Ninento Wii U

[oppland]

My son just got Mario Kart 8 and I can't get the online part to work.

I've asked Nintendo which ports need to be open, but they won't say.  They just say there are other things they can do before that and ask to control my computer to play with the router (not going to happen).  On their site they have things like "use channel 11"  "use WEP"  "put it in the router's DMZ"  It almost seems like it was written for the original Wii ten years ago, or whenever it came out.

Does anyone know how to get the information or work a way around it?

I found this, but it doesn't say which ports:

What to Do:

Power cycle your router and modem.

If your connection has worked previously and this issue started occurring recently, power cycling may resolve this issue. How to
    Place the console in the router's DMZ. *

Placing your console into your router's DMZ will allow it to bypass your router's firewall when connecting to other players. How to

*While Nintendo provides this information for our consumers' use, it is up to each consumer to determine what security needs they have for their own networks, and to decide how best to configure their network settings to meet those needs.

Open ports within your router's settings.

If your router's firewall is blocking necessary traffic, forwarding the ports used for online play may resolve your connection issue. How to
    Remove any additional network equipment on your home network.

Some network devices, such as hardware firewalls or VoiP boxes, may prevent the necessary Internet traffic from getting to your console.

If your console or wireless router need to pass through these devices prior to connection online, try removing the device from your network.
    Upgrade your router's firmware.

Consult the router's user manual or the manufacturer for more information about finding the latest firmware updates and how to install them.

[oppland]

a few places reference this, from when the original Wii came out:

TCP:
    Allow traffic to all destinations on ports: 28910, 29900, 29901, 29920, 80, and 443

UDP:
    Allow all traffic to all destinations. (Necessary for peer-to-peer connections and game play).

[oppland]

I'm guessing that pfsense would be strict NAT.

If I have a few UDP ports forwarded for Plex, could I even do the full range for the Wii?

http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii-u/wiiu_nintendo_network_router_ports

1. Posted: Mon 9th Sep 2013 22:58 BST

I like to ensure for my console systems I've got the correct port forwarding rules set-up on my router. Just to help ensure a smooth connection. Where as Sony and Microsoft readily provide router port information Nintendo doesn't, the best I could find was tcp/udp 1-65535… and that was for the Wii.

I emailed customer support asking for router port information and got the details for which router ports are used by WiiU's Nintendo Network and 1st party games.
TCP: 80, 443, 6667, 12400, 28910, 29900, 29901, 29920
UDP: (Range) 1-65535

These rules should be as standard on most 3rd party WiiU games aswell, but as is the case on other platforms some games will also use additional ports aswell from time to time.

Edited on Mon 9th September, 2013 @ 22:59 by GiftedGimp

4. Posted: Tue 10th Sep 2013 00:06 BST

Helps ensure you have an open NAT, lets Online games, especially important for peer-to-peer online gaming. In the simpliest terms. If for some reason a service want to send data via a router port and router wont allow it then that service wont be provided. From voice comms.. usually a sign of a Moderate NAT to connecting to games which could be a sign of a Strict NAT.

Games make a great console, not technical specs.

7. Posted: Tue 10th Sep 2013 01:36 BST

Its true for most people Port Forwarding or placing the WiiU into a dmz won't be required. I've had no problems but there are occasions when different routers and router firmware can effect connectivity. My old router for example was moderate NAT by defult on PSN nothing wrong with it but PSN used a couple of ports which by default that router blocks. even with UPnD enabled. (which should be on for online gaming) Where as The one I currently use has no such problem.
I personally always like to set up port forwarding anyway, it can have other side effects like slightly lowering Ping as the router pre-opens the ports rather than waits for the port to recieve data before opening.
Basically if you have a Strict NAT your going have a ton of problems online, If you have a Moderate NAT, assuming the person your connecting to has an open NAT then you'll usually connect up ok, but may find you can't use chat functions and could cause yourself and others drop-outs and connection failures for others trying to join you.

Edited on Tue 10th September, 2013 @ 01:56 by GiftedGimp

9. Posted: Tue 10th Sep 2013 01:51 BST

@SCAR392 The 'Point' of it is because like I say the router ports Nintendo Network uses are not redily available and to save others from having to email customer support themselves I thought I would relay the information on here.
I'm not suggesting that everyone needs to port forward thier WiiU, but some would like to and maybe even need to.

[jimp]

Works fine here [With Mario Kart 8], though I have UPnP enabled.

[kpa]

It depends on what the application expects from the NAT. PfSense by default allocates a new source port at the WAN interface for each new outgoing (LAN to internet) UDP connection. This apparently breaks some applications that expect that each client IP-source port pair on a LAN host would retain the same port number on the WAN interface for all outgoing traffic that comes from the same client IP-source port pair, in addition solving collisions automatically between clients that use the same source UDP port (I believe this is what is called "cone NAT"). The solution on pfSense is to use static-port on outbound NAT but it has limitations, you can't then have two hosts on the LAN use the same source UDP port for outgoing connections because they would collide on the WAN interface.