79 réponses à ce sujet

[HellishFiend]

I used to regularly lose connection maybe 1 or 2 out of every 10 games (sometimes as high as 3 or 4 per 10). Since trying this fix, it happens maybe 1 out of 100 games now, if that. The problem for me was my DNS server connection.

(Skip to the next paragraph if you dont care about the techy explanation) For those who dont know, a DNS server is what translates a URL to an IP address. In other words, it makes something like www.bioware.com become something like 192.168.1.1. Without a DNS server telling your computer/xbox/ps3 what address the EA servers are at, you will not be able to connect. It occurred to me since I sometimes was having trouble with my DNS server connection (not sure if it is a problem with my router or my ISP's DNS server), that might be a contributing factor to getting dropped from the EA server. I'm sure that the EA server requires you to communicate with it regularly as an anti-cheat measure, and if your DNS query fails, the game will freak out at not being able to "check in" and will drop you. It seems really twitchy and may only require one failed DNS query before it will boot you from the game. 

Anyway, what I did was use a free program that google offers to find the fastest and most reliable DNS servers that I could use from my connection, and manually entered those into my 360's network settings. What this does is give the xbox the direct address to two distinct and solid DNS servers that can tell it how to reach the EA servers as fast as possible. Normally your router will obtain two DNS servers from your ISP and use those, but this can cause problems for various reasons if there is something wrong with your router or the ISP's servers. Manually setting my DNS servers almost completely eliminated my problem of being dropped from games. 

You can apply this fix regardless of what platform you use. PC, 360, and PS3 all have ways of allowing you to manually set your DNS server addresses. Tutorials abound on the internet for the individual steps of this process, so I wont create new ones, but I will tell you which ones to look up so that you can follow them. 

Step 1 - download the program:  http://code.google.com/p/namebench/ 
Step 2 - tutorial for namebench:  http://code.google.c.../UsingNameBench 
Step 3 - google a DNS tutorial: "manually setting DNS for _______" (xbox 360, windows 7, ps3, etc)
Step 4 - use your DNS tutorial to manually enter the top two results from google namebench into your ME3 gaming system's network settings
Step 5 - play as normal, and you should suffer fewer disconnects, or at the bare minimum will have eliminated DNS as the potential problem


Hope this helps somebody. I know how frustrating losing your connection can be!

Modifié par HellishFiend, 09 avril 2012 - 04:30 .

[THE NOOBIE NOOB WHO TYPES IN CAPS]

Thanks, will try this ASAP, if it's as good as it sounds, this thread should be stickied

[HellishFiend]

You're welcome, good luck!

[Sevrun]

The technical explanation is solid.

STICKY this thing!

[NotPotato]

I'm skeptical about this "solution".
While it may be true for the OP, having DNS issues would cause people trouble connecting to anything based on FQDN. If there IS a problem with name resolution of the BW servers, it's definitely not fixable client-side, but this case is highly unlikely (workarounds do exist though).

Basically if you can connect to websites just fine, there's nothing wrong with DNS on your side, and this "solution" does not apply to you.

[danielhumgon]

Hi thanks for this, i lose a lot connections, but i dont understand the last step, where are the ME3 gaming system's network settings?

[Dashmundo]

danielhumgon wrote...

Hi thanks for this, i lose a lot connections, but i dont understand the last step, where are the ME3 gaming system's network settings?

He means either your PC, Xbox or PS3. Your "gaming system's" settings.

[HellishFiend]

NotPotato wrote...

I'm skeptical about this "solution".
While it may be true for the OP, having DNS issues would cause people trouble connecting to anything based on FQDN. If there IS a problem with name resolution of the BW servers, it's definitely not fixable client-side, but this case is highly unlikely (workarounds do exist though).

Basically if you can connect to websites just fine, there's nothing wrong with DNS on your side, and this "solution" does not apply to you.

I never billed it as a cure-all. I specifically state several times that this only applies if you are having DNS issues. In my case, the DNS issues were sporadic (I would sometimes fail queries for a few seconds at a time, sometimes up to a minute), so I would very much "connect to websites just fine" most of the time. When I had issues, it would just be a momentary lapse and usually refreshing the page a moment later would work. In any case, if I'm right about how twitchy the game is when it comes to it needing to talk to the EA server frequently and without fail, then it stands to reason that it is in your best interest to be using the best possible DNS servers that you can. There are several articles out on the net that say you should namebench your DNS servers even if you arent already having issues with your current ones, just to speed up your queries. 

danielhumgon wrote...

Hi thanks for this, i lose a lot connections, but i dont understand the last step, where are the ME3 gaming system's network settings?

 

That is covered in steps 3 and 4. When I say ME3 gaming system I mean your PC if you play on PC, xbox if you play on xbox, etc. The tutorial you look up will fill in the rest of the details, and when you get to the part where you need to actually enter your DNS servers, you use the results you got from namebench. 

[danielhumgon]

Dashmundo wrote...

danielhumgon wrote...

Hi thanks for this, i lose a lot connections, but i dont understand the last step, where are the ME3 gaming system's network settings?

He means either your PC, Xbox or PS3. Your "gaming system's" settings.

ahh ok thx! 

[jimmyw404]

NotPotato wrote...
Basically if you can connect to websites just fine, there's nothing wrong with DNS on your side, and this "solution" does not apply to you.

Unless EA's implementation of their anti-piracy measure is less perserverant in DNS resolution than your browser.

[danielhumgon]

It's done my Primary Server result is this
8.8.4.4
Google Public DNS-2
it says that is 16% faster than my current DNS server.

[HellishFiend]

jimmyw404 wrote...

NotPotato wrote...
Basically if you can connect to websites just fine, there's nothing wrong with DNS on your side, and this "solution" does not apply to you.

Unless EA's implementation of their anti-piracy measure is less perserverant in DNS resolution than your browser.

This is a good point also. A browser will sometimes try and retry several times to make a DNS query before giving up. EA/Bioware could potentially be a lot more draconian in that regard, in order to best avoid hacking and cheating. It's just a shame that it could be causing legitimate players a lot more problems than it would be solving for them. 

[Trickshavv]

NotPotato wrote...

Basically if you can connect to websites just fine, there's nothing wrong with DNS on your side, and this "solution" does not apply to you.

Define, "just fine".

You can connect to pretty much any website with a shoddy connection and still suck balls with gaming. Not to mention "just fine" is completely subjective. If it takes you 3 seconds to load a high traffic site with a bulbous amount of flash, like say Disney.com, most people would consider that "just fine" others would have a fit.

Packet TTL is the largest cause of "lag" which should be a non-issue with modern gaming since TTL should be set to 0. But TTL on websites varies from site to site and is set in such a fashion as to optimize production for that sites needs. In short, you can't say, "If you can connect to a site just fine you're good." It's equivalent to me saying, "If you can boil an egg you can prepare blowfish without killing anyone."

I don't think so.

Networking is just a tad more complex than that. With that said, this solution worked for the OP. Great. But don't be surprised if it doesn't work for everyone. There are, literally, hundreds of things that can cause habitual disconnects. Often it's several factors working in tandem.

Just because one game works flawlessly doesn't mean all will. Life isn't that simple. Networking is far more complicated then people can imagine.

[HellishFiend]

Gankstah wrote...

Networking is just a tad more complex than that. With that said, this solution worked for the OP. Great. But don't be surprised if it doesn't work for everyone. There are, literally, hundreds of things that can cause habitual disconnects. Often it's several factors working in tandem.

Just because one game works flawlessly doesn't mean all will. Life isn't that simple. Networking is far more complicated then people can imagine.

That's the truth! I forgot most of what I learned from my N+ course a few weeks after I took it, only remembering the things that have the most practical applications. 

In any case, I'd bet money that this fix most definitely wont work for everyone, because with a game that requires both constant peer-to-peer communication and client/server polls/queries, there are too many things that can go wrong. Even so, if I were to try this fix and it not work, at least I'd be one step closer to figuring out what the actual problem is. 

[Sevrun]

HellishFiend wrote...

Gankstah wrote...

Networking is just a tad more complex than that. With that said, this solution worked for the OP. Great. But don't be surprised if it doesn't work for everyone. There are, literally, hundreds of things that can cause habitual disconnects. Often it's several factors working in tandem.

Just because one game works flawlessly doesn't mean all will. Life isn't that simple. Networking is far more complicated then people can imagine.

That's the truth! I forgot most of what I learned from my N+ course a few weeks after I took it, only remembering the things that have the most practical applications. 

In any case, I'd bet money that this fix most definitely wont work for everyone, because with a game that requires both constant peer-to-peer communication and client/server polls/queries, there are too many things that can go wrong. Even so, if I were to try this fix and it not work, at least I'd be one step closer to figuring out what the actual problem is. 

They all figure there's just them and the server they're talking to.  Never realize the dozen or so additional jumps that may be required between _both_ ways.  It's all just a magic cloud of wonder to most people.  It's not until you get behind the curtain repairing routers/servers and replacing wiring that you start to realize just how intricate it is.  Running down faults in a network is honestly one of the hardest jobs around on a large network.  But DAMN is it enjoyable.

[HellishFiend]

Sevrun wrote...

They all figure there's just them and the server they're talking to.  Never realize the dozen or so additional jumps that may be required between _both_ ways.  It's all just a magic cloud of wonder to most people.  It's not until you get behind the curtain repairing routers/servers and replacing wiring that you start to realize just how intricate it is.  Running down faults in a network is honestly one of the hardest jobs around on a large network.  But DAMN is it enjoyable.

Yep, and what most people also dont realize is that like a previous poster mentioned, things like perseverence, error recovery, and tolerance for poor connections has to be sacrificed in the name of anti-cheat/hack measures. Even a moderate amount of forgiveness with regard to communication can result in windows of opportunity for hacks to exploit. 

[Dashmundo]

Query: My "namebench" scan keeps getting stuck somewhere near the 700/2500 mark when sending queries.

Could this be because of an anti-virus/firewall blocking it, or is it simply a windows-version bug?

[Sevrun]

Dashmundo wrote...

Query: My "namebench" scan keeps getting stuck somewhere near the 700/2500 mark when sending queries.

Could this be because of an anti-virus/firewall blocking it, or is it simply a windows-version bug?

Mine's pushing through just fine, but I'm not sure it'd be an anti-virus problem as it was actually running before lockup.

I'd have to get a look at the results from those 700 to say whether it's a firewall issue.

[HellishFiend]

Dashmundo wrote...

Query: My "namebench" scan keeps getting stuck somewhere near the 700/2500 mark when sending queries.

Could this be because of an anti-virus/firewall blocking it, or is it simply a windows-version bug?

I have no idea. Try googling and see if anyone else has run into that particular issue. Is the program actually locking up, or is it just ceasing to make progress at a certain point?

[Dashmundo]

HellishFiend wrote...

Dashmundo wrote...

Query: My "namebench" scan keeps getting stuck somewhere near the 700/2500 mark when sending queries.

Could this be because of an anti-virus/firewall blocking it, or is it simply a windows-version bug?

I have no idea. Try googling and see if anyone else has run into that particular issue. Is the program actually locking up, or is it just ceasing to make progress at a certain point?

It's just ceasing to make progress at a certain point. I'm doing a search, and finding a few similar error reports, but no solutions.

Currently trying again on "slow", in case that's the problem. My internet speed's actually decent - 1.6 Mbps downloads - but I don't know if that counts as "fast" or "slow" on those options.

Modifié par Dashmundo, 09 avril 2012 - 05:52 .

[HellishFiend]

If youre having issues using namebench, whatever is causing those issues could be the same thing causing your connection problems with ME3. It does sound like it could be difficult to pin down what the problem is, though. If searching the net yields no help, you may need to get on the phone with your ISP to have them monitor your traffic while you run through some things so they can help you figure it out.

[Mysterious Stranger 0.0]

Google solves everything?

[HellishFiend]

Mysterious Stranger 0.0 wrote...

Google solves everything?

Apparently.  It didnt surprise me that a google program was what popped up when I searched for a program to locate the fastest possible DNS servers. 

[NotPotato]

Gankstah wrote...

NotPotato wrote...

Basically if you can connect to websites just fine, there's nothing wrong with DNS on your side, and this "solution" does not apply to you.

Define, "just fine".

You can connect to pretty much any website with a shoddy connection and still suck balls with gaming. Not to mention "just fine" is completely subjective. If it takes you 3 seconds to load a high traffic site with a bulbous amount of flash, like say Disney.com, most people would consider that "just fine" others would have a fit.

Packet TTL is the largest cause of "lag" which should be a non-issue with modern gaming since TTL should be set to 0. But TTL on websites varies from site to site and is set in such a fashion as to optimize production for that sites needs. In short, you can't say, "If you can connect to a site just fine you're good." It's equivalent to me saying, "If you can boil an egg you can prepare blowfish without killing anyone."

I don't think so.

Networking is just a tad more complex than that. With that said, this solution worked for the OP. Great. But don't be surprised if it doesn't work for everyone. There are, literally, hundreds of things that can cause habitual disconnects. Often it's several factors working in tandem.

Just because one game works flawlessly doesn't mean all will. Life isn't that simple. Networking is far more complicated then people can imagine.

What's with the several paragraphs of lecturing about things I didn't even write?

If you can "connect to websites" it implies the name resolution is working. Lots of people don't care about DNS or TTL, but can notice "the internet is all wonky". This oversimplified test determines if the specific solution in the OP is valid for someone, that's it.
Nothing about lag or other things you were going on about - which are true, but were never actually in question

That being said, I'd be delighted if someone actually proved the majority of these disconnects are related to name resolution problems (or something tangible, really, now it's just random) - though in this case I'd use a host entry rather than switching DNS servers.

Modifié par NotPotato, 09 avril 2012 - 06:04 .