Factorio Forums

Me and a fiend are trying to play the game together but we both get this error code; Couldn't establish network communication with server can anyone help us please.

We have tried dissabling the fire wall

Have you tried porting?

tried everything that involves going in the the router

i have a arris router if that helps


i am on steam if anyone wants to message me on that
username is andyk351

Have you tried programs such as hamachi/evolve? They tend to bypass connection or port forwarding problems.

Do we both have to have hamachi evolve

Me and my friend have this same problem every time we go to play. We had a similar issue when we tried to connect via direct IP for Civ4 and the same bizarre fix works for us here. Follow these steps (yes it sounds stupid) but it works every time for us.

Both of you need to do the following steps until you have identified which one of you actually has the problem. It is always just easier if you both do it every time though.

1. Start a brand new multiplayer factorio game.
2. As soon as the multiplayer game loads, quit out to the main screen (not to desktop).
3. Now go join a multiplayer game. Connect to your friend's IP address. It doesn't matter if he/she has it running, you will get the network communication error.
4. Whoever is really going to host can now start up a game and the other can join successfully if you both did steps 1-3.

58MadMax wrote:the same bizarre fix works for us here.

I can support this. It actually worked after both hosting a server and quitting; we did step 3 too, not sure if it was essential though

Hey, I have tried this with my friends and all it really does is keep saying Couldn't establish network communication with server.... it's a little annoying. Is there anything else that may be affecting the connection?

58MadMax wrote:Me and my friend have this same problem every time we go to play. We had a similar issue when we tried to connect via direct IP for Civ4 and the same bizarre fix works for us here. Follow these steps (yes it sounds stupid) but it works every time for us.

Both of you need to do the following steps until you have identified which one of you actually has the problem. It is always just easier if you both do it every time though.

1. Start a brand new multiplayer factorio game.
2. As soon as the multiplayer game loads, quit out to the main screen (not to desktop).
3. Now go join a multiplayer game. Connect to your friend's IP address. It doesn't matter if he/she has it running, you will get the network communication error.
4. Whoever is really going to host can now start up a game and the other can join successfully if you both did steps 1-3.

This Bizarre fix worked for me too.
I thought it might be ipv6 and NAT problems on my friend's side, it probably is.

Hi guys i deem this issue [SOLVED!]
thanks allot for the help it worked for me also! +1

All you have to do is start a multiplayer game yourself (as it must open the port automatically) then try join your friend in the browser.

Your friend can test the problem isnt on his side if people are joining him then its not him and you will have to do the first step.
I also skipped step 3 and didnt connect to his IP i just went straight to browse.

(Also i removed my AVG anti virus that added the exception and i disabled my firewall)

I hope the devs read this to get ideas for a fix in the future.

Lets help get the word out and help the guys on the steam forums.

Had this issue today, and this solved my issue.. steps 1-3..

Wow, thank you. This did the trick for me too!

yeah those steps didn't help. still getting the error.

slothman320 wrote:yeah those steps didn't help. still getting the error.

Sane problem here. The "solution" dont work here either

Edit: Ok, my solution was forwarding ports. Unfortunately I factory restart my modem since I lost my login and password but worth it to play with friends.

It is funny how the ability of "Port Forwarding" somehow got lost in the 21st Century to a Point where only Hypernerds and really OLD people (like, 30 or something) still know how to do it.
Here is how you do it: https://portforward.com/ (or just google "name of your Router" Portforwarding)
Here is the important Part of Ports from the Factorio Wiki:
Factorio servers use port 34197. The port can be changed in the config file.
Factorio uses UDP only. Make sure you configure your router's port forwarding correctly. (The game builds its own "reliable delivery" layer built on UDP to deal with packet loss and reordering issues.)
Make sure there is no firewall or anti-virus blocking the UDP-packets.