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  1. #11
    Player
    Moonraker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Posts
    10
    Character
    Moon Lalune
    World
    Lich
    Main Class
    Arcanist Lv 23

    Continued Issues

    Following up from my previous post on this issue here, I have been monitoring the Data Center connection with PingPlotter and simple Ping/ Tracert to confirm the problems. There appears to be an issue each evening which is causing issues primarily with lag/ delays in-game caused by packet loss over the connection to the new EU server in Frankfurt.

    The problem with lag & delays in-game are happening each evening during prime times and appear principally due to issues on the hosted data center network (with some issue in the Frankfurt network)

    Previously there was some issues leaving France onto the international transfer to Germany. However this appears to have improved, at least in the last days. But the problem with hitching/ lag in-game especially when trying to craft or gather, with often seconds of delay between pressing spells and those spells going off making it a misery at these times.

    It's why I have tried to get repeatable results and really try to narrow down the problem. This lag issue is really related directly to the network in Frankfurt but mostly the actual KDDI host for the European Data Center;

    KDDI-DEUTSC.edge5.Frankfurt1.Level3.net
    This can be seen clearly in this example from this evening over a period of three hours in this case, where the Packet Loss has reached over 12% which means frequent interruptions to data flow between the players client and the game server. Hence the lag and delays as the event entries get delayed and have to wait to synchronize again;



    1. Ping is better

    Note that the ping remains fairly normal from a 2MB connection in rural France and is similar to non primetime periods.

    The ping now to the European DC is almost a third lower now from the previous DC, down from around 150-160ms to around 60-70ms. This is great.

    However, whereas before even with higher ping all crafting & gathering, spells etc. were consistent and without any notable hitching or delay. Now, it happens each evening and more frequently over the weekend when more players are connected, even with the lower ping.

    The issue mainly lies elsewhere as mentioned.

    2. Lag & Hitching Spell/ Movement Delays are worse

    What the image shows is the clear hike in Packet Loss (shown as PL% on the left side column) on entering the Frankfurt backbone at hop 7 and especially once entering the DC host service of KDDI at hop 9. From 1% to 5% then to 12% loss at the world server as the last hop 13.

    The top graph in the bottom section is before entering; those below once in Frankfurt and then in the host network over three hours shows the problem over time.

    12% Packet Loss really impacts play.

    Compare the above during the evening to earlier this afternoon;



    Some PL but noticeably less not in primetime.

    Summary

    This issue is repeatable and happens each evening/ primetime. it makes trying to craft or gather a real pain. Macros are impossible etc.

    The problem is partly the Frankfurt network which has known issues, for instance in this post on another thread on these forums which also covers similar issues now.

    But a big part appears to be directly impacted within the KDDI hosting network where the European Data Center is now.

    Hopefully the host service can respond and find some way to deal with this because it really does seem to effect a sizeable number of players using this DC.

    It may affect different players in various ways depending on how their net service is routed but in the end. Certainly for me it is impacting my enjoyment of the game I have recently joined and otherwise really love to play. It's why I have spent time to try and work out where the problem lies, including all the usual personal networking, computer diagnosis etc.

    Given that the connection is essentially solid it appears that this is the problem, at least for my lag issue. Maybe others who can check in a similar way and via Support to try and get some resolution.

    I have quite a lot more data and records I will gladly pass on if they can help and will continue to check things while this continues.

    EDIT: Just to backup the PingPlotter data, I also run simple ping tests to the server at 195.82.50.55 (Lich, EU) which show a similar packet loss issue over a sample of 100 pings;

    Friday 30/10/15 22:34

    Ping statistics for 195.82.50.55:
    Packets: Sent = 100, Received = 91, Lost = 9 (9% loss),
    Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 62ms, Maximum = 69ms, Average = 64ms
    Anyone can do this in Windows by opening the Command Prompt (right click Start menu bottom left in Windows 10) and entering;

    Code:
    ping 195.82.50.55 -n 100
    This will ping the server 100 times to give a better sample and then give a result as above.

    if you are on another world on Chaos then just check Resource Monitor for the active ip address of the ffxiv_dx11.exe process under TCP Connections (ffxiv_dx9.exe if using DX9 client)

    You can ping the hops before to check for any issues before reaching the host DC network. Be aware that some hubs/ hops will not respond or give low priority to ICMP pings tests so can show ERR or no response. This is normal. However if it goes all the way to the final hop then there is a problem.
    (3)
    Last edited by Moonraker; 10-31-2015 at 07:38 AM.