resolved Mistermann connection issues thread

[Mistermann]

Perhaps a little hyperbolic, but my small group of Multiplayer DCS friends is about to dissolve due to server timeouts.  2 years ago, these were non-existent and we could enjoy 4-5 hours of non-stop DCS missions.  Today, the game cannot be enjoyed as we continuously lose connection … seemingly at random.   @BIGNEWY or @Grimes or anyone at ED – please tell us there’s some MP issue being looked at for this and I’ll remain hopeful my group can stay together.

Some relevant observations

-          When we first got together as a group, one of us would start a mission and launch the MP server directly from the game.  We probably did this for at least a year and never had a single issue.  As we got into more intensive missions we wondered if a dedicated server would help offload some processing from our main gaming machines.

-          About 6 months ago, I replaced my “old” gaming machine and repurposed that rig for DCS server duty.  The entire machine was wiped and now acts as our MP host.  From the beginning, our experience was just “okay”.  We found ourselves crashing to desktop a fair amount, but were willing to cope with those as we were on OB and running some extensive missions with heavy scripting (Pretense and Through The Inferno (TTI)). 

-          Since December of 2023, our experience with the Dedicated Server has become much worse.  While the CTD experiences are now much less frequent, what is now happening at an unacceptable pace is client connection time outs.  We can play for an hour with no timeout, or we experience 5 in 20 minutes.  There doesn’t seem to be any correlation between timeout and type of mission being run (script heavy vs. light vs. none).  Many times both my friends will timeout simultaneously and I'll be left alone in the mission.

-          This morning a buddy and I were flying a TTI mission together and he timed out 3 times while sitting on deck of the carrier – never even got his engines started.  This was after I had been flying 90 minutes on that same mission before he joined.

-          I rarely experience a server timeout.  I am connecting to the public dedicated server’s public IP just like my mates (granted the physical server is sitting on the same LAN that my gaming PC occupies).  If I had to estimate, I have 1 timeout for every 20 the others connecting to “my” dedicated server do.

-          As a test this morning, my buddy hosted the same TTI mission on his gaming machine using the “Launch Multiplayer Server” option.  We launched from the carrier and within 2 minutes of being airborne I received the dreaded “connection timed out” error.  The DCS gods were conspiring against us today.

To put it mildly, at this point we’re pretty frustrated.  Mainly because nothing in the logs indicates what happens.  The disconnects simply appear as regular clients leaving the server.  We don’t know how to address this issue.  If both dedicated server AND launching MP from within DCS gaming PC both behave this way – with 2 different hosts – I am left to wonder if this is DCS MP code misbehaving or possibly some serious ISP/Internet traffic glitches.  Neither of these my group of friends can control.

I am considering firing up one of those Fox3 servers for a month to see if one of those is more stable for us.  ED – are there known MP issues out there that cause MP timeouts that you’re working on?  My MP experience has gone from “rock solid” to “untenable” in the past 2 years.

Any advice is welcome. 

ED - we are more than willing to help your team find/fix this issue (if this ends up being DCS MP code related).

[cfrag]

While I believe that DCS‘s netcode can be improved, my experience is (luckily) radically different from yours. Now, DCS, even as headless server is a resource hog, so since you did not spec your current host I simply deduce that you are hosting on a 5 plus years PC (for the simple reason that I cycle PC after that time span). That’s probably on the lower end.

That being said, if your friends time out regularly while you don’t (you seem to indicate something along those lines), you may have a latency issue with one or more of your network devices: your net will always be as fast as your slowest link, and a bad firewall, router or switch can cause havoc for anyone outside (especially if your hardware doesn’t automatically support IPv6). Have your friend measure your ping to see if there may be network issues. Oh, and if anyone in your group you is on wireless, don’t. From what I’ve experienced is that DCS and many wireless network connectors don’t play ball.

Now, I think you are taking the smart route evaluating Fox3. They host my private server, and I’ve experienced no discos or timeouts ever since.

tl,dr: it may be your net, not necessarily DCS‘s netcode.

IMHO, of course.

Good luck, I’m hoping it works out for you.

Edited March 4 by cfrag

[Mistermann]

Thanks @cfrag.  Spent an hour on the phone today with my Internet provider.  They are sending a tech out tomorrow.  I'll post an update when I know more.

I'd like nothing more than for for this to be a "me" issue.  

[BIGNEWY]

Hi, 

I am not seeing any issues when I have sessions, best thing to do is attach your dcs log from a session where you see issues. 

Also attach your dxdiag so we can take a look for clues. 

It is very easy to point the finger at us but without any data it is difficult to investigate why you are having issues. 

[Mistermann]

TLDR:  Its fixed

I'll pick out some of the comments made in my OP as I outline what I did to resolve this troubling issue.

On 3/3/2024 at 4:10 PM, Mistermann said:

Today, the game cannot be enjoyed as we continuously lose connection … seemingly at random.

Since December of 2023, our experience with the Dedicated Server has become much worse.  While the CTD experiences are now much less frequent, what is now happening at an unacceptable pace is client connection time outs.  We can play for an hour with no timeout, or we experience 5 in 20 minutes.  There doesn’t seem to be any correlation between timeout and type of mission being run (script heavy vs. light vs. none).  Many times both my friends will timeout simultaneously and I'll be left alone in the mission.

...nothing in the logs indicates what happens.  The disconnects simply appear as regular clients leaving the server. 

I am left to wonder if this is DCS MP code misbehaving or possibly some serious ISP/Internet traffic glitches. 

My MP experience has gone from “rock solid” to “untenable” in the past 2 years.

Since I have zero control over MP code quality, I called in my Internet provider to troubleshoot my cable connection.  My internet dropping would explain all these bolded observations above.  If nothing else, I could check off "my side" of the equation so to speak.  Before calling my ISP, I installed a quick and dirty tool that monitors internet connectivity by periodically pinging three different public IPs.  If there's a delayed response from all three it alerts and logs the event.  It didn't take long for the app to start registering failures.

I used this information to "convince" my ISP to send out a tech.

When the tech arrived at the house, he told me the tests he ran from the street showed no issues.  Using the results of this Uptime monitor, I was able to convince him there was an issue.  He replaced all the hardware in the box attached to my house and verified signal strength from there to the street box.  He ran additional diagnostics and said everything looked good.  All said he was here about an hour.  That was Tuesday (3/5).

Last night our group got together and flew 3 hours without a single issue.  Smooth as glass and not a single glitch.  I think I can declare this issue resolved; I can save the Fox3 experiment for a later day (and keep that $50/month fee for something else DCS related).

As for my internet ... it must have been glitching for quite some time.  Not bad enough to register outside our DCS events.  It was random enough to mask itself as the root cause.  I still don't understand why my connections to the dedicated server weren't compromised like my friends.  That really confused the diagnosis of the problem.  Regardless, this appears resolved for now.

Edited March 8 by Mistermann

[BIGNEWY]

good to see you have it resolved and thanks for letting us know

[MAXsenna]

TLDR:  Its fixed
I still don't understand why my connections to the dedicated server weren't compromised like my friends.  That really confused the diagnosis of the problem.  Regardless, this appears resolved for now.

If you're talking about the dedicated server in your house it's obvious. Nothing wrong with your computer, and your local network, (LAN), so you connected directly to it, and not over the Internet, (WAN). Whatever the technician said or did, something fixed your Internet connection. Happy times!
Cheers!



Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[Mistermann]

2 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

 

If you're talking about the dedicated server in your house it's obvious. Nothing wrong with your computer, and your local network, (LAN), so you connected directly to it, and not over the Internet, (WAN). Whatever the technician said or did, something fixed your Internet connection. Happy times!
Cheers!



Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

Is it?  

I am connected over a VPN to the public IP of the dedicated server.  Not the non routable 10.10.x.x IP.  

Maybe it's still obvious?  IDK.... something seems odd to me there.  Am I still connected via LAN using the public IP?  That's the part I don't understand.

[MAXsenna]

Is it?  
I am connected over a VPN to the public IP of the dedicated server.  Not the non routable 10.10.x.x IP.  
Maybe it's still obvious?  IDK.... something seems odd to me there.  Am I still connected via LAN using the public IP?  That's the part I don't understand.

If the routing is setup correctly, the traffic should never leave your house, so to speak. No matter the destination. One of the beauties of IP routing. Why you want to use VPN to encrypt your MP sessions and volunteerily send your traffic out of your house and back, hence ovesizing your packets and delay them, is a strange thing to do.

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[Mistermann]

17 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

If the routing is setup correctly, the traffic should never leave your house, so to speak. No matter the destination. One of the beauties of IP routing. Why you want to use VPN to encrypt your MP sessions and volunteerily send your traffic out of your house and back, hence ovesizing your packets and delay them, is a strange thing to do.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

Thank you.

I don't normally do that, but thought me using a VPN would force the traffic over the Internet outside my LAN.

I realize now this sounds quite odd.  Thanks for educating me on this one.

 

[MAXsenna]

Thank you.
I don't normally do that, but thought me using a VPN would force the traffic over the Internet outside my LAN.
I realize now this sounds quite odd.  Thanks for educating me on this one.
 

Depends, though!

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