Chances are if you’ve played a Call Of Duty game, have battled it out in Modern Warfare, or intend to jump into Black Ops Cold War soon, you’ve entered into the game and been met with a little note saying your “NAT Type” is Strict.
Having a Strict or even Moderate NAT type can cause major headaches for players who like competing online. Multiplayer games need a smooth and clean pathway to your internet connection, and having any restrictions in place — like a Strict NAT type — can make it difficult for you to enjoy your time playing online.
Before we get started on how to fix the “NAT Type: Strict” error, let’s take a look at what each NAT type means.
Just a quick not before we get started: This section is broken up into both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 sections. The steps remain essentially the same, although to find your NAT type on each console is slightly different. The ports are also different, so follow the steps in the Xbox One section, but just make sure you use the PS4 port numbers listed below.
Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War NAT Type: Open
When you have an Open NAT type, you’re able to chat with other people, join and host multiplayer games, and interact and play with players who have any other type of NAT type on their network.
Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War NAT Type: Moderate
If you have a Moderate NAT type, you’ll be able to chat and play online with some people, but you might not be able to with everyone. You also won’t be chosen as the host of a match.
Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War NAT Type: Strict
If you have a Strict NAT type, you’re restricted to chatting and playing multiplayer games exclusively with people who have an OPEN NAT type. You also can’t be chosen as the host of a match.
How to check your NAT Type
On Xbox:
- Scroll left from Home to open the guide.
- Select Settings.
- Select All Settings.
- Select Network.
You’ll see on this page what NAT Type you have. Occasionally it says “Open”, but Call Of Duty will list at as Moderate or Strict. We’ll address this shortly.
On PlayStation:
Go to Settings > Network > Internet Connection Status.
How to set NAT Type to ‘Open’
Next we’re going to fix it so that your NAT Type is Open in Call Of Duty, regardless of what it says in your console’s network settings (sometimes it says Open when it’s in fact closed).
On Xbox One
Step 1: Find the access address to your router. Normally this is 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254. Check your router’s manual for more information. Type in the router’s address into your web browser as you would an internet address (use http:// if you’re facing trouble).
Step 2: Log into the router. Normally, the username and password is simply “admin” and “admin”, although it may be different for some routers, and the ISP may have changed it. In that case, the login details should be on either the bottom of the router, on the router’s box, or in the router’s manual.
Step 3: Ensure that “UPnP” is enabled. This is often in the router’s “Advanced” settings.
Step 4: You need to open up some ports and assign them specifically to your console. This will vary from router to router, so Google your router’s brand name and model number, followed by “port forwarding”. As an example using my own router, the search should look like this “Huawei H2U56 port forwarding”.
In the case of my router, it shouldn’t be all that different to yours, so I’ll explain how I do it. I log into my router using “admin” and “admin” as the username and password. I click on “Advanced”, then “UPNP” and make sure that the “enable” box is ticket. Then I tick on “NAT” and select “Port Mapping”. I click on “New”, and then “TCP/UDP” (in some routers there are two individual options). Then I put in the ports I need opening.
53, 3074, 53, 88, 500, 3544, 4500
In all of the “Port” boxes (External, External end, and Internal) I put in the number, and then in “Internal Host” I put the IP of my router (whatever the number is that you put into your browser). Here’s an example for opening the 53 port. It’s “Name_1” because that’s just the name I’ve given it. I have every port the name “Name_#”.
As you can (barely see … sorry for the poor quality), the port 53 appears three times, followed by the IP. The three ports are posted in the “External”, External End and Internal boxes. This might vary router to router, but not that much.
On PlayStation 4
Follow the steps above under “On Xbox One”, but use the following ports.
80, 443, 465, 983, 3478-3480, 3658, 5223, 6000-7000, 9293, 10070-10080
If you’re still having NAT issues, post in the comments below and we’ll try to assist you! Be sure to list your router brand and model number
Beatrix Von Bilderberg
Thursday 8th of October 2020
How do I fix this shit on PC????
EasyGoing1
Sunday 21st of June 2020
This is what worked for me on Xbox One: First, I forwarded port 3075 UDP, THEN, I had to go into my Xbox settings, under Network, Advanced settings, on the left there is a drop down box listing ALTERNATE PORTS. Write those port numbers down, then FORWARD ALL OF THEM UDP (no need for TCP) in your router. That should open up Call of Duty to OPEN NAT Type ... I also have UPnP enabled for the console to manage the UDP tunnel back to the Xbox live network. If you're concerned about security with UPnP enabled, my suggestion is to make sure you run anti virus on your phones and computers and don't buy software from companies you don't trust.
By the way, the port numbers in the alternate list will be different from xbox to xbox, so don't go posting the ports your forwarded on other sites thinking it will help people... they need to get their port numbers from their xbox.
Alec
Friday 21st of August 2020
My normal port is 3074 but it said my internet was strict so I changed the port to 54314 and now it’s open but there’s only enough boxes for 4 numbers. If you know any way to help me, please respond. If you have Instagram I’d prefer you dm me there @_alec_hard_
Pradyumna Madhav
Friday 5th of June 2020
I opened all these ports, but still my nat type is strict. I have restarted router too. I'm using tp link, archer c6 router. In it the port forwarding options seem to be slightly different. they are in Nat forwarding> Virtual Servers
Lucienk94
Saturday 13th of June 2020
Is your Windows Firewall on? Have you also allowed the rules in there?
Fehér Roland 'NeoH'
Monday 11th of May 2020
I wonder why the authors of these tutorials always list outgoing ports to be opened as incoming... Also why don't game devs ever think about multiple people playing the game from the same network (thus needing different ports)?
Oh, even better, the game doesn't actually seem to use UPnP... Seriously...
EasyGoing1
Sunday 21st of June 2020
This is correct, the game does NOT utilize UPnP, but the console will if you set it up to use it, but that won't fix the Call of Duty problem.
LawRock
Tuesday 14th of January 2020
if you have two routers you have to set your main router to bridge mode, if it is a hybrid modem router. reason for this is because you're getting double nat. you can test by unplug your other router so you only have 1 device and then do port forward.
Also port forward only works for 1 console but activision has a way to port forward for multiple consoles use port 3074 for console 1 and port 3075 for console 2. works for cod games, but might also work for other games.
Instead of portforward you can set DMZ Use this method for consoles only, security risk if used on PC: Set a static IP on your xbox by manually entering an ip address, your ip address should match your default gateway on your xbox (usually 192.168.0.1) then change the last digits to something like (192.168.0.118). now go into your router and find DMZ and enter your xbox static IP. this doesn't always work.
GLHF!