How to port forward Rocket League

What is Port Forwarding?

Port Forwarding means that you need to forward some ports in your router. What this means is that network connections are not usually designed for allowing the incoming network requests needed for some games such as Rocket League. Due to this, you can suffer from bad pings, network lag and stability issues if your network isn't set up correctly.Forwarding the Port or Port Forwarding is just the way to describe how a communication request from one address and the port number is being redirected to something else. This lets a remote computer be able to connect to something within a local-area network (LAN). So it just tells an incoming connection where it needs to connect to.Since routers aren't designed for incoming network requests, it's best to do Port Forwarding for Rocket League. This will have a significant change in your experience of the game as you will see fewer lag issues.

What you need to Forward the Port

You'll need to know three things first before you can enable Rocket League Port Forwarding on your PC or console;

1. Your router's IP address
2. The IP address of your console or PC
3. The ports that Rocket League uses.

There's no need to worry about that third one as we have a list of ports according to each platform below. What you need to do is find out the first two points on the list.Technically, you can Forward the Port on any PC or console but you might find this easiest on the computer connected to the router.

How to find your router's IP Address

This is much more simple than it sounds and you don't need to install special software to find this out. Your router's IP address is the “Default Gateway” and can be found in your network connection information on Windows. If you already know how to get this or have it ready, skip to the next section.

Command Prompt

This is the fast way to get the IP address. All you do is open the Command Prompt on a computer, on Windows 10 just type “Command Prompt” into the search bar and click on it. Once open a small black box will appear ready for you to type into. All you need to do is type “ipconfig” without the quotes and press enter. Find the option that says Default Gateway and the number attached to it is the router's IP address.

Control Panel

This is the longest option as it takes more clicking to do but it might not look as scary as the first option. To do this, open the Control Panel on your computer and go to "View Network Status and Tasks" in the Network and Internet section. From this click, the name of your network connection such as Ethernet or Wireless and then once in the status box, click on "Details". This will open the Network Connection Details window and you want to find the Ipv4 Default Gateway option included in the list. The number it has there is your routers IP address.Keep the router IP Address written down somewhere then find the IP address for your gaming platform.

How to find your gaming platforms IP Address

PC

This can be found in multiple ways. If you used the second method to find your router's IP then don't close that window yet. There's also something there called IPv4 Address with a number next to it. This is your computer's IP address.If you did already close it or didn't need to do that then this is a must faster way to find it:

1. Left-click your Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection buttonin the taskbar
2. For Ethernet (cable) select the Ethernet Network Connection option
3. Select Properties to open a new window and you can see the Ipv4 Address there

Xbox One

1. Open System then go to Settings
2. Select Network and open the Network Settings option
3. Go to Advanced Settings
4. The IP Address is at the top of this list

Depending on how your network is set-up, you might notice your Xbox One changes IP address every time it connects to the network. It is possible to assign a static IP address to stop this. It may also help keep Rocket League more stable.

PS4 and Nintendo Switch

These two platforms usually use a dynamic IP address which means it changes when you restart the device or the router. Port forwarding for devices that don't have a static IP address will mean it stops working at some point due to the dynamic IP address. It's a good idea to set-up a static IP address for these two consoles as you can be certain it won't suddenly change again.

What is a static IP address?

When we talk about a static or dynamic IP address, this is referring to whether or not the IP address remains the same or if it can change. If you create a static IP address for the device then this will never change and Port Forwarding on that device will then work forever or until you change the IP.Most consoles use a dynamic IP address for their internet connections and the Xbox One is the same. If you intend to play certain games such as Rocket League then it's a good idea to create a static IP address for that console. Not all games need this but some do work better with Forwarding the Port. Full instructions for each console can be found quickly only if you want to do this.

The Ports to Forwards for each platform

This handy list has all the ports you need for getting Rocket League to run at it's best.Steam:TCP: 27015-27030,27036-27037
UDP: 4380,27000-27031,27036Playstation 4:TCP: 1935,3478-3480
UDP: 3074,3478-3479Xbox One:TCP: 3074
UDP: 88,500,3074,3544,4500Switch:TCP: 6667,12400,28910,29900,29901,29920
UDP: 1-65535

How to Port Forward for Rocket League

1. Open a web browser window on the PC or console
2. Copy and paste your router's IP address into the bar at the topDoing this will bring up your router's settings, each router is different so it's hard to give a one fit all explanation for them. You will find Port Forwarding options somewhere and click through to those.
3. From here you'll want to paste your router's IP address into the correct box again
4. Then copy and paste the PC/console IP address into the other box
5. Enter the port that Rocket League uses for the device, be sure to copy the one you need from above
6. Apply the settings and restart the router to ensure the new changes take effect

Port Forwarding is a confusing name for just diverting incoming networks elsewhere to ensure you have a better experience with the game. For Rocket League doing this can give you a lower ping, less lag and fewer network connection issues as a result.It's not a necessity as there can be different reasons why you might be having network trouble but you've already checked the other causes and can't see any improvements then this will help.This is something that sounds more complicated than it is. The instructions on how to do this are straightforward but keep in mind you might need to do a bit of additional work to find the IP addresses or maybe make a static IP address for consoles. Bookmark this guide for when you're ready to start Forwarding the Ports and with this information, you should have no trouble getting fewer network issues with Rocket League.