Connectivity issues, multiple accounts/computers

[Castegyre]

<p>Basically, here's the deal. My wife and I have both been playing off and on almost since the game was released. We've never had any problems playing at the same time before in any game even in EQ2 as recently as about 6 months ago. We're both original EQ fans and missed the games so we decided to come back and give EQ2 a try again. The problem is, the game won't let us both play at the same time most of the time now for some reason.</p><p>We have almost exactly identical computers with almost exactly identical software and settings on them. We both play through a cable modem/router (no way to bypass this) and have three computers online at any given point in time; two for gaming and one for work/surfing. We seem to be able to do anything else simultaneously except play EQ2.</p><p>Basically what happens is one of us will be happily playing along and then the other one will try to log on. Once the second account tries to log on one account or the other will simply refuse to stay connected to the game. Almost immediately there will be packet loss and ping rates will go insanely bad and get worse until one account is crashed out of the game while the other is allowed to keep playing. Once this starts we can log into the patcher and character select screen just fine most of the time, but almost as soon as we try to enter the game on that account it crashes out either to character select or out of the game completely almost immediately.</p><p>Some of the time when this happens we get a message when trying to log in saying something along the lines of there being an error with our account information and please wait 5 minutes to try logging back in. This is the main reason I am not convinced there is a problem with our connection or computers, but it is with the game itself or its account/billing system. The other reason is that, for instance, if my account is the one that starts crashing out I can still log into my wife's account just fine on my computer. But, even on my wife's computer, I will not be able to log into my account while it is having this problem.</p><p>We've tried different log in methods. We both have UAC disabled and made sure all the properties and settings in that regard were set up properly. We've tried different firewall/router settings and permissions. We've tried static and fixed IPs. We've tried updating and downgrading various drivers. We've tried changing something on one computer and not the other, or both computers at the same time. We've tried full re-installs as well as full file checks. We've checked our wiring and connection in the home and even called our provider to make sure our connection looked good on their end. I've read through the support forums and some other sources and tried pretty much every applicable suggestion I can find. None of this seems to be helping at all. About the only thing left I can think of to try is calling customer support and making sure our account information is good.</p><p>Any advice or additional information would be helpful. If crash logs or other info will actually be helpful I can provide it. I'm only not listing it here to avoid confusion between two separate accounts/machines data.</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p>Are you using port forwarding, PC in the DMZ or opening the ports on the router? What make and model router?</p>

[Castegyre]

<p>Netgear CG812GCMR</p><p>Port Forwarding only seems to allow for one computer on the network at a time and it needs to be configured for 2 to do any good. I tried it anyways for either computer and it didn't seem to help much other than to let one computer more consistently connect but even then it was hit and miss.</p><p>Port Triggering is supposedly bad for what we need, but I tried it anyways. It was bad.</p><p>DMZ Host only helps with one computer. It does seem to do the trick for that one computer, but the trade off is the other computer basically cannot connect to the game at all.</p><p>I've already gone through the firewall settings on either computer.</p><p>I'm considering contacting the provider monday, but the thing is that this game is the only time we have any problems at all. We both have life time subs to LotRO, periodically play CoH/V, and play WAR when the mood strikes. None of these other games or any other online activities cause us any problems at all. The fact that the issues we are having are only with EQ2 and are inconsistent makes me wonder what good it might do.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p>Just to make sure, are you trying to sign in to the same account on both computers?  That is the most common cause for the issue you're experiencing.</p>

[Castegyre]

<p>No, we both know better than that.</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>Castegyre wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Netgear CG812GCMR</p><p>Port Forwarding only seems to allow for one computer on the network at a time and it needs to be configured for 2 to do any good. I tried it anyways for either computer and it didn't seem to help much other than to let one computer more consistently connect but even then it was hit and miss.</p><p>Port Triggering is supposedly bad for what we need, but I tried it anyways. It was bad.</p><p>DMZ Host only helps with one computer. It does seem to do the trick for that one computer, but the trade off is the other computer basically cannot connect to the game at all.</p><p>I've already gone through the firewall settings on either computer.</p><p>I'm considering contacting the provider monday, but the thing is that this game is the only time we have any problems at all. We both have life time subs to LotRO, periodically play CoH/V, and play WAR when the mood strikes. None of these other games or any other online activities cause us any problems at all. The fact that the issues we are having are only with EQ2 and are inconsistent makes me wonder what good it might do.</p></blockquote><p>Can you expand on the fac that port triggering is bad? Not really sure what you are referencing.</p><p> hard to compare to other games when it comes to internet access since there are a multitude of methods of handling TCP/UDP packet sending and receiving.</p>

[Castegyre]

<p>Some of our characters get stuck at loading UI resources and when that happens that particular character simply cannot load into the game for a while no matter what we try. Rarely it happens that a character will zone or something and then get booted. When that happens that specific character on that specific account cannot log back in for a while regardless of what we try to do. Meanwhile, other characters on the same account can log in, either computer running either account can log in other characters, etc. The frequency and inconsistency with which this happens is quickly becoming almost too annoying to deal with. I've spent about a week searching these forums and various other resources trying all manner of suggested fixes for the problem with no luck.</p><p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Can you expand on the fac that port triggering is bad? Not really sure what you are referencing.</p><p> hard to compare to other games when it comes to internet access since there are a multitude of methods of handling TCP/UDP packet sending and receiving.</p></blockquote><p>Because, as I understand it, two computers doing the same basic thing trying to connect to the same basic place using port triggering can butt heads. It's been over a decade since I messed with any of this and longer than that since I made an attempt to study up on it, so maybe I am understanding some of the stuff I've read recently incorrectly. Suffice to say. even when I tried port triggering it didn't seem to help at all.</p>

[Castegyre]

<p>I think we might have fixed it. I went back in through superuser access on the modem/router and checked the settings. The firewall was flagged as 'on' again for some reason. I suppose it reset itself recently and defaulted to 'on' with all of the things we've been trying. It seems to be working just fine now on my wife's computer. I'm re-DLing the client on mine so it'll be an hour or three before we can try both computers running different accounts at the same time.</p>

[TSR-DanielH]

<p>In many cases this sort of problem can be caused by an malfuctioning modem as well.  Internet service providers will typically reuse the same modem over and over and eventually get worn out.  I had a similar problem with another progam and I contacted the ISP to replace the modem and that cleared it up.  If the problem persists then you may want to look into that possibiltiy.</p>