Packet Loss

[esoitl]

Problem started during the Cove Event, I assumed at the time it was lag due to the event but has persisted since.

Random instances are giving me some serious packet loss. I log into the Marketplace with 250 latency/ 0% packet loss, head to House Phiarlain where it jumps to 500/17%, zone into the Necropolis where it drops to 250/0%, start Tomb of the Blighted jumping back to 500/17%, zone back out and into Tomb of the Forbidden where it drops back down to 250/0%.

There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it at all.
I soon after joined a group to run Reaver's Fate and the problem persisted through the Marketplace and into Gianthold until I zoned into the quest and it dropped back down.


Makes it rather annoying as it's hard to say if an instance will even be playable for me.
It doesn't seem to matter if I'm solo or grouping, nor the instance as I have been into several instances and several repeated trips to instances with different results...
I used pingplotter and I get a reasonable latency with no PL% showing.

Anything I can try to do to fix this issue or a possible cause?

[Dulcimerist]

System specs?

I used to have packet loss on my wireless router, until I did a firmware update for it.

Is DDO the only application you're experiencing packet loss with? Are you on wired or wireless? Are you connecting from home or in a school dorm?

[esoitl]

Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz
2G RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8600
Windows Vista OS

I live in an apartment and connect wired into the building's internet.

It's rather strange as it's only started happening recently at the tail end of the latest Cove event. I don't play other online games and everything else I've done has been functioning normally. I at first thought it was my installation so I re-installed the client to no avail, then took it a step further and reformatted but it's all the same.

[Dulcimerist]

You could test your connection here, just to make sure something didn't get changed connection-wise:
http://www.dslreports.com/linequality

My guess is that the problem is with your ISP.

If I understand correctly, your landlord has a cable modem and then routes it through a LAN, and then you plug your computer into a LAN socket in the wall? If you had a cable modem in your apartment, I would recommend unplugging it for 15 seconds and plugging it back in. If your landlord is the one with the cable modem and router, I would ask him/her to unplug them for 15 seconds and then plug them back in. (Cycling the power on cable modems and routers reset the internet connection, and is a common "easy button" step in troubleshooting connection problems.)

[esoitl]

Thanks for the replies so far!

I should have specified a little further, when I say apartment I mean a high rise so I'm working off more than just a cable modem.... don't know if I can get a reset on that but I guess I'll look into it. I'm not the most tech-saavy person, is there some way I can reset the connection on my end to try and fix it that way? Would changing my LAN card make any difference?

I checked my connection via the link you posted and it gave me ~400 latency(I live in Korea so I ping a little higher to the US) and at most 2% PL. I don't know if that's bad but it gave my connection a pass on all the tests..

[Dulcimerist]

Changing your LAN card shouldn't make a difference. Perhaps an update to your LAN card's drivers would help, but that's a longshot. It wouldn't hurt to try, though.

There's no way for you to reset your building's internet connection, unless you have some good hacking skills.

You live in a high rise apartment? This might be the problem, actually. Do you notice less packet loss if you try gaming in the middle of the night, when most of your neighbors are sleeping?

You might want to ask your building supervisor if they recently changed anything to the building's internet connection.

I'm unsure how Korea's internet connections to the USA are routed. Could you run a traceroute to the DDO server, just to see how many jumps it takes to get there? If your signal to the DDO server gets routed (or used to be routed) through Japan, it could be running into bottlenecks and packet loss there.

[Raiderone]

Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz
2G RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8600
Windows Vista OS

I live in an apartment and connect wired into the building's internet.

It's rather strange as it's only started happening recently at the tail end of the latest Cove event. I don't play other online games and everything else I've done has been functioning normally. I at first thought it was my installation so I re-installed the client to no avail, then took it a step further and reformatted but it's all the same.

I have a similar system Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz
3G Ram
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
Windows XP SP3

I'm not getting packet loss but for about a week now, since all these maintenance windows and that update 8.3, I've been dropping frame rates from 30-50 to like 5-7 for about 20-30secs every 10-15minutes.

Not sure what it is. i've run different antispyware and free reg builds checkers, gamebooster, did the clean boot and still get intermittent low frame rates.

[Missing_Minds]

http://www.pingplotter.com/freeware.html

This is software Turbine has suggested to use in the past. This program can be told to run essentially a trace route command to ddo, and average multiple traces.

I normally set up my averages to be 50 tests, with a resend every 5 seconds to figure out where the drop comes in at.

The point to trace to is NOT www.ddo.com, but use gls.ddo.com

[esoitl]

You live in a high rise apartment? This might be the problem, actually. Do you notice less packet loss if you try gaming in the middle of the night, when most of your neighbors are sleeping?



I'm unsure how Korea's internet connections to the USA are routed. Could you run a traceroute to the DDO server, just to see how many jumps it takes to get there? If your signal to the DDO server gets routed (or used to be routed) through Japan, it could be running into bottlenecks and packet loss there.

I ran it through pingplotter and it takes 23 jumps, although I can't really say where the path goes.
One node has given me occasional small packet loss of ~2% but it generally doesn't last long before returning to normal. I don't know if that's my problem but I guess it's something to take note of.

I haven't really played at night that often although I have been on the same schedule for quite some time and the problem only started recently. Good point in the possible issue of routing through Japan, maybe that's what's going on....

[Raiderone]

I have a similar system Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz
3G Ram
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
Windows XP SP3

I'm not getting packet loss but for about a week now, since all these maintenance windows and that update 8.3, I've been dropping frame rates from 30-50 to like 5-7 for about 20-30secs every 10-15minutes.

Not sure what it is. i've run different antispyware and free reg builds checkers, gamebooster, did the clean boot and still get intermittent low frame rates.

Looks like I figured out my issue with Frame Rates. My video cards fan isnt working and only notice high temps when running games. normally around 80C, but during game 120C and higher.

Used HWMonitor to check temps. TechGuy had some useful information, if you search forums...

[Mentalsquid]

This packet loss is due to you internet provider give them a call and they will send some one out.

[ycy1975]

I have same problems in hand, and I am pretty Turbine is liable for this problem

DDO is not 'single server' even in a 'single world'. A 'world server' combined by multiple servers some deal purely with movement, some deal with combat, some deal with trade.... etc.

Lag happens when some of the event servers is lagged, or halted in extreme situation. I even had a situation fighting a single kobold cost me 20 minutes when I have only 200 pin 0% pack loss because the combat handling server working like a 8086 CPU system...I can only land 1 hit on kobold for several minutes and kobold unable to attack me at all.....

Either the servers have too many unlimited loops or zombie thread, but only Turbine and Datacenter can solve this out, we cant do nothing at all.

[esoitl]

While I'm sure they won't give out much information about the servers, I'd wager that each 'server' is not a single server but rather a system. The weirdest thing about my experience is that even changing the difficulty of the quest was resulting in a massive change in performance.

I risked running a Chronoscope and the party zoned in on hard, I was running great. However, people voted to recall and reform elite since there were many higher levels and people didn't want just hard. Zoned in on elite I lagged all to hell and had to drop...
I zoned in solo on hard and normal, no packet loss at all. Zoned in solo on elite and got packet loss.

Frustrating to say the least.

[Thokal]

It sounds like there might be a problem with the way your apartment's network is handling traffic on some of the ports the game uses. Usually these situations are a little problematic, because if you do not have direct access to the network equipment, it may not be possible to make the changes necessary to get the game to connect correctly. That said, try making the following changes to see if this improves your situation:

First click on the Windows "Start" button and choose "Documents" (or “My Documents”) and then open the folder “Dungeons and Dragons Online” and in that folder open the “Userpreferences" file.

Under the [Net] section make the following changes:

Change 'ConnectionSpeed=0' to 'ConnectionSpeed=28.80'
Change 'UserSpecifiedPort=0' to 'UserSpecifiedPort=9000'

Exit the file and choose yes when prompted to save prior to launching the game to test these settings.

Let us know if you experience less packet loss/latency issues with these settings.

[AZgreentea]

I ran it through pingplotter and it takes 23 jumps, although I can't really say where the path goes.
One node has given me occasional small packet loss of ~2% but it generally doesn't last long before returning to normal. I don't know if that's my problem but I guess it's something to take note of.

I haven't really played at night that often although I have been on the same schedule for quite some time and the problem only started recently. Good point in the possible issue of routing through Japan, maybe that's what's going on....

If you are getting packet loss outside of the game, then it is almost certainly your connection (local or across the interweb). The test dosent last for long, but DDO is a more constant stream of data over time. That would amplify your issue.

It could be something as simple as a lose connection in your building someplace, a mouse who got a nice snack, or as complicated as the issues Japan is having. Check your local stuff as much as you can (connections, cable conditions, drivers) because you can control those. There isnt much you can do about the connection being routed through bad servers.

[esoitl]

If you are getting packet loss outside of the game, then it is almost certainly your connection (local or across the interweb). The test dosent last for long, but DDO is a more constant stream of data over time. That would amplify your issue.

I've had the test running for approximately 20-30 minutes, updating every 5 seconds, and the packet loss didn't last for more than a minute and was never above 2%.

It sounds like there might be a problem with the way your apartment's network is handling traffic on some of the ports the game uses. Usually these situations are a little problematic, because if you do not have direct access to the network equipment, it may not be possible to make the changes necessary to get the game to connect correctly. That said, try making the following changes to see if this improves your situation:

First click on the Windows "Start" button and choose "Documents" (or “My Documents”) and then open the folder “Dungeons and Dragons Online” and in that folder open the “Userpreferences" file.

Under the [Net] section make the following changes:

Change 'ConnectionSpeed=0' to 'ConnectionSpeed=28.80'
Change 'UserSpecifiedPort=0' to 'UserSpecifiedPort=9000'

Exit the file and choose yes when prompted to save prior to launching the game to test these settings.

Let us know if you experience less packet loss/latency issues with these settings.

I changed the settings and the packet loss still occurred.

[esoitl]

Hmm... after playing a bit more, making the changes you mentioned Thokal made the game even slower...
About 50% of the instances (public, private, popular or not) give me packet loss and are just impossible to play. After the changes my latency went up and even the instances without packet loss were dragging.


Anything else I might try to get it working or just sit with crossed fingers that the problem gets fixed?

[Missing_Minds]

I've had the test running for approximately 20-30 minutes, updating every 5 seconds, and the packet loss didn't last for more than a minute and was never above 2%.

You would be amazed how much that hurts your game playing. AT&T had a bad node, and it was causing lag like crazy for... I'd guess 1/4 to 1/3rd of U.S. players.