disconnecting at character select as well?

[benolvole]

I guess this has happened to kerrilea and xerzis as well?

I haven't even touched my EQ Client and when i tried to get on last night when i press enter world it disconnects me and that's it. Nothing has been tampered with on my pc so its bizarre that this has happened.

Has this happen to anyone else ?

[xerzis]

Seems this is still happening to any account I use other than Xerzis.

[Osiris]

I have been doing some mainatnence stuff on the server for the last few hours. Some of which was pegging the CPU, I'm not sure if that was the direct cause of the disconnects.

I rebooted the server about 5-10mins ago, but the machine itself was not restarted. it has been up and running since 11/29/2015. If the disconnects persist, I will reboot the whole box.

[xerzis]

1/11/2016, 5:00 AM EST: Tested different accounts & characters this morning after reboot. No issues.
Logged Solol out last.

1/11/2016, 10:00 PM EST: Logged Solol in first.
1/11/2016, 10:10 PM EST: Attempted to log in with Xerzis with Solol already connected, deconn'ed Xerzis when "Enter World" key pressed.
1/11/2016, 10:12 PM EST: Logged Solol out, attempted to log in with only Xerzis, deconn'ed Xerzis when "Enter World" key pressed.
1/11/2016, 10:14 PM EST: Attempted to log in with only Sansmortis, deconn'ed Sansmortis when "Enter World" key pressed.
1/11/2016, 10:16 PM EST: Attempted to log in with only Vermisive, deconn'ed Vermisive when "Enter World" key pressed.
1/11/2016, 10:17 PM EST: Attempted to log in with Solol, log in successful.

4 separate accounts, same client.

This has previously happened using separate clients as well.

[benolvole]

I'm still having the disconnect problem :/

Tried to log in a few moments ago and i get the same message upon entering.

[benolvole]

okay we found the solution, it is an ip problem. cannot have more than 3 accounts active on the same ip, which is reasonable. Thank you for trying to help! Sorry we caused so much trouble

EDIT - Nevermind what was mentioned above. It is hard to explain..

Xerzis and his alt accounts were on. Xerzis logged off.
Kerrilea decided to log on. Tornadic log on.
Xerzis gets disconnected when logging on, but can log on his alt account Solol.
I decide to log off Tornadic, that makes only one account active on the server, Xerzis is still disconnected but Solol can log on.

It seems like an IP access issue not letting accounts to access after a certain amount maybe?? This must be confusing for everyone but if this information can help in any way..

If this helps to know, we are on three different computer towers when logging on, not logging in all 3 accounts on one computer.

[Osiris]

Jan 12, 2016 12:23:30 GMT -8 benolvole said:

.........
If this helps to know, we are on three different computer towers when logging on, not logging in all 3 accounts on one computer.

first off, this sounds like the IP restriction....I can't get deep into troubleshooting while im at work, but that is what it is starting to look like. I have never had anyone report problems of disconnecting. I can tell you this, if its a IP restriction a client will be forcibly disconnected as soon as you sign on another account (past the limit). So if your getting forcibly disconnected, its another indicator that its probably the IP restriction.



Are all of you on the same network? if you have 5 machines on the same network (towers, laptops, virtuals, etc), when they connect to my server it sees the devices having the same IP address. To the server, if you have 2 accounts running on the same machine, or if you have 2 machines running each with 1 account running, its the same thing. Those machines have local IP's on your local network, but those don't communicate outside of your home network.

Here is a way to test/confirm the IP restriction. Log on with only 1 account, I recommend for testing purposes to only have 1 client running on your network while testing. While using 1 client, log on to as many accounts/toons that you need to see that it is working properly (or not working properly). try this scenario with each account you have (use only 1 client, and only be connected to the server with 1 account/1 client at given time.) this will prove/disprove that there is nothing going on with any account. Do this with each account until you can confirm that the accounts are working.

then sign in with a known-good account(one that you confirmed in the previous step), have the toon sit in PoK or something. Then fire up another client, connect with any account/toon. While keeping the known good account logged in, cycle another account on your second client. Cycle as many accounts/toons until you feel that you know its working properly (or not). You should get no disconnects during this testing, as you are only using 2 clients*.

*make sure during this testing, if your going to do it, that no one else on your network is trying to connect to my server. You should only be testing 2 simultaneous client connections at this time.

If you did that and did not get any disconnects, then its really starting to look like its an IP restriction.


Lastly, have 2 clients up and logged in with 2 known-good accounts, park both toons in PoK (or some safe place) and minimize both clients. Fire up a third client, rinse and repeat, can you log in a 3rd account while the other 2 are just logged in there? or now is when the problem starts to arise?


There is an IP restriction on the server for sure, my original plan was to have a 2 box limit, but I think somewhere it got changed to a 3-box limit. It should be set to a 2-box limit, however I found in the past that it wasn't set to 2box limit and I had to update it. If you are using more than 3 clients from your network, let me know, there are exceptions I can make to allow more concurrent connections for some accounts as long as it isn't abused (like ppl using MQ to play multiple toons at once, which is something I do not want have happen)

[kerrilea]

I'm sure you are right but we will run through all of the tests you mentioned. We have three people in the household who play on your server. Each of us like to box a character (to do instances like LDoN or whatever) but sometimes we just play together. If we can get exceptions, that would be wonderful. (We certainly don't and won't abuse it.)

[xerzis]

OK, went thru the testing process and the results were starting to look like the aforementioned IP issue.
I tested by logging in with a single client on one system without any other account or system being used for the game.
I logged on each character individually from every account taking notes as I progressed, including the number of others using the server at that time IE; {x}.

So here goes...

Individual Log Ins
Account #1: 5 characters. All log ins successful. {0}
Account #2: 1 character, successful. {0}
Account #3: 1 character, successful. {2)
From this point on the number of others using the server remains unchanged.
Now this is where is gets interesting:
Account #4: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button. [This is Sansmortis' account BTW]
Account #5: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button.
Account #6: 2 Characters, successful.


Multiple Log Ins (1st Test)
Account #1: Crashed, retried. Successful.
Account #2: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button.
Account #3: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button.
Account #4: Disconnected before character select screen.
Account #5: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button.
Account #6: Successful.

Multiple Log Ins (2nd Test)
Account #1: N/A, Left character online.
Account #2: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button.
Account #3: Successful.
Account #4: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button.
Account #5: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button.
Account #6: N/A, Left character online.

Multiple Log Ins (3rd Test)
Account #1: N/A, Left character online.
Account #2: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button.
Account #3: N/A, Left character online.
(Inadvertently logged in twice, disconnected self. Why should the server have all the fun!)
Account #4: Disconnected upon clicking "Enter World" button.
Account #5: Successful.
Account #6: N/A, Left character online.

So there it is.

I'm bothered by a nagging suspicion that the Sansmortis account has something to do with this as well.
(The "Default" character account). As an aside, when I logged on there was a cleric named Cleric. Is it possible or am I just paranoid?

Also I would like to reiterate my wife's position that we would not abuse any privilege granted for multiple accounts. I will 2 box from time to time and on occasion have a 3rd character online acting as a bank, as I have a fondness for trade skills that has carried over from my days on live.

So thank you for continuing to check into our issue, I hope this helps, really enjoying the server a lot!

[Ash]

My wife and I used to be able to play together and log in a third character as needed for buffs or Lore item handoffs; since the server binaries reversion to fix NPC damage and other stuff however, any time we try to log in a third character or account that client immediately automatically disconnects; guessing this is a client limit per IP? May we ask for a global setting of 3 or 4? Or at least an exemption for our main IP? Thanks


EDIT: This is still happening, and whatever is counting the number of connected clients from a given IP is not subtracting them when they disconnect. IP limitations really kind of suck; they're buggy and if players all have to three box on a solo server there's something wrong with the content tuning. Cost my Mage some muramite armor and an ancient spell tonight...

[Ash]

This is still an issue and, again, appears to be the result of limiting the number of connections per IP address.

The problem is that the server is not flushing the connections when they actually are disconnected; instead they are flushed apparently automatically on some long timer greater than 10 or 12 minutes; look at your logs from this morning at the number of disconnects on my main account.

Dozens upon dozens of immediate disconnects when it was only the second account connected via the main emu community login.

This is very, very frustrating and just cost me some Seru gear for another of my level 65 characters.

There has to be a simple fix for this if it is what I suspect that it is; if not, there has to be a known fix because this does not happen to me on any other server; even other so called solo servers, or IP limited servers.

THanks

[Ash]

Again this has cost my Rogue an epic Ornate Chain Bridle. Trying to log in a third character after recently logging out another has again cost my character a night's worth of progress. I am fairly certain this has to do with what IP limitations are in place; again, the problem is that the server is no counting or updating that number soon enough to be useful; boss corpses are rotting costing our characters hours/days of development time.

Does the new compile fix this at all?

If not, I again request to relax the number of connections per IP address, and to supply an ingame /motd announcement about your server's #boxes or follow capacity preference. Just one more allowed connection would've fixed 90% of OUR problems; allowing my wife and I a mere TWO simultaneous connections, which I am pretty sure is what you had intended to achieve with your server settings.

Six would be nicer, but you would then probably want to again announce in game your server's intended # box limit being 2 or 3 at most simultaneous in game characters and whatever third party control software policy is in place for the multiboxer crowd.

...

When rare loot rots, like Ornate Chain Bridles, god kills a kitten.

We've seen alot of dead kittens recently...

[Ash]

This really is absurd now, and frustrating beyond words.

The software allows for the client to connect, but not for any characters on that account to enter the world.

What are players in our situation supposed to do?

Bug reported ages ago; this may be as simple as tweaking server settings.

[Osiris]

sorry this is happening...ive been in Orange County all week for work stuff...Is this still happening now? I'll see what I can do later today.

[Ash]

Will test again with new box/compile this morning. I can usually pull up four accounts on my PC without too much lag or trouble, however I can really only play one at a time while the others are parked.

EDIT:

This problem persists even  on test with the updated binaries.

Login on any three accounts; put a character in the world on those accounts; you now have three different characters logged in on three different acconuts.

Log them all out.

Try to login on any account that is not any of the previous three accounts; you can get to character select, but trying to enter the world on any character on any other account other than the first three results in an instant automatic IP-restriction type disconnect.

You have to wait somewhere between 20 minutes and an hour or more before you can use any characters on a fourth account.

Our problem is that we have a core of characters on a single account, but then we each have single special characters distributed across several other accounts; a Ranger for tracking on one account; a Rogue for picking locked doors and other fun stuff on another account; a Magician for summoning pet and player stuff on yet another; and I had planned to level up an Enchanter on Marilyn's third account, since she really only plays the characters on her first two.

It is not unusual for us to need 3 or 4 connections regularly, simultaneously, and we do not "multibox" really; we usually just have a buff toon up, or Lore item holder, or whatever, then do our own things when not duo-ing.

Again, the problem is not "simultaneous connections" per se, it is that whatever keeps track of the number of connections per IP is not subtracting them when they disconnect; so players like us cannot even switch to alts without being auto-disconnected, so when something drops for one of our alts it is rotting more than half the time; we understand the desire for some server ops to govern or limit connections per IP but who cares if people multibox?

Solo players cheating is a worse and more abundant problem in our experience.

All the multiboxers i have ever met, anywhere, across every server in this community have been the most helpful and nicest of all the players, even better than on live servers.

It's the cheaters and soloists and megalomaniacs that have always been the problem, and, always will.

No matter how many clients you limit an IP to; there are ways around that too if anyone really cared that much...

IP limits only frustrate ordinary players; it deters neither cheaters nor selfish players, nor hardcore multiboxers who already use proxies or spoofed IPs or even genuine multiple IPs (we have a block of five legit static IPs for our business cable line already, but I really didn't want to connect our gaming rigs to that network; we never had this problem before on servers like Irreverent's or even Provocating's servers, and they were rather hardcore control freaks).

I realize this may seem like unwelcome criticism of something that is just *never* up for debate by server ops who run "solo-friendly" servers...

But there it all is-

A sliver of truth.