Frequency disconnects during cut scenes.

[Einmimiria]

Thank you for the reply kashiko.

I apologize for any confusion on the matter.

I don't think the * necessarily indicates a lost packet, but that the router did not respond to the traceroute within some time (it could choose not to respond I think). I get a * most times in the traceroute, but a ping direct to 204.2.229.98 has very infrequently lost packet. The * sometimes occurs within FF14's IP addresses as well (204.2.229.234).

From what I can tell, the problem is due to intermittent drops of hop:

9 38 ms 36 ms 42 ms ae-6.r23.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.88]

I noticed this hop become unresponsive near a disconnect.

This appears to be Final Fantasy 14's ISP, so there may be limited I can do from my end.

The asterisk means that the packet did not return in the allotted time. That's what I meant by a lost packet. If you get one of these, the issue could stem from anywhere between you and that node. It doesn't necessarily mean that piece of equipment itself is the issue, but that you have trouble reaching it. It is possible that it is out of your hands, but we should focus what we can do to stabilize your home network.

Regarding the Interent Explorer setting, would this only impact the launcher? I don't really see how IE settings should impact the game's connectivity, and some of the suggested changes are a bit concerning.

This would allow any unsigned software to be installed while browsing. This seems very dangerous, and can allow malicious code to run in browser. How does this impact FF14?

It can impact the launcher, but it will also impact the game's connectivity itself. Since it will use the web browser, Internet Explorer's security systems can get in the way (much like an anti-virus or firewall). You can always skip this particular step or switch it back on if you feel it has no impact on the issue.

Regarding antivirus, I am just using the default Windows 10 settings.

Since both your anti-virus and the game will update, how they interact with each other will change. We recommend making an exception for the Final Fantasy XIV install folder, as well as the locally saved data folder (My Documents > My Games > Final Fantasy XIV).

As for the ports, you can simply contact your ISP and have them open them, if they are not already.

We hope we can be of assistance in helping you enjoy the exciting world of Final Fantasy XIV!

[kashiko]

Thanks. I will try the port forwarding, I can just configure this in my router (I don't think the ISP does anything special to them).

If it turns out to be outside of my computer/network, is there anything SquareEnix can do to troubleshoot routes going through their ISP? (I've been working with my ISP to rule out any issues as well).

[Dynratygus]

Good morning kashiko,

To answer the question, you are able to configure the ports on the router but we recommend that you talk to your ISP as they can assist with it. Unfortunately outside of the trouble shooting techniques given, we are not able to assist with what happens outside of your network. This is because we have no control of the route your network takes to connect to the server.

Hope to see you online

[kashiko]

Hi Drynatygus,

I have tried all of the suggestions, including port forward. I have confirmed with my ISP that the ports are open and the network is healthy.

My router logs port forwards and ports opened by UPnP. I notice that while playing FF14 there are no records of either events. I confirmed that my settings are correct by hosting a different service behind these ports and checking they were accessible from outside the network. I also used a program to open a port by UPnP, which displayed correctly in the router. Are we sure FF14 is utilizing these ports?

Checking the route, it seems the problem is occurring within the NTT network. I see various other reports on the forums also having issues with NTT. This appears to be FF14's datacenter provider and ISP. Is there nothing SquareEnix can do to diagnose this route with your providers?

The traceroute shows that the data is passing through my provider (Comcast, with whom I have contacted to diagnose the route), and NTT (FF14's provider, with whom I don't have a business relationship to seek support).

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 12 ms 11 ms 11 ms 96.120.101.177
3 13 ms 10 ms 10 ms po-114-rur202.bellevue.wa.seattle.comcast.net [68.87.206.109]
4 11 ms 12 ms 14 ms be-203-ar01.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net [69.139.164.169]
5 14 ms 13 ms 14 ms be-33650-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.93.165]
6 13 ms 12 ms 12 ms be-10847-pe02.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.86.226]
7 14 ms 14 ms 13 ms ae-31.a00.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.66.149]
8 13 ms 12 ms 13 ms ae-14.r05.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.133]
9 12 ms * 14 ms ae-6.r23.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.88]
10 30 ms 31 ms 45 ms ae-3.r23.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.124]
11 34 ms 33 ms 34 ms ae-41.r02.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.6.119]
12 35 ms 32 ms 37 ms ae-3.r00.scrmca02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.7.11]
13 32 ms 33 ms 31 ms xe-0-1-0-1-1.r00.scrmca02.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.46]
14 34 ms 32 ms 32 ms 204.2.229.234
15 35 ms 35 ms 32 ms 204.2.229.98

EDIT: I found a program that can do a continuous traceroute. I am seeing 5-30% lost packets on hop 9, but none before or after hop 9. This is while the game is functioning correctly. I will try to catch it during a disconnect to see if there is a spike of lost packets at 9 or some other event.

EDIT2: Hop 9 consistenly is unreliable in sending responses to traceroute, but I do not see packet loss after hop 9 even when disconnect occurs. This maybe suggests that the route is healthy (other than not sure why hop 9 inconsistently acknowledges pings, but continues to forward traffic). It is only the FF14 connection which seems to be having problems. Is there more we can do to diagnose the FF14 application itself? I am using a rather vanilla setup, up-to-date Windows 10 with the default settings and up to date drivers.

Thanks!

[Einmimiria]

Thank you for the reply kashiko.

The asterisk in the trace route represents a packet that did not return, not necessarily that the node itself is non-responsive. That being said, the packet could be lost anywhere between you and that node, so I can't pin all of the blame on hop 9 or the NTT network itself.

As for the ports, yes, these are the ports the game will utilize. I don't know enough about your router to tell you why they aren't being logged like you mentioned unfortunately.

Can you clarify what you mean by "Is there more we can do to diagnose the FF14 application itself?"

We hope we can be of assistance in helping you enjoy the exciting world of Final Fantasy XIV!

[kashiko]

Hi Einmimiria,

The traceroute over time I took indicates that hop 9 is not sending a packet back. However, all packets sent are reaching the destination, and no packets sent back are lost. This makes me wonder if there is no network issues.

I am starting to think the issue might be with Final Fantasy 14 application, and was wondering if there is a way we can debug it (logs, etc).

I opened the ports successfully on my router (and confirmed the ISP is not blocking any). With different applications, I can confirm port forwarding is working correctly.

Using Resource Montior I investigated what connections FF14 is using. I notice it has two TCP connections:

Image PID Local Address Local Port Remote Address Remote Port Packet Loss (%) Latency (ms)
ffxiv_dx11.exe 5292 192.168.1.6 51259 204.2.229.108 55026 0 68
ffxiv_dx11.exe 5292 192.168.1.6 51258 204.2.229.108 55026 0 32

[kashiko]

Hi Einmimiria,

I am starting to think there is no network issue. That one hop is not always sending traceroute responses back, but looking at the full route, no other packet is lost. This indicates to me that no packet is lost either going to destination or returning to source. Simply that one router sometimes ignores traceroutes (which as you say is legitimate, perhaps sending too many traceroutes close together it chooses to ignore to avoid the extra work).

I am thinking this may be a bug in the Final Fantasy 14 application itself. I was wondering if there is any logs I can collect or any debugging I can do.

I have tested that port forwarding is working correctly with my router. I can run other applications on these ports and verify that forwarding is working correctly.

I used Resource Monitor to look at the active TCP connections for FF14. I see two connections, to 204.2.229.108, which are on local ports 51259 and 51258. These are different ports than the ones you suggested to have forwarded.

I also notice that Final Fantasy 14 is not listening on any ports. Port forwarding should only be necessary when an application is acting as a server so the router knows which device to send incoming conenctions to. It appears that my computer establishes the connection to FF14, so NAT takes care of the forwarding.

The two TCP connections, I believe one is to the game server and one is to the lobby server. When I disconnect, my game drops back to the character selection screen. This seems to indicate that my connection to the lobby server never fails. I tested this by disconnecting the internet physically, the reaction was the game disconnected from both the game server and then also disconnected from the lobby.

Any more investigation you can suggest would be great. It seems others on this forum and online (if google) have had similar experiences. I am fully willing to cooperate with debugging to help your engineers track down this bug.

Thanks!

[kashiko]

I can confirm that two TCP connections with only one failing.

I used a monitoring program. On one TCP connection, my PC and server are exchanging and acknowledging packets. At some point this stops, with my PC re-transmitting the same packet over and over without receiving an acknowledgment, and then gives up leading to the disconnect.

The second connection is healthy during this time, and then says a "finished" packet to the server, and receives acknowledgement of this packet.

Note that running a traceroute during the disconnect does not show any packet loss.

This makes me think it could be some bug in the client or server causing it?

[Einmimiria]

Hello kashiko.

There are a few things I'd like to address:

Hi Einmimiria,

I am starting to think there is no network issue. That one hop is not always sending traceroute responses back, but looking at the full route, no other packet is lost. This indicates to me that no packet is lost either going to destination or returning to source. Simply that one router sometimes ignores traceroutes (which as you say is legitimate, perhaps sending too many traceroutes close together it chooses to ignore to avoid the extra work).

The trace route will and an individual packet to each node. Yes, there are several packets that do not have an issue, this makes sense because you can access the game. There are just instances where you disconnect, just like there are instances where you lose a packet along the route. You can lose connection going to the destination just as you are losing connection to that particular node. They use the same route. The node isn't ignoring the trace route. You can see the two other responses in the same trace route.

I used Resource Monitor to look at the active TCP connections for FF14. I see two connections, to 204.2.229.108, which are on local ports 51259 and 51258. These are different ports than the ones you suggested to have forwarded.

I also notice that Final Fantasy 14 is not listening on any ports. Port forwarding should only be necessary when an application is acting as a server so the router knows which device to send incoming connections to. It appears that my computer establishes the connection to FF14, so NAT takes care of the forwarding.

The two TCP connections, I believe one is to the game server and one is to the lobby server. When I disconnect, my game drops back to the character selection screen. This seems to indicate that my connection to the lobby server never fails. I tested this by disconnecting the internet physically, the reaction was the game disconnected from both the game server and then also disconnected from the lobby.

Here you are referring to local ports (where information is sent out to the server), the ones I listed are remote ports (so your router can accept information from the server). You can see this in the information you posted:
Image PID Local Address Local Port Remote Address Remote Port Packet Loss (%) Latency (ms)
ffxiv_dx11.exe 5292 192.168.1.6 51259 204.2.229.108 55026 0 68
ffxiv_dx11.exe 5292 192.168.1.6 51258 204.2.229.108 55026 0 32

55026 being the remote port.

I am thinking this may be a bug in the Final Fantasy 14 application itself. I was wondering if there is any logs I can collect or any debugging I can do.

We don't have any logs that can be collected regarding the connection status of the Launcher, but we do have a bug report forum if you feel there is an issue with it: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/f...2-In-Game-Bugs

However, i don't feel there is a bug in the application or the server. It's much more likely that you are experiencing a routing issue.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

[kashiko]

Hi Einmimira,

As far as I can tell, the issue lies on the FF14 server side, or in the game client. I see others are also reporting issues with behemoth in other posts, and a few people in my FC report disconnect issues as well.

The traceroute is showing that no packets are being lost, including during the time a disconnection occurs (I ran traceroute for a long time over 10,000 packets with all successfully acknowledged by FF14 server). My reading of the traceroute previously was incorrect. A single node showing dropped packets indicates that node is not responding to traceroutes (which it can choose not to do at any time). That the nodes before/after have no drops indicates no dropped packets. The traceroute shows all packets sent were received by the FF14 server and acknowledged. Despite this, FF14 application stops receiving responses from the server (packet logs). Given the traceroute is healthy during this time, this leads me to believe the issue is in hte client or server software not the network connection.

My ISP has checked their network as well as done a visit to my house and found the connection is strong and no issues are occurring.

Sorry, the information I provided about ports was incorrect. It was an outgoing packet form my computer to server. From server to my computer is like:
Src: 204.2.229.108, Dst: (my ip address)
Transmission Control Protocol, Src Port: 50737, Dst Port: 55026
So it looks like the port ranges are correct, which I am forwarding (packet arriving to me on port 55026).

I can see no evidence of a routing issue or a problem with my internet connectivity.