Can I connect to hosts without having a static public IP?

[Seleucids]

My new ISP doesn't give me a static public endpoint / IP, which made me unable to join any hosts. I just get stuck on the "connecting to server" forever. To pinpoint the exact issue, I modified the engine code to see at exactly which step I got stuck at, and the outputs are the following:

The ISP does not offer a static public IP service but it does offer a dynamic public IP service for an additional charge of €3/month. My question is: would buying this upgrade allow me to join hosts like normal? 

Also are there easier, free methods which can help me get around this problem? I have forwarded the ports on my router but nobody was willing / able to join my host. Also the network connection is simply not stable enough for me to host confidently. The overall load in the community seems to affect my perceived speed and latency. Previously, I did have a static public IP with endpoints and port forwarding support so I had no issues. 

[Seleucids]

My other thought is that if we can improve the engine such that we no longer demand a public IP. Could hosting players use a service like Cloudflare to expose their hosts? With the current setup, I was able to join Minecraft servers and other multiplayer games like Wuthering Waves. Perhaps we can learn something from them? 

 

I could join hosts who have enabled Stun and port forwarded their own router. But for hosts who don't have any of these, there is no chance of joining. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Seleucids

[Dunedan]

1 hour ago, Seleucids said:

The ISP does not offer a static public IP service but it does offer a dynamic public IP service for an additional charge of €3/month. My question is: would buying this upgrade allow me to join hosts like normal? 

Yes, it should.

1 hour ago, Seleucids said:

Also are there easier, free methods which can help me get around this problem?

Using a VPN would be another option. Also check out the FAQ entry regarding this topic https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/wiki/FAQ#what-shall-i-do-when-joining-multiplayer-matches-fails-with-an-error-message

1 hour ago, Seleucids said:

My other thought is that if we can improve the engine such that we no longer demand a public IP. Could hosting players use a service like Cloudflare to expose their hosts?

In that case you just require a public IP address from somebody else (Cloudflare in your example). Some kind of public endpoint at which a host is available at will always be necessary. In future we might improve the situation by also supporting IPv6, but that brings its own set of challenges. See https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/issues/4301 for details.

1 hour ago, Seleucids said:

With the current setup, I was able to join Minecraft servers and other multiplayer games like Wuthering Waves. Perhaps we can learn something from them? 

 

I could join hosts who have enabled Stun and port forwarded their own router. But for hosts who don't have any of these, there is no chance of joining. 

You can join games where servers are hosted on public IPs without NAT being involved. That's true for Minecraft, Wuthering Waves, as well as 0ad hosts who do proper port forwarding.