Port forwarding not working when running as VM - hours spent on this

[suchamoneypit]

OPNsense 23.7.10_1-amd64
Running as VM on unRaid server, OPnsense has two dedicated port off a 2 port 2.5GBps NIC. unRaid runs off motherboard ethernet connected to a switch which connects to the OPNsense LAN port. My unRaid server is 10.0.1.100.

port forwarding woes with OPNsense/PFsense. I tried both. Valheim game server running as docker container (and using unraid ethernet port on the motherboard). OPNsense running as VM on its own network card ethernet ports. If I connect unraid to my dedicated xfinity router, with OPNsense ruled out, port forwarding works fine. If I connect it to my OPNsense VM with port forwarding, I see friends traffic show up on the firewall logs, but they cant connect. They get a failure to connect error. I think this is likely something related to the fact my router is running virtualized, as this is the only element changed. But we are talking different ethernet ports and IP addresses entirely on my server. This has had me stumped for weeks.

I have a friend running PFsense, I tried PFsense with identical settings to him, except he is bare metal and im a VM. For some reason his works fine and players can never connect to my server.

Imgur album w/ descriptions (individual links below) https://imgur.com/a/RBPC3Hq

firewall logs when friend tries to connect to valheim server. Traffic does reach my network.
https://imgur.com/6knt1jI

firewall port forward rule
https://imgur.com/7zfV36a

Valheim server docker container from unRaid
https://imgur.com/hmK5UoT

unRaid ethernet interfaces on 2 port NIC setup for VMs, bridging
https://imgur.com/eYRQpS2

unRaid VM settings, network interfaces setup with bridge 1 and 2
https://imgur.com/kZnsV57

The firewall rules seem correct and match my friends working one and what online guides say. I know my game server is working fine. When port forwarding with the xfinity router, it works fine. Nothing gets through to the game server when using VM OPNsense of pfSense even though I see entries in my firewall log.

Does anyone have any ideas whats going on here? Spent so many hours troubleshooting this over weeks now.

[suchamoneypit]

the function to insert images into the post doesnt seem to function with imgur links or imgBB links, edited post to show

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Please just attach the images instead of using image hosting sites. When writing a new posting, there's a large orange "Attachments and other options" at the bottom. That's how you add images.

[suchamoneypit]

I wasn't sure if it was going to insert them within the post with my captions or simply add them all at the bottom like some other sites.

Regardless, I found my solution. The problem was virtualization specific. I was passing through my ethernet adapter via bridging on Unraid . Although the VM had sole access to the ethernet, this was breaking port forwarding due to some deeper technical stuff I cannot explain. Long story sort, switching to PCI passthrough fixed this. Enabling Multi-Function PCIe ACS override, binding the ethernet card to VFIO at bootup, and then assigning the VM the PCI devices directly in the VM settings resolved this.

Another note, after hours of work, I could NOT get a Realtek RTL8125 based ethernet card working. PCI passthrough would entirely fail, and using bridging with Unraid resulted in WAN working but the LAN port failing to operate at all. That ethernet card not working was a massive part in this taking me forever to troubleshoot. Everything is working great and with the preferred method of PCI passthrough with an Intel I225 based ethernet card. If I had started with the I225 card instead of trying to save some money with the RTL8125 I would have saved myself some serious effort. Lesson learnt.