Unable to connect to server

[Larry David]

Hello all. I play as Larry David on the server almost every night starting around 8pm CST. I usually have low ping around 60ms but over the last few weeks I've experience massive lag spikes at times. My ISP speed is very good and I have no issue with any other online game. I was on Monday night with no issues then took a break and quit the game, but noticed that your server was no longer showing up in my favorites. I dont recall this ever happening before. I can see other servers like the 6th Rangers server which ran normal for me.

Did a ping and tracert of your server ip. I can ping just fine, but tracert shows 2 timeouts:

Tracing route to 208.167.243.207.choopa.net [208.167.243.207]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  10.0.1.1
  2     7 ms     7 ms     7 ms  10.140.155.1
  3    13 ms    19 ms    23 ms  172.30.11.85
  4    37 ms   112 ms    23 ms  68-66-73-66.client.mchsi.com [68.66.73.66]
  5    24 ms    23 ms    23 ms  po10.mplmn001er1.mchsi.com [68.66.72.70]
  6    22 ms    28 ms    24 ms  mini-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.45.142]
  7    42 ms     *        *     chi-b23-link.telia.net [62.115.123.243]
  8    59 ms    59 ms    59 ms  choopa-svc071182-lag000971.c.telia.net [62.115.59.7]
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10    50 ms    55 ms    48 ms  vl104-as1.pnj1.choopa.net [108.61.79.90]
 11    49 ms    49 ms    57 ms  208.167.243.207.choopa.net [208.167.243.207]

Maybe my ISP (mediacom) has issues with the Telia backbone. I messaged them but havent heard back yet but just wondering if theres any issues on your guys end or if its me. I played on the 6th Rangers server last night and saw Eshkibok was on and asked here if the server was down but she said no. Thanks for any reply!

[Larry David]

Ok so took a while to get my confirmation email to sign up for the forum. I've been looking into it further. I have an Apple Airport Extreme 6th Gen (last one they made before discontinuing the brand). I can join other servers just fine but not the 1st Marines. Tried factory reset of the router etc but didnt change anything. So I just plugged my gaming PC's ethernet directly to my cable modem, and sure enough the 1st Marine server shows up just fine. I was able to join in a game.

 

So for whatever reason the server will only display the IP/Port address when Im connected thru router, but will show the name and connect properly if I dont use it. So Im not sure what the deal is but cant just buy a new router right now so it'll probly be a while before I can play on the server again if ever. If I find out how to fix I'll post an update.

[Larry David]

Yeah I've gotten weird lag spikes at times when I should be 50-70ms at most. I was playing fine monday night then decided to take a break. Came back and saw the IP address only and havent been able to join since.

 

Not sure why I cant resolve the name in server browser. The first shot is when I bypass the router and plug direct to my modem and it works fine. Second is what I currently see when Im hooked back into my router. Theres barely anything to configure in Apple's routers and definitely no blocking of IPs or anything. Im thinking maybe the MAC address from my router is at fault. Maybe the gameserver provider blocked it for some reason but cant tell. Wish there was some logs I could look into but afaic theres none for DoD.

Edited November 14, 2020 by Larry David

[Marsden 1st MRB]

Do you by chance have any custom Name Servers assigned in your DNS routing or potentially anything custom set within your computers Hosts file? These can both cause issues with server name/ip address resolution which can in turn effect the route your data takes causing connections to fail. Just a thought, not certain if it would be the case.

 

If you don't know what the opening question above means, odds are you don't have it set in a weird custom way lol

[Larry David]

I use Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 DNS server which applied to my router. Been using it for at least a year or whenever it was introduced. I checked my hosts file and its normal/unmodified. I just dont know what else it could be. If I can connect to the server by going directly to my modem instead of thru the router then theres something about the router but I cant imagine what since like I said its pretty slim on config options and I havent changed anything in months.

 

Is it possible my IP or MAC address has been blocked by accident? I get a new IP and different MAC address if I connect directly to the modem, but get another if I use my router. Is it possible the server host you guys use is blocking something on my end?

 

I may very well just buy an Edgerouter and use my Airport Extreme as an access point in bridge mode but Im desperate to find out what this is, been nagging me all week.

 

edit: Just tried again with connecting my PC straight to my modem and I was able to enter a game. I assume if I was banned you'd use my SteamID since ppl can just spoof IP/MAC addresses to get around a ban.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Larry David
updated post

[Larry David]

I just tested using ProtonVPN while connected thru my router. Sure enough the server name comes up properly (couldnt connect since server was full). So its down to my IP or DNS even though I've tried my ISP DNS servers and google  instead of the router itself I think. Still looking into it.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Larry David

[Marsden 1st MRB]

It's definately something with the way the router is handling the data; as if itwas IP related it would persist on your direct to modem connection; this is super strang

[Larry David]

Yeah just dont get it. If I can connect over VPN thru my router then I would think its down to my IP as I dont think a VPN also changes a MAC address? So Im not sure if it is the Router.

 

Is there anyone a server admin can check my IP and see if its been blocked for some reason?  Im trying to force my cable modem to give me a new IP out of the DHCP pool but so far no luck.

[Marsden 1st MRB]

I have removed your IP from the ban list already; we will look into it with the server provider and attempt to determine what additional steps may be available as it seems like for whatever reason their infrastructure is not even responding to requests originating from your IP address

[Larry David]

Thanks, appreciate the follow up. Im in contact with my ISP via Twitter and they are curious too. While the 6th Ranger Battalion is a fine server I do miss playing on the 1st Marine Raiders server. If I have to buy a new router so be it, it could just be some weird bug with my Apple Airport so who knows at this point.

[Larry David]

An update: I decided to try an experiment. As explained before if I get a different IP by connecting directly to my modem bypassing my router, I can see and join the server just fine. So as far as I know Im not banned (not sure why my IP was in the ban list if it was though?).

 

So I cloned the MAC address of my Airport router to my PC and connected that directly to my modem. Sure enough it pulled the same IP address the Airport Router receives, and I couldnt resolve the server name in Steams Server Browser nor connect. When I reverted the MAC address to its default and powercycled my modem I got a different IP and was able to resolve the server just fine (server was full so couldnt join).

 

Thus I can rule out my router as being the culprit. So as far as I can tell the issue is server side from the gamehost not liking my IP for whatever reason. At this point my only option is to wait for my ISP to issue me a different IP address from the DHCP pool but who knows how long that'll take. For now I consider this issue to be closed but I will definitely update this post if and when I can connect. Till then GG.

Edited November 20, 2020 by Larry David

[Marsden 1st MRB]

unplug your modem for 20 minutes, plug back in, should get new IP

[Larry David]

Oh I know that, been doing that a lot. Left my modem offline overnight and still pulls the same IP. My ISP just has long lease times. Ordered the Ubiquti EdgeRouter-X and will post an update once I get it and set things up.

[Larry David]

Ordered the router but it'll be a good week until I get it. Been talking to others about this issue and they are just as curious. They think I've been banned but I keep telling them I can still join the server if I connect direct to the modem and get a different IP. I found the sourcebans page for the server and my IP/Name/SteamID arent listed so AFAIC I haven't been banned. Just cant figure out why I cant resolve the name of the server in Steam server browser with my current IP.

 

Can I private message someone with my IP/MAC address and see if they can run some tests on the server end or something? Never been an admin of a server so not sure how it all works on that end.