Truebox code causing disconnects Issue Ticket Created on DBG issue tracker

I did that test a few days ago. All PCs were disconnected, even the one on Wi-Fi.

I suppose I could try 4 on Wi-Fi, one wired and see what happens.

Like... start at 2 accounts on wi-fi... see if that causes any issues. If you can get that going, then 3 on wi-fi... then 4... Process of elimination to see where the breaking point is. Maybe it's the shared wired connection that is somehow causing things to go FUBAR.

It's all evidence that might help Daybreak come up with something. If you can't even get 2 on wi-fi to last for awhile, I'd try the VPN and move up from there. Only things I can think of so you can go back to DBG with info showing everything you've tested and eliminated. With as many computers as you are trying to box, I know there are a fair number of overlapping things that could be ruled out.


Maybe it goes back to the way the modem processes it even? My wi-fi is built into my modem, so I don't have a router at all to worry about. So there is no shared path before the modem where data is being transmitted together.

There is nothing your internet connection or bandwidth can do that will instantly make all your toons drop at once AND instantly drop them from the world on the server. If there were, people would have been exploiting it for years. Everyone who's played for any length of time knows what happens when you have network connection issues -- your toon sits there for some time doing nothing, eventually goes LD, sits there a few more minutes, finally drops from the world. If you try to reconnect within ~5 minutes you get a message saying you have a toon in the world, and asking you if you want it to be kicked. That's nothing like what is shown in the videos or people have reported experiencing. When this problem is encountered, toon IMMEDIATELY and completely drops from the world and you can immediately log back in.

I've had disconnects on wifi, it's not a wifi vs wired issue.

I have tested the scenario of 1 direct connect and 1 wifi connect as well, and it has the same issue. I will do a video of that test as well to add to the thread when I get home tonight from work.

Also let me add that this ONLY happens on Phinny, the only server with the truebox code (maybe Quarm too? Has anyone tested it?) If it were happening on other servers then maybe you might consider the possibility that it's a network or bandwidth issue.

Machen sums it up perfectly here.

The facts that truly narrow this down to a software/server code issue are:

• It only happens when connected to the Phinigel server
• All of your characters are logged out of the server IMMEDIATELY
• You can log right back in to Phinigel immediately with no message about a character being in the world already

No matter how you look at it, you can not force an immediate log out of your character from the game world. That feature, the /q feature, was taken out of the game long ago.

The only way you can get your character logged out of the game world immediately is via server-side code. Either the server has to crash or server-code has to do it. There is no other way.

I'm not saying it's the bandwith or the internet connection that is CAUSING the disconnects.

I'm saying that something in the path from their computer to Phinigel, in the way it is interacting with the server, is triggering the truebox code.

There is obviously something different going on between the connections of people who are able to multi-box WITHOUT disconnections, and the minority of people who ARE being disconnected.

If the code were 100% at fault and preventing people from multi-boxing, hundreds of others would be flooding the system with complaints about it constantly causing problems.

So for the minority being affected, they need to figure out what is setting their connection apart from others who are able to multi-box without issue. What seems most likely, then is something on the route from their ISP to their computers is the trigger since it's not widespread affecting the server.

Possible, but that's still by definition a bug in the code. Especially if all those players' configurations work just fine on every other server.

Only because you're assuming it IS a bug in the code and not something else. You can't narrow it down that it's a bug until you can reproduce exactly what the trigger is.

For example in Accipiter's situation, he has said it happens whenever he has the group in close proximity in the same area, and they set off spells near each other. That sounds like to me, if his accounts are in different zones, they aren't getting disconnected at the same time even if button presses are going on simultaneously.

For Risiko and his brother, I am guessing they are playing together frequently in the same zone... Do the disconnects happen if they are in separate zones hitting their buttons at the same time? Or only when near to each other in the same zone? Can you be in opposite ends of a larger zone, like say, Dreadlands... and the disconnects go away, but if you get close to each other they return? Maybe there is something

There are a lot of potential causes for WHY it's happening, that the only way for them to realistically get a resolution is to help narrow this down instead of just complaining about it.

You don't have to be able to reproduce a bug to know it's a bug. If the purpose of the truebox code is to disconnect people who use key broadcasting software, and something in someone's network setup causes it to appear to the truebox code that they are using broadcasting software when they are not, that's a problem with the code, not the player. Maybe the player can come up with a fix or workaround but the fundamental issue is still that the truebox code is not, in fact, working as intended.

I appreciate your trying to help, by the way (and everyone else that has pitched in).

If this were happening to me after going through some of the basic steps mentioned in this thread, I'd probably install wireshark on my EQ PC and do a packet capture to see if there is anything that stands out. Might help determine if the problem was within my own network vs my ISP network or the path to the EQ servers.

Short of Daybreak invading your computer and scanning your actual running processes, there is no way to 100% determine if something that is IMITATING broadcasting behavior is actually broadcasting.

Thus, this isn't necessarily a bug. If your firewall or anti-virus program is blocking the EQ patcher from working, because it resembles a malicious program trying to install something... that's not a bug. It's intent is to catch something that looks suspicious. It is working as intended, but it's not 100% going to know if something is safe and approved unless you override it.

I would if I hadn't (mostly) given up.

Should be very easy to test, if someone like Accipiter or Risiko can hop on a completely different internet connection for a few minutes. Either of you guys have a cell phone hotspot you could connect through just to see if the results are different?

Still think this is differnt from anti-virus or firewall software, because the packets are getting through obviously--the server is just misinterpreting them somehow.

I need to make a shirt of that quote before the next time I visit google.

I do not.

I run 3 accounts from 2 desktops and a laptop... I've never had the problem outlined in this thread.

May I make a suggestion? Why not post a video of the disconnects in action using your cell phones?

You mean like the ones on page 3? Jump to 9:50 if you don't want to watch the whole thing.

EQ Disconnects