TR Forums

Hoping some experts in networking could help me solve a puzzling problem:

Scenario:

Playing Civilization 5 in multiplayer: The first time I attempt a connection to a host, my ping is superb and the game is stable with no drop outs. Any subsequent connection after that is abysmal with pings swinging wildly between 100ms and 30s. Yup... seconds.... This results in the game dropping connection every time.

So, to figure out what was causing the issue, I hooked up the cable modem directly to my PC and have no problem connecting and keeping a very respectable (<25ms and stable) ping. I would disconnect and reconnect repeatedly to make sure it truly was stable.

Then, after putting the router (D-Link DIR-655) back into the mix (wired), my first connection is successful and stable, but as soon as I disconnect and reconnect, the latency swings wildly and game stability tanks.

I'm describing this to you in terms of Civ 5 because it is the only place where I can reliably test the results of my configuration and it is where the stability and packet loss are causing me the most apparent and measurable problem.

Question: Is this a settings issue or a straight up hardware failure issue... The reason I haven't immediately assumed the router is dead and dumped it, is because the fact of the initial connection working without any problem. Any ideas?

Thank you for taking the time to read that mess.

Sounds like some funky wierdness (fw syndrome) in the router. Too bad its not compatible with dd-wrt. Can you update the firmware? I've never used D-Link, and I'm unfamiliar with their firmware settings, but you may be able to smooth some things out there.

One thing that is a real shot in the dark is to set your router's dns server to either google or opendns. You may be getting some wierd dns caching issue on the servers where it is trying to force you to pathways on servers that you are not playing on. (This is a HUGE shot in the dark)

Yup, sounds like something about the traffic pattern the game generates is confusing the NAT function of the router. Sadly, unless there's a firmware update available the only fix may be to replace the router.

I can't find anything that says how big the routing table is in this beastie, so it may simply be overstressing the routing table and barfing.

Do you have QoS enabled?

StefanVonS wrote:

Then, after putting the router (D-Link DIR-655) back into the mix (wired), my first connection is successful and stable, but as soon as I disconnect and reconnect, the latency swings wildly and game stability tanks.

Got the same router recently. I love it! No problems whatsoever (yet). What hardware version and firmware version is yours on? Mine is:

Hardware version: B1
Firmware version: 2.00NA

They do have v2.03 out now though (link: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r260819 ... 3-released ), maybe something newer?

Captain Ned wrote:

I can't find anything that says how big the routing table is in this beastie, so it may simply be overstressing the routing table and barfing.

Do you have QoS enabled?

Good point, as the router explains:

QoS Engine wrote:

Use this section to configure D-Link's QoS Engine powered by QoS Engine™ Technology. This QoS Engine improves your online gaming experience by ensuring that your game traffic is prioritized over other network traffic, such as FTP or Web.For best performance, use the Automatic Classification option to automatically set the priority for your applications.

All my QOS is turned on. Every checkbox is checked.

Let me know if you need to verify any settings StefanVonS, and maybe I can assist?

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Hardware Version B1:
Firmware: 2.03

All my QOS is turned on. Every checkbox is checked.

Let me know if you need to verify any settings StefanVonS, and maybe I can assist?

Same here... I should probably test the connection without any QoS or traffic shaping on and see if it improves the problem.

Confirmed now that QoS was the problem. Not sure why it suddenly became an issue, but disabling it entirely corrected the problem.

Thanks guys!