So you tried DMZ, port forwarding, turning off your firewall all while reading countless guides and nothing worked. You still can't see any rooms (or a few max) and still can't connect to your friends. Let me shortly explain to you why is that so first and then we will fix it together.

Putting your PC into DMZ is not a good idea and you probably know why. It will allow all inbound connections, possibly making your device vulnerable. But what if even DMZ doesn't work? That means you are sitting behind strict NAT. This is mostly case for LTE and probably some other ISPs providing non LTE connections. If you are on LTE, you can ask you provider to put you on unrestricted APN first. You will reach the first level support and the confused woman on the other end of the line will have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe you will reach the second line support and they will tell you it's just not possible because of security policies. ISP is blocking ports required for P2P connection GG requires. At this point, you can only connect to people with open NAT, meaning people with public IP allowing inbound connections (5% of playerbase, I would hazard a guess).

So what now? There is still VPN tunnel. You basically route all your traffic through a VPN server. Yes, but this costs money and introduces latency overhead and almost always latency spikes. Paying for a commercial VPN service is still a solution but a very bad one. People will hate you and your ping will be all over the place. You can't really play GG like that...

What if I told you... there is a free solution that will not impede your latency, but actually possibly even improve it with certain players? Well, there is. Need some authority first? I am a professional Java developer who is into networking stuff. Not that it matters but if you want some confidence your time won't be wasted and you will be able to play GG like the rest of us, here you go.

You will be building your own VPN server using a low latency, stable Google Cloud solution. This will act as a node between you and your opponent(s) with required P2P ports open so you will be able to play with everyone. If you had a bad connection with someone before, this can actually improve your latency with said person because chances are your opponent might have better connection to Google Cloud data center region than to you directly. So even if you see all people and just want better connection, this might help you as well.

You need 15 - 30 minutes of your time to get the whole thing up and running if you are tech savvy. If you are not, then probably a bit more. If you get stuck, I am here to help. It's in my best interest to have more people to play with after all.

Here we go:

IMPORTANT! Whenever appropriate, always use elevated rights (right click, Run as Administrator).

64b Windows 10 is required! You can use this with other Windows as well but keep in mind Algo runs on linux only (and Win 10 allows linux subsystem). The easiest way to do this, if you do not want to use Win 10, is to use linux live distribution like Ubuntu or Debian and do the Algo part there. You then continue with step 5) of the guide.

0) You need Google Cloud, specifically Google Compute Engine (GCE). Trial lasts 1 year and you get 300$ of free credit. You can then pay a few cents per year (it's just VPN server, doesn't process much so it doesn't cost anything) or recreate trial under different account. Set it up here https://cloud.google.com.

0.a) Select Compute Engine from the left menu, activate if needed. Instance will be created remotely via Algo later on, do not create any.

0.b) Now go to APIs & Services (you can get there via "Getting started" from the Home link in the left menu for instance) and select Credentials also from the left menu afterwards. Then click Create credentials on the main screen and from the combobox, select Service account key. Then select JSON (default) and click Create. JSON credentials file will be saved onto your PC. You will need this file later.

1) Go here https://github.com/trailofbits/algo/blob/master/docs/deploy-from-windows.md and follow the guide. After you are finished, you will have a running linux subsystem in your Win 10 with Algo cloned inside.

2) Read the guide here https://github.com/trailofbits/algo and do step 4) (of that guide, let's call it AG = Algo guide, not this one)

3) Proceed with step 5) from AG. Open config.cfg, remove those 2 users and add your own user. So the user section will look like:

#....

- YourUsername (can be anything, really)

You are still in linux subsystem so type nano config.cfg, hit enter. Edit and then ctrl + x and y to save. Or you can move it to your windows, which is located at /mnt, edit and move back. Up to you.

3.a) OPTIONAL (but recommended). Algo deploys on micro instance by default. This instance is usually overutilized, meaning it can slow down sometimes. You can upgrade it by editing config.cfg in the algo root directory and find the part saying:

gce:
size: f1-micro

Upgrade f1-micro to something larger, like g1-small. How to edit? Type nano config.cfg, edit and then ctrl + x, then y to save.

This step can cause the deployment to fail on certain Google Cloud regions in the following step. If it happens, just use the other variant of the region. For instance, deployment on Frankfurt A fails, use Frankfurt B.

4) Proceed with step 6) from AG. The script will remotely deploy VPN server on your GCE. It takes a few minutes, so be patient. You will be guided through a wizard. You will need to specify path to your JSON credentials file from step 0), so first copy that file using linux subsystem. How? Windows is accessible in /mnt, so your path will be most likely /mnt/c/PATH_TO_JSON. Example of commmand: cp /mnt/c/downloads/GCE.json . (dot is your current location, so if you run it within algo folder, do this, or save it anywhere you please and copy the full path to the wizard when asked for). The wizard will also ask you to specify GCE region so select the closest one to you. Other questions: select 'y' to support VPN for windows 10, otherwise 'n' (security and support for multiple clients, keep it simple unless you know what you are doing). Use lower case, no blank space name for your GCE instance when asked (for instance: gg). After the installation is finished, summary screen will be printed. Copy the certificate password from there, you will need it for the following step.

5) Algo generated p12 certificate with your username and also a win installation script for powershell. Copy those 2 from linux subsystem to windows (again, use cp command). Then in windows, open powershell (press win logo and type in Powershell) and run the command from the AG. Use certificate password from step 4).

The files (<user>.p12 and windows_<user>.ps1) are in the ./configs/<ip>/ directory in your algo directory in the linux subsystem.

Example of commands:
Move to the directory with the script: Set-Location "C:/vpn" (or wherever you copied the files)
AG command: powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File windows_{username}.ps1 Add

If you mess this up (for instance you inserted incorrect certificate password), you need to remove the newly created VPN connection from your networks first before retry!

6) And that's it! Go to networks and you will see IKEv2 VPN connection there. Just connect and now your traffic is routed through Google Cloud and you can enjoy GG like the rest of us.

I am behind strict NAT too so that's how I play. Latency is perfect, connection stable and it doesn't cost a dime.

I know it might look complicated at first but trust me, you can do it. And if not, I am here to help. You want to play GG on PC, don't you?

This is a reliable solution that will work for everyone and is risk free unlike putting your PC into DMZ. You can use the GCE connection all the time (for a regular internet activity, I don't recommend downloading TBs of data unless you have a hefty wallet), you won't even feel the extra layer there. Verify with continous ping tools and see for yourself.

Below find screenshots to verify you are proceeding correctly.