Can't access home server from dedicated IP, even after forwarding ports.

[Captain Dingbat 7]

I've been bashing my head in on my desk trying to get a server up and running for like 4 days.
I believe I have the server running perfectly now, but the problem is, I cannot access the server from the external IP address, only the local machine IP. 

I am an expert Minecraft server admin, so I'm pretty familiar with forwarding ports, and getting a server up, but this is doing me in! I have forwarded the ports that I know of on my router. Every time I check for the open ports on Open Port Check, it says they are closed. (My Minecraft server ports are open). The Atlas server settings are so complicated, I feel like I MUST be missing something here. I started out doing this myself, but finally found Atlas Server Control and have been doing everything in that now. I have spent hours googling and reading and there are hundreds of people struggling with the same thing but no answers, at least not that have helped me.

For the sake of security, I will obscure all but the last 3 digits of my IP addresses for this discussion:
Local machine IP, which allows me to connect: ###.###.###.102
Router's public ISP IP address: ###.###.###.201 

I have a Linksys EA8300 router if it matters.
Here's the information on the settings that I have:

1. The game ports are as follows, as set in the ServerGrid.json / Shards in ASC:
   1. "Port"=57560-57590 
   2. "GamePort"=5760-5790
   3. "SeamlessDataPort"=5003
   4. Redis is using 5018 (Successfully, I think?) 

Here are my router settings:
https://i.imgur.com/B85rAzC.png

Here is the settings in one shard of my server:
https://i.imgur.com/rj9vKMz.png
(Note, although this screenshot shows my local machine ip address in the IP field, I have tried both public and local IP address in the shard IP. I'm not sure what's supposed to be here, exactly. The ASC wiki says "internet facing" ip, but that doesn't work either.)

When I use the Steam server interface to look for the server, and use the local IP (###.###.###.102:57560) I see my server fine. After forwarding the ports on my router and adding rules to my machine's Windows firewall, Steam says "Server is not responding" when looking for the public IP ###.###.###.201:57560

Here's all that I've done so far:

1. Went through all the json/config files and ASC settings to make sure the ports and IP's are right.
   1. The only question I have is whether the server/shard's ip should be public or local? (...###.102 or ...###.201?) I've tried both with no success but it's not clear to me what that should be anyway.
2. I have checked several times that my port forwarding settings are correct on my router.
3. I have tried all kinds of different port settings, not just the current ones listed here.
4. I have checked and rechecked the Windows Firewall (and disabled it) and had no luck.
5. I have downloaded and looked at CurrPorts to see the traffic from my machine and what ports are being used. I see some questionable things in there, but not sure how to interpret them or if they are a problem. Mainly, ShooterGameServer.exe is using 0.0.0.0:5003 for each shard. (remember, this port is the "SeamlessDataPort" in the shard settings.) I also notice that ShooterGameServer.exe is using 0.0.0.0:5760-90 (shards GamePorts!). I think this is suspect, but I don't know what settings are causing this. (Here are some other screenshots that might matter:
   1. ShooterGameServer.exe using both 0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 on various ports. If this is wrong, I'm not sure how to fix it: https://i.imgur.com/8RADTWV.png
   2. Atlas Server Control.exe using remote port range of 47555-47590 for TCP, but the local port is constantly scrolling through higher ports. I have no idea what this means. I have tried forwarding the 47555-90 range to no avail. Port check says they are closed. https://i.imgur.com/tkpoVVW.png
6. I have tried every which way to write the rules for Windows firewall rules. I've tried specific ports, port ranges, all ports, turning off the firewall. 
   1. I have even added rules that say allow access on all ports to ShooterGameServer.exe, Atlas Server Control.exe

I've come to the conclusion that this probably isn't a windows firewall issue, but something I've done wrong in the settings.

Any insight/help is appreciated. I really want to get this working, but I can't seem to figure it out. Thanks!
 

 

Edited January 2, 2021 by Captain Dingbat

[Captain Dingbat 7]

Turns out, I needed to reboot my router.....for the port forwarding to take effect... .which I could have done 4 days ago....

Edited January 3, 2021 by Captain Dingbat