Spectrum Internet 'Lost Connection' Issues - SOLVED

[PeterDutcherJr]

On 1/8/2020 at 5:36 PM, Chris24601 said:

When you say "crash" do you mean "lost connection to mapserver"... if so the problem isn't on your end or Homecoming's its a bad ISP along the route between. The only solution that's worked solidly is to use a VPN that changes the route your data takes through the internet around the bad patch. Using New Jersey as an exit point for the VPN has provided me with absolute stability (the closest route without a VPN probably took my data to Canada through Detroit... now its probably going through Buffalo).

Is there a free VPN I can use?

[boggo2300]

4 minutes ago, PeterDutcherJr said:

Is there a free VPN I can use?

there are a few (sorry can't help directly as I don't use them) just be aware (I'm a network engineer, so I feel I should warn you) if you are having mapserve issues a VPN connection MAY help but there are so many places the issue could be that it's not a guarantee, it's a good start though

[PeterDutcherJr]

2 minutes ago, boggo2300 said:

there are a few (sorry can't help directly as I don't use them) just be aware (I'm a network engineer, so I feel I should warn you) if you are having mapserve issues a VPN connection MAY help but there are so many places the issue could be that it's not a guarantee, it's a good start though

I'm able to play every other game I have without issues of disconnects. Just with CoHH do I have the issue.

 

I'd rather not have to use a VPN, but several people have reported it works. This issue only started just after Christmas.

[boggo2300]

1 minute ago, PeterDutcherJr said:

I'm able to play every other game I have without issues of disconnects. Just with CoHH do I have the issue.

 

I'd rather not have to use a VPN, but several people have reported it works. This issue only started just after Christmas.

If you are having mapserve issues the issue is basically happening between YOU and the HC servers in Canada, so unless the other games are hosted in the same place then they are unlikely to have the same issues.

 

I understand you, I see a lot of potential issues playing city through a VPN

 

Can we just confirm though that you are getting mapserver errors rather than the game crashing? not trying to be a pain, but the difference between the two means a completely different troubleshooting plan

[PeterDutcherJr]

It's map server connection issues.

[boggo2300]

28 minutes ago, PeterDutcherJr said:

It's map server connection issues.

ok cool, now the issue started after a patch I believe? prior to that you didn't have the same problem? if thats the case the first thing I would look at would be the firewall and antivirus on your local PC (HC's version of the client software have issues with a lot of anti-virus because they are not being published by a software company) assuming you are running windows the first suggestion I would make would be to whitelist the entire folder you have Homecoming installed in inside your anti-virus (most anti-virus programs replace the default windows firewall with their own, but if windows firewall is still running I would make sure the coh exe files in the HC-64 and HC-32 folders are allowed full comms through that as well.

 

as you get to various stages of logging in and playing you are using different parts of the client install, so you may be running into the one part of the client thats getting blocked which is when you are getting the mapserves (a mapserve is basically the games way of saying somewhere between the client program on your pc and the server software on the server you are losing communication (or at least the responses are so slow that the game gives up)

 

the thing to remember is you will probably need to do Antivirus whitelisting every time HC does a patch until they are well known enough for the AV companies to put them in the assume it's ok list

 

sorry about the lecture, I find it's helpful to explain my reasoning a bit

Edited January 10, 2020 by boggo2300

[Chris24601]

4 hours ago, PeterDutcherJr said:

It's map server connection issues.

If you don’t mind my asking... whereabouts are you located?

 

I ask because in two of the people with the mapserver issue who’s location I know of are likely passing through Detroit as part of the shortest connection to where Homecoming’s servers are (if I recall correctly they’re physically in Toronto).

 

I also know my issues started right at the time they did the winter event patch (which is why I thought it was a coding problem with the update for the longest time).

 

However, when I detoured from Indiana to New Jersey before heading to Canada by using a VPN the mapservers issue ended entirely. I can also confirm via CoH’s /netgraph command that using the New Jersey location with the VPN service I got didn’t change my ping rate at all.

 

What DID change was how the connection dealt with lost data packets. Without the VPN the crash happened the first time in a session that it lost a packet and it would not even try to resend a lost packet. With the VPN I would get a lost packet every few minutes (indicated by a yellow or red line on the netgraph) but the lost packet would be resent and the connection would continue without issue.

 

This suggests to me that whatever section of the net along the direct Indiana to Toronto connection is dropping connections at the slightest hiccup instead of retrying the connection.

 

Unfortunately the only viable alternative is to bounce your signal around the problem part of the internet using a proxy server or VPN.

 

For the sake of your own internet security I definitely recommend a paid VPN service. Free proxy servers and VPNs are likely to log everything going through it and sell that in order to pay for itself (malicious ones might even hack your computer using the connection you established). Remember, if it’s free, you’re not the customer, you’re the product.

 

Fortunately for us too, City of Heroes doesn’t actually need all that much bandwidth to play. It’s original minimum connection requirements were a 56k MODEM (as in dial-up... still used by 60% of the US in 2003 and by 36% in 2006).

[boggo2300]

1 minute ago, Chris24601 said:

If you don’t mind my asking... whereabouts are you located?

 

I ask because in two of the people with the mapserver issue who’s location I know of are likely passing through Detroit as part of the shortest connection to where Homecoming’s servers are (if I recall correctly they’re physically in Toronto).

 

I also know my issues started right at the time they did the winter event patch (which is why I thought it was a coding problem with the update for the longest time).

 

However, when I detoured from Indiana to New Jersey before heading to Canada by using a VPN the mapservers issue ended entirely. I can also confirm via CoH’s /netgraph command that using the New Jersey location with the VPN service I got didn’t change my ping rate at all.

 

What DID change was how the connection dealt with lost data packets. Without the VPN the crash happened the first time in a session that it lost a packet and it would not even try to resend a lost packet. With the VPN I would get a lost packet every few minutes (indicated by a yellow or red line on the netgraph) but the lost packet would be resent and the connection would continue without issue.

 

This suggests to me that whatever section of the net along the direct Indiana to Toronto connection is dropping connections at the slightest hiccup instead of retrying the connection.

 

Unfortunately the only viable alternative is to bounce your signal around the problem part of the internet using a proxy server or VPN.

 

For the sake of your own internet security I definitely recommend a paid VPN service. Free proxy servers and VPNs are likely to log everything going through it and sell that in order to pay for itself (malicious ones might even hack your computer using the connection you established). Remember, if it’s free, you’re not the customer, you’re the product.

 

Fortunately for us too, City of Heroes doesn’t actually need all that much bandwidth to play. It’s original minimum connection requirements were a 56k MODEM (as in dial-up... still used by 60% of the US in 2003 and by 36% in 2006).

It's certainly a possible fix that will pick up a lot of the potential problems, and has extra benefits as well, I just want to stress there are so many potential places for a mapserver to be generated it MAY not help, it's certainly a good place to start however

[Chris24601]

Well, as long as there’s no issues from you to New Jersey, there seems to be a clear internet route from there. I suspect any VPN location on the East Coast from say Virginia to Maine would also avoid the problem.

 

Also, this has been a known problem covered on two other separate threads with essentially identical behavior in all cases and a lot of testing done to isolate the cause. It does not appear widespread enough to have affected more than a handful of players, indicating whatever the problem being encountered is fairly localized and therefore relatively easy to route around.

[PeterDutcherJr]

I am in Bradenton, Florida, so on the East Coast of the USA.

 

I tried using Windscribe VPN, which is free and allows 10 gigs per month. It is working now, so at least I have a work around. I chose a Canada East server, since that is where I've heard the game servers are located, but I am experiencing a slight lag, so I might try a different server.

[microc]

try using google open dns servers see if that helps.

[PeterDutcherJr]

For those using Spectrum Internet, I fixed my connection issue (so far) and no longer need to use a VPN.

 

I use a Spectrum provided router, and cannot afford buying my own router. So here's what I did:

 

• I logged into my router through it's address (192.168.1.1) in a browser. There are only around 3-4 standard addresses used on Spectrum routers, so this is a publicly used address. I imagine that means you must be using your home internet to access it. Username and password are both 'Admin'.
• Click 'Advanced'. On the left menu, click 'Admin', then click 'System'.
• Under ' Miscellaneous ', it will have a drop down for 'Time Zone'.
  I live in Florida, which is Eastern Time Zone. Spectrum had mine set to Denver, Colorado, which is Mountain Time. I believe this was where my issue was. I clicked the drop down and scrolled down to 'American/New York', then clicked apply.
• It reset my internet connection, however, just to be safe, I clicked 'Reboot', which is also under 'Admin'.
   
• On a side note, if you wish to change your router channel, you can do this my clicking 'Network' on the top left menu, then 'Wireless', then 'Radio' (on the resulting page). The channel is found under Radio Setting as ' Control Channel'
  After some research, I discovered channel 11 was the best choice, switched it and applied. It switched my to Channel 11, and my Internet speed is now stable.

 

No more connection issues so far.

Edited January 14, 2020 by PeterDutcherJr