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Possible cause of network issues.

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Hi,

I noticed some strange logs coming from my router after setting it up to play star trek online. My router does outbound packet filtering with reflexive ACLs, so I configured it to run with a system wide open, but logging every packet. Then I used sed/sort to get a list of the ports used by the game for outbound connections (there are quite a few).

The ports that the game seems to use werw all TCP:
7001-7005
7224
7399
7499

But... It seems that some of the outbound connection ports may be changed up from time to time. One thing I note is that most of these are NOT tested by the nettest application. Likely, there are ranges of ports that the game will choose depending on a variety of factors.

So I opened 7000-8000 for a couple of IPs just to make things easy and I also setup logging to try to figure out those ranges.

My ingress firewall is identifying that 208.95.184.137 TCP/7001 Is sending TCP packets to the client AFTER it has closed off the TCP connection. This is a bug by any measure. It may have something to do with the poor network performance.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Actually, in a PAT'd network (one public IP shared amongst multiple private IPs), this bug could cause severe problems if an inbound port becomes associated with another public IP' s TCP session and a previous TCP session is staying open at the server end.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    We've been having big network issues since on my roommates has started playing Start Trek Online, virtually non-stop. Is there any settings I can adjust in the router to prevent the application from bombing out our connection?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    lateralex wrote: »
    We've been having big network issues since on my roommates has started playing Start Trek Online, virtually non-stop. Is there any settings I can adjust in the router to prevent the application from bombing out our connection?


    Yes, you can first try the #5 launcher Martin posted here.

    http://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=2221805&postcount=176

    The download in that posting is http://dl.dropbox.com/u/114641/StarTrekOnlineTest5.zip

    If that doesn't fix it you can change the network speed on your modem or client level to address it, detailed in my FAQ

    http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=118737&page=3

    Please let us know if that #5 launcher fixes the issue, or if you had to change your network speed.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Might this be what is causing all my server not responding issues?

    Patching and logging works now I have sorted my firewall by allowing all inbound and outbound on all ports. OK logging in has lag sometimes but not others (fair enough all MMO's have that). Switching off my firewall seems to make no difference anyway when playing the game....

    So what do I need to get my router to do?
    It's Belkin wireless G btw

    I would really like to be able to play without having only occasional chances to do things i.e. 5 seconds of game per minute....

    Fernslayer
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=118737

    Ran Nettest, gave the following result, which I assume from the above thread is not good given all these zeros... so is it my ISP provider or my Router and how do I check?

    I ran a speedtest and it gave me above average but given these comments on packages and traffic shaping I assume speed is not really the issue here?

    unable to allocate performance buffer
    contacting nettest server..
    Local IP: xx.xx.xx.xx
    Ping: 200.0 msec
    Port: 80: 202 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 80: 109 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 443: 122 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 443: 70 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 7255: 53 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 7255: 155 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 7003: 71 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 7003: 100 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 7202: 86 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 7202: 115 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 7499: 140 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 7499: 93 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Port: 80: 48 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 0 KB/sec 500
    Idle NIC bandwidth Send: 0 KB/sec Recv: 0 KB/sec
    hit return to exit

    Fernslayer
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Ditto, network lag issues.....I think I will wait for a patch to fix. Cryptic needs to supply us with info, we shouldn't have to figure it out. And if you haven't put in a ticket to talk to me, then don't tell me to put in a ticket.

    Sad, hope it improves or it will die......
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Fernslayer wrote: »

    Ran Nettest, gave the following result, which I assume from the above thread is not good given all these zeros... so is it my ISP provider or my Router and how do I check?

    I updated my FAQ a little over a hour ago, the 0's and buffer error are actually OK.
    Nettest reports unable to allocate performance buffer - you have a non US-English OS installation, the counters are requested by name in WMI. You will also see missing values in the 2nd and 3rd columns. If the port isn't timed out, then it isn't being blocked, but it can still be throttled by your ISP.

    Take a look at this website for some testing of your ISP (independent of Cryptic servers btw)

    http://www.measurementlab.net/measurement-lab-tools
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    OK, what exactly is throttling? Everyone else seems to know, sorry but I don't.

    Thanks for the link, only one problem, do not have Java so cannot run it, also the london server does not give the picture to run or download it anyway. The two may of course be related....

    Any alternatives in non-java?

    Fernslayer
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    ISP sell connections to more people than they have bandwith to support so they use traffic shapping/packet shapping to delay lower priority packets(gaming) so higher priority packets (paying packets like html, ftp vpn) can get through quickly. they vary the amount of filtering depending on peak network times and demand.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Just ran shaper, its not that....

    Bit torrent says no problem....

    So why can I still only very rarely (if ever now) play this game without the server not responding all the time?

    Fernslayer
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    take a look at this link about wireless and Vista (it may also apply to Win7)
    http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1380507
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Very interesting link... Don't use windows 7 or Vista though.... I use XP SP3.

    Fernslayer
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