Takes several attempts to join multiplayer console game (Xbox)

[SpaceShot]

My friend and I have encountered a new problem over the last ten days (or so) of playing Farming Simulator 17 on Xbox One.

Previously I helped troubleshoot the Allow Only Friends issue, and I would have no problem doing similar testing. But I am not sure what to test next or if GIANTS developers want to offer suggestions. (See: viewtopic.php?f=894&t=106014&p=818081#p817067)

In this case, when we play, we are now resigned that it will take "several attempts" to join his game. We have been playing a farm he has saved for months now.

His server comes up in the list. We have the required DLC... in fact, as you will see in a moment, I can promise you all of our settings our correct. Here is what happens.

My friend starts the game. I attempt to join. After about ten seconds, a "No connection could be established to the multiplayer game". I will detail below some of the things we did to attempt to address this, but be assured NONE are the root cause. We have eventually realized we just need to keep trying. Within five to ten minutes of trying, we will eventually connect.

Some of the ghosts we chased include:

Restarting the game.
Restarting the console.
Restarting the console by holding the power button ten seconds.
Rebooting our local routers.
Joining the game with invites.
Joining the game by finding in the server list.
Turning on Auto Accept.
Turning off Auto Accept.
Clearing out the password.
Putting the password back in.
Turning off Allow only friends.
Turning back on Allow only friends.


At one time or another we thought we might have it, but then would find out that wasn't the cause. Other times, we would try something and while it wouldn't work... while we were sitting there using choice English words to describe how we couldn't play, just hitting Join again and again... it would suddenly connect.

So where we have come to is, it takes about five to ten minutes of retries to play Farming Simulator. Sometimes it takes one minute. It has almost never worked first try in the last ten days.

What else can we try? What would help the developers figure this out? As you can see, I will provide a detailed report, but need some help from here on out.

Anyone else having this problem on Xbox? PS4?

[Guil]

Forward the ports mentioned here on your router. If you're not sure how to do it go to portforward.com to find a guide for your router.
https://farming-simulator.com/networkGuide.php

[SpaceShot]

We've been playing this game since launch... we are well past this and have been setup correctly for months. This is a new issue and it doesn't make any sense that merely trying to connect over and over is the answer.

The problem with this solution is that Xbox One reports my NAT (and his) as open. And if we do nothing but continually retry, the game eventually connects. This is how I know that the game isn't blocked from connecting... it just doesn't work consistently anymore... like it used to. Nothing has changed on either of our systems or routers.

[Guil]

The issue you describe is exactly what used to happen on call of duty 4 years ago. Spend ages matchmaking and try over and over again to connect. Sometimes it will, sometimes it wont. Activision released the port numbers for UDP and TCP. Forward them to the PS3 ip and all was fine.

Just because it worked up until now means nothing, if you are using an isp supplied router there's a chance they could have updated it in the background at some time, same for your friend.

[SpaceShot]

Thanks for the suggestion. As noted in my original post, we have verified the settings as given in the FAQ. The reason I wrote the post is we are well past this point.

Just wondered if anyone else is having an issue. If not, then it could be just us... an issue between our endpoints. Who knows... I've seen a bad router in a closet owned by the local ISP be the cause of things. But I count those on one hand compared to issues in PC games which are trying to do a very hard thing... work for everyone no matter their setup. However, noting the success of troubleshooting the Allow Only Friends bug, I thought I'd give it a try.

I know you hear this all the time, but in this case my friend and I are experienced not just at PC gaming but in the software and hardware parts of PCs for a few decades. That's not meant to put anyone in their place... just trying to say... "we've checked it, trust me".

To update this, I must report the good with the bad. We played last night and I connected to the game on the first try.

I know it seems picky to want to connect in one direction to one person, but surely many groups of friends have started a private farm and want to continue it. That's basically the only (or easiest) way to do it.

[SpaceShot]

Just wanted to note this is still a problem. Been trying to connect for over twenty minutes so far. Eventually it will work.

Yes, the ports in the faq are open. We went through and checked everything again just so we could say we did. We play a lot of pc and console games and this is the only one giving us problems, especially on Xbox Live where things usually just work.

Was hoping someone on the development team might be interested in giving us ideas on how to troubleshoot. Have noted in earlier posts everything we ruled out already.

[SpaceShot]

We tried putting consoles in the DMZ just to eliminate any possible port issues. No change tonight. We're just not able to connect tonight. On another night this will be different. We tried a few other games tonight and of course they all work as expected. Something going on here and we'd love to troubleshoot it but we've exhausted anything we're going to figure out.

[Guil]

The only thing you can try when you have problems is reboot both routers or even unplug them for 60 seconds and then reboot both consoles. There is no servers for consoles.