"My firewall is blocking the internet connection. How can I fix this?"

[Lord_Chris 267]

Your firewall can sometimes mistake Stronghold 2 for an intruder on your computer and block it from connecting, it shows your firewall is on and doing its job though, which is good. If you don't really play online this can be a good thing, you can never be too careful with firewall - even when it is a trusted program like Stronghold 2. Believe me. The less programs that are allowed through your firewall the better.

 

But what if you want to update the game? If you are running a patch lower than 1.4.1, then you should be prompted for your downloading the latest patch - unless your firewall is blocking it. You can see all stronghold 2 patch versions here. However, for every benefit, windows firewall is known globally to sometimes be a pain when it comes to blocking program connections.

 

Though it seems like a very hard issue to solve, it is actually relatively easy to fix.

 

Do a search on your machine for "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security" in the search box when you click start.

 

Or, hit WINDOWS + R and type c:\windows\system32\WF.msc -> [Press Enter]

 

Open it up. You may be prompted for administrator permission or a password. If so, enter it then continue. Those of you who know a lot about computers will know you are now in the Microsoft Management Console.

 

You should click the "Outbound rules" icon on the top left.

 

Next, on the right, click "New Rule".

 

Make sure that "Program" is selected, then click Next.

 

Make sure that "This Program Path" is selected and click browse. Go to the root directory of stronghold 2 - the default is C:\Program Files (x86)\Firefly Studios\Stronghold 2. You need to select the main Stronghold 2 application. (You may also have to select a handful of other files as well)

 

Click Next, then "Allow Connection". You have just allowed Stronghold 2 through your firewall - but that's only one of two steps. If you play multiplayer you will get messages, right? You will need to setup an inbound rule as well otherwise nothing will be allowed into your computer, but it will be allowed out.

 

Go to the top left, click "Inbound Rules" and repeat the steps above.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Lord_Chris