Can someone explain please? NO VPN (unplayable) vs. VPN (playable) in Escape from Tarkov since patch 0.15

VPN
1

can someone explain please? NO VPN (unplayable) vs. VPN (playable) in Escape from Tarkov since patch 0.15

2

what does this change?

3

Probably routing to the servers.

4

There seems to be an overwhelming amount of misinformation in this thread…

At any rate, a VPN basically “spoofs” your origin IP/location - altering the route is a byproduct of that action. There’s likely some congestion/issues somewhere in your “natural” route, so changing that route bypasses those issues. There are effectively two ways of handling this issue:

  1. Keep using the VPN and periodically check your non-VPN connection to test if there are still issues. Those issues will likely be resolved relatively soon.

  2. You could do some troubleshooting yourself, but I strongly advise not doing so if you’re not familiar/comfortable with the process. It would require digging through the EFT logs, finding the most recent server IP addresses (this will require some digging through the logs themselves, but they’ll end in “…network-connection.log”) and doing some tracert’s to see exactly where the hops are dying. This won’t do much in terms of resolving the issue, but it’ll give you an idea of where that issue presents itself.

Honestly, if it works with the VPN enabled, just continue to use that. There’s no penalty or downside attributed to it.

5

Try changing your DNS to 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1.

6

my t-mobile lte provider has some really good routing set in place in europe /s
i have this issue since the beginning of the contract (3 years) and not to surprise only in tarkov
not like the server could ping my client to check if im losing 50% packets and just requeue me to another server… too hard to implement i guess /s

for example if i get connected to dublin (ireland) server there is a huge 60% packet loss between two endpoints in england,
vpn solves my problem that shouldn’t really exist…

7

i never used a vpn before but since the new wipe i cant play without anymore :frowning:

8

Your internet provider.

Edit: Or simply their DNS servers, if you can’t change them on your router you can change them for your network adapter.

9

SOLUTION which fixed that problem:

first - i wana thank you all for the help!!

fix - i changed the DNS Server in Windows and since i have no paket loss or lags anymore on the same server

10

Essentially it forces a rerouting of how he’s reaching the servers. The internet goes along basically a huge network of devices that forward packets, and one of the devices he is connecting to that goes to tarkov has bad packet loss or high ping and thus lag.

Source: Studied networking and comp tia and graduated from cisco academy

11

idk mate but it does something. its just in tarkov like that… every other game is running like always

12

What is your connection parameters?
Ethernet or wireless?
What is your ISP/Connection type? mnet, pyur, vodafone, telekom or something else? Fixed line or hybrid line (4-5g/DSL)
Do you have this issue any time (weekdays, weekends, morning evening etc)
Do you have this issue with any other game/service?
What is happening is that your connection to server goes through a route, This route is determined during runtime. So lets say you are connecting to a server in Frankfurt, you connection “might” go through Munich → Salzburg → Nuremberg → Frankfurt. And if there is any problem (overload, connection issues, faulty hardware) in one of these connections you might get some package lost.
But when you enable your VPN you are getting a different route (two to be exact one from your computer to VPN server and another one from VPN server to game server)
Which might resolve your issues.
Other possible tests: change your tarkov servers (select only one region from launcher change region and do a test)
Solution: if you identify you do not have any other possible cause ( wireless connection, hybrid connection etc)
connect your ISP tell them that you have some connection stability issues with some services and ask them to change your port. This might fix your issue.
If they refuse to change your port or something, try to push it tell them you have high package loss in a mission critical service or something. if this they still do not budge ask if you can purchase a fixed IP for your home, usually to this they also have to change your port which might fix your issue.

There are also a couple of low possible causes that might be hard to detect: If you are not in a secure network you might be experiencing a man in the middle attack (someone identifying themselves as a router to your computer and listening to every package you send and try to fish something out of them)
Or your ISP might be doing a shitty attempt at deep package inspection ( if you are living in Vonovia houses they are doing something like that)

Edit: added one other test and another solution parameter.

13

Tried changing DNS in past with no effect on Tarkov… Used VPN maybe 2 years ago or so for that same issue

Games worked fine last few month, but coming back now, it seems broken again without vpn

And with VPN, I can’t reach launcher, were they banned or something ?

14

thanks for your replys!

15

I have not played tarkov for a couple of months but I am living in Munich (mnet vdsl using telekom subnetwork) and I did not have such issues.

16

It’s not singular. Over the past week or two 2 buddies of mine have to turn VPN’s on every now and then to be able to play without packet loss. Ones in the Northwest, other is east/central US. Seems to affect users randomly, and only for tarkov.

17

big thanks for your reply!!

do you think this can be an issue of my own connection even when i have 0 paket loss in any other games like counterstrike, valorant, etc? i mean… its just in eft for the first time and im playing since 2016 (alpha) and there was no change at all. im living in munich since 13 years with the same connection and i did no change to my contract etc. the problem startet with the patch 0.15 - i played 0.14 late wipe till wipe so… idk about your solutions?

18

thanks for this information man! good to hear im not the only one - i have friends which got similar problems but not that often…

19

Nah it’s totally just along route. If you have no packet loss elsewhere such as artifacts in videos or delay/stutter/missed commands in other games it’s just an issue along whatever route you’re automatically using to reach their servers.

20

not your connection specifically but your connection to tarkov servers (or their infrastructure) as I explained how package routing works.
Tarkov definetely uses cheap hosting services so I will not be surprised if their connection infrastructure has some kind of bottlenecks as well.
Since using VPN has already proven to fix the issue, and you cant change Tarkov infrastructure you might try to make some changes in your connection to fix that issue or continue using VPN if that suits you. Its all up to you :slight_smile: