DarkInvado

UPDATE:

After Technical Support tells me to get a new router I check my firmware and drivers (at technical supports urging despite the fact I have done this already) and update my Wireless Cards drivers even though Windows says they are up to date. Turns out, they are up to date! Go figure. Connection was worse than ever after the patch today.

Support was really making me mad. I decide hell I am going to run PingPlotter (the software Support had me running to check my connection and the data they were pointing to saying "its your problem") again but this time I am going to run it on www.hulu.com and compare the packet loss to CoH. I run it, and I view streaming video just fine. Then I decide to switch to CoH and rerun PingPlotter and compare the data sets. Guess what.

CoH runs fine. NOT ONE LCTM. Who wants to bet that NCSoft ran an internal update or switched some settings and BAM! Everything is fine.

Still very mad at NCSoft Technical Support for giving me the run around.

Time to come clear NCSoft. How did you fix the problem?

I am still unable to play on my desktop:

Win 7 Ultimate, nVidia 6800XT, AMD 64 3000+ system.

i17 Started the problems of which I had NONE pre i17. The patch increased my connection issues and Technical Support told me to get a new router. This when my laptop plays CoH just fine on the same router.

UPDATE: Technical support just told me to go get a new router/modem because that apparently is the problem to them. Of course its BS because my router/modem worked just fine before the patch, works just fine for ALL OTHER APPLICATIONS, and works fine for ALL OTHER COMPUTERS on the network INCLUDING my laptop that runs (yep you guessed it) CoH just fine!

Thanks for all the help technical support and thanks for telling me to go buy a new router. Is this going to become the official mantra to those of us who have connection issues? I wonder how many people who don't know any better are going to run out and get a new router.

"Hey mom? NCSoft says we need a new router..."

This is a pointer thread to http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2836795

If you have had connection problems since the release of i17 please surf on over to that thread. Just trying to see if there are very many of us with the issue and if there is a pattern.

This is a pointer thread to http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2836795

If you have had connection problems since the release of i17 please surf on over to that thread. Just trying to see if there are very many of us with the issue and if there is a pattern.

Please post your basic configuration info here, lets see if we have a pattern.

Processor AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 2.01 GHz
2 GB Memory Installed
nVidia GeForce 6800XT
Windows 7 Ultimate

New patch made my connection issues worse. W/o using a stop watch or running a logging program I can say that I am having more issues with LCTM now than before the current patch.

This is with just about everying on my computer in terms of processes, services and programs, that can be, turned off.

Even if plugging in directly to the modem did solve the problem its not my problem. A previously stable system is broken by an update and numerous people have the same problem or variations on it. Its a software problem.

Check this thread for similar experiences. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=219558

150!??! Please be more realistic about the cap and lower it to about 10 a day. 150!?!?! What are you smoking needing to do more than that!?! Makes me wonder if you are not spamming me in the game...

Each red block represents a LCTM I assume? When CoH is not running in the foreground I don't see it have any LCTMs.

Technical support has gone pretty quiet since I sent them the results of the network logging program's output. Pretty much I have felt like all the hoops I have been jumping though are pretty much time wasters until they patch CoH. Looks like my first chance for a working CoH are going to be tomorrow after their extended down time.

Excuse me while I head back to my computer and start turning services and processes back on. You never know I might actually need one of those dozens of items... :P

Apart of turning off ALL the start-up items and ALL the services except Microsoft's I have NO Anti-Virus, just the Windows 7 firewall and the hardware firewall on the router, no internet nanny software, no malware or spyware. The whole combo worked before i17 quite well and my Windows 7 laptop works just fine on the same network. Its not an issue with my network nor is it really an issue with my computer per se.

So the issue is how the update makes NCSoft's servers an my desktop communicate, or not. The packet loss seems to increase is the hops increase. Something of interesting note is that when I go LCTM the network spikes to 100% and then when I hit the Windows Key the LCTM almost always stops... Does hitting the Windows key make CoH become a background application and then reduce its priority in internet communication and break the LCTM?

Actually it is funny. I was told by CoH technical support to run a Network Logging program for 30 minutes while playing the game "even if the game isn't playable". So I figured I would go to all the hot spots and see what happened. And there you have it - my hero's not so easy day all in 30 minutes. I think it was 33 actually.

Uhg, time to get up. Everything is black but I am hearing the sound of a car trying to drive over my head. Sounds like a badly tuned V8! I wake up, no car (and the sound is gone too) but I am on top of the Train Station. Now how the hell did I get here? Last thing I remember was jumping across Talos... OK never mind time to get to work! I fire up my Global Communication Network and see who is on. What?!? There are NO Global Channels? Odd. OK well comm issues have happened before so I will check back later when it's back up.

I try to fire up all my subsystems (I am a cyborg after all) but my deflector shield doesn't seem to want to fire up and then all hell breaks loose in my visual cortext processor and the phrase "Lost Connection to Mapserver" flashes up. WTF? I have never seen that before. About 10 seconds later two of my systems fire up, the Battle Agility subsystem and the Deflection system. Then that annoying Lost Connection message flashes up, and I am no longer able to initiate my subsystems. OK? Well, uh? Two more systems fire up, Active Defense and the AAO routine.

Then little black squares start zipping across my view screen. Really? What else can go wrong?!?! Ignoring the little black squares for the moment I initiate the TG and PF systems and then try to engage the transportation system.

Lost Connection to Mapserver

Oh come on! Screw it, I have stuff to do I am just going to head to Wentworth's. No dice, I can make the world spin but no forward motion. The message winks out of existence and my travel system engages. What follows is really hard to explain and I think I am gong to need to have a full system diagnostic done as soon as possible. I jump from the roof of the train station down to the door to WW's only to experience some sort of reverse time flow and I pop back to where I started. ::Blink, Blink:: Did that just happen? No couldn't have.

Jump, pop.

Again? Sheesh!

Jump, Lost Connection to Mapserver. What?!?!

About 3 or 4 trys gets me into WW's. A few more and I arrive at the WW's rep. She informs me that I have no bids or sales and all my stored product is gone. OK come on now! One of the other patrons lets me know that WW's is actually closed for business and I should come back later. Hmmmm, she certainly seems to think they are open but, OK, I will come back later.

I then proceed to make the torturous trip to AE for a little training to see how bad my systems are messed up. What the hell did I do yesterday that has me so messed up? Nothing I can think of... Oh wait did I download a new update? Hmmm... Scanning the update registry I see a new entry, i17. Nothing else, no changes besides that. Hmmmm.

After about a dozen -

"Lost Connection to Mapserver"

events I arrive at my AE contact. Just a short mission a few mobs nothing hard. I zone in, run down the hallway about 10 times, run down the stairs 3 times round the corner and fire of my trusty Nemesis Staff. It snaps out upside down, merges into the floor and I have to do a back hand flip while it shoots to get it back out. Hmmm, thats odd and I would say the laws of physics have been violated with that floor trick. Think I will stop using the staff and I hope I don't see that little oddity again... About 10 minutes later, dozens of Lost Connection to Mapservers I pop back into the realworld. Uh scratch that, I am IN the data stream. Sigh, this is bad! Don't ask me how I got out, there were a series of time events, a spinning room, my systems crashed and next thing I know I am out.

OK, maybe I will take my mind off of this for a bit and head over to the costume shop and do some shopping. (I am a female cyborg after all) I work my way to the Founders Falls shop, I can't count how many

Lost Connection to Mapserver
Lost Connection to Mapserver
Lost Connection to Mapserver
Lost Connection to Mapserver

messages I get to read and how many time I experience that time hop event but I eventually get there. I choose a nice roman armor plate to put on my chest. I exit the changing room... No plate? What I just bought it, where the hell did it go? I try a nice Vangard chest piece. Nope it disappears as I leave the changing room too. Hey! Those cost me 500K! None of the reps will help me however.

OK I am headed to the Super Group base for a check up!

Lots of Lost Connection to Mapservers + time hops (feels like I am connected to a big rubberband) and I enter the base. Sweet home sweet home! Well except that my systems always seem to really slow down here. Add that to the Lost Connection to Mapserver and rubber band and I realize I have to get out of here! So much for home sweet home. I decide I will head to Cimerora and pick up a chest plate there. Maybe it won't disappear.

I spend the next few minutes trying exit the base via the secret entrance into Croatoa and cross it to the Midnighter's Lounge.

Lost Connection to Mapserver, rubberband, Lost Connection to Mapserver, rubberband, rubberband, rubberband, Lost Connection to Mapserver...

Whew! I finally make it to the transportation crystal that will take me to Cimerora. Maybe going back in time will sort all this nonsense out. I active the crystal...

Aaaarrrrrgggg!!!! WTF ?!?!?I am encased up to my knees in solid rock with my head in a big crystal! I can turn and hear the sound of water (never mind the sound of the water is coming from the rock which I am now encased in) but I can't get free. It is one thing to see your Nemesis Staff merged into the ground and yet quite another to see your legs there. A minute of this or so, a few

Lost Connection to Mapserver
Lost Connection to Mapserver
Lost Connection to Mapserver

and then... "Self Destruct Sequence Initiated!" No, no, no, no! Not that! Sparks are running up and down my arms and legs. Big red numbers are counting down

10
9
8
Lost Connection to Mapserver
7
6
5
4
3
2
Lost Connection to Mapserver (At this point the suspense is killing me)
1
Lost Connection to Mapserver (Really?!?!)
Boom! (Ah that's better)

I then find my self reassembled - how is this possible? - not a dozen yards away...

Lost Connection to Mapserver

Oh hell it is going to be a long day...

Lost Connection to Mapserver

They now have me shutting down ALL my processes and services that I can minus the Microsoft ones.... To no effect.

I have been in a national print-ad campaign (two publications) by name, had a nationally published book dedicated to me (along with about 10 others), had a local TV news story about me and two partners and had some of my exploits blogged about but famous? Meh... Nope. But I do play CoH a lot!

Hey Tex,

I am using a D-Link AirPlus G DWL-G510 Wireless PCI Adapter(rev.B) which connects to a 2Wire 2700HG-D

Looking at my connection data, and not knowing how to interpret it, could someone else let me know what it is saying? Looks to me that the problems are Network Time Out related and not here at home. 100% Packet loss when connecting to PlayNC chart 2 lines 9 and 10.

Tracing route to 206-127-144-81.plaync.com [206.127.144.81]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
0 Home.gateway.2wire.net
1 homeportal
2 bdr.mpls.iphouse.net
3 .m20-1.mpls.iphouse.net
4 4.59.66.13
5 ae-11-11.car1.Minneapolis1.Level3.net [4.69.136.101]
6 * ae-4-4.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.69.136.106]
7 ae-1-100.ebr2.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.69.132.42]
8 ae-5-5.ebr2.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.140.194]
9 ae-2-2.ebr2.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.132.70]
10 ae-44-44.ebr2.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.137.61]
11 ae-82-82.csw3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.140.26]
12 ae-32-89.car2.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.68.23.132]
13 62.67.33.218
14 * 206-127-156-10.plaync.com [206.127.156.10]
15 206-127-144-81.plaync.com [206.127.144.81]

Computing statistics for 375 seconds...

-> canceled by GameAdvisor due to timeout(300 sec)

1 3ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% homeportal
2 47ms 11/ 100 = 11% 6/ 100 = 6% bdr.mpls.iphouse.net
3 47ms 12/ 100 = 12% 7/ 100 = 7% m20-1.mpls.iphouse.net
4 47ms 8/ 100 = 8% 3/ 100 = 3% ge0-2-0.m20-2.mpls.iphouse.net
5 45ms 9/ 100 = 9% 4/ 100 = 4% POS3-0.GW6.MSP1.ALTER.NET
6 50ms 5/ 100 = 5% 0/ 100 = 0% 0.so-5-3-0.XL3.MSP1.ALTER.NET
7 105ms 28/ 100 = 28% 0/ 100 = 0% 0.so-6-0-0.XL1.LAX1.ALTER.NET
8 102ms 32/ 100 = 32% 4/ 100 = 4% POS6-0.GW4.LAX1.ALTER.NET
9 --- 100/ 100 =100% 72/ 100 = 72% p5-15-c0-ncla-pub.plaync.net
10 --- 100/ 100 =100% 72/ 100 = 72% p2-23-c0-a1-ncla-pub.plaync.net
11 103ms 28/ 100 = 28% 0/ 100 = 0% 216-107-242-81.plaync.com

Waiting on tech support on this one.

I am not running Anti-Virus on my machine. The ones that I have tried on my rig have degraded performance. I have a hardware firewall and use the router firewall and don't download stuff that could have viruses. I also run periodic virus checks just in case.

Hey Tex, thanks for stopping by.

Got my drivers the day i17 went live from the nVidia site. So they are the good ones and up to day. Installed them, rebooted, have a relatively new install of Win 7 on a new hard drive which is not full and defragged. I am technically adept, have been a technical coordinator in the past, build my own computers (well not my laptops) and have shut down all unneeded processes so I have max avail memory.

Here is the big stand out item for me:

PRE-i17 the game worked and was very playable. Perfect? No, but then again nor is my system.
POST-i17 the game is unplayable. CPU gets run hard and I also notice that my laptop and my desktop are relating to the network differently. My desktop, the problem child, not only is using up its CPU cycles but is also moving way more data via the network. The additional overhead imposed on my system by i17 is killing my network connection or my computers ability to keep track of the connection.

LOL well it does see that my laptop is working fine and I do see some serious differences between the way to two machines are handling CoH despite the fact my desktop is an overall faster rig.

I am aware there are players who are having NO problems with the game. Thank god (uh or whatever whomever) that is the case. That being said I am nearly a five (5) year vet and never have I seen the volume of distress as this one, nor the variety. From a project management perspective (admittedly an outside one only looking at the evident problems based on conversations in the game and from forum posts) they got this one a bit wrong.

I am sorry but I have to feel like we all have been forced to Beta test i17.

I have been here a long time and never has an issue made the game unplayable for me and never have I seen the sheer number of complaints as this issue has generated.

Players are reporting zoning into Cimerora IN THE GROUND. Player logging on report HEARING A TRAIN. (<--- this happened to me) Reports of severe lag, snap back, chat bug (its baaAAccckkk) more than one Auction House bug (it's currently down), graphics glitches (small little flying black squares etc), memory leaks, the game not even launching for some, crashes, crashes and more crashes... We also know there were a whole host of bugs that were known bugs in beta and not fixed at the time of release.

Have we been force fed a beta?

(ATM I can't even play because I have a "Lost Connection to Mapserver" error message that pops up every 10-15 seconds and a maxed out CPU, despite having much better than the minimum system reqs and pretty much the recommended.)

Something is "Zipping" these days in CoH? Nice! Congratulations! I on the other hand have lag from hell or just plain ole Lost Connection... So ZIP is good! LOL

In addition Ultra-mode is, quite obviously, turned off, disable or otherwise non-functioning and pretty much all my other graphics setting are at or near minimum levels.