"GameSpy Arcade has detected that your computer's internal IP address( xx.x.x.x) is different than its externa?

"GameSpy Arcade has detected that your computer's internal IP address( xx.x.x.x) is different than its external IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ). This may be caused by firewalls, a NAT proxies, or other unusual network configuration."

I am trying to join/host games for Age of Empires, but I am unable to.

Please help!

GameSpy does not help you with router and firewall problems, as you've discovered.

The easiest way to play Age of Empires online is for you and your friend to use GameRanger.

GameRanger is a multiplayer online gaming service supporting over 500 games (including Age of Empires) that lets you play online in a friendly community without the hassles of network connection problems.

Give it a try, it will solve your problems!

If you have an IP address that looks like

192.168.x.x (most likely)

or

10.x.x.x

It means you have an IP address that is not routable on the internet. It is being used by your router (or wireless access point, etc.) as a purely private network. If you want to be able to be "seen" on the internet you need to tell your router to forward traffic on whatever port that GameSpy uses to that same port on your computer. The only thing that any computer out on the internet can "see" is your router, you need to tell it to forward certain types of traffic to your computer.