College Access

[LadyLydian]

Hey NC Soft :) Nice new boards, I like...

Anyhow.. getting back to the issue of access from colleges that has yet to be answered.

It has been taken for granted that those in HS will have lessened playing time due to homework, parents, etc. They will, however, still have access to the game and thus will probably keep accounts.

I'm willing to venture though, that a very large percent of your playing population is college aged. Which means that most of these players will find themselves SOL when they return to college in the next few weeks.

Already one of my clanmembers is feeling this impact.. he moved into his dorm this weekend.. and BAM.. can only stay connected for seconds without getting dropped.

What, if anything, do you guys plan to do to resolve this issue? If nothing is done, rest assured that a large percent of the server population will vanish. Not everyone in college can go home to mom and dad's house to play this game on nights and weekends.

I think that with the coming of the new school year this needs to be addressed quickly. I know there was a rather large post about it before, however, with the new forums.. its gone.

So as not to be forgotten in the "forever archived" messages, i'm starting a new one. I'm not saying its entirely up to you guys, what I am saying is that it IS up to you guys to work hand in hand with schools in determining which ports can safely be used (on your side) and opened up (on their side) so the game can be played by all.

Looking forward to a response..

Thanks,

Lydian

[Azrealicus]

I agree whole heartedly. We college students need help. Even if your university doesn't block the port that l2 uses, most of them restrict the bandwidth that goes through said port, making some players (like me) lag so badly as to make the game unplayable.

[Splatter]

This topic is currently being talked about in the General Discussion area. Might want to check it out, so not to make two threads on the subject.

[Smirk]

topic is currently buried and dominated by spammers in the general forums, im told that there are 2 programs that will reroute your signal to a proxy then connect to game with no trouble. Ive lost 2 clan members to this problem already, and they say their tech dept. aint doing nothing for them as far as help is concerned, so if anyone knows how to run a good proxy, pls inform us

[BoredVana]

A proxy is totally useless, if the overall bandwith per user is limited, if its only the bandwith to the la2 servers it'd help but add a few milliseconds to the rtt (="ping")

[Arigato]

[ QUOTE ]
A proxy is totally useless, if the overall bandwith per user is limited, if its only the bandwith to the la2 servers it'd help but add a few milliseconds to the rtt (="ping")

[/ QUOTE ]

Some of them limit bandwidth based on remote port number. And unfortunately, L2 uses the Napster port.

It's easy enough to set up a proxy elsewhere, put the proxy on port 80 which almost surely has no bandwidth limits, and proxy in. However, I believe L2 might have a limit on how many connections can originate from a single IP.

The best solution would be for L2 to change the port used on their servers.

[ActionFrank]

If you still have this issue, as I have just encountered after my move into college, please post here...

I open the game, log in-> I get to the server selection screen and I cannot get any farther than that....NC we need a fix.... so we can play this game...otherwise=(

[Charmins]

Get yourself a 56k modem and use the phone line instead of the LAN. I ping to server 8 at ~250ms @ 44kbps and it still plays as smoothly as my home's dsl line. I don't need the telephone line in my dorm cause I'm always using the cell phone anyways. BTW I'm at university of houston in texas.

[Gemma]

I cannot access L2 properly from my University and port 7777 isn't even blocked. My connection gets screwed up in LA and i get 99.99999% packet loss. I get enough packets through to login and play with the feel of 5 mins lag. NC and my University both won't help.

[ActionFrank]

Sooo, I'm pretty sure there are alot of customers still waiting for some word about the college access problem... so can you just tell us, will there be a switch or should we just quit?
thanks.

[Lanak]

I sent an email to their support team, and the response I got was that Lineage runs on ports 7777, 2106 and 2009. In order to fix the problem you'd need to ask for unrestricted access to these ports from your IT department. This is all well and good except that IT departments don't care at all if you can't play an mmorpg. Also the email said that "there are no plan to change the ports or their usage in the game". I hope that they will change their minds, but it sounds like we've got our work cut out for us.

[Gemma]

I contacted NC Soft and illustrated several times that all those ports run perfectly fine on my connection, but I am unable to connect to L2 properly and they told me to submit a Ping Plotter scan to them, which said that my connection got screwed in LA and never makes it to the destination. Then in the next reply the problem was marked resolved in their database, when it wasn't. gg nc

[Arigato]

[ QUOTE ]
Then in the next reply the problem was marked resolved in their database, when it wasn't. gg nc

[/ QUOTE ]

You know, they don't own the internet. There really isn't anything more they can do, unless you expect them to run a direct fiber optic line from your dorm to their server farm.

Try seeing if you can find proxy access. Maybe a group of people could get together and buy access to a few SOCKS5 proxies and split the cost or something.

[Gemma]

Actually when my problem traces into LA, where their servers are hosted. I would presume that it is their problem. When there is a problem in their area of the world and proabbly in their network, not mine. Thanks for the ******* reply though, it was grrrrrrreat!

[Nooblix]

I though NA L2 is hosted from Austin, TX?

[ActionFrank]

Well, can we get any sorta response from the bug gms or someone official other than the fun l2.support.com team... is there a workaround to getting into the game, port tunneling (has anyone gotten it to work, if so please post how)... otherwise I will have to find a new game when my subscription expires, which is quite depressing=( thanks anyways NC soft..

[Spudnik]

i try not to play when im not at home behind my firewall with my normal speed.

afaik, large networks are not condusive to games like l2.

[Blargoo]

[ QUOTE ]
i try not to play when im not at home behind my firewall with my normal speed.

afaik, large networks are not condusive to games like l2.

[/ QUOTE ]

Um, I ran 4 quake3 servers from a college dorm back in the day. No issues with the network, it should have MORE than enough bandwidth.. usually multiple T3's...

The problem is, NCSoft chose their ports (at least one of them) very POORLY, since port 7777 being blocked/restricted by public networks is becoming more and more common.

You could try a port forwarding utility.. tho, I'd recommend you research your ports carefully as some are easily sniffed by packet scanners (bub-bye account info!).

It's PERFECTLY natural for NCSoft to NOT do anything about this, you cannot expect them to patch a game because SOME college connections block this port (for all u know they block it to keep you off of online games :p). Keep in mind there are many many colleges that are not blocking these ports, so, you chose poorly when you chose your school I guess ;p .

Has ANYONE found a solid workaround for this? It's affecting a couple of my guildies as well..

[Skult]

Hi,

I opened ports 7777, 2106 and 2009 with unrestricted access and i cannot connect. It only gets to update server.

I can open:

DNS Port tcp/udp 53

as recommened in a previous post, however its still not working.

Please can we get an official listing of ports (and protocals) to be opened if you use a firewall.

Thanks

[MikeMike]

I also have a problem. I can log in, but after that I get TONS of lag. Like If I click on a monster to attack, it takes at least 5-10 seconds to start moving towards it. Anyone know why? It is unplayable, and I dont want to stop my account, but if it comes to that I guess ill have to.

[dblamcvy]

I've been having trouble just getting past the sign-in screen. Those of you who may remember from open beta when you just clicked ok over and over, or some people held down enter, that's what it's doing for me. I just can't hit enter or ok more than once or else it just sits there and nothing happens at all. After a bit it will say could not connect or your connection has been disconnected etc (at the sign-in window). Sometimes I can get in, usually late at night or early in the mornings. I tried to contact NC but they gave me a run around saying I should talk to my school, even though I already sent my school info on the ports lineage uses for everything, updates and all. They said they aren't blocked or even restricted. Here is my ping plotter graph. It's really frustrating because the only times I can sign in are the times when in 30mins I will be sleeping!

ping plotter (http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dblamcvy/auth.lineage2.com.png)

[zenretsuken]

Well im going to most likely take internet access into acount when i go to college.

[Xanaphia]

[ QUOTE ]

The problem is, NCSoft chose their ports (at least one of them) very POORLY, since port 7777 being blocked/restricted by public networks is becoming more and more common.

You could try a port forwarding utility.. tho, I'd recommend you research your ports carefully as some are easily sniffed by packet scanners (bub-bye account info!).

It's PERFECTLY natural for NCSoft to NOT do anything about this, you cannot expect them to patch a game because SOME college connections block this port (for all u know they block it to keep you off of online games :p). Keep in mind there are many many colleges that are not blocking these ports, so, you chose poorly when you chose your school I guess ;p .

Has ANYONE found a solid workaround for this? It's affecting a couple of my guildies as well..

[/ QUOTE ]

Solid workaround: Route through a VPN.

Advantages: Complete bypass of any port blocking on your school's part, encryption of your traffic so your school can't "spy" on you if you're paranoid, myriad other advantages.

Disadvantages: You need a fair bit of technical know-how (you need to, at the very least, understand how routing works), and you need to have access to a server outside your school's network, possibly a server on the inside as well (depending on how you set it up and what software you use), and your latency (ping) WILL increase... how much it goes up depends on the latency from the external server to you and from the external server to the remote machine you're trying to reach.

I used a VPN to bypass our school's (super-duper-******edly-restrictive) firewall back when I was in rez. I mean... come on, blocking VoIP and other useful stuff? Puhleeze.

The easiest to set up VPN software I've found is vtun (http://vtun.sourceforge.net). Not industrial grade VPN by any means, but easy to set up and reliable. Unfortunately, runs on UNIX only... so you'll need a Linux/BSD/whatever box on the inside of your network as well as one on the outside (edit: Maybe that should be "fortunately"... down with Windows! :) ). For computer geeks like me... not a problem. :p For your average user... well, maybe more of a problem.

If you want to minimize the added latency... try to find a friend in the same city who lives off campus and who wouldn't mind hosting a server for you for Lineage purposes. Lineage really doesn't take that much bandwidth at all, so it wouldn't affect his connection too badly... as long as you restrict the traffic you pass through it to Lineage.

[Azrealicus]

The problem on my campus isn't that port 7777 is blocked, but thanks to all the kazaa and other p2p traffic i get insanely high l2 pings. Will routing through a VPN still help, or am i just stuck until NC takes pitty on us and changes the port?

[Xanaphia]

If your pings are high it's most likely due to overall network congestion, not because of what port an application runs on. Unfortunately, the only way to resolve that issue is for your school to a) increase network capacity and/or b) run application-layer transparent proxies and de-prioritize Kazaa traffic... which is insanely difficult because Kazaa uses HTTP for a protocol, making it (almost) indistinguishable from regular web traffic. :/

Running a VPN *may* help you achieve more *consistent* pings, but it will likely not lower them... in fact, your ping will increase slightly because you're making more network hops.

[Xanaphia]

I've had a couple people PM me asking me for futher info on the VPN stuff, so I'll just post it here so everyone can see it.

Both Win2K Pro and WinXP Pro have built-in VPN clients (but not servers), so if you're using one of these operating systems, you don't need any further software client-side (ie. your box inside your school network).

On the server side (the box outside your school network), you have a couple options. I *believe* (I am not a Windows guru, I admin UNIX thankyouverymuchmicrosoft :) ) that both Win2K Server/Advanced Server and Win2K3 Server/Advanced Server have a built-in VPN server. So, if your external machine is running Win2K/XP Server... you're almost ready to go. Just configure the VPN server, tell your client to connect and you (theoretically) should be good to go, no extra software required, although you will need to fudge with the routing tables a bit.

However... not many people I know run Win2K/2K3 Server at home. I'm not aware of any free software (that is... free to use *legally* *cough*) that gives VPN server capabilities for Windows. Someone with more Windows admin experience might have a solution for you here.

If the external box is UNIX and you want to connect directly using your Windows workstation internally... then you have two (well... basically one) option for software on the server side. FreeS/WAN (http://www.freeswan.org) and Openswan (http://www.openswan.com) (Openswan = FreeS/WAN with bug fix and feature patches, basically).

Both have basic support for a variety of VPN clients (including the one builtin to Windows, and the Cisco client (which is popular for corporate VPNs), among others). You might not get the fancy stuff like X.509 certificates, but for a simple VPN to route Lineage 2 traffic through... Private Shared Keys are more than sufficient. PSKs are supported by Free/Open-swan for pretty much any VPN client out there that adhere to the generally accepted standards.

For more info on interoperability with FreeS/WAN... go to project webpage, click on Online Documentation, select the latest version, and select Interoperating. They provide a *ton* of info, including links to "how-to" documents, on setting up the software to communicate with most VPN software out there.

However... if you have a Linux box on the outside of your school network, and one on the inside... I'll point out VTun (http://vtun.sourceforge.net) again. VTun uses normal TCP/IP or UDP/IP packets (software like FreeS/WAN and the built-in Windows VPN services use slightly different packets and are easy to block/filter), so traffic with VTun looks just like, for example, a file download and is *extremely* easy to set up. I have a permanent network-network VPN set up with it, as well as a road-warrior (roaming) configuration for my laptop. If you have access to 2 Linux/BSD/whatever machines... I personally highly recomment this route. If you only have 1 machine internally or running a UNIX box isn't an option, check out the FreeS/WAN stuff above... a little harder to configure, but compatible with other clients (VTun uses its own protocol and is incompatible with anything else other than itself, whereas FreeS/WAN implements public standards).

[Azrealicus]

Thanks for the help Xanaphia.

I contacted my university's IT department, and had to go all the way to the top before they would even begin to talk about all the network congestion (which has been showing up in regular browsing now along with applications like l2, so port 7777 isn't the only problem :/). After moaning and complaining for a while, they have finally agreed to "look into" the problem, and are apparently increasing the pipe to our dorms. I really hope this helps, but time will tell. The eta on the changes they are making is 3-6 weeks, so i guess i'll know then. Thanks again.

[dblamcvy]

I'm not sure why, but after that crazy patch that deleted everything I can log in fine now! I hope it's not only a short term thing, but the thing I don't get is that I never had any 3rd party or un-official textures, just the ones that came with the install and the updates, oh well, I'm not complaining it was just weird. Now I can play whenever I want, and my schoolwork will suffer for it haha.

[KeynesAlley]

[ QUOTE ]
I though NA L2 is hosted from Austin, TX?

[/ QUOTE ]

The Corp headquarters is there, but the servers are in California.

[becasome]

i'm in college dorm in new hampshire
the internet connection is 100mbps here. is that enough for the game?

[Harrald]

I have the same problem with my lag. I tell him to attack and he sits there for like 10-15 seconds, sometimes as bad as a whole minute. I am the clan leader so its kind of bad scheduling clan hunts for late at night when my lag is iffy. PLEASE somone give me a direct respone to this. I need a clear solution or lists of solutions. Thank you.

[Azrealicus]

Well, the changes have been my to my campus network, and while my regular speeds are better, L2 is lagging more than ever. Could somebody official (Mistryl, i'm looking in your direction :P) please let us know whether we need to try port tunneling, or one of the other various fixes mentioned, or if we should just wait, and hope for some help from your end? We college students really need help here...

[Harrald]

Yes please help mistryl :(

[LXLEGEND]

I too have problems with my connection. My friend that works in my school's IT dept says that they monitor two of the ports that L2 uses. I think they are ports 7777 and 2106. I can connect to the servers but all my commands have a delay so instead of moving as soon as I click I move like 10 seconds after I click, which as caused to die 3 times already.

I need a way to bypass my school's monitoring but that VPN alternative seems to involved for me is there anything else that can be done?

[Harrald]

3 times is all you died lol. Ive died like 30. And it slows down my leveling by like 70%. I made it to 32 last night barely. The best thing that works for me, is play during the night, i dont know why, but it helps. SOmeimtes i have next to no delay.

[LXLEGEND]

That doesn't really work for me because of the monitoring I was thinking about getting my own connection on campus through the local isp which is Road Runner out here in Greensboro,NC, but I don't really feel like playing 40 bucks a month for another internet connection seeing as my xbox live works just fine on the school network.

The real reason this connection issue is such a problem for me is because I got a new Aurora Performance when I went off to school so now I don't suffer vid lag but I suffer connection problems. It seems like there is no winning with this game.

At least from this I now know to research what ports a PC game uses and if they are affected by my schools network before buying it.

[Nahili]

This was a huge issue when the open Beta came out. I didnt even buy the game until now because I graduated. The main issue was the the port chosen to run this game is the same that many file sharing apps use which campus networks heavily restrict. Lag could be measured in minutes the most i ever did in game was run across the room ... they never offered an official fix for it but some people managed to tunnel it.

[Kaesna]

Go to www.earthlink.net (http://www.earthlink.net) and find an access number (toll free works as well). Use the username 'ilovelineage2@earthlink.net' and 'Kaesna' to log in to Earthlink. Don't bother breaking into email or change pass, I created this one just for you. Now test it.

If you find out that it works dialup, but not your college (but you can browse websites at the college) then ask your local BOFH about their network. They are usually somewhat tech geeks( here at University of Colorado, they are fun geeks and not the tight-up professionals) and may play games too. As such they will probably fix network and let you do it.
At UCD they are really tightup about ports and bandwidth for our protection. You call in with your MAC, IP, Username and Security phrase, and they will let you do whatever. But every week there's 'hacked FTP'. You want new provisioning? Ask 512kbps symmetrical :)

[LXLEGEND]

I can't go dial up no modem :eek: already asked the tech office about doing something but they refused said they weren't going to alter the network for a game the people in the office understood where I was coming from but the man in charge won't allow changes for videogames.

[Gussy]

still waiting. NCSoft... i Mean come on... you fixed this same issue in Lineage1 in about a week after the issue was known...

seriously. :confused: :( :mad:

[LXLEGEND]

Other NCsoft devs have managed to figure it out why can't the people behind L2 geez. What good is paying 15 a month if you can't even play with out lag that can be measured in mins.

[Gussy]

prepaid until february and since im at college i cant even play... NCSoft I want a refund for my 6 month payment... ripping me off

[dblamcvy]

Yeah, it's very frustrating to click on something, or someplace and not move towards it (on your screen) for over a minute, yes I timed it... I stand there, and I can move the camera around, so it's not computer related lag. Then when I "come to" the screen will flash, and the mob will be dead and dissapear really fast because it's been dead for awhile now, I just haven't seen it. I've learned how to buff with the lag, just click and now how long you can wait before you can cast another spell. I shouldn't have to do that!!!! I can't party in groups, becasue my lag will get someone killed (I'm a healer). I can't solo mobs my own lvl...since I'm a freaking healer. One day in cruma on bartz people were quiting and complaining about the lag, that was exactly like mine is EVERYDAY! It is so frustrating! I had to quit today because I was getting so angry. If there is a red around, I should be able to take them, by just sleeping and rooting, however, if I don't see them come by until my health is already 1/4, and then all I can do is just spam battle heal and hope that it's working (because I can't see it on screen when I lag in and out). OR if the lag is bad but I can still click and then 4 seconds later it will select my target....I can't target moving object very easily now can I? Just change the stupid port the game uses!

*end rant*

[Gussy]

modems just dont cut it for lineage2....

[dblamcvy]

Exactly, but I got less lag on my modem at home, than I do on my bandwidth tested average of 1.8 megabit connection at school!

[Harrald]

Can a GM please reply to this thread and telling us what NC plansn to do to accomadate the college players.

[LXLEGEND]

They don't care about us or at the very least they never say so. They new the ports they were using we going to cause conflicts. My suggestion to all of you is to pre order guild wars and play thier once month beta and have fun for at least one weekend out of the month.

[dblamcvy]

All I have been able to do this past week is craft, and even when I do that I still get the crazy lag. I'll click the recipe and wait for 20 seconds for the window to come up so I can click create. Yippie...

[Harrald]

Thank god im in a small college. ASU west. The lag is pretty horrible, just like you describe. I hate it so much. It sucks being a clan leader and i cant participate in anything unless its late at night. Is there a way they can fix this. IF they can PLZ GMS HURRY AND DO IT

[dblamcvy]

Not sure if this will work, or how long it will last, or the speed lol, but here is a video of me in cruma 2nd floor. No one has ever died because of my lag, but recently it's gotten even worse so I try not to do anything normal aka dangerous to me.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dblamcvy/lag.avi

[LXLEGEND]

The same thing happens to me. It really annoys me because I want to start my own clan and try to go after Aden (yea I know lofty goals) but I can barely level because of the lag.

[Gussy]

Dear NCSoft,
On April 28th 2004, I purchased Lineage2 at EBgames.com and have played it the entire summer.

Unfortunatley, your service has not performed well because of this current College Access issue. I am disappointed because now the product does not work properly and I(as well as many others) are unable to access the game that they became addicted to.

To resolve the problem, I would appreciate your official response on a main page of the Lineage 2 outlining this issue(or even a resolution to this issue) as well as offer a refund service for those players that are unable to access the servers due to this issue and have purchased 3-6 month contracts with your online gaming service.

I look forward to your reply and a resolution to our problem and will wait until November 10th 2004 before seeking help from a consumer protection agency or the Better Business Bureau. Please contact me through the forum's pm system.

Sincerely,
-Ryan

[dblamcvy]

Well, the game has become unplayable. I am not going to pay the monthly fee in order to stand for 4 min, then move for 20 seconds and then stand there for another 3min. All I have been able to do this past week is craft on my dwarf, and even that is frustrating. I click the hotkey and wait 20 seconds then click create wait another 40 seconds for it to show I've made ss. Really upset right now!

[Kiser]

game unplayable for me for the last week, can't move for 10-15 sec, move for abit, then lag out again. :mad:

[Kiser]

did a trace route to the game getting from 25%- 40 % packet loss at the game IP.

[becasome]

i will not pay for next month's fee anymore due to this lagg problem.

[EcronyteIDC]

dear god, why will they not respond to this thread. I am on a college connection too. Well I was anyway. I was forced to pay for a dial up ISP because playing through my college's network was impossible.

Whats funny is playing on Dial up is 600 times better than playing over my college's broadband.

What is not funny is that I am forced to pay nearly 40$ a month just to play lineage. And I lag too bad on Dial up to really be able to do well at a Siege.

If they dont want to fix this, that is fine. BUT AT LEAST GET ON HERE AND TELL US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Azrealicus]

Hmm, meant to post an update on my situation a long while ago, but i haven't gotten around to it. About a month ago my l2 lag just disappeared, and now it's no worse than at home (basically no lag). Not sure if it's something that my university did to halt my constant whining, or if it was a fix on the l2 side. Anybody else notice the lag getting better?

[Windryth]

Im not on a collage broadband thingy, but we're 3 guys playing from the same IP and we're having the same lag as you guys. 10 - 60 secs delay on clicks etc... and it started nov 13... i really dont know what it is and supports keep telling me "remove temp files" etc... any suggestions?

[LXLEGEND]

Anyone manage to use a router to forward the L2 ports and have your connection improve that way? BTW the ports are 2106, 2009, and the infamous 7777.

[MikeMike]

Maybe I missed something, but I have not seen ONE post from a forum moderator or from someone that works with NCsoft. Is there anything we or you can do about this? I think I may have to become one of the many that give up on this game, My roomate has no problems at all playing WoW, But with lineage, the lag makes it unplayable. Can a moderator post in here please.

[AshNC]

I don't know if there are any new developments on this issue. I will try to find out more.

- Ash

[Destynei]

Ash: First to reply to our desperate cry for help... I assume you Mods/GM's have a bit of know-how on the issue of ports etc etc. Think you could devise a work-around for us college students so that we can continue to enjoy L2???

[Harrald]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know if there are any new developments on this issue. I will try to find out more.

- Ash

[/ QUOTE ]<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Thanks ASH for a response. And if you are truly looking thanks :D and lady, your avatar is hot

[Gussy]

Not bad... 4 months to get an official response on the issue which doesnt really say anything... World of Warcraft is rather fun btw

[MikeMike]

Any news ash?

[MikeMike]

[AshNC]

I haven't forgotten. I don't have an answer for you yet. I will try to get something substantial before the end of the week.

- Ash

[Harrald]

[ QUOTE ]
I haven't forgotten. I don't have an answer for you yet. I will try to get something substantial before the end of the week.

- Ash

[/ QUOTE ]Thanks Ash, its getting really hard to do anything. Im on sieghardt, easily the most drama server with pvp around every corner, which i get my butt kicked cuz i just stand there while im trying to attack :(

[biggerblair]

I am not on a college campus, and lately the lag has been terrible on Sieghardt as well. Additionally, I can no longer enter any busy towns because the game becomes literally unplayable. Can no longer access my skills page, quest page, inventory, clan tab, can't move, can't send messages at all. If you browse the forums, you will find many many other people in the same situation.

[AshNC]

Here is a summary of the information I have been given on this issue:

There are currently no plans to change ports. At this time, we can only continue to recommend that you contact your campus network management and request that restrictions on these ports be lifted.

I've been told that we are part of a program that will allow participating campuses to identify information from our servers as "legitimate" traffic, and that they can allow our content through while otherwise retaining existing limitations on these ports. If your campus is not willing to lift its restrictions on these ports, you might also ask if they are able to join this program instead.

Thanks for your patience,

- Ash

[Splatter]

Ash, it would help if you stated what was the name of this program.

[Harrald]

Or at least a list of schools involved.

[HGMspam]

The name of the port managment program that many campuses use is called "Packeteer." Any campus that uses this program can contact packeteer for a Lineage 2 packet ID.

I would like to further say that many campuses that have problems with L2 only have this problem because of antiquated rules and regulations on their networks. The only reason port 7777 was ever limited was because campuses did not want to be sued by the RIAA because of their students using Napster (It did not block other P2P sites like Kazaa, limewire... etc)when it was considered and illegal site. Napster is no longer a P2P share site and should no longer be blocked.

[Atentuel]

So far the only thing i have seen is more problems. If at all possible does anyone have any real solutions to this issue? It would be a shame for lineage to lose a large part of the community because they lagged. So everyone put their heads together and lets figure out a way around this!!!

[Zephro_Carnelian]

well its a shame that theauy will not axcept the data from another port to just solve this problem i mean not like it would end the world

[xKnives]

One thing that I've noticed makes a difference is WIRELESS. Amazingly enough, my connection speed goes from crap (in my dorm room) to AWESOME (on the wireless network in the school library). I plan on bringing back my wireless modem with me up to school and hooking it up after this weekend, and see how it goes. Though most schools do not allow rooms to have individual wireless routers, I plan on trying this out.

I'll post again with my findings sometime Monday afternoon.

[xKnives]

after testing this I've come to find that my internet connection is greatly improved from what it once was. Though still somewhat laggy, it is atleast playable enough to level. I'm looking into using some sort of proxy to boost my connection so I'll dig around and see what I can find.

[MikeMike]

Yeah, my lag is horrible either way, wireless or regular. Xknives, what do you mean proxy? There is alwaysa computer on at my house, is there anyway to connect to this computer through the computer at my dorm and play that way?

[Takehiko]

World Of Warcraft is great. And guess what? It actually works at my uni. Unlike some other sack of [censored] game I could care to mention :)

[huxley]

I dont think you can blame games for your college deciding to block their ports lol

[Mizwisfist]

56k is enough for the game.

The problem may be the firewall blocking L2 ports. Cross your fingers.

[Felys]

HGMspam and Ash kinda already stated all you need to do. It's up to you personally to solve the problem. Talk to your university's IT dept. Explain what spam mentioned. If they're unwilling to cooperate, the best I can give is a 'sorry'. There's no magic trick. No all-uni solution. Find out why this problem is a problem, and take it into your own hands to fix it.

If it's acting like a lemon, then don't pay for it. Sad for it to come to so cynical of a response, but that's the best there is.

[JadeTX]

YES!! I M USING CABLE AND HAVING EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM, BUT THEY EVEN DON'T GIVE ME MY REFUNE BACK! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH [censored]

[Glav]

[ QUOTE ]
HGMspam and Ash kinda already stated all you need to do. It's up to you personally to solve the problem. Talk to your university's IT dept. Explain what spam mentioned. If they're unwilling to cooperate, the best I can give is a 'sorry'. There's no magic trick. No all-uni solution. Find out why this problem is a problem, and take it into your own hands to fix it.

If it's acting like a lemon, then don't pay for it. Sad for it to come to so cynical of a response, but that's the best there is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or, they could swap from a known, bad port, to a much less troubled port. Everyone and their brother blocks the port, and it's a simple problem to fix. Swap some numbers on their end swap some numbers on our end, a quick gameguard update, and everyone's keen.

There is no reason why they should have let this problem go on so long.

[Aerowyn2]

Yeah... I just moved into dorms and guess what? The ports are all blocked :mad:
And... of course the IT guys don't care if we can't play our games. They're not willing to budge at all. This is rediculous! Did anyone figure out any other ways around it?

[Aerowyn2]

Been doing a little reading on issues like this. Has anyone had any luck trying a socksCap proxy server? I don't really know much about them myself but it sounds like a likely solution.

[Serazard]

Hello fellow Collegians!
Here's a big tip (a real one)
Use Proxifier instead of Sockscap.
In my point of view it's a lot more powerful and you can change between proxy servers swiftly.
Good luck!

[mallis]

I somehow have a ping lever of 9999, and I can't even get past the server screen, any answers??

[Splatter]

I take it your in a college?

Anyways the high ping rate just means your blocked. Any chance the college could open some ports?

[mallis]

I can work on that, any other options??

[Splatter]

A proxy server setup, but you may have lag issues doing that.

[mastertae]

I also have problems with lag. I can connect into l2 and my ping time is around 88-90, but I lag so badly that it is virtually impossible to play

[Horcrux]

i just got the game, but i cant play it because of the 5+ minutes lag, played for 1 hour and only get to kill one gremling ang got half way to lvl 2 :s, i read that it may be cause for the traffic limit of port 7777 :(, there is no way i can get it changed or unlimitted by my ISP :(, i hope they change it someday, cause i wil not be able to play it otherwise, i will loose the included month with the game :( :( :(

[Splatter]

If you aren't in a college drop me a PM.... Your issues maybe fixable.

[Jengaa]

I just opened up an account here, and it seems that I have the same problem a lot of people here have. My university won't open the p2p ports that lineage2 uses. Is it not possible for alternate ports to be opened on the lineage servers for the many people that aren't able to connect? If not, is there any way i can get a refund? I'd rather not pay for a game i'm never going to be able to play.

Thanks

[Stone_wall]

I face similar problems. Currently I find better connection using dial-up than thru my college connection simply because of the port issues. Most times I cant play at all, and when I do find some moment of lag-free time (usually around 3am) it usually doesnt last very long before the lag is back in full force.

This is very inconvient, and rather than make every college in America change port settings, blocks, and filters...why not have the game creator change the ports the game uses? Why not have 1 place make a change rather than 100s of places make changes? Im sure there is something that can be done about this if someone would bother to just do it.

[Finalized]

I'm on campus right now, and my problem is, when I load Lineage II from the desktop shortcut, it opens the updater. It doesnt even allow me to update my game client. When I go to the system folder, and try to access L2.exe directly, it opens the game, I get through the login, but then I'm stuck at the server selection screen. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

[Splatter]

Didn't you read this thread? Chances are your ports are being blocked from the campus network admins.... Ask them if the ports to play lineage are being blocked.

[Finalized]

http://www.http-tunnel.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=171

Would using this method be condoned as using 3rd party programs?

[GabrielK]

I'm curios about what Finalized asked too.
However that prog's free proxies suck, so you'd have to buy yourself one from them.
It seems usefull when bypassing closed ports and such. However you'll have a decent speed only if you manage to buy bandwidth from one of their paid proxies...

I don't see how this can be considered third party, it does not alter the game in anyway, it does not exploit anything. It does not go against anything in the EULA.

[Finalized]

Still no answer, I guess when I go back to school I'll try it out, if no one from NC can answer my question here before that. I don't see how it can be consideredt cheating, since really all it does is re-route my data through a different connection, rather than my schools. (of course it's more indepth than that..)

[ QUOTE ]
I'm curios about what Finalized asked too.
However that prog's free proxies suck, so you'd have to buy yourself one from them.
It seems usefull when bypassing closed ports and such. However you'll have a decent speed only if you manage to buy bandwidth from one of their paid proxies...

I don't see how this can be considered third party, it does not alter the game in anyway, it does not exploit anything. It does not go against anything in the EULA.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Splatter]

When in doubt, contact support....

[Maitreya]

Just got back to campus. Hooked my PC up to the 45MB connection here with a ping to L2 server about 45.

But it is just terrible. For about 30-45 seconds eveything will be lag free and great! Then I get this crappy 'pause lag' that just stops everything wich can last a minute or more, or even just disconnect me. It is definately unplayable.

I mean, this is a large post with many pages. How hard would it be to change from port 7777 which is a P2P port to a port that is less likely to be resticted. I actually think this could be done during a 45 minute maintanence period.

Well all I know is that my acct expires on the 11th of september, and if lag remains the same I just simply can't play and thus would have to cancel my acct. I wish this wasn't so, because of the new chronicle release ect. ect. But I am serious that I just can't play. :(

[Splatter]

Is 7777 being blocked....

Because there is no reason to block that port anymore because napster isn't around.

You would have a far more easier time to convince your colleges Net admins to unblock that port.

Run the network info tool and check which ports are being blocked. And is it against any polices to play games on the campus?

[Vormav]

So..I can't get past the "connecting to update server" phase while at school. Am I just screwed or what?

[Splatter]

[ QUOTE ]
So..I can't get past the "connecting to update server" phase while at school. Am I just screwed or what?

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you talked to someone in the colleges network admin?

[Maitreya]

Port 7777 isn't blocked but it has restricted Bandwidth because it is a P2P port.

Anyway it has gotten a bit better. Turned of windows firewall...which I dunno why it was on again...but anyway after turning that off and a few days latter lag seemed to be reduced to "playable" conditions. It isn't as good as when I was off campus with broadband, but it is ok now. :cool: