Disconnecting from server every 10-30 mins (troubleshooted and dk what to do anymore)

[HelloImK]

Hello, I have been hosting a private server w my gf and theres always been connection issues, every time i troubleshoot it a new problem arises, i will describe what's happened and what i've tried as concisely as i can below:

She's had an avg of ~70 ping which will randomly spike to 1k-30k, when it spikes that high it will occasionally disconnect her from server completely, in response, i have:

• made exclusions for all 7DTD files on my (host) and her (connected player) computers
  

• both turned off dynamic mesh (didnt seem to do anything so we switched it back on)
  

• updated game drivers, graphics drivers, windows, cleared gb of space, minimized wifi usage across apps/devices
  

• completely turned off firewall when playing (didnt work so we turned it back on) 
  

• i (host only) port forwarded all of the 7DTD associated ports i could find online for both my firewall inbound/outbound rules and my router, all ports listed below:
  

8080 (TCP) 8081 (TCP) 26900 (TCP/UDP) 26901 (UDP) 26902 (UDP) 26903 (UDP) 27015 (TCP/UDP) 27031 (UDP) 27031(UDP) 27033 (UDP) 27034 (UDP) 27035 (UDP) 27036 (TCP/UDP)

And after i port forwarded all listed ports on router and firewall, her avg went from ~70 to a flat 15, and spikes went from 30k cap to 600 cap and it seemed to me that all her major problems were resolved and the game ran smoothly for 2 hours, but from here on out started a completely new issue: 

Every 10-30 mins she completely disconnects from server even if her ping read as 15, her steam would go offline momentarily and shortly after she'd reconnect to steam and have to get invited to the server again. (interestingly, on our most recent playthrough on her 3rd reconnect all the initial problems started showing again, 1k-30k spikes 70 avg ping, frequent bad connection, etc) 

I saw a source online that fits the above description exactly and they said that the solution was to call our ISP (we dont live w each other or use the same ISP) because they have a switch for our router that prevents microstuttering meant to combat online pirating ? Which they didnt provide a name for and we haven't tried but plan to ask about when we call them, but idk if thats an actual solution. https://steamcommunity.com/app/251570/discussions/1/3196990234733213031/

I also dk if its necessary for her to also port forward her router and firewall on her end, we havent tried that 

I also host the game via steam (I launch my world, i press esc for the pause screen and i click invite and invite her thru steam friends page) but i hear about prioritizing "litenetlib" over "steamnetworking" but i have no idea what that is or how to set that up 

Hoping this sounds familiar or is known issue w ways i havent tried yet, if not here's the logs and the world file if theres something different to be found 

(Note: log is our most recent playthrough where she disconnected 3? 4? times, some had different disconnect messages, but all had the same description as described above) Thank you for reading through and your support

https://pastebin.com/E0gczhud (log)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1l0P3fqbQwn05OgBEugLmVKWv0aWznOWC?usp=drive_link (world file)

 

[Riamus]

Hello, I have been hosting a private server w my gf and theres always been connection issues, every time i troubleshoot it a new problem arises, i will describe what's happened and what i've tried as concisely as i can below:

She's had an avg of ~70 ping which will randomly spike to 1k-30k, when it spikes that high it will occasionally disconnect her from server completely, in response, i have:

• made exclusions for all 7DTD files on my (host) and her (connected player) computers
  

• both turned off dynamic mesh (didnt seem to do anything so we switched it back on)
  

• updated game drivers, graphics drivers, windows, cleared gb of space, minimized wifi usage across apps/devices
  

• completely turned off firewall when playing (didnt work so we turned it back on) 
  

• i (host only) port forwarded all of the 7DTD associated ports i could find online for both my firewall inbound/outbound rules and my router, all ports listed below:
  

8080 (TCP) 8081 (TCP) 26900 (TCP/UDP) 26901 (UDP) 26902 (UDP) 26903 (UDP) 27015 (TCP/UDP) 27031 (UDP) 27031(UDP) 27033 (UDP) 27034 (UDP) 27035 (UDP) 27036 (TCP/UDP)

And after i port forwarded all listed ports on router and firewall, her avg went from ~70 to a flat 15, and spikes went from 30k cap to 600 cap and it seemed to me that all her major problems were resolved and the game ran smoothly for 2 hours, but from here on out started a completely new issue: 

Every 10-30 mins she completely disconnects from server even if her ping read as 15, her steam would go offline momentarily and shortly after she'd reconnect to steam and have to get invited to the server again. (interestingly, on our most recent playthrough on her 3rd reconnect all the initial problems started showing again, 1k-30k spikes 70 avg ping, frequent bad connection, etc) 

I saw a source online that fits the above description exactly and they said that the solution was to call our ISP (we dont live w each other or use the same ISP) because they have a switch for our router that prevents microstuttering meant to combat online pirating ? Which they didnt provide a name for and we haven't tried but plan to ask about when we call them, but idk if thats an actual solution. https://steamcommunity.com/app/251570/discussions/1/3196990234733213031/

I also dk if its necessary for her to also port forward her router and firewall on her end, we havent tried that 

I also host the game via steam (I launch my world, i press esc for the pause screen and i click invite and invite her thru steam friends page) but i hear about prioritizing "litenetlib" over "steamnetworking" but i have no idea what that is or how to set that up 

Hoping this sounds familiar or is known issue w ways i havent tried yet, if not here's the logs and the world file if theres something different to be found 

(Note: log is our most recent playthrough where she disconnected 3? 4? times, some had different disconnect messages, but all had the same description as described above) Thank you for reading through and your support

https://pastebin.com/E0gczhud (log)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1l0P3fqbQwn05OgBEugLmVKWv0aWznOWC?usp=drive_link (world file)

This sounds like something I used to see when I had the game installed on an HDD instead of SSD.  Every 20 minutes, the game does a cleanup routine and this can cause the game to freeze for a bit when installed on HDD.  Depending on the server's timeout settings, this can cause a disconnect.  Might not be the same issue you're seeing, but if the game is installed on HDD, that's probably the cause.

 

[HelloImK]

This sounds like something I used to see when I had the game installed on an HDD instead of SSD.  Every 20 minutes, the game does a cleanup routine and this can cause the game to freeze for a bit when installed on HDD.  Depending on the server's timeout settings, this can cause a disconnect.  Might not be the same issue you're seeing, but if the game is installed on HDD, that's probably the cause.

THAT actually makes sense, idk if you're referring to her end, but on my end i do have 7DTD on my HDD instead of SSD which i hadnt considered cuz i reinstalled valorant on my SSD and unconsciously applied that to my 7DTD LOL. Ill try it right now and see if the issue persists. Thank you for the suggestion! 

 

[Riamus]

THAT actually makes sense, idk if you're referring to her end, but on my end i do have 7DTD on my HDD instead of SSD which i hadnt considered cuz i reinstalled valorant on my SSD and unconsciously applied that to my 7DTD LOL. Ill try it right now and see if the issue persists. Thank you for the suggestion! 

If you are hosting, it would affect anyone connecting to you.  If she's on HDD, it would affect her when connected to others.  This game really needs to be on SSD, probably more than just about any other game.    Hopefully that helps.  Good luck.