EU servers?

HowellQagan

TLDR: I was dumb to believe geolocation services

Disclaimer: this is for the Steam version on PC

Also I'm not sure where this should be posted, I hope it doesn't get buried.

Okay so I was a bit curious where the servers are located (for ping concerns) so I looked at Netlimiter while logging into the game and playing and this is what I found:
Only login tests (pressing login from the starting screen)

159.100.230.9:443 only for a few seconds during login, not much traffic

159.100.232.114:24501 character screen traffic
159.100.232.122:24109 character screen idle

159.100.232.107:24504 character screen traffic
159.100.232.177:24119 character screen idle

159.100.232.100:24501 character screen traffic
159.100.232.148:24118 character screen idle

159.100.232.160:24500 character screen traffic
159.100.232.135:24101 character screen idle

159.100.232.24:24502 character screen traffic
159.100.232.139:24123 character screen idle

Complete tests, actually logging into the game with a character

159.100.232.24:24504 character screen traffic
159.100.232.162:24129 character screen idle
159.100.232.22:24129 replaces the other 241xx port IP after hitting Play, gameplay data traffic

159.100.232.114:24502 character screen traffic
159.100.232.177:24115 character screen idle
159.100.232.177:24103 replaces the other 241xx port IP after hitting Play, gameplay data traffic

159.100.232.100:24507 character screen traffic
159.100.232.148:24126 character screen idle
159.100.232.124:24108 replaces the other 241xx port IP after hitting Play, gameplay data traffic

All of these IPs point into Hunt Valley, Maryland. Which is very much in the US, very close to Bethesda HQ.

Question is: why do we have separate EU servers if they are physically located in the US? I thought the point of having different servers for different regions in multiplayer games is to improve game experience for players in the specific region?

My original post on reddit: https://redd.it/95qrbx

ValkynSketha

As i know, the log in server is in USA, however the data and stuff server is in EU Germany.

Sylvermynx

Someone posted a while back that he traced the game servers (not login) to the Netherlands.

Gythral

Authentication is in the US, the game data etc is in Frankfurt, Germany for the EU server

HowellQagan

ValkynSketha wrote: »

As i know, the log in server is in USA, however the data and stuff server is in EU Germany.

Why am I getting traffic only from US IPs then? I'm in Europe without a VPN.

Gythral

All the traffic you listed is not game data but character authentication

Do a full test , netstat -b (as administrator) when playing a character

Elsonso

Geolocation is wrong. The "location" you see for the IP address is where the company resides, not the server.

EU servers are in Europe.

HowellQagan

lordrichter wrote: »

Geolocation is wrong. The "location" you see for the IP address is where the company resides, not the server.

EU servers are in Europe.

I haven't thought of that actually. I've looked up one of the IPs on different databases and it's registered to ZeniMax Germany GmbH.

Thanks, that will be it then.

starkerealm

HowellQagan wrote: »

All of these IPs point into Hunt Valley, Maryland. Which is very much in the US, very close to Bethesda HQ.

ZOS is based in Hunt Valley.

Also worth noting, originally, the EU servers were hosted out of Maryland. They were moved to Germany about three to six months after launch. So, you may run across old info suggesting that the EU servers aren't in the EU. That's no longer the case.

DanteYoda

Why don't they just have login servers in the EU as well..

starkerealm

DanteYoda wrote: »

Why don't they just have login servers in the EU as well..

Cerberus. Basically, for network integrity, you don't want to manage multiple login servers on any externally accessible system. Multiple login servers can severely impair network security. Not only do you have to maintain both separately, but if they're operating in effective parity, you can use one as a test bed for an attack on the other.

So, for most systems, you'll want to consolidate your external login systems through a single server. This means that any attempted breaches are logged through a single point, and your network guys have immediate access to failed attempts. It also prevents things like trying to brute force a password on one system, then moving to the other, and continuing. Though, that's a crude example.

The result is a Cerberus, named after the three headed dog that guarded the gates to the underworld in Greek myth. That can either be a physical sever, or simply network routing practices, but you run all your login attempts through a single system, to force any attempt at unauthorized access through a single checkpoint.

You can think of it as the networking equivalent of when you used to run back and forth between your parents, trying to get something you wanted, by testing each one separately. A Cerberus Server puts both of them in the same room, and severely limits your opportunity to get what you wanted.

Jurand80

I'm getting 90 ping on empty servers so they must be in europe.