Hands of Justice
What we have played => Lord of the Rings Online => Topic started by: Gunnarr on January 05, 2009, 03:16:03 PM
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Hey guys,
I started a LOTRO trial but now I have this weird problem:
I downloaded the client and after a lot of grief managed to get it working and connect to the Snowbourne server. Unfortunately, it froze a few minutes later and booted me off the server again. When I reconnected after a few tries, it froze and booted me again after only a few minutes. Now whenever I try reconnecting it'll tell me it's "searching for the logon server", counts up to 20 tries, then gives me a black screen with "Connection failed: Client timed out the connection."
Oddly enough it will (usually) allow me to connect to different servers. I'm assuming there's only one login server for all servers?
Does one of you know if this is a known issue and how to solve it? I searched the official forums a bit on it already, but all it came up with is making sure my firewall is set up correctly (check) and something about making sure IE is connected to the internet (check, I think. I have IE installed and unblocked by the firewall, though I don't use it as my browser.)
Additional problems:
- Sometimes the turbine client/patcher will have a long pause at "getting datacenters" then goes to retrying in 1:00.
- The persistent disconnecting ingame that lead up to this problem.
So far the LOTRO client looks like a bloated piece of crap, that took about 12 hours to install and has come up with a more serious problem within the first day than either wow, war or eve in over 3 years.
Is this "normal behaviour" of the game?
Thanks for your time,
Rico
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Not normal for it at all, Snowbourn is the daddy of the servers and normally behaves itself - sounds like a very messed up issue for you (especialy since first impressions are a major point in "selling" an MMO).
Is there a possibility you have a conflicting driver issue somewhere? I read yesterday that Creative XFI (I think this is the spelling) can cause crashes and has done since MoM's release etc
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And if you dont know to already do this - read (we cant post there - Turbines forums are for US subscribers only, CM dont give us that :S) the US support forums too:
http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15
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Lotro is usually very stable with little to no issues (just dont use DX10 ;) ) (although thats a Nvidia issue which they have new drivers out i just learned)
They have daily downtime between 6 -7 am only real outages are that, except patch days when its usually 6 -13.
i can only list the usual things to check as ive not encountered this myself i.e. defrag, Ccleaner etc.
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Any specific error codes?
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Nop, just freezes and disconnects. Though I've been running it in DX10 so I'll see if I can turn that off.
Edit: Just disconnected again and I'm now stuck at the login screen with a pulsing ring but no progress on the bar. Sigh.
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So it loads the char on snowbourn, then drops?
If so try a different class (and the DX10 thing) and see.
This is from a guy us-side having an issue with one char on one server over that way:
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=240137
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Not right away, not all the time. The problem has a few variations, which doesn't make it any clearer.
1) I can get to the character select screen, and log into the toon I want. After playing a while it'll freeze (I can spin the character but not jump or move) and disconnect.
After this happens:
2) I can't log into that server. It'll have a green check before it in the launcher, but when trying to connect to that server it'll give me "Trying to connect to login server" x20, then give up: Black screen, with quit as only option.
3) I can log onto that server and it'll bring me to the character select screen. When choosing my toon, it'll give me the loading screen with a pulsing one ring, but no progress on the bar.
I just tried rolling a character on Gilrain, and I actually managed to get to level 4 before dropping again. After dropping, I couldn't connect to Gilrain, but I could connect back to Snowbourn.
Edit: atm both Gil and Snow give me the searching for login server x20 thingie. Sigh.
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The lack of errors messages beyond Connecting to server over and over is worrying, as the client - especially the launcher - really likes its error messages...
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Not right away, not all the time. The problem has a few variations, which doesn't make it any clearer.
1) I can get to the character select screen, and log into the toon I want. After playing a while it'll freeze (I can spin the character but not jump or move) and disconnect.
After this happens:
2) I can't log into that server. It'll have a green check before it in the launcher, but when trying to connect to that server it'll give me "Trying to connect to login server" x20, then give up: Black screen, with quit as only option.
3) I can log onto that server and it'll bring me to the character select screen. When choosing my toon, it'll give me the loading screen with a pulsing one ring, but no progress on the bar.
I just tried rolling a character on Gilrain, and I actually managed to get to level 4 before dropping again. After dropping, I couldn't connect to Gilrain, but I could connect back to Snowbourn.
Edit: atm both Gil and Snow give me the searching for login server x20 thingie. Sigh.
The conenction/black screen thing sounds familiar - but for the life of me cant recall who has had that issue in the past (me, my brother or a guy from the old wow guild who played lotro for a while) or what I did to help them solve it... I'll keep trying, as the game is worth the time, more so as I'd hate these issues to color your view of it...
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System specs please by the way - driver details if you have them too :)
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Last post on first page in this thread:
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=319369
tried that?
Or - if you can log into an alt for a while - even to just ingame ticket a gm - ask them to "purge" your erroring char as per Liquilla's post in this thread:
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=321117&page=5&pp=10
Another stupid question - I know you have added lotro to the firewall, but what about the launcher? and have you added them to your routers firewall - assuming you use a router (wireless or otherwise)?
And another - what version of the .net framework do you have installed? (The game has a thing for 1.1, even if you have 3.0 installed via vista etc...)
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Which ISP do you use?
i ask as i remember my mate had an issue like this a while back, it was the packet shaping of his provider that caused the issues
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Can you copy and paste the contents of your client log (found in my docs lotro folder).
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I'm having some trouble updating my nvidia drivers to the latest version o_O - some kind of error.
So, I just turned DX10 off for now. I'm still downloading the latest creative drivers, as I do happen to have a X-FI extreme music in this machine.
The solutions in these threads seem to be for avoiding being locked out. While that's a start, I'd appreciate not having the ingame freeze at all, and I'd prefer finding a solution for that.
I use Telfort (old Tiscali) ISP (Netherlands), which afaik, doesn't use packet shaping. Though ISPs are usually not really keen on admitting they do this.
I attached my DxDiag for system info.
Short version:
Motherboard: Asus P5Q pro
Processor: Intel Core2Duo E8500#3.16Ghz (dualcore)
Memory: 4GB
GPU: Geforce GTX 260 @ 1680x1050. Driver version 7.15.0011.8048, updated 12-11-08.
Can't upgrade to latest version atm :( Not sure why.
Sound: Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Music. Currently downloading latest drivers.
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Either stopping DX10 from running or updating my audio drivers seems to have done something.
I've just played just under an hour on my new minstrel, and only disconnected when leaving a zone - and could get back in right away on the other character.
Now going to see if stuff improved on my guardian.
Edit: I just froze on the guardian. Seems it's exclusive to that class (having the problem on 2 guardians on 2 servers) - this is weird!
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Seems like you are closing in on a diy solution.
Hope it gets better for you :)
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You just had to jynx it, didn't you? :P
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/me hides
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I must say the launcher for lotro isnt the most stable i have seen for a mmo. Almost every time i try to start it it will just close itself after typing in username and password and clocking log in. Then i just start it up again and theres no problem...
Your problems sounds a lot like connection issues, but i do know some X-Fi soundcards and nvidia cards dont go well together. I actually removed my X-Fi after getting a 8800gtx graphics card as it would cause certain games to crash or just be plain unplayable due to machine starting to stagger like it was doing some extreme background tasks. The mainboard soundcard works just fine and i usually use a headset anyways.. Maybe worth trying to remove and uninstal the soundcard just to be sure?
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Very wierd indeed Rico - I'd bug report it hen on your stable character class, see if a GM etc can shed some light on it.
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Bugreported through email:
I'm writing you to report a problem I have when playing LOTRO, and hoping you may have a solution for me.
Just yesterday, I downloaded LOTRO and started a trial with high hopes for the game.
Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that I'd disconnect frequently - usually multiple times per hour. Annoyingly, after being disconnected, I won't be able to log in for a long time - over an hour as far as I can tell.
I have browsed your support forums looking for a solution, but have so far not been able to find one.
Interestingly, the disconnecting always seems to happen while travelling, and seemingly just as I'm entering a new zone. My character will freeze, unable to move or jump, though I'm still able to rotate. It seems like I'm not disconnected though, as the connection indicator will still show me at a ping of 156, with 0% package loss.
A short time later (a little over a minute usually) it will disconnect, showing me a black screen, a message "connection to server lost" and just the option to quit the game entirely.
After this happens I will not be able to reconnect to this server, though I am able to connect to a different server. The above problems occurred to me on both the Snowbourn and Gilrain server, while playing a human guardian.
I've also tried an elf minstrel for a few levels, and disconnected once, though in this case it was while zoning (going through a door). I'm unsure if this is caused by the same problem.
So far I have updated my sound drivers and disabled the DirectX 10 graphics, and added Turbinelauncer, turbineinvoker and lotroclient to the permitted list of my (Vista)firewall. Unfortunately these steps haven't improved the situation.
I'll attach my Dxdiag file for information on my system. I'm using the dutch ISP Telfort, on a 4Mb adsl connection, which is usually rock solid. As far as I'm aware, they don't use packet shaping.
I've recently played 3 other MMOs without significant problems on this system and over this connection: WoW, WAR, and EVE.
Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm not going to remove a soundcard just because one game happens to have a problem with it - wow, eve, war all played brilliantly - WAR even in open beta! Fallout 3 ran without a hitch, too.
All other programs are doing good, and it's not like Creative is some weird, backwater brand. I really don't think it's my hardware that's to blame here, perhaps it's the hardware together with the lotro software, in which case I'll just ditch the lotro software and forget about the whole thing.
Tbh I'm getting quite annoyed by the way the LOTRO infrastructure seems to be set up. Apparently they have a different logon server for different game servers (?) as I'm not able to reconnect to the server I disconnected from, but can connect to other servers. Also, this seems to point at that their login server is unable to drop one connection to the game to allow another from the same account, which is just stupid.
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I must say the launcher for lotro isnt the most stable i have seen for a mmo. Almost every time i try to start it it will just close itself after typing in username and password and clocking log in. Then i just start it up again and theres no problem...
Your problems sounds a lot like connection issues, but i do know some X-Fi soundcards and nvidia cards dont go well together. I actually removed my X-Fi after getting a 8800gtx graphics card as it would cause certain games to crash or just be plain unplayable due to machine starting to stagger like it was doing some extreme background tasks. The mainboard soundcard works just fine and i usually use a headset anyways.. Maybe worth trying to remove and uninstal the soundcard just to be sure?
Last patch introduced that annoying type in login details and launcher closes bug, ive just accepted that until they fix it my game wont work until second launch of launcher.
Sometomes its just working out which 2 pieces of software dont "like" each other so its prob Lotro and something else arguing causing the issues, remember that they made huge changes to the client for Moria and they probably havent ironed out all the issues yet. LIke my Lagging issues in 21st Hall (im sure its 8800 that just suck really ;) )
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Codies customer service.
The good:
First reply within 5 minutes. That earned them some brownie points.
The bad:
After asking for more information on my ISP, they suggest configuring my firewall to permit 3 of there files. Something that I already did, and told them I did in the first help request.
Waiting for other bright ideas now.....
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have you tried a tracert to the login server? see if theres an issue somewhere
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Well, I can connect to the logon server, except when I just crashed.
I can also connect to any other server (including logging on to it) after I crashed.
When I crash, I'm still at 0% package loss and a decent ping (150ish)
Finally, I don't seem to crash nearly as much on my elf minstrel as on my human guardian (both on Snowbourn)
Tbh, this doesn't look like a connection issue to me at all....
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Possible corrput client as far as the guardian goes then? all though how that prevents you reconnecting etc would be beyond me.
try posting on CM's lotro forum too - the support there is more user to user then GM to User as Codies arent the game techs - thats turbine, and all codies gm';s do with bugs etc is see if they are on a list - if they are give answer a) if they arent give answer B and forward to turbine.
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Sigh. I wish. But my minstrel just froze and disconnected as well.
<Despairs>
It's really hard to even create a hypothesis about what's the problem with this little information - and it being conflicting at that.
Anyone know what the IP of the logon server is? I'll try to traceroute it.
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94.75.194.7
(www.lotroeugls.com)
Deleted all their entries from your firewall and re-added? Also do you have a router with a firewall? that could be throwing issues?)
And added all the possible ports it uses?
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Ok, this confounds me.
When I do a tracert, it will show something like the following:
1 <1ms <1ms <1ms 192.168.xxx
2 * * * Request timed out
3 * * * Request timed out
4 * * * Request timed out
etc
Down to 30
Trace complete.
I tried adding ping and tracert to my firewall allowed list, tried downloading a seperate program for it (Visualroute), which tells me it times out after the third hop and doesn't come up with any meaningful information either.
I even tried switching off my firewall altogether, and it still comes up with a lot of *s....
The same kind of results show up whichever IP adress or website I enter, even google.com.
I'm connected to the internet directly through a (DSL)modem, which doesn't have a hardware firewall...
I'm feeling stupid, like I'm missing something obvious. :(
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Your ISP hasnt got you on a proxy have they?
(Check proxy settings in IE & FF - if there is one there then they may have)
That could be a cause of it if so - especially the tracert/ping thing. You should see all the hops and ms it takes to each - I can and I run via wireless to a hardware firewall in my router (and dont even have lotro added to that).
This is beginning to look like an ISP issue... as youc an access sites, but cant ping them thats very odd.
Also try http://www.pingplotter.com/
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as mang says ive never had to add any special rules to the NAT in my router it seems from you tracert that it hust isnt going anywhere after the router.
Have a look on the forums and check if others have issues with proxy logins etc, if i wasnt goung out id have a look ;)
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ALso - cleared your pc's dns cache (can do that from the cmd window)
If its your client PC you need to clear the dns cache on, simply open up a command prompt and type in ipconfig /flushdns. This will clear the dns cache on your computer and force it to go back to the DNS Server to resolve names again.
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try flushing dns then try the tracert again
type
ipconfig /flushdns
in cmd
im telling you me and mang share a brain
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try flushing dns then try the tracert again
type
ipconfig /flushdns
in cmd
Beat you!
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quickly looking into proxies and LOTRO it seems Cm dont like proxies so do try and prevent them from connecting to try and curtail the gold sellers from our favourite asian country.
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had the whole ingame freeze early last year forced me out of the game for a while.
the char would freeze in place and only a reboot of the client would sort it.
since rejoining the game 2 or so months ago with the same isp the game works almost fine now can run it for about 20 hours split over 2 days before i get a freeze it was every half hour early last year.
saying that i have a complete new system with all the latest drivers so i would say its some sort of compatibility issue.
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Did the flushdns thing, but still getting the bunch of *s.
IE/FF don't have a proxy, and as far as I know I never set one up either.
I do get assigned a dynamic IP adress, but that shouldn't cause any problems I think.
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Did the flushdns thing, but still getting the bunch of *s.
IE/FF don't have a proxy, and as far as I know I never set one up either.
I do get assigned a dynamic IP adress, but that shouldn't cause any problems I think.
Looked into the *s thing - can be used by viruses etc so lots of ISP's disable tracerts from hitting their lines.
I too have a dynamic address - so its back to it being a potential issue with the game itself - I'd certainly try asking the GM's ingame 9if you stay in long enough) to "flush" your characters you have issues with, and see if that helps.
Also on any chars exceptingt he guardians, are you still crashing when you zone? as there's alot of posts on zoning crashes stateside...
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have you set up a rule in your routers hard (NAT) firewall for the LOTRO ports?
TCP: 80, 443, 5015, 9000
UDP: 2900-2910, 5015, 9000-9012
my ideas will start to get progressively more drastic after this one ;)
also i just noticed that your ISP was a branch of Tiscali they very aggresively packet shape and will go as far as to say they do not support online gaming (that was the ISP my mate had issues with at release), he could play other games without any issues but LOTROs packets seemed to cause issues with their shaping rules.
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Actually Tiscali has merged into Telfort with a few other ISPs. I'll check with them if they use packet shaping, but a quick browse across some internet forums seem to suggest that people are actually moving TO Telfort to escape packet shaping from their old providers. Again, I never - ever - had problems with packet shaping playing wow, war or eve. I know what the symptoms look like since some of my UK based guildies did have to contend with their ISP using packet shaping. This, for me, is the main reason for not looking at my ISP for cause of the problem - they've been brilliant for the last few years.
I may try opening the ports you suggested tomorrow. If this fails I'll completely re-download and reinstall lotro, and if there's still problems I'll lower my settings and see if that brings any relief.
I also just got a HUGE mail back from Codies, though a quick scan doesn't turn up much useful - except the conclusion that their evening shift guys must be bored now and then. ;)
Thank you for submitting your recent request to Codemasters Customer Services concerning Lord of the Rings Online.
That message is normal - it just means that you CAN connect to the server.
Warping, disconnections and latency are all symptoms of internet lag.
Lag is influenced by the following factors
- A slow connection to the server
- Congestion at some point on your connection path before reaching the game server
- Server congestion
- The client PC itself
We are limited in what we can do to resolve your problem, as only point 3 is something we have control over and all of our servers are operating as effectively as possible at the current time. The vast majority of players are not experiencing problems which indicates that the issue lies with points 1, 2 or 4, unfortunately.
We can, however, make some recommendations
1.
- Ensure that you have the fastest connection available to you and that you have a good ISP that is close to a major internet backbone. ISP rating guides are quite common on the internet and in Magazines, so refer to these for more information.
- Codemaster’s servers are based in Europe and North America. If you are outside of these areas, you will naturally experience more latency. We do not market our MMO games outside of Europe or North America at the current time, for this reason.
2.
- Contact your ISP to see if your connection is suitable for gaming and if they have an alternative connection point that they can offer, which is less likely to suffer from congestion.
- If you are using a (A)DSL connection, ask your ISP for the contention ratio that they apply (this will be the maximum number of users that share your bandwidth). A typical ratio is 50:1. Anything more than that may result in problems during peak hours
- Playing at times when fewer other users will be using the internet, if possible, will also reduce congestion problems (particularly if using (A)DSL for the reason above)
4.
- You should shutdown all other applications that might use the internet whilst playing the game. This includes any messenger/email software, any voice chat or internet telephone applications, internet browsers, Real Player etc.
- To ensure that your PC is working at peak efficiency, reduce any game graphics and sound options that reduce the frame rate you experience in-game. You should also ensure that your PC has all the latest drivers installed for your hardware.
- Also ensure that you have the latest firmware installed for any routers/modems etc, particularly for wireless devices.
- Make sure if you are using a router or hardware firewall that all of the ports the game uses are opened/forwarded.
- As long as you have a correctly configured firewall in place you should have no need for anti-virus software to be scanning in memory. You can turn this feature off whilst playing and turn it back on again for internet browsing.
- Turn off any music playing software or any other program you have running whilst you are playing the game.
If you need further assistance, please reply to this email and INCLUDE THIS LINE IN YOUR REPLY:-
{|CALLID|}=01988973
Or include the entire text of this email.
Kind regards
Rob
Codemasters Customer Services
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want your eve char back? :D
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One more thing you might want to check: a while back I had a lot of problems with disconnects that eventually traced back to a bad signal to noise ratio (SNR) on the broadband. There is a way to check it on the router but once the problem was solved I'm afraid I flushed it from my memory - I still shudder when I think of 'phoning BT in India. Google SNR and Broadband and you should find something.
One more for your checklist - I admire you perseverance :)
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Dutch folks having issues?
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=328759
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=328760
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so it seems somewhere between yourself and Paris there are issues
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Dutch folks having issues?
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=328759
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=328760
This sounds like my problem.
So your find saves me a lot of work! Thanks :)
I've just added the exceptions to my fw anyway, and will give it another shot to see if the connection thingie is solved yet. Hope they do so soon!
Edit: Tried it quickly, but still got disconnected within the hour. Guess this trial will be kind of wasted. :(
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Well, after a lot of trial and error and reading lotro forums, I think I've fixed the random disconnection thingie. Apparently this was caused by lotro using more memory than my 32bit vista was able to address.
Fixed it by assigning only 1GB to Vista and leaving the rest of the 3GB available for lotro.
Unfortunately, one problem remains: whenever I'm zoning, dying, logging back in after leaving the game recently, the game will freeze at the splash screen (pulsing one ring, no progress on the bar).
Eventually I'll get a disconnection from server, and when relogging I'll either get "searching for logon server x20" or again the splash screen with no progress on the bar.
So I now fixed it so that I can solo-play the MMO but any instancing seems to be out. :(
I'm back to mailing Codies - but I've decided that when I haven't been able to fix it once the trial is up I'm giving up on the game.
Pity really, it looks good fun.
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Glad you fixed one issue. Annoyed that there's still an issue (Which seems to be quite a common one) as without that you really would enjoy the game.
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Yep, the game itself looks sweet.
It's unplayable atm though. Well, it is playable atm, solo, but I'm getting nauseous if I picture all this happening while I'd have a group waiting for me to start an instance....
Also, I just crashed outdoors again. Gah! :( At least it seems much less common now...
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So, it works now for you?
Thoughts so far?
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Well, I think the game looks great (I knew that much), I like the way in which it's story driven (at least the into, I didn't get much beyond that yet, I hope it keeps up!)
The character animations could be better I think, fights look a little static.
Oh, and I think the game plays much better when it doesn't crash every 10-30 minutes! ;)