Disconnection Issue - Any views or help Appreciated

markie

Hello - I had been playing ESO for a week with no issues apart from odd disconnections occasionally, however on Sunday afternoon I found I could not stay in game for more than a second or 2 before disconnection occurred with no error messages. This has persisted and I still cannot maintain a connection. I have had 2 replies on my ticket from customer support over the last 4 days but none of their solutions work. These basically were disabling all firewall and malware/ anti-virus and then forwarding ports within my router and ensuring the game was running n windows 8.1 as an administrator. I haven't heard anything for 2 working days now and out of despair I would ask if anyone has any ideas. My internet connectivity is fine with every other game/ application or browser I own, I have the latest NVidia drivers and device drivers in general & all windows 8.1 updates are installed. I went from playing fine to this issue in the same day without making a single hardware or software change to my rig.

Thanks in advance for any ideas

ers101284b14_ESO

Try repairing your client and also try disabling all add ons if you have any. 95% of the time those 2 things work.

markie

Hi and thanks but I have already repaired and don't have any add ons at all

Nestor

First thing, run the game under a clean boot. I have found that some background apps grab a hold of the NIC and can cause the game to puke

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Run some speed tests on your connection, if the speeds are much lower than you expect them to be, then this can cause issues in the game too.

If your using a wireless connection to your router, try an ethernet cable instead. You could have wireless issues that don't reveal under normal web surfing.

If your a member of the PTS (public test server) that download can kick you from the game too, so exit out of the launcher once you click Play (use the taskbar to bring the game up as it always seems to hide when doing this)

markie

Hi Nestor and thanks, I have tried a clean boot already - sorry I should have included that fact in my OP. Connection speed is fine I`m currently running at 70 mpbs. I have also tried a wired connection and I don't have PST access or downloaded the PST client.

Thanks again

Nestor

I have also found that when getting kicked out the game, it is best to shut the game down completely, then launch again. Just trying to log in again does not work that often.

BTW, you do have PTS access if you have a subscription, it is where you can test new content before it is released. But it is a seperate download and game install, so it can fill your drive up.

markie

Hi Again Nestor, I have also tried the shut down restart game approach it NEVER works I cant remain in game for more than 5 seconds 95% of the time its virtually instant disconnect. I have not installed or downloaded the PST client.

Thanks again

Elsonso

What are you using for an internet provider and is it the NA or EU server?

Nestor

markie wrote: »

Hi Again Nestor, I have also tried the shut down restart game approach it NEVER works I cant remain in game for more than 5 seconds 95% of the time its virtually instant disconnect. I have not installed or downloaded the PST client.

Thanks again

At this point, I would uninstall and reinstall the game.

Also, open up a command window (dos prompt) and enter Ping -t 4.2.2.1 (if your in NA) and have that going while trying the game. If you drop any packets, then your ISP may be to blame.

But, the reinstall may be the ticket.

markie

Hi Guys and thanks again!

I have tried a reinstall to no avail but have now undertaken a ping plot from me to 54.217.220.152 It appears the connection ceases with 100% packet loss at
79.125.0.73 or ec2-79-125-0-73.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com

All other ping plots find the destination with 0% packet loss and I have tried a wide range of sites etc. I have no other internet connectivity issues at all.

If I try a WhoIs information request to ec2-79-125-0-73.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com I get the following error:

Error talking to whois server: Socket Error # 10054
Connection reset by peer.

Am I right in saying the megaserver is in Ireland and @ ec2-54-217-220-152.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com ?

If so am I right in assuming the issues is at Bethesda`s end or at least appears to be?

jelliedsoup

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Try repairing your client and also try disabling all add ons if you have any. 95% of the time those 2 things work.

Lol thought of getting a job on the help desk? You forgot have you rebooted.

markie

Weird thing also is the help desk guys made reference to the fact that the pathping in the gam consultant log I sent them appeared to show me behind a private IP at hop 3. I checked out the pathping and I do indeed appear to get 100% packet loss at hop 3. However no matter what IP I pathping I get this and everything else I try to do on the internet works so this must just be coincidence. I have BT infinity 2 and a HH 4 and separate openreach modem, which I think might be hop 3 were the "apparent" packet loss occurs. If I use ping plot hop 3 does indeed show packet loss but the data seems to get to the destination regardless on all sites apart from the megaserver.

Still stumped but trying!!

Nestor

markie wrote: »

Am I right in saying the megaserver is in Ireland and @ ec2-54-217-220-152.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com ?

I believe the Mega Server got moved to Frankfurt Germany a month or two ago. However, Amazon Web Services, which rents out server space for MMO's and other reasons might have a server farm or router set up in Ireland.

Are you on the British Isles? If so, then perhaps this the last hop to get across the channel. Although I am surprised your even seeing that hop, you should only see the final one (this is just me thinking about how this stuff works behind the scenes, not your ping steps)

As for the error message, most routers are set up to ignore ICMP requests, so that would explain why the Whois lookup is failing.

markie

Hey Nestor, yes I am, in the British Isles, the IP that game consultant and a help desk agent gave me as launcher.bethesda.net 54.217.220.152 is ec2-54-217-3-152.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com
this also appears to be in Ireland. Maybe this is a hop prior to going mainland Europe side?
This is incredibly frustrating as customer services take over 24 hours to reply on each occasion and automatically assume the issue is with me. I am pretty damned sure as I have no other errors with my internet use or other games that its not me!

Thanks again

Nestor

You know, that might be old information. I think the servers used to be in Ireland.

When you connect to the game, see the following to find out the IP address of the game server. The post linked has the old school way, and two down from that is the new way in Windows7/8

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/comment/1156350#Comment_1156350

markie

I cant stay in game long enough to see it I see ESO.exe IP in resource monitor and cannot ping plot to one of them with a 100% packet loss 15 step into the route. Im certain its not at my end but I doubt the ZOS guys are going to offer any confirmation of this soon - I just hope I don't get "its between you and your ISP" response, its bizarre that I seem to be the only one suffering this problem though

Nestor

Can anyone from the EU do what is listed in the post I linked to above and tell us what the IP address of the servers are?

@markie‌
See this and try clearing your DNS cache

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1600/vista_dns_cache_flush/

markie

Tried that and it didn't work - connected to the game server and 2 seconds later bam disconnected with no error message

I appreciate your help Nestor - thank you

LunaRae

Hi @markie‌ - sorry to hear you're having this problem Firstly can you confirm at what stage in the game you disconnect? You open the launcher, I'm guessing 0 problems. Then you hit play and get to the login screen - has it ever crashed here? Or can you sit at login screen with 0 problems? Assuming no issues can you sign in and confirm again, do you crash at character select screen or can you sit here for 5mins no problem? Again if no problems proceed to select a character and load into game. Do you crash during loading (ever) or do you always crash after you load into the game. If you do load into the game, can you confirm the game world looks fine before crashing?

I'm not an expert by any means but if you don't crash UNTIL you're in the game world that would make me think it's not connectivity, but possibly graphics crashing once you're in the game world. Check out your event logs (In Windows 8.1 go to the modern desktop (with all the pretty pictures) - in the top right you should see a search magnifying glass, type in Event Viewer and you should be able to open this on the old desktop) and see if there are any errors around the times your game crashes. This could be under system or application and it may be helpful to invoke a crash prior to checking the logs just to have a recent crash on record. You mentioned having NVIDIA - do you have the NVIDIA GeForce Experience app? If so open it up, go to the drivers tab and at the top right confirm if you have "include beta drivers" checked off - if not check it off and download any beta drivers possible. I understand beta drivers may impact (not highly likely, but possible) other services on your machine, but for the sake of confirming there isn't a graphics issue try downloading the most recent beta driver. A few friends did this a while ago when they had graphics related issues and it helped them. Also, prior to loading a character reduce all of your graphics setting to minimum, this will truly help confirm that the likely hood of a graphics related issue is almost 0. If any of these steps resolve your issue then I'd say it's graphics related, and possibly a recent game update, system update, graphics update, or graphic setting change in the game, has caused something to not work.

If you've tried the above graphic changes and it still crashes after loading a character try creating a new character (don't fuss over looks or name) and load into the game. Confirm you still have the same issue, if not then it's possible the game has corrupted that specific in-game character and you should contact ESO customer service to move / fix that character so you can load properly.

To test internet-related issues try opening up resource monitor on your machine (same method as above for event viewer, just search resource monitor) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCUmoWuoIpk&t=1m47s - and watch the video for a few seconds. Skip to 1min47sec - See where he checks off "Skype" under Network Activity? Open ESO launcher, launch game, log in to game and then minimize game (or if you have dual monitors have resource monitor on second monitor) and look at resource monitor - network activity. Check off ESO and review connections - are there any odd results, make sure to expand all four sections (Process with Network Activity, Network Activity, TCP Connections and Listening Ports). Review all info and report back here if there are any interesting findings. Things like 100% packet loss should show under TCP connections with the remote address IP. If this is occurring you may need to talk to your ISP and have them perform some checks on their end.

A way to confirm there is something wrong with your internet is to take your machine out of its location and move it elsewhere for a different internet connection. If you have a laptop this is easier, but if not still possible with a desktop. Take it to a friends house, your family's house, relatives, neighbor, etc.. Hook up to their internet and see if the issue persist, if not then it's highly likely related to your specific internet service.

Also - I'm sure it doesn't need to be said but having customer service who you can contact by phone or email is an incredible thing, regardless of response delay. Destiny (the MMO sci-fi first person shooter) has been very rocky starting up, they have 0 support forums, no number to call or any way to contact support. Spent $70 on a game and if you want to use some of the better features you get to pay for XBOX gold service, so you pay monthly/annually to get 0 in-game service. After a few days of Destiny issues I looked back at ESO and was thankful for service, of any kind.

Anyways give that stuff a shot! Report back and let us know if you found anything out or have more info.

Nestor

Long shot here. Use System Restore and restore your PC back to last week (you won't lose any work, just windows updates) and try it again. You can undo this if it does not help. If it does help, then figure out which of the 20 or so windows updates that have come out in the last week did this.

If you have a router that connects to a modem, then try bypassing your router and connect directly to the modem (some ISPs combine these two things so you can't do this)

Finally, do you know anyone locally that has the game on their PC? Have them come over and try it at your house, or vice versa at their house.

Elsonso

The Launcher uses a combination of Zenimax and Amazon servers. These are not used for game play.

The EU megaserver is in the block of IP addresses at 159.100.224.0/20, which runs from 159.100.224.0 to 159.100.239.255. I found that it was using 159.100.232.107 just now as one of several.

ers101284b14_ESO

jelliedsoup wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Try repairing your client and also try disabling all add ons if you have any. 95% of the time those 2 things work.

Lol thought of getting a job on the help desk? You forgot have you rebooted.

You forgot "Did you trying turning it off then back on again"

But seriously like 95% of the problems I have had with ESO where fixed by disabling the addons and repairing the client.

RSram

Just a shot here since Nestor has already touched on the main points.

Routers usually use the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) so if there is a router down stream of you having a problem, the router in front of it should route around it automatically.

As LunaRae stated: Try using a friends home network, or If you have a friend who plays ESO, can you have them bring their computer to your house and plug it into your network and see if they have the same problem. If they have no problem, then the issue is most likely you computer.

Note that I assumed you already did the "Bypass the router" test that Nestor referred to.

Have you done a memory test from a boot CDROM?

If you change all the video settings to low and play at 1024x768 does the game still crash?

markie

@‌ LunaRae
I have the latest Nvidia drivers with no newer beta drivers available. I tried lowering all graphical settings to minimum and this didn't change the situation.
With resource monitoring on and eso.exe selected interestingly I can see no packet loss or out of the ordinary activity in the various TCP connections.

I don't have any RL friends who play but I will try and move my desktop to another connection outside of my house to check that.

@ Nestor I cant separate my router and modem, going direct to the modem doesn't work
I will try a system restore but the next point back it 2 weeks ago and I will loose quite a few programs but not to worry I will try tomorrow evening

Thank you both very much

markie

RSram wrote: »

Just a shot here since Nestor has already touched on the main points.

Routers usually use the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) so if there is a router down stream of you having a problem, the router in front of it should route around it automatically.

As LunaRae stated: Try using a friends home network, or If you have a friend who plays ESO, can you have them bring their computer to your house and plug it into your network and see if they have the same problem. If they have no problem, then the issue is most likely you computer.

Note that I assumed you already did the "Bypass the router" test that Nestor referred to.

Have you done a memory test from a boot CDROM?

If you change all the video settings to low and play at 1024x768 does the game still crash?

Hi RSram and thank you

I have indeed tried the lower video settings idea to no avail. I will try and move my desktop to another connection tomorrow and I have performed a memory test and my hardware seems to be toptop

Probitas

Here is my 2 cents.

Turn off the modem and router if you are using one.

Open a DOS box and issue the command IPCONFIG/release all on your PC, then shut down the computer. (I assume you use Windows OS, otherwise do the similar thing for MAC whatever that is)

Then turn on the modem and let it finish booting up.

Then do the same with the router. Browse to the router and check the settings for wireless and make sure it's secured by a password stronger than 'password' using stronger encryption than WEP. Also, turn off the SSID broadcast, it's harder to hack your signal if they can't find it easily. If you have the time, look up the MAC address of all hardware your connection uses (the PC, modem, router, wireless devices,etc.) and add them to the MAC filter and enable it to allow ONLY those to connect. You can never have too much security on a router.

Then try to run the game again. Resetting the hardware can solve problems like this, it may be your router needs a firmware update. Turning off your firewall and antivirus is the last thing you should do. As long as the software you are using is listed as allowed then they have no effect on your incoming or outgoing communications unless someone is trying to upload a virus or you are already infected. Once you turn them off you are wide open, and it doesn't take long.

At this point if you still have issues then talk to your ISP and get them to perform troubleshooting to rule out your equipment as the cause of connectivity and find out if they have line problems, and advise them of the problems you encounter with the game. While the game is NOT their problem, your inability to connect to an online service IS, assuming the service is not the root of the problem.

I had a friend who had issues with connectivity through Cogeco in Canada in his town, and after about a month of bitching they finally fixed their *** lines. Sometimes getting an incumbent to fix their lines can be very trying, I had one tech show up to fix my mom's house tell her it was internal, so I had to show up and prove it to my provider that BELL was indeed lying and the tech was just a lazy ass by proving that my equipment works at my house but not at the demarc at hers.

Woolenthreads

I wasn't going to comment as my knowledge of computer systems gets less effective each year.

Have you tried installing a separate version for the NA server, setting it up like your EU version and seeing if that works? One of the issues I have is regular desyncing on the EU server which I don't get on the NA server. This way you get to play even if the EU character building has gone to waste.

Alternatively have you investigated obtaining a top-notch anti-virus program and deep scanning for computer virae? It doesn't seem likely to be the issue but you never know, maybe your PC is part of a zombie botnet and the perpetrator is closing down your game .

# edit: I know they are crazy ideas, Kk?

RSram

Probitas is correct, try his suggestion first, and then try another network before doing a system restore. Might save you some time in reloading programs.

If you do a restore, do not load any of the missing programs. Test ESO and see if the restore fixed your problems. If it did, then load only one of the missing programs, then test ESO, load another missing program, the ESO, etc. If ESO starts screwing up after you load a missing program, then it may be that program which was causing the problem; if so then uninstall the program, and test ESO again to confirm this.

markie

Hi guys & thanks for all your assistance and support on this matter. I can happily say it has been sorted now thanks to the assistance of the customer support team. It turns out it was:

That's good to know. There was a message associated with this before "Unknown error", but that looks to have gone now. I'll have to let my colleagues know. I was actually in charge of troubleshooting and resolving this issue when it first came about.



It's not actually about the MTU of the router or our MTU sizes, it's about the system that recognises and adjusts network communication for differing MTUs.



The actual issue is called a black hole, where packets are dropped without the network knowing. Which is why it's just closing, rather than disconnecting normally or bringing up a useful error code.



The regedit EnablePMTUBHDetect is forcing the PC to do a check for this error and resolving the differences in MTU - Enable Packet Maximum Transmission Unit Black Hole Detect. There's no issues leaving this enabled that we have seen(Probably pushing over a hundred affected players), but if something suddenly stops working connection wise, it's easily reversed. Just keep the fix I sent you handy somewhere.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_(networking)



The PMTUD section is your specific issue. It'll be down to a firewall somewhere.



I am glad that everything is worked out now anyway and I am happy to apply the missing game time to your account now that it's been figured out.

I am just happy its sorted and I can get back to playing

Thanks again to all of you

markie

The actual fix for anyone else that might need it was:

There was an issue with MTU rates recently with certain ISPs under an unknown error. I am wondering if this might be the cause. It would cause the game to disconnect upon login after about five seconds, I didn't suspect this originally as your original description didn't match this issue.



If you could test out the below fix, it might fix some of the errors you have been having if it's relating to the MTU.



Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).You can type regedit in to the search box from start)

•Locate the following key in the registry, Folder location below:


•HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\tcpip\parameters\


•In the parameters folder, an entry called EnablePMTUBHDetect should be there.


•You can right click the entry and select “Modify”


•Then just change the value from 0, to 1.


•Once it’s set to 1, restart your PC and test out the game.

However, if the entry is not there, create the entry using the instructions below.



•Right click from within the Parameters folder, select New.


•Select DWORD.


•Enter name as EnablePMTUBHDetect.


•Then right click, select modify, and change the value to 1, it'll be 0 as default.

kevlarto_ESO

Sometimes a reset of modem and routers helps, and backbones on the internet go down and we get routed on some strange routes to get to our final destination.