Troubleshooting: Connection Lost

Connection Lost Introduction

Do you find that your connection always drops at vital points in the game and is driving you and your party insane? Want to see if there is something you can do about it? Well look no further!

If you have a slow working, or used to have FFXI working on your system but it no longer works this should be well worth your time.

Your ping or latency can be measured by how long you send a request and get a reply. If you experience “lag” it is taking a long time for this process to occur. This can be not only due to a slow internet connection but many other problems.

Ok let’s get down to business. I’m going to skip out all the schoolboy errors like “Have you plugged in your network cable properly” and “Be sure not to eat your monitor”.

Your System

PC and other Computer users

Computer Specifications

First things first, know your computer. You wouldn’t drive a car without knowing how, so don’t do it to your computer!

The most basic and vital parts would be:

• CPU (Central Processing Unit)
• HDD (Hard Drive)
• RAM (Random Access Memory)
• GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
• MB (Mother Board)
• OS (Operating System)

When installing the game you should also check to make sure your CD/DVD player will meet the game requirements.

If at any time you are unsure of what your system has you can use the PlayOnline Config file found at:

• POL Config

• C:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\polcfg

Select the System Information button and a list of hardware and software will appear. It is also handy for finding out manufacturer details and serial numbers.

A good rule of thumb is to find out what spec the software/hardware you wish to use requires (in this case Final Fantasy XI - software) to run on your Desktop/Laptop, then at least double those resources.

When a piece of software/hardware specifies what you need for it to be able to run, that is the minimum safe amount and if you were doing nothing else other than using that one piece of software/hardware, whether it being a game, software or just an additional piece of hardware.

FFXI specifications

The latest system requirements for your Windows system are as follows:

System Requirements

• OS Windows 98/98SE/Me/2000/XP (XP recommended)
• Intel Pentium III 800Mhz (P4 recommended)
• 128 MB RAM
• 7 GB HDD space
• DirectX 8.1
• DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
• DVD-ROM drive (installation only)
• Keyboard (recommended to have a keypad)
• 56k Modem dial-up connection (Broadband and faster connection recommended)
• NVIDIA GeForce video card with 32MB of RAM or ATI RADEON 9000 series graphics card (AGP)

Healthy Computer

Firstly Firewall and Anti-virus software must be on your computer before you even consider using the internet.

Malicious software on your computer may be using up your bandwidth and even space on your own HDD without your knowledge. This can cause major problems with lag on the internet and just using general applications on your computer.

Be sure you have your firewall check files (Especially if your using a Windows OS) you receive from any means, weather it’s from the internet, CD, USB device etc…

It’s advised that you do a full system scan on your computer every week. Be sure to have software to scan for spy ware, viruses, Trojans and block any IP addresses that regularly try and access your computer without you wanting it.

Another good practice to keep your computer in top shape (when using Windows) is to use the Disk Defragmenter on your computer. (Other systems like Linux aren’t possible to fragment; there is no need for it).

Keeping your computer healthy is one sure way to make it run smoothly.

Recommended action

SquareEnix recommend turning off any background programs.

You can do this by using msconfig startup tab.

For Windows98/ME users:

Bring up the Start Menu and select Run. Type msconfig and click ok. Choose the startup tab and uncheck all the check boxes except from SYSTRAY and scan registry.

Windows 2K/XP users:

Bring up the Start Menu and select Run. Type msconfig and click ok. Select the startup and choose Disable All.

Please note: msconfig was not included in Windows ME/2K so you have to download them yourself. You can do so at this website: http://www.perfectdrivers.com/howto/msconfig.html

Console Gamers

Play Station 2

System Requirements

• PlayStation 2 Console System.
• PS2 Ethernet or Modem Network Adapter.
• Final Fantasy XI Game for PlayStation 2.
• PS2 Internal HDD (40GB).
• USB Keyboard (Recommended).
• Internet Connection (Broadband or dial-up)

Please note: Unless you plan to reformat your Hard Disk Drive the PS2 HDD cannot be transferred from one PS2 to another the same way you would a memory card and you will not be able to establish a connection with POL.

Xbox 360

System Requirements

• Xbox 360 console system
• Xbox 360 HDD
• Broadband connection (Xbox 360 does not support 56k connections)
• USB Keyboard (Recommended as FFXI does not support headset communication).
• Xbox Live account

FFXI Settings

Poor FPS (Frames Per Second)

If you are experiencing a bad frame rate (this has been known to even crash the game/system) then changing one or more of the following may easily solve your problem using the FFXI config tool found at:

• FFXI Config

• C:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\ToolsEU\FINAL FANTASY XI Config.exe

Screen Size Tab

Decreasing the size of the following will increase the frame rate:

Graphics Resolution (Default setting 640x480)

Background Resolution (Default setting 512x512)

Textures Tab

By adjusting these next settings you may increase the frame rate but how effectively will vary due to hardware.

Texture Compression (Default setting Low)

On-screen Maps (Default setting Uncompressed)

Effects Tab

By disabling Bump Maps and turning off environmental animations you should increase your frame rate by a lot, or at least take a lot of the strain off your system if it was struggling before.

Don’t forget to check (while in-game) main menu of Final Fantasy XI, select “Config” and change the “Misc” options like disabling the shadows and weather effects.

When using a piece of software like http://www.winehq.com/ or something similar to be able to run the game on Linux or iMac the default file path should remain the same.

Internet Connection

The vast majority of the time it is your upload speed that matters when playing online games such as FFXI but a decent download speed is needed too.

Protection

Configure

Having protection is a good thing but too much of anything is always bad. If you have a high level of security on your firewall your computer will painstakingly check every little detail of each file and it will take a long time to download information. This can create lag.

Also make sure all of the following are configured correctly:

• Firewall software
• Antivirus Software
• Parental-Controls
• pop-up blocker software
• Routers
• Proxy Servers
• NAT Servers
• Internet Connection sharing services.

Another tip is if you use a Firewall and Anti-virus etc that uses a lot of system resources, while playing FFXI you could set them to a low priority (Press Ctrl, Alt, Del and go to the Processes tab on Windows XP) And set it to low. Just be sure to change it back after.

Please note: that Proxy Servers and satellite connections do not work correctly with PlayOnline.

Your router may require that you use a PC to configure your network settings.

Ports open

If you are using any kind of software/hardware Internet Sharing service/device the following ports need incoming access to your PC. TCP 25, 80, 110, 443 and 50000 - 65535, UDP 53, and 50000 – 65535.

Learn to share bandwidth

Even if you have a good internet connection you may be experiencing lag due to other LAN (Local Area Network) or WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) users. They may be using a large amount of bandwidth by downloading or uploading themselves.

If you find you are unable to reach a reasonable compromise with fellow Network users you may find you have to limit the bandwidth using an administrator account on your router/default gateway splitting the connection 50/50.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)

If you are certain your own network is not the problem contact your ISP and file a complaint. It may take a while and may require an engineer to come out to your home to insure the master socket and micro filter(s) are installed correctly but they may be able to fix the problem. It’s doubtful the connection you are paying for is not enough as FFXI can be played on a 56k but can be played without any loss in connection speed or disconnecting on a 128kb connection (This has been tested) so if your connection is higher than this you shouldn’t be experiencing problems.

If you have an ISP that has specified a DNS server, you need to insure that you have configured your settings to allow packets to pass through UDP Port 53 as well.

You should also check that your ISP hasn’t blocked any of the previously mentioned port addresses.

Xbox Live

For the Xbox 360 users the problem may not lie with their Xbox or ISP but some fault due to the Xbox live service. It’s known that the Xbox live service does not like you simply swapping a cable from your computer to your Xbox rather than using a router and plugging them in at the same time. Swapping the cable over like this has been known to cause some Xbox Live users some connection problems in the past.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: “What happens if I lose my connection?”

Answer: The FFXI servers automatically save the game at set intervals. If your connection is lost, you can log back into the game and continue playing where the server last saved your progress.

Question: “How do I know if I am disconnecting?”

Answer: Sometimes a red icon will appear next to your name (See image at top). It will remove any current icon such as, away, offline, seeking party, auto group etc. Also your Send and Receive rate % will eventually be reduced to 0%. A first sign of lag or being disconnecting is your % will drop.

Question: “How do I know if someone else is disconnecting?”

Answer: Usually a red icon will appear next to their name (See image at top) but a tell tail sign is that they stop moving and responding to anything.

Question: "When I logged in my character was situated in a different location/zone and/or had different status (HP/MP) from when I logged out”.

Answer: When you lost your connection to the FFXI server you will continue at the last automatically saved status and location, which may be different from the last location you saw yourself at. That information was lost.

Question: “The next Cut Scene in a quest won’t work for me, why?”

Answer: If you disconnected just after or during the previous Cut Scene or event, then logged back in it may mean you have to do the same event again in order to proceed. This is most likely because the auto save interval was just before you started or finished the first event and progress after that was lost.

If you have any other questions and find that you’ve tried everything already you may want to contact Technical Support yourself at:

PlayOnline Information Centre +44 (0)870 600 0182 (United Kingdom)
You will need to have your PlayOnline ID ready when calling.

A GM will not be able to help you with any technical support problems. Instead for the most recent and up-to-date news, help and support:

1. PlayOnline Viewer Main Menu -> Service & Support -> "Information"
2. FINAL FANTASY XI In-Game -> "/helpdesk" at the command line
3. Official web site: http://www.playonline.com/