Fingers crossed. Right now it's fine for me too, but this morning it wasn't, and I've had it in the past week where one moment it's completely normal, then a few hours later it goes bonkers again so we'll see.

 

Jenny, run ping plotter when you have issues and post the results for me to look at. I have a feeling there is a bad hop or connection on the east coast and your data with mine might help me pin point where.

Jenny, run ping plotter when you have issues and post the results for me to look at. I have a feeling there is a bad hop or connection on the east coast and your data with mine might help me pin point where.

I would if I could remember how to do any of that but my brain is currently fluff.

I would if I could remember how to do any of that but my brain is currently fluff.

 

Here you go

 

Download Pingplotter at http://www.pingplotter.com

Install it so you can look at the hops to the server

To find out the server IP (it changes everytime you log in now) you need start swtor and then go back to your Windows desktop.

Now run command prompt in Administrator mode

(Depending on which Windows you have, there are different ways to run it in Administrator mode, so do a quick Google search on how too for your windows version)

 

Type this command into the command shell after you have opened it.

Netstat -n -p tcp -b | more

 

(I usually have the netstat command saved in a txt file for notepad and just copy and paste it into the command prompt)

 

It will show you the 2 swtor connections to the server IP

 

It usually has an ip like this - 159.153.65.233 or 159.153.65.232

But because it changes each time you login it will be different.. Ie it could be - 159.153.65.220

This is why you have to run this each time if you want to get an accurate read on the server ping.

 

Once you have that ip, open pingplotter. You can then enter the swtor server ip you are connected to and it will run a live trace route, showing all the connection hops along the way.

You'll be able to see live statistics and information on what is happening.

A normal VPN (like NordVPN) won’t fix the issue. Try a gaming VPN like WTFast. There are others too, like mudfish, but I’ve never gotten good results from it,

 

Bit late on my reply, but I'm actually getting fantastic results with Nord. My route has changed entirely, and I'm now going through a completely different set of hops. Part of the problem with my area though is that I always route through ATL by virtue of it being THE hub for the Southeast, so if there are any issues at all in that area I'm screwed.

 

I will say that I derped out a bit, and never changed my Router's default settings for a lot of things... I get pretty much the same route without using Nord after modifying some settings (DNS server is no longer the Hargray default, among others).

I've noticed alot lately some phases, and mostly all the time low populated maps for some reason I'll get like super lag will skyrocket up to like 1400-2k ms. Almost unplayable I feel like I'm back playing EQ when I had dial-up lol. Normally I have in the 40's and that's good. There's no rhyme or reason different times, different zones, different phases, but I try to ask in general chat and usually 9 times out of 10 I'm not the only one experiencing it. And then I could goto a different zone and be totally fine, most it lasts for like 30-45 mins any longer I just log off but that hasn't happened in a while. Not really sure what to do to suggest a way to fix it other than saying it's been happening to me pretty frequently lately.

That’s not true at all. I’ve been running ping plotter through different connections and ISP’s and there are distinct issues going on in the US internet depending on what backbone you are routed and what routing you take.

 

In your research have you noticed that Level 3 servers often come up as the problem? I know that, for myself, often when I am having connection issues the problem often is with the Level 3 server my traffic is routed through when connected to my ISP. If I switch to my mobile hotspot my average ping goes up by ~20ms over what I normally get, but my traffic does not go through the same Level 3 server and all of a sudden I have no more issues. Certainly that is not definitive and this is just my anecdotal experience, but from what I have read this would not be an isolated incident as issues have come up before with Level 3 and gaming.

So... odd thing but *knocks on wood* ever since the servers crashed on Wednesday and came back up, my weird lag issues have stopped. Haven't had any of the problems in over 24 hrs.

In your research have you noticed that Level 3 servers often come up as the problem? I know that, for myself, often when I am having connection issues the problem often is with the Level 3 server my traffic is routed through when connected to my ISP. If I switch to my mobile hotspot my average ping goes up by ~20ms over what I normally get, but my traffic does not go through the same Level 3 server and all of a sudden I have no more issues. Certainly that is not definitive and this is just my anecdotal experience, but from what I have read this would not be an isolated incident as issues have come up before with Level 3 and gaming.

 

Level3 are the problem 99% of the time. They are rubbish. I had a problem this morning where my ISP’s system decided I would be better being routed through lvl3 because it was 5 less hops. But it added 40ms onto my ping.

When I spoke to the isp they said it shouldn’t have done that and fixed it so I went back through zayo. Sure I got the extra 5 hops again, but my ping drop drastically too.

Level3 are total garbage and a blight on the internet.

Edited August 21, 2020 by TrixxieTriss

Host Name                                                        IP Address          Hop  Ping Time   Ping Avg   % Loss     Pkts r/s         Ping best/worst
dsldevice.lan                                                192.168.1.1              1        0ms            0ms          0%           101 / 101        0ms / 0ms
bras-02str.bxl.be.edpnet.net                         213.219.132.31        2       6ms            5ms         0%            101 / 101        5ms / 6ms
router01.bruix.be.edpnet.net                         212.71.11.49            3       6ms            6ms         0%            101 / 101        6ms / 8ms
brx-b2-link.telia.net                                        62.115.46.29            4       6ms            6ms         0%            101 / 101        6ms / 8ms
adm-bb3-link.telia.net                                    62.115.116.226         5      9ms            9ms         0%            101 / 101        9ms / 10ms
adm-b10-link.telia.net                                    62.115.120.227         6      25ms         59ms       0%             101 / 101        9ms / 232ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       7      0ms
ae-2-3212.msr1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net          4.69.163.126             8      16ms        50ms       0%             100 / 101        16ms / 949ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       9      0ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       10     0ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       11     0ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       12     0ms
* Unknown Host *                                          159.153.72.46           13     421ms     405ms      0%            100 / 100        308ms / 514ms
* Unknown Host *                                          159.153.78.101         14     434ms     407ms      0%            100 / 100        317ms / 512ms

 

Its like speaking to a wall, bioware please...

Host Name                                                        IP Address          Hop  Ping Time   Ping Avg   % Loss     Pkts r/s         Ping best/worst
dsldevice.lan                                                192.168.1.1              1        0ms            0ms          0%           101 / 101        0ms / 0ms
bras-02str.bxl.be.edpnet.net                         213.219.132.31        2       6ms            5ms         0%            101 / 101        5ms / 6ms
router01.bruix.be.edpnet.net                         212.71.11.49            3       6ms            6ms         0%            101 / 101        6ms / 8ms
brx-b2-link.telia.net                                        62.115.46.29            4       6ms            6ms         0%            101 / 101        6ms / 8ms
adm-bb3-link.telia.net                                    62.115.116.226         5      9ms            9ms         0%            101 / 101        9ms / 10ms
adm-b10-link.telia.net                                    62.115.120.227         6      25ms         59ms       0%             101 / 101        9ms / 232ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       7      0ms
ae-2-3212.msr1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net          4.69.163.126             8      16ms        50ms       0%             100 / 101        16ms / 949ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       9      0ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       10     0ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       11     0ms
* Unknown Host *                                          0.0.0.0                       12     0ms
* Unknown Host *                                          159.153.72.46           13     421ms     405ms      0%            100 / 100        308ms / 514ms
* Unknown Host *                                          159.153.78.101         14     434ms     407ms      0%            100 / 100        317ms / 512ms

 

Its like speaking to a wall, bioware please...

 

Ok, that is helpful. But sadly, most of the hops are stealth because they are blocked from view and you can’t see what’s happening there or where you are actually being routed.

 

It looks like you are being routed through level3 (read my previous post on my feelings about them). You can see your worse spike actually happens at this hop (ae-2-3212.msr1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net) and is 949ms. That’s not at the server end. And even a Telia hop before spikes to 232ms.

 

I can also tell you at the moment, internet provisioning is doing some weird routing in my part of the world, so there is no reason to think they might not be doing the same to you.

Ie, my previous post talks about how my ISP’s system put me through lvl3. But what it doesn’t say is the tech told me lvl3 were also routing me from Sydney through Singapore to go to the west coast. I couldn’t see that in ping plotter because those hops were hidden (like yours). I only know because the ISP told me what was happening. From my perspective in ping plotter, I was routed straight across the pacific from Sydney. It’s possible you are getting some weird routing in those hidden hops before going to the servers.

 

The other thing my ISP told me (and I suspected), but which you can’t easily find out, is that my routing back from the servers was using the Zayo backbone and not level3. This will cause you to be out of sync with the game servers and give you activation lag and other weird affects and even in game lag spikes that don’t show up in ping plotter (its the one problem that is hard to quantify without ISP help). If Bioware had a looking glass server, we could check this ourselves.

 

So, back to your problem. Bioware can’t help you as this isn’t in their preview of responsibilities. The good news is you can talk to your ISP about this because they can help (the question is will they).

 

What to do?

 

1. Ring or communicate with your ISP and send them a copy of what you’ve just posted. This is your proof something weird is happening.

2. Ask them first if you are being routed directly to the server on the shortest physical distance in a straight line.

3. Find out if your return path from the server is using the same route (you want to be on the same one, but obviously not this level3 one you can see).

4. They can see the hidden ports and can tell you where the problems are.

5. Find out if they can route you to the server and back again via a different backbone company/route. A good ISP has the ability to change your settings. But you’ll find the first lvl customer service guys probably won’t know this or how to do it. You will most likely need to escalate up to a higher lvl of ISP tech support.

6. If all else fails. I would suggest researching and then hunting down a better ISP that focuses on best practice for online gamers. There are quit a few doing it now in Australia. I’m sure the EU would have some too.

 

Anyway, good luck. Let us know how you get along.

 

Edit: if all else fails, you can try WTFast. That should fix those issues even if your ISP won’t.

Edited August 22, 2020 by TrixxieTriss

Even with WTFast I experience some of the same issues with auto routing selected. I am sometimes able to resolve it by restarting the WTFast client and other times I end up using my Steam version out frustration. Any advice on determining optimum custom configuration?

Even with WTFast I experience some of the same issues with auto routing selected. I am sometimes able to resolve it by restarting the WTFast client and other times I end up using my Steam version out frustration. Any advice on determining optimum custom configuration?

 

Ok, I setup WTFast like this.

 

Go into it’s yellow manage settings (Looks like a little person). Under the general menu, you have Game settings and application settings.

 

Under game settings, tick all of them.

Under applications settings, untick launch WTFast at startup, untick show tray notifications. Inactive session to 60. Tick show advanced stats tab. Tick show active server in autoselect mode. And save.

 

The second tab is network.

Network settings server port 3724 (but you can change this if you find your isp is filtering traffic on this port).

Tick Disable nagle

Tick enable manual multi server connection

Tick force automatic multi server connection

Tick enable connection exclusions

And save

 

On the connections page you have 1. select game on the left (which is self explanatory p).

On the right you have 2. Choose network.

By default, on the first box shows up with auto select best connection rate (I’ve only ever had this work well once, so I don’t recommend doing that)

Click on the right drop down and select manual customisation. This should show you two more white drop down boxes underneath now. They will default to what it considers the best. Believe me, they aren’t.

Under those white boxes you will see an option to sort by ping. Click on this and it will sort them in order of ping from you to them.

Now that you can see the fastest ones, you need to decide which ones. This can be daunting because there are so many.

 

So what you need to do a little bit of geographic research to work out where you are in location to the servers and where the submarine cables land in relation to you and the server. Once you have picked the ones your want to try, it’s trial an error to find the best. But with some prior research, you can make it easier by ruling out any you definitely don’t want to use.

 

Ie, for me, I live in a Australia. My internet in Australia is pretty good as I have fibre to the house and depending on the isp, my connection to the US over the pacific is pretty good. The performance hurdles I ran into are in the US. So I save my first WTFast connection to be on the west coast of the US.

Now there are many pacific cables now and landing areas from Seattle to LA. What I do is ping the server normally with ping plotter (not using WTFast) and see roughly where I’m landing in the US (which happens to be LA)..

So I go back to WTFast and look at the LA hops and their ping and pick the fastest one for my first WTFast connection.

 

Now the swtor servers in the US are in Virginia state. So I need the last WTFast connection to be as close to them as possible and also have good ping.

I have found the Atlanta, Georgia connections to be the best. There are several to choose from and some days some are better than others. Which is why I always ping them before I start the game and pick the best. Baltimore, Maryland is also ok in an emergency (in case the Atlanta ones are crapping out) and so is the Reston, Virginia one. But don’t use the Washington DC ones (even if they look better, they always have packet loss and spikes).

 

Once you select the 2 WTFast connections you want to use. Click the connect button and it will launch the game from within WTFast. Then just login as usual.

 

I need to add a caveat because I saw you mentioned steam. When I tried using steam, WTFast wouldn’t work properly and the game never connected through it, even though it looked like it did.

I had heaps of problems and went back and forth with WTFast tech support. Eventually, I completely uninstalled swtor and common files. I then did a clean reinstall without bit raider. Now WTFast works again and the game actually runs better than it did before because there were no old version files.

The only thing I kept was my keybind and UI files that are hidden under c:/users/yourusername/appdata/local/swtor.

To access those files you’ll need to open windows explorer, click file at the top left and get a drop box. Then click change folder and search options. Click the second tab called view. And tick show hidden files and folders. Click apply and save and now you’ll be able to find the appdata folder (which is usually hidden). Make sure you reverse those steps to hide the folder when you finish.

 

If you need help with the clean install, let me know,

Edited August 22, 2020 by TrixxieTriss

I haven't experienced problems with a dual SWTOR (reg client + steam) install. It is using a shared directory, so basically only one install of the client with different launcher routines. The only "anomaly" I have noted is every once in a while WTFast will shut down while loading the client... not sure this is steam related and may be more a bug associated with the insider's preview version of Windows 10 that I run.

 

I used your customization advice and selected a couple of servers that I thought would be a better route than auto was selecting. My result was encouraging... it did not reduce my ping but it did seem to restore some stability... there were some lag spikes/delays in combat, when opening menus and banks, and when fast traveling a couple of times but no red x disconnects. I'll have to test more before I say that WTFast is a long term solution and warrants a long term sub...

 

I never had these problems from my location (AUH) before about three months ago and my ping has not significantly changed as measured in game. I suspect that BW/EA possibly induced a problem for those that have higher ping times due to location... e. g. tweaking the inactivity/lag algorithm for lower tolerance based on an anticipated increase in server population because of steam... that would coincide with the start of my problems and the updates that included steam release files.

 

While I understand how routing can affect lag and disconnects I also believe that a company as big as EA can demand companies like Level3 resolve backbone issues if that is truly the problem. The first part of fixing a problem is acknowledging that there is one... once BW takes the problem beyond tier one customer service they might just discover the root cause. The number of posts referencing this problem are indicating a growing population suffering the same symptoms, no longer limited to EU and international connections.

I haven't experienced problems with a dual SWTOR (reg client + steam) install. It is using a shared directory, so basically only one install of the client with different launcher routines. The only "anomaly" I have noted is every once in a while WTFast will shut down while loading the client... not sure this is steam related and may be more a bug associated with the insider's preview version of Windows 10 that I run.

 

I used your customization advice and selected a couple of servers that I thought would be a better route than auto was selecting. My result was encouraging... it did not reduce my ping but it did seem to restore some stability... there were some lag spikes/delays in combat, when opening menus and banks, and when fast traveling a couple of times but no red x disconnects. I'll have to test more before I say that WTFast is a long term solution and warrants a long term sub...

 

I never had these problems from my location (AUH) before about three months ago and my ping has not significantly changed as measured in game. I suspect that BW/EA possibly induced a problem for those that have higher ping times due to location... e. g. tweaking the inactivity/lag algorithm for lower tolerance based on an anticipated increase in server population because of steam... that would coincide with the start of my problems and the updates that included steam release files.

 

While I understand how routing can affect lag and disconnects I also believe that a company as big as EA can demand companies like Level3 resolve backbone issues if that is truly the problem. The first part of fixing a problem is acknowledging that there is one... once BW takes the problem beyond tier one customer service they might just discover the root cause. The number of posts referencing this problem are indicating a growing population suffering the same symptoms, no longer limited to EU and international connections.

 

If it is shutting down while loading the client, it’s probably not going through WTFast. That was my first clue and what made be start investigating, From what you are describing, I’m nearly certain it isn’t connecting you through WTFast.

 

Bioware don’t run the sort of performance lag mitigation you describe. If they did, other people wouldn’t have 5ms ping and others 300ms ping. They would average it out somewhere around 100ms as the lowest.

 

Level3 or any backbone company has zero to do with EA or any end point user (which is what EA are). They only deal with other back bone companies or ISPs.

Is there a problem with the level3 backbone?YES, you won’t get any arguments from me. But Bioware can’t do anything about that. They connect to the internet through multiple ISPs (for back up). It’s our ISPs and Biowares that decide the routing to and from them. But it’s mostly all automated and is only becoming more so.

 

Bioware can’t control how you are routed to them before their ISP and that is where you are having problems. Bioware can sort of control how they route back to you based on peering arrangements. That’s is why my ISP could see I was being routed back via Zayo instead of level3. But this can also cause problems because what you really want is for both paths to and from the server to be exactly the same.

 

If I had to hazard a “guess“, I would say Bioware know level3 are rubbish and it’s possible they have told their ISPs to stop routing back through them. Which might be why some people are having these issues because they are getting routed to the server via Level3, but being routed back via another backbone,

 

The thing to remember is there are multiple backbones like little networks joining us all into a bigger networks. Some of those backbone companies have their own peering arrangements with each other that supersede you isp or Bioware’s isp. Much of this has to do with the deregulation of the internet in the US. Every since the FCC changed what these companies could get away with, the quality has dropped significantly with some,

 

Often there is another issue to contend with. Which is not all backbones use the same hardware or software vendors. So when they go from one backbone to the next, there can be small hiccups or incompatibilities. This used to be regulated by the FCC and they were supposed to make sure that companies spent the money and resources to stay compatible. But that is nolonger happening and these companies can do what they want. One may want to have the very best setup for speed etc, but another doesn’t want to spend the money to upgrade, so you end up with a bottle neck or patch work to make them connect.

 

This is only going to get worse unless a new administration brings the FCC back inline and regulates these companies to best practices and not what makes them the most money.

 

In the meantime, we as consumers have little recourse except look for better ISPs of for work arounds and use VPNs or GPNs like WTFast.

 

The bottom line is EA can’t help you.

 

Edit:

I need to add. I had absolutely no problems with WTFast or my connections until I installed the steam client versions too (yes, I had mine setup like yours).

I spent days and many hours with WTFast trying to fix it. In the end I figured I’d try a complete uninstall. I then ran ccleaner to remove any other registry entires left over. I did a clean NON steam, stand alone reinstall (not bitraider). I also did the same with WTFast again (even though I’d already tried that first).

After doing that, I was able to properly connect back through WTFast and the game actually ran better than before I installed the steam version.

 

What you might not realise is I’m a tech myself. I’ve extensive job experience fixing things like this that go all the way back to my days of working at Microsoft to launch Windows 95. Win98, Win2000/NT4 before moving to support Corel products and then Symantec security software, I’ve also owned my own SMB tech company for several years that supports other SMB network infrastructure and everything inbetween to building and supplying highend gaming PCs,

 

The old adage of turning something off and on to fix it still stands till this day. The same as doing a clean install if all else fails. It might not fix your problem. But if you’ve tried everything else, what have you got to lose. It might just fix it like it fixed mine.

Edited August 23, 2020 by TrixxieTriss

I respect your background... I have 20+ years in the military modeling and simulation industry. Aircraft simulations, battlespace simulations, vehicle simulations, direct and indirect fire simulations, LVC, constructive simulations, augmented/virtual reality, distributed and collective simulation. All require a HIGH level of realism... some of our simulations are required to model to the physics level of the individual components. Our databases are required to represent real world locations to less than 1m. I know that our systems "divorce" entities when they are no longer communicating with the host because it impacts real time simulation when you are waiting on packets that are not arriving or are incomplete.

I've been getting massive lag in the evenings. and my ookla speed test ping is only 9ms with over 100mbps download. If i cmd ping swtor.com the ping is around 175ms however in game it spikes to much worse. It seems to be hit and miss on when i can play with no issues.

I've been getting massive lag in the evenings. and my ookla speed test ping is only 9ms with over 100mbps download. If i cmd ping swtor.com the ping is around 175ms however in game it spikes to much worse. It seems to be hit and miss on when i can play with no issues.

 

Run ping plotter and get back to us with a screen image

Here's another observation:

 

Most all of us have seen alt ghosts in our strongholds usually without clothing. Some sort of bleed through between player instances. Just recently I'm seeing bleed throughs on the planets in the form of already killed mobs laying there as the unkilled mobs are standing in their footprint.

Here's another observation:

 

Most all of us have seen alt ghosts in our strongholds usually without clothing. Some sort of bleed through between player instances. Just recently I'm seeing bleed throughs on the planets in the form of already killed mobs laying there as the unkilled mobs are standing in their footprint.

 

I'd say that's more to do with the mobs respawn time being increased, then any bleed through. Due to places being busier, and people ninjaing mobs, etc, respawn timers were increased, but the despawn of the dead weren't , which in my opinion is good, especially if they are gatherable, as it is, sometimes they disappear too fast...lol

Here's another observation:

 

Most all of us have seen alt ghosts in our strongholds usually without clothing. Some sort of bleed through between player instances. Just recently I'm seeing bleed throughs on the planets in the form of already killed mobs laying there as the unkilled mobs are standing in their footprint.

 

It’s cause mobs respawn faster than they used to. You can literally keep killing in some areas and pile up the bodies.

I should note, that only happens if people aren’t looting them.

My wife and I used to do the galactic kill conquest in the Statue relics on Drommund Kaas and we wouldn’t loot anything till the end. It made a really cool light display with blue purple, light blue, green and sometimes gold lights all pointing up to the sky

Edited October 2, 2020 by TrixxieTriss

Hello and first of all, thanks for your constant feedback trixie.

 

As I speak I have ms over 90,000 that jumps back to 5,000 or all the way to 400's until I do something such as ride a mount, open de CM and then the ms spikes again, according to ping plotter i seem to be "ok" so Idk what to make out of this.

 

https://ibb.co/D7hTTPD

 

PS: Sorry idk how to directly show the graph in this post.

I thought I was experiencing really bad lag because my character kept freezing in place, but the indicator didn't show that. I decided it could be batteries dying on wireless keyboard. Swapped batteries and the problem went away.

Please google "internet routing" before making such statements. 🙂

 

Dont be fooled by this persons ignorance of english. Internet routing is what happens after it leaves your computer, and the OP stated, its not his PC or ISP. Its what happens after that to -THIS GAME IN PARTICULAR- and no others.

 

So there's a way to fix it. Especially considering its not an isolated problem. Hundreds and thousands are struggling to stay connected at a reliable ping.

 

Myself included, Anywhere else on the internet, works great. Its a blackhole connecting to only swtor. Works great for about sixty seconds, then a massive lag spike for 5 minutes, then a fast forward as all the data from the server finally makes it out of their end, great for sixty seconds then the dam closes again.

 

If there's something in the middle, the way internet routing works, is if you bump into a bad server on your chain, it'll reroute you to a different one. If there's a bottle neck server, its right next to SWTOR as in the last stop before entering, or SWTOR themselves.