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weird MMO possibly network-related problem
HalberdBlue
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Me and my friend (lets call him Bob) play EverQuest and Bob has some weird sort of bug somewhere between his computer and the servers that doesn't let him go into certain zones. Basically, every few days the zones he can't go into are different. He'll try to zone into Field of Bone for example, and he'll get disconnected from the server, and then I need to log him in to move him to a zone that he isn't "locked out of." A few days later, he can zone into Field of Bone just fine, but he'll go linkdead every time he tries to zone into Undershore instead (and then I have to move him again). He's called his ISP, Sony, his computer manufacturer, etc. and all of them claim that they are innocent. So I'm asking you guys what the problem may be.
Causes that are *possibly* eliminated:
We don't think that its his computer or his copy of the game. He actually 5-boxes and so has 3 computers all with EverQuest installed on it. He's tried reinstalling it, running the accounts from different folders, etc. When he gets locked out of a zone, ALL of the accounts and computers are locked out. Myself, on the other hand, has never had a problem logging into one of his characters and moving him out of the locked zone.
We don't think its his router. He's replaced his router once already (with a different brand), gone into it and made sure it wasn't blocking any ports, etc. The problem still happens. One thing that we haven't tried because I just now thought it up typing this post is connecting one of his computers directly to the modem and seeing if he is still locked out of a given zone. We'll try that tomorrow.
He has NOT tried replacing his modem yet.
What we figure is happening is that somewhere, whatever server a zone is being stored on is getting blocked from sending/receiving data from his computer. And then either the server that the zone is being stored on rotates or it becomes un-blocked after a period of time. However, where this problem is occuring is a mystery (thus this thread).
Something that may just be a coincidence but perhaps not is that all of the zones he has been locked out of periodically are ones that he zoned into with all of his characters at once. I know that bandwidth output and input increases by a LOT during the time that one is zoning in EQ. We thought that maybe some router along the line to the server interprets that as some sort of attack and blocks him from that server?
So what I would like to know is what the possible causes of this problem is and what is a possible method to solve it. Its not a recent occurence, its happened to him for a couple of years now. It just only affects me every couple of months when he gets locked out a zone that we have to go through a lot and then I either have to log in all of his toons to run them through the zone (which sucks because I only have one computer) or we just don't go there for a few days. Though it really sucks when he gets locked out of somewhere on the way to a raid (which is what prompted this thread). Luckily, he's never been locked out a raid zone itself (just zones on the way to one) but it could happen someday...
Causes that are *possibly* eliminated:
We don't think that its his computer or his copy of the game. He actually 5-boxes and so has 3 computers all with EverQuest installed on it. He's tried reinstalling it, running the accounts from different folders, etc. When he gets locked out of a zone, ALL of the accounts and computers are locked out. Myself, on the other hand, has never had a problem logging into one of his characters and moving him out of the locked zone.
We don't think its his router. He's replaced his router once already (with a different brand), gone into it and made sure it wasn't blocking any ports, etc. The problem still happens. One thing that we haven't tried because I just now thought it up typing this post is connecting one of his computers directly to the modem and seeing if he is still locked out of a given zone. We'll try that tomorrow.
He has NOT tried replacing his modem yet.
What we figure is happening is that somewhere, whatever server a zone is being stored on is getting blocked from sending/receiving data from his computer. And then either the server that the zone is being stored on rotates or it becomes un-blocked after a period of time. However, where this problem is occuring is a mystery (thus this thread).
Something that may just be a coincidence but perhaps not is that all of the zones he has been locked out of periodically are ones that he zoned into with all of his characters at once. I know that bandwidth output and input increases by a LOT during the time that one is zoning in EQ. We thought that maybe some router along the line to the server interprets that as some sort of attack and blocks him from that server?
So what I would like to know is what the possible causes of this problem is and what is a possible method to solve it. Its not a recent occurence, its happened to him for a couple of years now. It just only affects me every couple of months when he gets locked out a zone that we have to go through a lot and then I either have to log in all of his toons to run them through the zone (which sucks because I only have one computer) or we just don't go there for a few days. Though it really sucks when he gets locked out of somewhere on the way to a raid (which is what prompted this thread). Luckily, he's never been locked out a raid zone itself (just zones on the way to one) but it could happen someday...
HalberdBlue on
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