Icefrog - Packet loss increase as players join game

Hey,
I don’t want to hijack this thread but just wanted to echo that I have had the same problem, but it has become MUCH worse over the last week. Let me know if I should make a new thread.
I didn’t play for about 2 weeks (starting right before Thankgiving) and ever since I came back I haven’t been able to finish a single game without DC. Nothing changed over that time. Sometimes its 5 mins in, sometimes its 30 mins in. I have tried all of the following (and maybe more) with no change.
When I DC, its usually sudden - the game just feezes for a few seconds like lag, then I go to score screen. I don’t lose connection to bnet or have to re-login. Other times I do get kicked from bnet (sometimes first getting the in-game message that I have been disconnected from bnet but ‘game is still valid’) and when I get kicked from game, it prompts me to log back in.
A couple of times, the wc3 application itself errored out, and I got crashlogs for that (can post if needed). Historically, I would usually only DC maybe one out of every 30 games, which I just chalked up to “the usual” with reforged, which I have been playing since launch.
Here’s what I have tried. I tested at least 1 game between each change and still DC – I haven’t finished a single game to completion since I started playing again after the short break.

  1. The obvious reset modem/router/computer, multiple times.
  2. Tried running wc3 with nothing else in background on fresh restart
  3. I usually am connected to both LAN and wifi simultaneously. Tried that as normal, tried connecting to only one or the other and disabling the other connection.
  4. Ran a continuous internet connection speed test (in browser) for 1.5 hours and had no connection interruptions (and everything else suggests my ISP is fine)
  5. Updated NVIDIA drivers, even though old ones worked fine (actually did 2 updates since one was released 12/9 again and DC on both).
  6. Completely reinstalled wc3 from scratch on another HD
  7. Confirmed firewall settings (including for new install)
  8. Completely disabled firewall (no separate virus protection program)
  9. Tried both reforged and classic graphics settings
  10. Tried hosting a solo private game and DC’d in the same way (and tried other maps besides, both as host and not)
  11. Cleared battle.net app cache following directions online (deleting folder and letting it repopulate basically)
  12. Did a scan and repair on wc3 install through bnet app
  13. Switched to beta version of new battle.net app
  14. Deleted wc3 preferences file and reset everything in game (the file in your MyDocuments folder)
  15. Cleared out all my old maps in the same folder as above and redownloaded maps I play
    Nothing has worked. I will give WinMTR a try tomorrow when I play.
    Thanks.

Thanks for sharing icefrog. I’m waiting to hear back from Zenlaka.

The issue is obviously not you or I. It’s 100% their issue on their end. I would like for them to admit that and provide a fix.

As soon as Reforged came into the equation the disconnects began - even playing on classic.

Eagerly awaiting Zenlaka to reply to provide some sort of a fix.

Ok, so I have some results. Here’s what I did.

  1. I hosted a game online and adding a few computers into slots (it’s a custom map where computers don’t do anything so the game would run basically indefinitely). I ran the game for 3 hours and 41 mins and did not DC. Here’s the results from the program over that time (sorry the text didn’t save, this is a screenshot)

it wont let me link - https:// imgur . com/BF7G5YN

I then stopped the program, exited the map, and rehosted a new game to repeat the same test. This time I DC after almost 4 hours:

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |                                      WinMTR statistics                                   | |                       Host              -   %  | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last | |------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------| |                          142.254.237.77 -    1 | 14492 | 14482 |    2 |    9 |  122 |    8 | |          agg55.snaucaos01h.socal.rr.com -    1 | 14488 | 14477 |    4 |   11 |   71 |   11 | |                             72.129.1.38 -    1 | 14511 | 14506 |    4 |   14 |   72 |   10 | |          agg27.lsancarc01r.socal.rr.com -    1 | 14508 | 14502 |    6 |   20 |  816 |   11 | |bu-ether26.lsancarc0yw-bcr00.tbone.rr.com -    1 | 14488 | 14477 |    7 |   16 |   72 |   15 | |                            66.109.5.135 -    1 | 14496 | 14487 |    6 |   13 |   67 |   12 | |                            66.109.9.161 -    1 | 14503 | 14496 |    6 |   17 |  209 |   13 | |              ae1-br01-eqla1.as57976.net -    1 | 14509 | 14504 |   17 |  167 | 1920 |   80 | |                   No response from host -  100 | 2909 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 | |        et-0-0-0-pe01-swlv10.as57976.net -    1 | 14496 | 14487 |   10 |   19 |  144 |   16 | |       las-swlv10-ia-bons-01.as57976.net -    1 | 14500 | 14492 |   11 |   17 |   73 |   16 | |                          137.221.105.11 -    1 | 14488 | 14477 |   11 |   18 |   65 |   16 | |                          137.221.106.69 -    1 | 14499 | 14491 |   10 |   17 |   73 |   16 | |________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|    WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider ~~~~

More info:

Next, I did a more “real” test by hosting a custom lobby with some friends. Started the WinMTR program, opened wc3. Hosted the lobby. As soon as people started joining, I started seeing loss % go up. Then, about 3 minutes into the LOBBY, with a couple people in the lobby, the lobby glitched out, kicked everyone, automatically rehosted itself (but empty), and everyone said they couldn’t join because the game started (even though I was sitting in an empty lobby)…. So I stopped WinMTR and here’s the results:

Next, restarted WinMTR, let someone else host and I joined their lobby. The game filled and we started. It lasted less than 10 mins and while just playing normally I was kicked to scorescreen with zero warning. I was not disconnected from bnet, just kicked to scorescreen, and could immediately rejoin other games without logging in. Here’s the results from that DC:

Results from two tests are below in order

So, there’s no doubt that once I join or host a lobby with other players, I start getting more loss. But if I run the program for hours while doing other things on the computer and not running wc3 or playing with other players, I get little to no loss. WTF is going on?

A single loss doesn’t necessarily mean I will DC, so I am not sure what the threshold/trigger is. I saw a few losses occur (Recv<Sent) while still in the game, and the “worst” didn’t even occur right when I DC’d.

Looking for guidance on what to do… I can’t play a single game without DC.

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |                                      WinMTR statistics                                   | |                       Host              -   %  | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last | |------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------| |                          142.254.237.77 -    3 |  474 |  461 |    7 |    9 |   69 |    8 | |          agg55.snaucaos01h.socal.rr.com -    3 |  482 |  471 |    8 |   11 |   71 |   12 | |                             72.129.1.38 -    3 |  486 |  476 |    6 |   14 |   32 |   12 | |          agg27.lsancarc01r.socal.rr.com -    3 |  482 |  471 |    9 |   22 |  239 |   16 | |bu-ether26.lsancarc0yw-bcr00.tbone.rr.com -    2 |  494 |  486 |   10 |   17 |   80 |   15 | |                            66.109.5.135 -    4 |  462 |  446 |    6 |   13 |   72 |   11 | |                            66.109.9.161 -    2 |  490 |  481 |    6 |   19 |   98 |   12 | |              ae1-br01-eqla1.as57976.net -    2 |  497 |  490 |   21 |  174 |  926 |  149 | |                   No response from host -  100 |  106 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 | |        et-0-0-0-pe01-swlv10.as57976.net -    3 |  482 |  471 |   11 |   20 |  140 |   23 | |       las-swlv10-ia-bons-01.as57976.net -    2 |  494 |  486 |   12 |   17 |   78 |   12 | |                          137.221.105.11 -    2 |  490 |  481 |   14 |   18 |   78 |   16 | |                          137.221.106.69 -    2 |  490 |  481 |   12 |   17 |   34 |   17 | |________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|    WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider


|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |                                      WinMTR statistics                                   | |                       Host              -   %  | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last | |------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------| |                          142.254.237.77 -    2 |  204 |  200 |    6 |    9 |   51 |    8 | |          agg55.snaucaos01h.socal.rr.com -    2 |  204 |  200 |    5 |   11 |   52 |   14 | |                             72.129.1.38 -    2 |  204 |  200 |    8 |   13 |   33 |   16 | |          agg27.lsancarc01r.socal.rr.com -    2 |  204 |  200 |    7 |   23 |  255 |  151 | |bu-ether26.lsancarc0yw-bcr00.tbone.rr.com -    3 |  200 |  195 |    9 |   16 |   51 |   13 | |                            66.109.5.135 -    3 |  200 |  195 |   10 |   12 |   27 |   16 | |                            66.109.9.161 -    3 |  200 |  195 |    8 |   16 |   83 |   12 | |              ae1-br01-eqla1.as57976.net -    2 |  208 |  205 |   17 |  170 |  547 |  402 | |                   No response from host -  100 |   44 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 | |        et-0-0-0-pe01-swlv10.as57976.net -    2 |  204 |  200 |   14 |   21 |   97 |   16 | |       las-swlv10-ia-bons-01.as57976.net -    3 |  200 |  195 |   13 |   17 |   54 |   17 | |                          137.221.105.11 -    3 |  200 |  195 |   16 |   18 |   40 |   18 | |                          137.221.106.69 -    3 |  200 |  195 |   15 |   16 |   29 |   18 | |________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|    WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

Hey there,

The packet loss is starting between the computer and the router/modem. If the loss% goes up when other players are joining the game, it could mean the router/modem is having trouble handling the extra data.

Keep in mind this winMTR test is a completely separate program that does not interface with the game in any way. If the test data is showing lost data, it means there is a problem with the connection itself.

For a case like this one I’d normally suggest a factory reset on the modem/router to see if that helps. Reinstalling network drivers may also help (win10 users can use this process.)

Testing different network cables and ports on the router may also help if this is a wired connection. If this is wifi instead of wired, try a wired connection! Much less likely to get packet loss on wired vs wifi since any other wave floating through the air can cause packet loss.

I do hope the info helps. Cheers!