What is the deal with "Connection Interrupted" ?

[Spasticatedtoad]

Just thought I would add this picture to show how I see the server.

Today I tried joining the server hosted by the 161st Squadren. As you can see, the ping value was 54. Yet I still recieved an immediate "Connection Interrupted ".

I have been informed that I am not in the banlist of this server and the host can not see any reason why I should be unable to join the hosted session.

 

 

 

P.s. I have just spoken again with the host of the 161st Squadren and it was found that I WAS in the banlist. The host is not sure why, or even when I was banned. The ban has been lifted and I am looking at trying to join again.

Edited March 1, 2013 by Spasticatedtoad

[Spasticatedtoad]

Just a quick update, I was able to join and had a very stable connection whilst in the session with a ping of only 38.

 

Unfortunately ( as shown above ) it is the only session I can join without ruining it for everyone. :(

 

I should know by now that when a software company Improves MP stability, that doesn't mean I can join more sessions that I could before. Stability does not equal lower ping on a session. Just a more stable one. If it was out of reach before, it still will be after MP stability improvements. :(

 

Here's hoping I can find a job on the other side of the planet so I don't have to worry about the ping :)

[Druid_]

Are you connecting through a wifi router? Even if you are cat5 connected it may have something to do with your router or possibly your PC. You may have a good ping to the server but if your network is performing poorly (losing packets etc) then this will cause lag on the server. It may only present itself when your ping is above say 50, difficult to say. By way of example, I have a problem with my router at home slowing down and the only solution is to reboot it (frustrating as hell) curing the problem for a couple of days before it goes rogue on me again (updated firmware and still it persists).

 

Make sure your router has the latest firmware. Enable port 10380 on it UDP&TCP (iirc) and also make sure the LAN drivers on your PC are up to date. There must be some free network testing software out there so maybe d/l it and check your network performance.

 

This is all I can suggest at the moment. I understand your frustration.

[redfish]

I've found there is an autoban feature with the latest SLMOD version. TK and it will drop connection.

[ENO]

That isn't entirely true either- unless it's configured as such. You are either kicked, or banned... or nothing. Even then there is a configured number of hit events that are allowed before whichever chosen action is enabled. Get kicked and if the kick feature is chosen, you can return.

 

Unless you're talking about the 55 build and it's something new and improved.

[BRooDJeRo]

In my experience below 200 ping is fine, above it starts to get meh. 3/10 of a second is pushing it. For northern europeans the US east coast servers are fine and around 130-135 ping. West coast is generaly between 180-300. For me the boundry is pretty much US east coast, Russia, North Pole and borderzone Middle East like Turkey, Marocco, Egypt and Tunesia. I think Saudi Arabia and such go through Kuala Lumpur before those connections reach europe and end up with 600-900 ping.

Edited March 1, 2013 by BRooDJeRo

[Spasticatedtoad]

Hi All.

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply to you all. I was away from my PC for a few hours last night and went to bed early. :(

 

I've been through my system to double and Triple Check that it is set as you suggest. I made sure that DCS World has access through my Firewall ( PC and Router ) , rebooted and resarted my whole set-up and checked again. Then ran some speed tests. ( http://addgadgets.com/speedtest/ )

 

I ran the test about 20 times and found that the result doesn't vary much except I do get 1-2% packet loss about 2 of 10 times and I got 2 instance's where it said a 4% packet loss. On average the results were as Below:-

 

Speed Test results

Download Speed: 7579 kbps (947.4 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 245 kbps (30.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Latency: 221 ms

Jitter: 2 ms

Packet Loss: 0%

3/2/2013 1:02:27 PM

 

Immediately after I finished the tests, I logged onto the server and checked the pings.

Although, at first, it looks like a significant difference because the pings of the sessions at the top are quite low ( Top 4 Sessions ).

But I believe that the only reason there seems to be significant difference there, is because my last screen shot was taken on Friday ( work day ) and now it is Saturday. A Couple more Local Hosts are on today. Where Yesterday there was only 1.

 

But if you note the Sessions that are in the list ( ENO's FireHouse 1.2.3 , WarHawks=war-hawks.net= , Hollo Pointe , etc ) their Ping today is not that different to yesterday.

 

I make a regular habit of turning my Router off Every night ( especially during summer temperatures ) because it tends to get quite hot. I go out at night and hate to think I would come home to rubble cause the Router got too hot :D I dont like to leave anything running if it doesn't need to be on.

 

I've also been through and checked to make sure all of my Network Drivers and Router Firmware are up to date and they all are. I only rebuilt this system back in October, but sometimes you only have to blink and there is a new update, so I checked it all anyway :)

 

I even grabbed another router I have, which is also up to date , and tried the tests with it. Same results through both. I think I am getting about the Peak I can get ( at this time of the day ) through my network.

 

I have found that , like yesterday , I entered the 161st Squadren Session which the server showed the Ping as 54, but when I got in there ( I hit " ) and it was showing the ping as 34 . I flew around for about 20 minutes and landed and my Ping remained at about 34-38. Although, I dont think I was anywhere near the Combat areas. There were 2 others in there, but I was not in a relative area to where the fighting was going on.

 

I think I am in an unfortunate spot on the planet, where you never get to have as much fun as everyone else online. :(

And even if I had access to all the server's, I think I would still want more :D Just can't enough of Missions online :D

 

I'll just have to keep a close eye on the server at regular intervals so I can find when my best times of day ( and which day ) is best to fly online without causing an issue for others or losing connection.

[redfish]

Spasticatedtoad are you in Oz? Do you know when/if you are getting NBN installed? Should be faster when that happens.

[Spasticatedtoad]

Spasticatedtoad are you in Oz? Do you know when/if you are getting NBN installed? Should be faster when that happens.

 

I am actually in Australia ( ACT ) and there are area's in town that are getting the NBN installed and over the last few months has made a small difference to this end of town. Unfortunately, it is all happening at the other end of the city in the newer housing developments. :(

 

Over the last 12 months, I have seen my Netspeed climb from around 1.2Mb/s to around 1.4Mb/s at peak speeds. I would like to move out the end of the City that is on the NBN, but you basically have to buy a house there to get it.

 

I'm not so sure I'm willing to pay that much for a better net connection and at the rate it will take them to get out here.....it will be at least 5-6 years more. :(

[Hawk_5]

Interesting isssue.

I am in Australia too (NSW Central Coast) and I have been flying on 104th's server with 1.2.3 with a ping of around 250 give or take depending on time of day and have not had a single connection issue. I think they kick at 300+. There was a little lag once when another player spawned in a few parking spaces away and appeared to merge into the tarmac but it soon settled down and flight operations of other aircraft at the airfield appeared fine and no other issues popped up. Certainly have not had any bans or kicks or connections interrupted as reported by Spasticatedtoad. I have added a connection profile to my network file that seems to be working fine and I based it on speedtests to US west coast at about 8Mbit down 600k up (I live just over a 100mtrs from the local exchange).

Maybe it is local net traffic issues?

[Spasticatedtoad]

Well....

 

After most of the night, and half of the day today, I have been monitoring my Internet connection and also checking the server. I have been making adjustments to my Router ( 1 Step at a time ) with extensive testing after each change.

 

I think at this point, I have the most stable numbers I have seen to date:-

 

Download Speed: 11660 kbps (1457.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 575 kbps (71.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

Latency: 182 ms

Jitter: 3 ms

Packet Loss: 1%

3/3/2013 12:27:28 PM

 

That's pretty much the average result I get now, with less variation than I was getting with Testing Yesterday.

 

And straight after getting this test result, I checked the server again and the result's are in the Picture below.

 

 

@ Hawk_5.

 

That's really handy to know. Thank you. I rarely ever try a Session with a ping over 225 because I believed I would drag it down. I did try just prior, and just after updating to 1.2.3 and was finding nothing but Connection Interrupted after a short while or immediately. I once got into a Session with a Ping ( I think was around 250 ) and it was just a Slide Show. I left immediately believing it was most likely me that did that :(

I live about 400 meters away from my Local Exchange, but not sure the exact path of the network from the Exchange to here. It may Service the back Part of the Suburb before here because of its location. Outside distance couldn't be more than 1800 meters.

 

I have also considered that it could be local Network Traffic, but have not really seem much difference between Peak and Off-Peak Times. After 3am, all local Business's are shut, Government Buildings are closed and most everything is shut down. After a lot of checking, there is a slight benefit, but not enough to Cheer about.

I've gotten a better Latency improvement today through testing, than I have at just about any time . :)

[EtherealN]

Didn't see this mentioned yet, but: what is your connection speed setting in the online options screen? I would recommend selecting LAN. Ground stuff needs a lot of traffic now and if the missions have a lot of those you can suffer on a lower connection setting.

 

Pings of 300 is something I have played with several times with no ill effects (as long as there isn't rampant packetloss, it's fine), unless of course the server runs a modscript that kicks based on ping alone.

[Spasticatedtoad]

Hi EtherealN, sorry for the wait, I have my DCS WORLD Internet Setting set for LAN. I read that a couple of months ago and set it like that. I must have hit the forums at the right time as there was a fair amount of discussion about that at the time, so I picked it up pretty quick.

I'm keen to set anything to make Online access better :D

[BRooDJeRo]

I'm afraid you're suffering from a lack of Australian servers and the geological position of the continent itself compared to the continents where the popular servers are based. From northern Europe to Australia i have 250-300 ping too.

 

The signal is bound to the maximum speed of the electrons in an electric current. This is below lightspeed. An electron in a coaxcable goes for about 70% lightspeed, so let's say it will go in ideal situations 75% of lightspeed. Lightspeed is 300.000 km/s. Amsterdam - Sydney is for about 16633 km. -> 225.000 km/s / 16633 km = 0.0739 sec. = 74 PING. But this is for a single electron on a direct line, the actual distance is much longer when it needs to go over networks, through datacenters, providers, countryhubs and the extra wires at all these locations. Even political situations play a role in this. When you have a ping of 300 the signal could have traveled over 66.000 kilometers! This is 1.6x around the earth over the equator.

Edited March 3, 2013 by BRooDJeRo

[Dejjvid]

The net code does not handle packet loss very well, it feels like they've tweaked that part a bit. But I'd like to see a implementation like they have in most online games, the server should put you "on hold" and disregard any new packets until you are stable again. This way you will only freeze, not be kicked out.

 

In the current state the server will close your session after a 0.3 sec timeout. You will never notice this when playing without tracing your packet loss rate, and this is why most of the posts about disconnects are made, blaming ED. When in fact it's their connections that should be blamed.

 

The only way to correct this "problem" is increasing the timeout timer, but this might introduce some nasty stuff and might require a completely new net code.

[BRooDJeRo]

Isn't 300 ping 0.3 seconds delay?

[Hawk_5]

Yes. 300 milliseconds. 0.3 seconds.

 

A very long time at 500km/h. :-)

 

While we are on the topic, isn't using LAN net setting when you don't have a connection that is capable of the data rate pushing the connection too hard? Its telling DCS that it can send and receive data at a rate that exceeds the actual connection capabilities. Would this not then lead to more lost packets? I'm certainly no network engineer and but sending data that may get thrown away seems inefficient and may actually slow the connection down a bit?

 

There have been other threads about this exact issue in the past I know but would be interested in how this may now be handled with the updated net code. Is using LAN the most efficient network setting for poorer connections?

[sobek]

The net code does not handle packet loss very well, it feels like they've tweaked that part a bit.

 

UDP doesn't handle packet loss at all. Anything that deals with packet loss is way too slow and produces too much overhead for gaming.

 

In the current state the server will close your session after a 0.3 sec timeout.

 

That seems very unlikely. Many servers kick you if your ping exceeds 300ms, but that does not apply to timeout.

[sobek]

There have been other threads about this exact issue in the past I know but would be interested in how this may now be handled with the updated net code. Is using LAN the most efficient network setting for poorer connections?

 

The recommendation from the devs ATM is to leave it on LAN, no matter what. I don't know exactly what the setting does, however even on LAN, as client you'd have to have a very weak connection for it to be congested even by the amount of data sent when setting it to LAN. Servers are a different matter, obviously.

[enigma6584]

Didn't see this mentioned yet, but: what is your connection speed setting in the online options screen? I would recommend selecting LAN. Ground stuff needs a lot of traffic now and if the missions have a lot of those you can suffer on a lower connection setting.

 

Pings of 300 is something I have played with several times with no ill effects (as long as there isn't rampant packetloss, it's fine), unless of course the server runs a modscript that kicks based on ping alone.

 

Could you please elaborate? What should our connection speeds be set to when trying to connect via Internet?

[ENO]

LAN only.

[arteedecco]

Connection interrupted issue much better since latest 1.2.3 patch, but still quite common on MP.

[enigma6584]

Okay, thanks gents. Been having those issues myself but I believe I found out my issue is a whole different matter. Thanks.

[Nieldo]

Never used to get any errors joining servers, now all of a sudden since last weekend I cant join 99% of the servers because of 'stream error' or 'connection interrupted'.

[redfish]

FYI

 

FYI,

 

Recently the AEF 161 SQN server implemented a change from the way SLMOD would action team killing events.

 

Instead of insta-ban mode which was running for several months:

slmod_team_hit_result = "ban"

There is now a policy of:

slmod_team_hit_result = "kick"

Please don't abuse this service. Everyone deserves a second chance and hopefully this will stop the warping team kills getting the /BAN hammer out. The community needs to know that the chat logs and events are still monitored and BAN lists will be shared in the greater community to filter out the idiots who still persist in the community.

 

There seems to be some kind of attitude with some players, "If I team kill, I won't get caught?" Do so in our server and you will be BANNED. Why risk it? How stupid is that, especially when most have gone to the expense of spending a couple of hundred bucks on TrackIR, a good HOTAS and pedals. Only to end up not flying in our server with a perma-BAN.. Just dumb.

 

Redfish