP

Enable UPnP & NAT-PMP
Allow UPnP Port Mapping
Pick External (WAN) and Internal Interfaces (LAN)
Set other options as desired
Save

EDIT: My son is using the Splatoon pre-release global test fire and the online multiplayer is working fine, still only using static port outbound NAT. No UPnP.

EDIT 2020-03-31: The same settings here do work for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. If you still receive errors, it may not actually be your firewall causing them, but the remote console or something in between.

iloveramen

Thank you jimp. This is a great reminder and advice for everyone on the forum.

Alex Atkin UK

Are you sure about this?

I just tried and you can't set the console IP as the source as the only options are Network, Any or This Firewall.

think you may have applied Static Port to the whole LAN not the Switch specifically, in which case you do not need a new rule, just modify the existing one.

jimp

Nope, just the switch. Use network and /32 for a single host on the outbound NAT source.

sirjorj

Thanks for this! I just spent the hour trying to get the Splatoon 2 test fire working and for all I know, the entire event was to show off their new "Unable to connect" screen (I have a screenshot if you want to see it - it is very pretty!)

I had UPNP enabled for the right addresses and it did nothing. I then unchecked the 'deny access by default' option and it still did nothing. If that didn't help, what good is UPNP anyway? Or is this just Nintendo writing bad network code?

Anyway, thanks again!

jimp

Well UPnP is for inbound connections, outbound NAT is for outbound. Apparently the way their multiplayer code works, it needs to send back to the console on a particular port, which needs to be static so it's the same in both directions. Not sure why game servers can't just send back to the port it came from, but who knows…

So UPnP does nothing for that kind of setup. Just setup the static port outbound NAT as I laid out above and it should be fine.

At least there are two more days of test fires so keep trying. There are times tomorrow and Sunday. And even one more tonight. See attached (times in EDT)

Edit: Not my pic. Shamelessly lifted from Reddit.

Alex Atkin UK

Still annoying that Nintendo did it this way.

For a portable device that most likely will get used a fair bit on public networks that you CAN'T specify their outbound NAT settings, it seems like a very poor design indeed.

Thanks for reminding me about the /32, it was only hours later I realised my mistake. Its just been one of those days.

Yockanookany

I made a thread dealing with these issues (https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?reportsent;topic=127837.msg705258#msg705258) and followed your directions which were already mostly done besides hybrid NAT. I had no luck with those changes sadly and it's the end of the testfire so I'm unable to test further for now.

sirjorj

Just to confirm, making those changes did make it work for me.
Thanks again.

sirjorj

carlosgarciars

Good advice jimp! I will purchase it this weekend

j.koopmann

This worked for me like a charm for months. Yesterday I received a second DSL and setup a multi-wan. Got the usual error again. So I added the static NAT for the second WAN line as well and to ne safe added a firewall rule so that the console only uses the original first WAN.

Now sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. In the states diag I only see the first DSL being used. I am puzzled by this.

jimp

If your Multi-WAN setup is using Load Balancing, you might need to force the switch to a failover group instead so it is not balanced. It might be sending some traffic out WAN1, other traffic out WAN2, and since the far side sees different addresses it may be cutting that off.

j.koopmann

Already did that… Quote: "added a firewall rule so that the console only uses the original first WAN. "

One day later everything seems to be fine. Maybe some missing old states.... Will monitor it...

behemyth

These kind of posts are why I love this platform. I've never seen a platform where the actual people working on it post informational things like this for everyone to use.

Major kudos to the Pfsense team.

mrhub

This worked for the Switch AND for the PS4 that had NAT type 3.

AkiraSensei

Sorry for reviving an old post but should I disable static ports on all other mappings? For example, the automatically created rules for localhost to WAN, LAN to WAN, OPT1 to WAN, etc.? I also have multiple game systems that require the static port on. Is it all right to have static ports on all of them ON at the same time? I'm still very new to pfSense (this is my post here, in fact!).

Falcon-OSX

Thank you very much a very simple and elegant solution. You made my son very happy. I will be adding other console to help with gaming.

Thank Again. :)

Derelict

@AkiraSensei:

Sorry for reviving an old post but should I disable static ports on all other mappings? For example, the automatically created rules for localhost to WAN, LAN to WAN, OPT1 to WAN, etc.? I also have multiple game systems that require the static port on. Is it all right to have static ports on all of them ON at the same time? I'm still very new to pfSense (this is my post here, in fact!).

As long as they do not need the same source port to talk with the same destination address:port it should be OK. There can only be one state for each local_wan_ip:port <-> remote_ip:port combination. Setting static port just means that the source port is left untranslated when connections are made outbound. If the local machine connects using source port 55000, then that port will be used on the WAN interface as the source port. Without static set, the port can be randomly selected from the ephemeral port space (1024 to 65535) and translated on WAN.

dazedman

this solved my problem on both the wii u and switch. thank you!

blue_smoke

Hi thank you for this guide. I had problems getting the NAT type from a D to a C or B even after following your steps but I eventually figured out what was happening.

In the step below, I found that the Mappings order was important. I originally added the rule as the last entry. When I moved the Mappings entry up above the other LAN entries I started getting NAT type B.

@jimp:

…

3. Add Outbound NAT rule

Firewall > NAT, Outbound tab

Click +

Set the console address as the source (Type = Network, then enter the IP address, pick /32 for the CIDR)

Check Static Port

Save/Apply

...

reilos

Well, i did exactly this, but my switch still says its type D :(

Maybe someone sees anything I missed here: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=141535.0

c4bcons

I posted this in a different thread by accident ….

having some trouble here - I'm getting the error Nintendo code:

error code: 2618-0516
NAT traversal process has failed
etc…

I've attached the firewall/nat/outbound screen - have I missed anything?

jimp

@c4bcons:

I posted this in a different thread by accident ….

having some trouble here - I'm getting the error Nintendo code:

error code: 2618-0516
NAT traversal process has failed
etc…

I've attached the firewall/nat/outbound screen - have I missed anything?

Looks like your NAT rule is set on the internal (LAN) interface when it should be on the WAN interface. Edit that rule, change it to WAN, Save, Apply.

c4bcons

Yes! ;D as simple as that. Just changed it to "WAN". Nothing else. Thank you very much for a helpful thread!!

tokamak

@jimp:

At least with the one online multiplayer game I have used so far (Fast RMX) the only requirement for Nintendo Switch online multiplayer is static port outbound NAT. It did not appear to require UPnP, but it's safer to enable that in case another game needs it later.

So as with the Wii U, 3DS, and other similar consoles the best course of action is:

1. Set a static IP address for the device via DHCP static mappings

Status > DHCP Leases, find the device, click + to add a mapping, set a static address, save, etc.

2. Switch to Hybrid Outbound NAT

Firewall > NAT, Outbound tab

Select Hybrid Outbound NAT, Save

3. Add Outbound NAT rule

Firewall > NAT, Outbound tab

Click +

Set the console address as the source (Type = Network, then enter the IP address, pick /32 for the CIDR)

Check Static Port

Save/Apply

4. (Optional, So far) Enable UPnP & NAT-PMP

Enable UPnP & NAT-PMP

Allow UPnP Port Mapping

Pick External (WAN) and Internal Interfaces (LAN)

Set other options as desired

Save

EDIT: My son is using the Splatoon pre-release global test fire and the online multiplayer is working fine, still only using static port outbound NAT. No UPnP.

THANK YOU!!!! For taking the time to outline this. Works perfect for the new Nintendo Switch in the house. Kids have been trying to play Splatoon 2 online and kept having issues until I found this.

Thanks again for helping a NOOB who loves pfSense!

MorzineIT

Hey Dude,
Thanks a million for that post. I just spend my whole afternoon trying to get Splatoon 2 multiplayer working on my son's Nintendo Switch
After I found this post it worked in a flash

THANK YOU !!!

jimp

Please keep future posts in this thread related to the Nintendo Switch only, thanks!

I split off an tangent conversation into a new thread.

tomv

I'm not having any luck getting the NAT type to report anything other than type D

Hopefully I'm just missing something.. Here are my settings.

thanks

jimp

@tvaldes said in Nintendo Switch - Needs static port on its outbound NAT:

I'm not having any luck getting the NAT type to report anything other than type D

Hopefully I'm just missing something.. Here are my settings.

As long as your switch is actually being assigned 10.0.0.139 that outbound NAT rule is OK.

What exactly is reporting "type D" for NAT? I haven't played any online games on my switch lately.

Have you enabled UPnP? It's possible a game may want that enabled as well.

tomv

@jimp said in Nintendo Switch - Needs static port on its outbound NAT:

@tvaldes said in Nintendo Switch - Needs static port on its outbound NAT:

I'm not having any luck getting the NAT type to report anything other than type D

Hopefully I'm just missing something.. Here are my settings.

As long as your switch is actually being assigned 10.0.0.139 that outbound NAT rule is OK.

What exactly is reporting "type D" for NAT? I haven't played any online games on my switch lately.

Have you enabled UPnP? It's possible a game may want that enabled as well.

My switch is definitely getting the IP.
The NAT type D is coming from the Nintendo Switch Connection Test
I also configured UPnP as described in Step 4

jimp

Hmm, my setup is configured the same way (static port outbound for the switch, UPnP enabled) and I get NAT Type B here. Maybe you have another device between the switch and pfSense, or between pfSense and the Internet, that is altering its behavior?

tomv

@jimp It's wireless so the only device is my access point and an unmanaged switch

order from internet to nintendo switch

cable modem
pfsense
unmanaged switch
wireless AP
nintendo switch

Is there an associated firewall rule I might be missing?

jimp

No, a firewall rule wouldn't prevent anything there, unless you have a second WAN or VPN that the switch is getting policy routed out so it doesn't hit that static port rule.

drcyber

@jimp Thank You. Works for Smash Bros. on the Switch.

ErTnEc

Sorry for digging up such an old thread, but I'd much rather keep on topic with this than create yet another topic about it.

I'm currently fighting with my daughters switch to get it to work online, oddly it was working fine up until recently, where no matter what I only get type D nat (previously type B), and no online games are working.

I've followed all of the above steps but to no avail (I'd already performed these over 12 months ago) my main differences being that I have 'Manual Outbound NAT rule generation. (AON - Advanced Outbound NAT)' enabled instead, and also that I have all games consoles in the house (PS4, Multiple Switches) all in an Alias which I am using within the static outbound nat rule instead of a single host (which has never been an issue previously). It appears that the issue lies in 2 parts:

uPnP mappings are not being created by miniupnp service.
Outbound NAT Static Port mappings are either being ignored or bypassed.

When checking the firewall logs, for example, when trying to connect to Splatoon 2, I'm seeing a massive influx of inbound udp connections being blocked. When checking through the states, I can see that these are connections which were initiated outbound via the switch, but the inbound connections back are then being blocked.

jimp

For a new problem, you really need a new thread. The config in this thread has been working for many of us for years. If it doesn't work for you, then it's something new, a game-specific issue, or unrelated to this thread in some other way.