Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations

Hi Everybody.
First I want to thank you for all the work you put into this game. I got into regreting to have purchased it, but with your modification on top, I love it.

Now to my problem:
I want to host an internet game. I use direct ip connection, since I don't really like gamespy. I leave the input-box blank, I enter the lobby, choose "create game", enter the game's name and pw (or not, or whatsoever), the PC keeps a few seconds thinking - and tells me he "Cannot connect to Manual ip" (my own? loopbackdevice? Bug?) The very first time i tried it, i could start a server and chose the race for ai-opponent etc. Unfortunatly my "foe" ;-) couldn't connect cause of version mismatch (seems to be a widespread problem).
So i installed the lang-patch (thought it might have influence, and my friend had it installed). The second try, and for the first time the "cannot connect to ip".
After that I:
* deinstalled the whole game and after reboot installed it from ground up. All the same, only without the firsttime luck.
* deinstalled it a second time, erased regitry entry with RegCleaner. Reboot, full installation, same outcome.
* deinstalled a third time, now also the original Armada II (not feeling bad about that, considering i haven't used it for about 2 years), erasing the 2 or 3 reg entries. Full installation again, (now even incl the videos), and the result was all the same.
Since then I tried several new installations, and also the new exe from this pinned thread (http://forum.fleetops.net/index.php?showtopic=805). One notice: i avoided installing the launcher-interceptor (or what its called), didnt want this background process (i think it is).

My config:
I use the german version of the CD, but since I hate playing DJ and the "nocd" patch didnt work out for me (even with this forums infos), i used a copy of the cd in a virtual daemontools-drive. But only for the initial installations. After that i went on with the original cd (suspecting a problem with the virtual).
I'm connected to the net via USR Broadband-Router 8002, necessary Ports forwarded (2300-2400, 6073). Kerio pers firewall configured (tcp,udp, etc) , but for problemsolving i fully deactivated it. (but even in activated state, my friend found my server, should be no problem there)
PC is a Sempron 2800+ on nvidia nforce2, with Sapphire Radeon 9600pro. Drivers not the most recent, but surely not older than 2 months.
Get dxinfo here (http://free.pages.at/postspace_01/DxDiag.txt). (cause someone will surely ask ;-)

I should mention that there is no problem with the game, when playing alone. I will try hosting a lan-game tomorrow, havent thought about it till this moment. I am curious if it has the same problem.

Thx in advance,
hope you find a solution or have a suggestion.
slowhand

OK, seems to be my own problem...

Inbetween I was able to start the server, entering my own ip, but it doesn't work everytime.