Server Ping Timeout Issues on some but not ALL DCS Servers

[Einstein84]

I understand this topic has been brought up several times.  I've read through about all I could find, but I'm needing some help to further diagnose and analyze what specifically is causing ping timeouts for some but not all DCS Servers.  Attached is the last log I have from getting a ping timeout.  I was attempting to fly on the Hoggit Persian Gulf at War server.  What is see is that packet loss goes through the roof seconds or instantly after entering a cockpit.  I am able to fly without any issues on the throughtheinferno 107th Socal 1 - 4 servers without this being an issue on every airframe/module I have.

 

My ISP does utilize CGNAT.  I have consistent 50mbps down and 10mbps up speeds. I have a fixed wireless ISP because I live in a rural area and have a radio antenna that is on my roof that is linked to a tower about 1 mile away.  I can game on other platforms without issue, and my average latency on a game like COD Warzone is around the 40-60ms range.    These disconnects occur via WiFi 5Ghz or 2.4 Ghz, Ethernet, or even without the router involved period and being connected directly to the radio antenna via cat5e.  I have tested the lines from the radio to the wall jack, the wall jack, and the line from the wall jack to the router and found they are all functioning without issue.  I have Kaspersky Total Security and confirmed that the ports do have pass through on my side and since I can log into other servers, I am assuming the firewall is not the issue.

 

I have a Netgear R7000 router, and I have loaded several different iterations of firmware to rule that out as the culprit.  I am currently running firmware version V1.0.9.42_10.2.44. QoS is currently enabled.  I have read that might be the issue, but the results are the same with it on or off.  I have performed a factory reset of the router about 6 times.  UPnP is enabled.  I get these timeouts with and without port forwarding setup on the router, but I don't expect that to have any bearing whatsoever because I am not hosting a server because of the CGNAT limitations.

 

While DCS was running I opened the Resource Monitor and was observing network activity.  I could see the TDP connections were allowed and that the connection to the host was made.  I checked for things in the event manager and found none corresponding to the timeout(mind you its like reading a different language to me though but I didn't find any yellow caution signs near the time of the timeout or just before it).  I verified my network adapter is not able to be put to sleep under power management and the most current drivers are installed.  

 

At this point, this is all now beyond my skill level and level of understanding what additional diagnostic steps I can take to identify root cause.  I do intend to look into getting a static IP address from my ISP - but that won't happen for another month or so.  From everything I have read and can understand, CGNAT causes issues for hosting, but being a client, I don't know what would cause these disconnects.  Emphasis on the 'I don't know'.....  

 

Any advice/input/expertise would be greatly appreciated and I thank you all in advance for your time and help!!!

dcs.log

[Derbroomaster]

Hey, just curious. I don't have your exact connection setup, but reading your troubleshooting summary was like looking in the mirror. Did you ever have any luck with finding a solution?

[RuskyV]

I’m no expert but do you have any mods running for the F14?

I have had a look at your logs and it seems that there are a few issues when the textures are loading, I have encountered the same problems when connecting to MP servers,  I also cleared out my metashaders2 folder and the FXO folder in DCS save games. 
 

What happens to me is the extra time taken to load fresh shaders into the cache folder causes a server time out. The issue is solved by first loading up the editor and letting it build new terrain shaders. Once I’ve done this the extra time that it would normally take has be solved and the time out doesn’t occur.

This might not be a terrain issue for you but it could be the same in the sense of shaders taking to long to load causing the same sort of time out. My suggestion would be to uninstall any mods, run a full repair in DCS, clean out both the metashader2 and FXO cache by deleting the folders contents. Next I would do a C:/ drive clean and delete the DX shader cache (right click on your drive and select tools). Once this has been done boot DCS and load into the editor for the terrain cache. I would also drop down an F14 and load into it while in SP.

try connecting to the server again.

 

hope this helps

Edited May 8, 2022 by RuskyV