Netplay Guide, Port Forwarding, Static IP address!

[tekkenism]

Recalbox's Netplay online list have very little users online, not more than 10, sometimes up to 15 games and that's all.
I wonder why? Considering Recalbox is very well-known system all around the world, has thousands of users in all the continents.. I think manual/static IP, port forwarding and so on, seem hard for users to achieve.. Anyway, I wrote u step-by-step guide on how to set a static IP, I hope it'll be useful:

For everyone who needs static IP address (for Port Forwarding/Netplay):

Recalbox should be on and connected to the same modem/network as your PC. Tested on Windows 10:
Go to Command Prompt (On Keyboard press Win Key+R, type: cmd and enter)
Type the following commands:

ping recalbox
(You'll get your recalbox's IP address) In this case, 192.168.1.16 as example:

then type:

ssh root@192.168.1.16 (enter)
Answer 'yes' to all the questions, it will ask for your recalbox's root password, type recalboxroot as password.

Type:
connmanctl services and note what is returned, for example:
*AO Wired ethernet_b827eb6462be_cable

Then type:
cd (enter)
and then type:
nano custom.sh (enter)

Type the following text in nano editor:

---

#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/connmanctl config ethernet_b827eb6462be_cable --ipv4 manual 192.168.1.16 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1
mount -o remount,rw /
echo "nameserver 208.67.222.222" >> /etc/resolv.conf
echo "nameserver 208.67.220.220" >> /etc/resolv.conf

---

Please note that in our example custom.sh file:
192.168.1.16: Your recalbox's IP address that'll be static.
255.255.255.0: Your Subnet Mask
192.168.1.1: Your modem/router IP address.

Replace ethernet_*** by the value you've got previously and the IP address you want to give. You might wish to replace the DNS server IPs of the OpenDNS project, with the DNS servers (if any) provided by your own ISP.

Then quit from nano text editor by Ctrl X, answer the saving question by typing Y and then finally Enter.

After quiting nano and back to terminal shell, type the command:
chmod +x custom.sh
to make it executable, then:
reboot
to restart your Recalbox.

Finally, go to your modem/router Port Forwarding page, forward the port numbered 55435 (both TCP/UDP) to your Recalbox's IP address.
Let me know in case if you have any problem. Successfully tested on Recalbox 6.0.

[voljega]

@tekkenism I think you really overestimate the number of people willing to play retrogames online. I really doubt than more than a few dozen of people are interested at a given time. Worlwide.

Furthermore it's not as simple as just wanting to play, the process is still pretty complicated for a beginner user.

[Bkg2k]

@tekkenism Actually, assigning a static IP directly in the target machine on a DHCP network is not the best way. Doing so, there is a risk for the IP to be re-assigned to another machine by the DHCP.

Most of the DHCP available in internet boxes have options to reserve and assign IPs to MAC addresses. This way, there is no risk of conflicting IPs