Fika NAT Punching: How to Play Co-op Tarkov Without Port Forwarding

Can’t port forward because of your ISP or router? Fika supports NAT punching, a NAT-traversal technique that lets two devices behind separate routers establish a direct peer-to-peer connection — “particularly useful in cases where port forwarding is not possible due to ISP or network restrictions.”

How NAT punching works

A public server listens for incoming connections and records each client’s external IP address and port, then introduces the clients to each other. Each side begins sending packets (the “punching”) to the other’s external IP; those packets create matching routing entries in both routers, and from then on the two routers allow traffic along that route — which Fika uses to host the raid.

When it won’t work

NAT punching “is not supported on all routers. For instance, symmetric NAT routers often prevent successful NAT punching.” Fika’s own config note is even more specific: NAT punching “only works with fullcone NAT type routers.” If you’re behind symmetric NAT, you’ll need port forwarding, a VPN, or a dedicated host instead.

Two ways to use it

• Fika’s public NAT punch server — just toggle it on in Fika’s configuration menu. Easy, no setup; the trade-off is you rely on that public server being available and your public IP is shared with it to broker the connection.
• Self-hosted — the Fika-Server plugin can run its own NatPunchServer inside your SPT server, so you own it and don’t share your IP with an external service.

You enable it under F12 → Fika Core → Network → Use NAT Punching (note that UPnP, Force IP and Force Bind IP are disabled in this mode).

The simplest fix

NAT punching is a great escape hatch, but it’s still peer-to-peer and depends on router types cooperating. For a server that’s simply always reachable, a dedicated Stay in Tarkov server sidesteps NAT entirely.

Facts in this guide are drawn from the official Project Fika wiki. Fika is a free, non-commercial community project for SPT and is intended for private co-op with friends — you must own Escape From Tarkov to use it.