I must of tried everything to try and get an empires listen server to work but so far no luck(eg not showing up in the server list not even LAN list), yet i can get them to work in other source games just fine. yes i have my ports forwarded. yes i have put it to sv_lan 0 yes i tried heartbeat cmd yes i tried net_start cmd is there anything im missing or anything specific i need to do to get it to work.
Putting a .cfg with the mapname in the.. maps folder (I think it was there, or CFG/maps) with sv_lan 0 in it worked for me.
If I remember right it's an issue with the file structure. Only way I was able to get it working was copying the newer empires dlls over to an outdated source mod version. So it could also be missing files that got missed with the 2013 port.
i can portforward whatever i want with my ISPs "router" - it just doesn't work. the only solution for me was to bridge it and run my own.
Are you launching your listen server with the "create server" button on the main menu? That re-writes the listenserver.cfg for it's own purposes. Launch the map in the console by typing "map emp_moors" or something like that, and it will use the actual listenserver.cfg settings instead of making its own. Empires is the only source game I know that does this, and it's strange. Also be sure to try having other people direct connect via the console as well, with "<connect insert IP>"
Create server works... for yourself. To get others to be able to visit I remember I had to do a few things. Port forward the router. Set up the cfg script to perform some command on startup to announce the server to steams server list and a few other things I can't remember.