my connection to the server times out a lot..
I can't play for longer than 2-3 minutes before everything stops and I get booted out..
I can't reconnect to the server after this happens, I have to restart the game completely..
I have a NAT setup with Nat32, but have never had a problem with any other game before

Moved to bugs FM, get with it, i know, but soon is here....lol (even though i cant move it...lol)

Next time this happens, please use the "Submit Bug Report" link to the left, under the Game heading. That attaches some important info that can help the development team figure out what's going on.

Do you get a message or error when you are booted? If so, what?

The server will boot users who have a high ping or some sort of irregularity. There have been some server issues recently, so this might not be your problem. More info will help.

Yoda - I AM with it. a 30-minute turn around time is good, particularly when my services are free.

No, no real message.. it happens everywhere, I am doing the beginning tutorial there, and then out of hte blue press '1' no longer moves the tut to the next set of instructions..
and then in about 30 seconds of just sitting there up pops the little 'connection to server timed out' window

Hmmm. There's 90 people on, so I'm thinking this isn't a server-wide issue.

Is there anyone or anything else sharing your NAT? Are you sharing a broadband connection?

I'm not sure exactly how NAT handles a firewall installed on another system that is part of the network, maybe somebody else has ideas there?

Yep, we are sharing a broadband connection, but no one else is sharing the NAT, it is just me and the host computero n the network.
I have all firewall features disabled..
So don't know why it happens..

It seems that your game is tripping some sort of switch somewhere on the network.
Because when this happens in the game it causes all of my online applications to go offline..
And this only happens when trying to play Vendetta, so it isn't a random event caused by my network this is something that Vendetta is causing

Odd. Okay, I'm going to be moving this to Bugs pretty soon so that it will get noticed faster. I'll move it sooner if you let me know you've seen this.

I've seen it :)
definitely strange stuff.. It could be something to do with my NAT32 software, but star wars galaxies runs fine without any problems, so I dunno..

What ports do Vendetta use, perhaps I can make some alterations to the NAT software to make it more friendly with Vendetta

Hrm.. I've seen something similar on a broken network. Basically, you get booted fairly quickly (but the client won't notice for a minute)

By the look of it, Nat32 is the kind of voodoo software that's nice in theory, crap in practice. The kind of problems you're experiencing (loss of connectivity) suggests, as you say, that something in it goes unhappy. MS Proxy had a similar mode of operation and well.. let's not say it's used much anymore ;-)

I'd suggest getting a decent piece of software (internet connection sharing isn't -that-bad) instead. Or even better, one of those boxes from D-Link/Netgear/Belink/Anyone that does NAT and basic firewall rules for you. Most applications are built with NAT support in mind nowadays and will work nicely.

D'uh. You read what you want to read. Scratch the 'voodoo' part and replace it with 'it might be wise to try some other NAT software (better yet the hardware box)'. It seems they have at least some trouble with fragmented packet handling in some parts of the app (which is a warning sign).

The VO client connects to UDP port 21141 on server.vendetta-online.com.

I'm not really sure why it wouldn't work under your NAT software unless it somehow is not keeping the connection alive after the initial communication. It works with just about every other NAT software AFAIK.

Very odd that all network activity would cease.. Nat32 isn't crashing or anything, is it?

I say: Yell for the penguin to come rescue you!

Seriously tho': Usin the Win32 "Internet Connection Sharing" is actually quite good.
It keeps windows from freaking out over the software doing the NAT as it's doing it itself.