d2x-xl Multiplayer – From /r/Descent

Okay I’ve always been someone that can figure out port forwarding and hosting for the boys and have got it working on plenty of games in the past. However I cannot for the life of me get any traction with D2x-xl.

Do the clients need to open their ports now? Has anyone got d2x-xl working?
unfortunately Me and my pops both have ultrawide monitors and it seems D2x-xl is the only port that handles that well.

I’m not using the local host IP address, it just never shows up for anyone else when they manually search it. Cheers for any help!