Do i need to update game interface?

[Gentoo]

I've noticed it takes a long long time to log into the server and often times out. I stopped all other modem activity and my connection is fast. Could it be that I need to update the game interface software itself? Tequila loads up the COH Homecoming login screen quickly. But then when I enter login and password it is glacially slow from there. Could I be outdated?

 

I AM able to log in sometimes but not other times. It tries for a long time then often fails with the following message:

 

 The game client was unable to connect to the login server. This may be due to a local network issue such as a firewall block, or may be because the login server is down for maintenance. Please check your network settings and try again, or check the forums for current server status.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Gentoo

[GM Tock]

That error message indicates network issues.  The client is operating, but cannot reach the outside.  If you're running off of Wi-Fi, you might have connectivity issues, otherwise, your home network may have a problem to be looked at.

 

As far as client speed, it depends on two factors.  1) Where you installed the client.  Not just on a hard drive, but what media: 

 

SD Card/USB 2,0 Hard Drive --> WORST
USB 3.0/mSATA
SATA Platter-based Hard Drive
SATA SSD/m.2 SATA SSD
m.2 NVMe -------------------> FASTEST

(This is an oversimplification, of course.)

As well as 2) How much RAM you have.  These days 4GB is bare-bones, 8GB is baseline, and 16-32 GB is a good idea.  If your system has a lot of apps running at once and memory is impacted, it can affect load times for City of Heroes in combination with your hard drive seek times. 

 

Note that these are separate issues: you can connect to the live servers well, and still have slow client performance, and vice versa, have great performance in-game and still have a hard time logging in because of network difficulties.

Edited October 15, 2020 by GM Tahquitz

[Gentoo]

31 minutes ago, GM Tahquitz said:

 

Thanks. It must be my network. Game runs very smoothly. Just takes forever to load between zones and on login. I'll try moving the game to another drive.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Gentoo

[GM Tock]

Slight disconnect there.  If the game is running smoothly, you don't need to move it.

 

If you're having network issues, take a look at your Wi-Fi/Ethernet setup. 

 

[Gentoo]

I disabled the firewall completely. I can download at high speeds. Put all that on hold so the game can take up full bandwith and it still tries but times out and returns the above message.

 

I thought maybe I needed to replace my client software. I haven't changed it since over a year ago when I first found homecoming and it worked ok then.

 

When I click login and monitor my network upload/download it doesn't change, so I don't think the client is trying to connect sometimes. Othertimes it does so without issue. Weird I know.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Gentoo

[GM Tock]

When playing, you can see the Network Performance in the client.  Use "/netgraph 1" to see a graph of the game's communication, "/netgraph 0" to shut it off.  It'll show a ping rate, any dropped packets, and if it lags, you'll see the graph pause and turn red or yellow.

 

Another idea if your Internet connection has a single uplink apart from the rest of the network is to disconnect the uplink from your router and plug that in temporarily into your gaming machine (there's network couplers you can pick up from a store if it's too short to make it.)  If the connection issues go away, you have something in your house to check out.  If they persist, it's either your ISP or the route taken to get to Homecoming's servers past your ISP.  (Depends on where you live.)

[Gentoo]

Thanks for this analysis.

 

I've come to the conclusion that if it isn't outdated login software it must be something to do with my ISP. I've had the internet line plugged directly into the computer and every other internet based program works. Download speeds are fast. Firewalls are disabled. The only thing not connecting (or the only thing timing out) is the COH login server interface, and when I tell it to try, internet traffic doesn't change on my end. Game runs perfectly smooth once actually in it. Has to be the ISP I suppose. Sadly not much I can do about it.

Edited October 18, 2020 by Gentoo

[Gentoo]

In a last ditch effort, I deleted and redownloaded Tequila and the login program. Didn't make a difference. I guess that leaves me with having to check back a few months from now to see if the issue resolves itself (if its a problem at the ISP). 

[GM Tock]

It's not ideal, but some players report using a VPN in front of the game helps them to be able to play (at the cost of a loss in speed and worse latency in some cases.)  We can't help in that direction, but might be worth looking into.

[Jacktar]

Hi, what mode are you running in, windowed or desktop?

I was having symptoms that sound very like the ones you are having but only when I ran in windowed mode, switching to desktop immediately returned to lightening fast login and zoning.

My rig is cutting edge so it was not hardware or ISP provision related.

It was a pain because I do run two accounts so I can PL my own alts and desktop was a no go.

I did keep swapping back to Windowed just to try and then one day when swapped it ran as fast as in desktop? Touch wood I have had no problems since.

I never tracked down why but I do wonder if MS did a background patch to windows 10 that somehow also sorted out CoH snag.

But best of luck to you and hopes for a fix soon.

 

[Gentoo]

I appreciate both of you very much. Thank you for your attempts to help.

 

Sadly, nothing seems to fix this. I'll just have to wait. Maybe I will get a VPN and see if that helps. Switching from windowed mode to normal mode didn't make a difference.

 

This community here is as amazing as the game itself 🙂

[Gentoo]

Getting a VPN did it! YAY! My ISP apparently is a jerk. Now I have a way around it and can play my favourite game again 🙂