Updated FAQ - Connection Issues

[Rod Fergusson]

Double posting here for effect

Hey all,

I just updated the sticky FAQ in General Chat but I thought I should call out the update as a seperate thread as well so that it's easily found.

11.0 - Connection Issues
Losing Connection

The main reason that people lose connections in multiplayer is because either they or the host have their NAT (firewall) set up incorrectly to work on Xbox Live. To see if you have this issue, go to the System Settings blade in the dashboard and choose Network Settings. From there choose to Test Xbox Live Connection. If your NAT returns "strict" or "moderate" then that is likely your problem. To work correctly on Live you want that test to return "open". To acheive this you simply have to port forward a specific set of ports to your 360 as detailed by this Microsoft support bulletin:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908874

Unable to Connect to Host

Unfortunately, this error message is not really giving you the whole story as usually it simply means "Server is now full". What is actually happening is that between the time that the query for hosts was sent and the list was displayed, some of the servers have filled up. This is especially true of Quickmatch and of any host that is displayed with a greater player count than "4/8". In the short term, the best way to avoid this is to use Custom Match and only select servers that display "1/8" player count as that will increase your chances of joining before it's full.

Thanks,

Rod.

[eth-meth]

Thanks Rod, this should help ALOT of people. Great info.

[XxMarcusxX]

Thanks for the newest update, hopefully this will stop current lag outs or connection errors. Thanks Rod..

[Zieu]

Any chance of editing the "Unable to Connect to Host" text to actually tell the whole story? Regardless, thanks Rod. This really helped us out.

[SuspectMisconduct]

hey rod, i'll be sure to pass the message along while i'm playing. all i keep hearing while i'm playing is that "this is the GREATEST GAME EVER!!!!!" and i keep telling people i game with to hit the gears' forums. thanx again for watching out for us gamers, we got your back, too.

*cough*f***EA*cough*

[Stone Hardgod]

If your NAT returns "strict" or "moderate" then that is likely your problem. To work correctly on Live you want that test to return "open".

That's good news, Rod, but my NAT does return "open" when I do the test, and all but two games I've attempted to join between 3 and 4 this Emergence Day afternoon gave me either the "NETWORK: Your connection to the host has been lost," or "CANNOT CONNECT: No connection can be made to the host. Please try again." What makes this really frustrating is, I had a great connection over Live playing co-op until about 1am this morning with no problems at all. I suppose a lot of people were in bed then instead of playing.

Nonetheless, I love the game (and, call me a noob, but I am having a helluva hard time killing Raam (on Casual!)) and I look forward to more great games from Epic.

[Datee]

Everytime I get into a game lobby, and everyone is ready, the countdown starts but it goes 4,5,4,5,4,5,4,5 and then my 360 freezes. Whats the deal, cheif?

[CyberLink]

And why is it that everytime I try to join my friends private co-op game after he sends me an invite, that it says cannot connect to host. The same thing happens when I host it as well.

[U2MOFO]

Any word on the stat reporting issues that some of us are having. Ive got 15 games played on ranked and not one of them has updated. Started a new tag and the first game uploaded instantly.. so its something to do with specific tags... very annoying when you have achievements based on ranked games.

[BumTHPS]

This site really helps with configuring your NAT settings to OPEN as well.

http://tommccann.net/live/

[2th]

Thanks Rod for all the info!

[S.IcE]

How do you open ports?

[gloomlord]

How do you open ports?

A question for the manufacturer of your router, not the designers of GoW... but since you asked, see the link BumTHPS posted a few above yours, it's got the info your looking for most likely.

[S.IcE]

A question for the manufacturer of your router, not the designers of GoW... but since you asked, see the link BumTHPS posted a few above yours, it's got the info your looking for most likely.

Oo, ok. The post helped, I have a Linksys.

[NakaCoco]

"NETWORK: Your connection to the host has been lost."

I have received this error multiple times tonight and my 360 is NOT connected behind a Firewall / NAT device. My 360 has a direct connection to an unmanaged switch that my Cable Modem is connected to.

I received the error during rounds and also between rounds (Split Screen: Account + Guest).

I didn't bother traceroute / packet loss testing to the different hosts that the error pertained to because after receive a few too many of this error, I inserted the Call of Duty 3 disc and played on a couple different hosts with a very smooth, stable connection experience. My other Xbox 360 Online games work great too, never had any real issues with them.

[imusthaveGoW]

ooooo i thought the message was sayin that the connection during the gsme was not good i guess this is why everyone should just make their own room cause they fill so darn quiklee

[cryptmagic]

Nothing you can do, its a bug in the game. You will not be able to play until they release a patch. Just make sure other games work online, if they do then theres nothing you can do. I have the same problem, i guess you have to wait.

[S.IcE]

Thats weird, I just went to try it, but my NAT switched the Open by itselft, yesterday it was on Moderate.

[pWnyoUNOw]

thanks rod but one question, i dont know if this is already on a thread but is there going to be a patch for not being able to hear people in a lobby its pretty annoying.

[Darth Leto]

u got booted because the room was already full if you were joining and you got kicked out if host left game if you were in the middle

[Unreal Havoc]

thanks rod but one question, i dont know if this is already on a thread but is there going to be a patch for not being able to hear people in a lobby its pretty annoying.

That's a Microsoft issue, not an Epic one, confirmed by both parties.

[pWnyoUNOw]

thanks havoc.( idk how to quote, someone please tell me). then rod do you know if microsoft is going to fix it cuz its only your game its happening on.

[ericdrum]

This site really helps with configuring your NAT settings to OPEN as well.

http://tommccann.net/live/

Thanks for that post. That really helped me. I never tested my new router and my last one was "open" out of the box. Now I'm all set.

[NationalKato]

The game is amazing..the multiplayer so very tempting. Tempting? Yes, because the netcode for finding games is a huge handicap.

The time it takes to send a search request (either for Quick Match or Custom) is long. Then, once you've selected a game to join, chances are you'll get the 'Unable To Connect' message, meaning the game is full. Here's where the frustration starts: instead of hitting 'A' and seeing that list of games again to choose another, we're forced to 'Refresh' and wait for the list of games to transmit all over again.

There are many multiplayer browsers being used by different games that work 100x better than the Epic browser. It goes without saying that playing a Bungie game on the Xbox console is light years ahead of anything possible in Gears of War. I can't imagine the developers preferred the existing server browser functionality over other options already on store shelves? Heck, even the broken 2K Games browser is more forgiving.

It's a headache, to be sure. At a minimum, allow us to go back to the game list without forcing us to Refresh. Save us a lot of time and get us into the games faster. It's no fun staring at the Refresh screen for 15-25 seconds at a time, hoping to finally play.

[ibe6yoube9]

My NAT is "open" but I still haven't been able to join a multiplayer game.

At least I'm glad that I'm not the only one.

[damageplan]

good deal, time to stomp some ass

[BossStingray]

I have a very question that has been bugging me for a while!!!

If a HOST drops out of a game/quits does everything in that game no longer count towards your achievments???

I was in at least 3 games to 19 rounds and the host would quit out on round 18 just to be an idiot/mean. At least 80 kills that I feel are now gone. Over 4 hours of gameplay. And that is a VERY frustrating feeling.

peace

[Alexel]

My 360 is connected to the internet through a router off a cable internet connection. My NAT settings say "open" when I run the Xbox Live connection test.

Now whenever my friends make a match in multiplayer, I always have problems finding it in the match list. Usually I'll have to refresh it 5-8 times before I see it, or frequently, I don't see it at all. Also, when I do find the match my friend just made, it's always near the bottom of the list of games, whereas it's near the top of the list for other people searching for the match. Whenever I host a match, my friend's find it without any problems. I also don't experience any latency issues, and gameplay on my hosted matches seem to be fine. Any idea why I'm having trouble finding my friend's newly created matches?

For your information, my friend's NAT settings are also open and I've tried it with multiple different people hosting matches, and I can't seem to find any of them, even after repeated refreshes of the match list. I can see a lot of other matches, but not the specific ones I'm looking for.

[mellowspaz]

This site really helps with configuring your NAT settings to OPEN as well.

http://tommccann.net/live/

Thank you Bum. This fixed every problem I used to have. I would get disconnected in a co-op campaign on average every 15 minutes, now it is non-existent. You are the man To the rest of you experiencing connection problems, I highly suggest this site.

[buurin]

Thank you Bum. This fixed every problem I used to have. I would get disconnected in a co-op campaign on average every 15 minutes, now it is non-existent. You are the man To the rest of you experiencing connection problems, I highly suggest this site.

I get disconnected from ALL games (co-op AND versus) after only about 5 minutes of playing. This has occured ever since I bought the game (2 days after it came out)

The XBox Live Test says NAT is open. The ICMP test takes maybe 30 seconds, is that abnormal?

My connection is wired and I have tried both using port forwarding via my router AND connecting directly to my cable modem. Both result in me being kicked out of games.

This happens not frequently but EVERY game.

What is the deal? This game gets old quick when you can't play online.

I can play other games without a problem and I have no other network issues. I am pretty convinced this is an issue with this particular game seeing as how it occurs when connected directly to my cable modem.

Thanks
B

[scare]

why aren't the ports to forward up here?

[T35513R]

Check here. First post.

[Dark Mr Vader]

Thanx for tha info! Now this is a personal question. If you kill someone while they are down with a pistol but it show a head with the pistol instead of just a pistol, does it count for it being a pistol kill. Cuz I've been trying to get that achievement and I am pretty sure I gotten 100 kills with the pistol (if thats the way to do it). And also, why is it that sometimes my games don't get updated in the leaderboards?

[Nowellsy]

Dont have much issues now connecting at all!!

[monkeyspanker]

Had that lost connection screen a few times now dont have i problem with my NAT settings as i connect my 360 directly to my modem & not networked throu my pc for optimum performance & less lag issues. Could it be the host in these games i'v had probs with fault. eg Are hosts NAT settings inccorect causeing me to lose connection? please let me know if this is the case I can tell my friends & help spread the word to fix this prob

[jrieth50]

I have a couple of things to say: first of all, myself and my 2 brothers that are scattered about the country purchased Gears of War as the first real alternative to just continuing to play Halo2 on XBox Live. Boy were we wrong.

1) All of us have "OPEN" NAT - so MS and friends continuing use of this as a catch-all excuse for everything that goes wrong w/ their multiplayer games is ridiculous. Halo2 doesn't have these multiplayer issues, and that was played by more people for a far longer period of time. And given the current state of GOW online, will probably return to its place as #1 on Xbox Live shortly. The technical problems of host disconnects and network errors are ridiculous and should have been addressed pre-release and/or patched immediately upon widespread use of the game.

2) This is more of a nuance than a technical glitch. At risk of sounding like a fanboy, I'd also like to say that post-Halo2 - anyone who launches a game that they actually expect to be played by large numbers of people online should be forced to adopt Halo2's matchmaking style, playlists or not. But having to find a game, hope it doesn't fill up before I invite my friends, invite my friends, fight trying to get on the same team, etc... is just ridiculous. And hosting a game and waiting 10 minutes for enough people to stream in and having the same problem fighting for spaces on my team is a complete waste of time and energy as well. Last, why can't I play for rank WITH my TEAM in a TEAM BASED multiplayer game? Am I the only person who sees this as a huge WTF? No invites or joins in ranked play? Insane.

To be fair - BIG kudos for full campaign coop play including over live. Certainly a feature that no other company should launch a game without from here on.

But I remain surprised that after the success of Halo's online play, anyone would second-guess their brilliant set up in favor of a dated Quake-style lookup a host by ping time method. And it surprises me further that MS apparently does not require such adherence for the sake of continuity among first party titles.

I love Gears, please try to make online play a more error-free and user-friendly experience. And correct errors on YOUR/XBox Live side w/o telling everyone its their problem (ie. NAT) when clearly your game is having its own exclusive issues.

Peace - Chris
aka OrionTheSmiter

[monkeyspanker]

game developers should take note. quake4 big disapoinment on xlive due to slow crappy lobby system (next gen) halo2 supberb due to its quick lobby system (last gen). dont walk backwards as it gets you nowhere fast

[lesserknown]

But I remain surprised that after the success of Halo's online play, anyone would second-guess their brilliant set up in favor of a dated Quake-style lookup a host by ping time method. And it surprises me further that MS apparently does not require such adherence for the sake of continuity among first party titles.

I love Gears, please try to make online play a more error-free and user-friendly experience. And correct errors on YOUR/XBox Live side w/o telling everyone its their problem (ie. NAT) when clearly your game is having its own exclusive issues.

Peace - Chris
aka OrionTheSmiter

It just occured to me that perhaps they were attempting a new form of multiplayer... I must not have as much trouble getting on the same team as friends, most people are really cool about switching teams. I know I am when my friends are watching gilmore girls or playing viva pinata...

think about it though... most of the multiplayer setup sounds really good on paper. perhaps they just got too paranoid with people cheating. well, I remain optimistic about the patch/ added meterial coming... kinda hoping for more troikas!

[Dunlap]

Epic has already stated that they were not able to put in a party system due to time constraints. However, they've kept the lid on what's being fixed.

I expect to see a party system for Gears of War, but I doubt it will be very soon unless Epic is absolutely on their horses right now. To be on topic...

I have an Open NAT, the 3 necessary ports forwarded, and a static IP address - all on a brand new computer. In theory, I should have a perfect connection, and I do...all except for Gears :-(

[Dark Mr Vader]

Microsoft should update the Xbox 360 allowing you to browse the web from in you 360. I mean the competitons does (both of them!).


Just pointing it out.