RedVelvetCake

I haven't played this game in years. My partner and I are trying to play together. 

Whenever we start a custom match, it starts connecting, says the other person's name and "checking probe" and then disconnects us and says:

"Battle for Middle-earth is unable to connect to other player(s). If the problem persists, and you have a NAT or Firewall device or software: Click on Refresh NAT button in the options menu. If you have a DLink device, click the Send Delay button in the options menu. If you are still unable to connect, consider opening a port in your firewall. Consult the manual and readme for details"

What we've tried to try and fix it:

-Checked our firewalls, which provide outgoing and ingoing exceptions for BMFE for both of us

-Edited our Options.ini file to add the following four lines:

FirewallBehavior = 1
FirewallNeedToRefresh = FALSE
FirewallPortAllocationDelta = 0
FirewallPortOverride = 16000

-Set the options file to read only

-Made sure there is no line reading "GameSpyIPAddress = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"

I'm not the most tech savy or understanding of computer terminology, so keep that in mind if you reply.

We are stumped and frustrated and demotivated. PLEASE HELP!