Unable to host - GoW PC + Vista

[Firegamer]

I've had this problem since the first Gears of War PC patch got out. It keeps telling me that i got a firewall on and therefore are unable to host, even when none is on. It's kinda pissing me off, because 75% of the hosts gives people a horrible ping (Atleast on List Play which is what im playing). Even servers from forexample, the UK, (which is pretty close to my country (Denmark)) sometimes delivers a ping above 500. Pretty annoying, so im trying to find a way to be able to host servers again, because no one was whining about having a high ping, and those i asked never had a ping above 150 (US players too), when i used to be able to host, so its kind of a good deal for everyone. Most me though.

I dont know if i have to open a port in my router, but if i do, how the hell does that work with vista? Doesn't work when i try writing in my IP in the IE/FF address bar.

So.. Yeah.. Any solutions?

[smashism]

This is stupid, I have searched everywhere for what ports i need for this stupid game.
Not in the manual, nowhere on google. Nobody has a clue. Old threads in this forum restate that nobody has a clue.
Seriously epic I am NOT opening up every ****ing port so I can get a virus just so I can play your ****ty port of a PC game. WHAT PORTS DO WE NEED?! VERY SIMPLE JUST GIVE US NUMBERS!
EPIC HATES PC GAMERS NOW. Thanks for the good times....3 years ago assholes.

[CPTStewart]

smashism, I think you need to calm down.

Obviously you haven't searched hard enough because the answer can be found when navigating through the Games For Windows LIVE support page. Looking at the online knowledge base you can find this which has your answer.

Opening up ports 3074 and 80 (It says only TCP but I had to open UDP as well) should get you an open NAT and allow you to host games like it did for me.

Hope this helps FireGamer. I know you said you don't have a firewall on, but make sure to double check one last time. I know I've had that problem in the past and found out I did have one on. As for router port forwarding I don't know what to tell you. Check your router's manual if you must.

And smashism, before you jump the gun and yell at the devs, it's not their fault GFW LIVE is trying to use these ports. Yell at microsoft if you have to. Or maybe just try a bit harder when you're looking for answers. Going to the obvious places (http://www.gamesforwindows.com) really does help.

[pfilotheterrible]

Just a heads up, the latest Vista update screwed up my roomates gears of war install, and he had to roll back the VISTA update to get gears to run again.