Tutorial: Circumvent Region softlock with a Firewall

General Discussion
1

This Tutorial is inspired by Rufians https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/tutorial-forcing-which-server-you-want-to-play-blocking-ip-addresses/525818
My version just uses CIDR notation instead of ranges. CIDR is easier to write and faster to process for the PC

If you are using a 3rd party firewall or some antivirus you still can do this but its configured in a different place.

Make sure that your firewall is enabled:

  1. Go to the search bar, type “Windows Defender Firewall” and open the program.
  2. At the left, click on “Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off” and turn on the Firewall on all 3 Network Types.
  3. Click on OK

Next step is Creating the Rules to Block:

  1. If you have the Firewall Window still open: At the left, click on “Advanced Settings”
    If not Press Win+R, type wf.msc and press enter
  2. At the left click on “Outbound Rules” and select “New rule”.
  3. Select Custom rule
  4. Select “All Programs” (selecting the overwatch.exe wont work for some reason)
  5. Leave everything as is on the ports and protocols screen and click next.
  6. Under “Which remote IP addresses does this rule apply to”, select "These IP addresses and click on “Add”
  7. Leave the Top Row selected because its faster and add one of the following Subnets:
  • 5.42.160.0/19 to block AMS1 (EU Central [Amsterdam])
  • 37.244.0.0/16 to block CDG1 (EU West [Versalles])
  • 25.105.0.0/18 to block ORD1 (US East Coast [Chicago])
  • 158.115.192.0/19 to block LAX1 (US West Coast [Los Angeles])
  • 59.153.40.0/22 to block GTK1 (Japan [Tokyo])
  • 103.198.32.0/23 to block SYD2 (Australia [Sydney])
  • 15.185.0.0/16 to block MES1 (Bahrain [Manama]) - Be Carefull with that, it can affect non blizzard services because its Amazons Middle East IP Range
  1. Click on OK and “Next”.
  2. Select “Block the Connection”.
    12 .On the “When does this rule apply” screen click next.
  3. Give it a name and a description if you want to.
  4. Start Overwatch, open Practice Range and press ** CTRL + SHIFT + N ** and verify The server you are playing on. If its the one you expect try Quickplay, if its still the one you expect continue with Step 19.
  5. If the Server you got is not the desired region close overwatch and go back to the firewall config. I only had to Block AMS1 to switch from EU to US
  6. Select the Created Rule and right click it.
  7. Select “Properties”
  8. Select the Tab “Range”
  9. At “Remote IP Address” (Lower Half) click on Add
  10. Repeat Step 9 with the new Server Range
  11. Click on OK
  12. Continue at Step 14.
  13. Create the Same Rule in “Inbound Rules” (OPTIONAL. I DONT NEED IT)
  14. ** If you want to Unblock the Servers press right click on the rule and click on Disable rule **. If you want to enable it again, press right click on it and on “Enable Rule”. Dont forget your second rule in Inbound rules This is maybe necessary to play other Blizzard Games properly.

I got these Ranges by Searching for AS57976 and a bit of speculation
I have no Information about IP Ranges for the Following:
GRB1 - Brazil
GSG1 - Singapore
ICN1 - South Korea

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/information-about-the-global-play-server-selection/618941 Was Very helpful for the Server list and the Info Screen

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Thanks for sharing. Mods have deleted/unlisted these types of threads in the past but hopefully they’ll leave this up!