Better tracking for gaming VPN users

[karashiiro]

For gaming VPN users, I'm pulling a value that is roughly two times ping from memory and using that as the ping value. The other, more accurate methods of tracking ping do not work because gaming VPNs deliberately disrupt them (it's part of how they work). Feel free to drop some links if you know of any alternative ping tracking methods that work with gaming VPNs.

[karashiiro]

https://mudfish.net/docs/en/vpn/features/fastconnect_mode.html

Reading this gave me the idea to try and ping a different server on the same Data Center to avoid being affected by this VPNs. I don't know if Exitlag works the same way, but I'm assuming it does, for now.

[karashiiro]

It's also unclear why an ICMP ping fails. FastConnect only affects TCP.

[karashiiro]

https://mudfish.net/docs/en/vpn/features/fastconnect_mode.html

Reading this gave me the idea to try and ping a different server on the same Data Center to avoid being affected by this VPNs.

I forgot to try this, I don’t have high hopes but I’ll give it a shot later.

[karashiiro]

Implemented in e16f246, hopefully that will be the end of that.

[gammarax]

Hey karashiiro, I'm using Mudfish and before 6.08 (25 Jan 2022 FFXIV patch), PingPlugin was working perfectly.

After the patch, it's now only showing 0. Can I provide any info that would help you fix this?
I'm using Mudfish with FastConnect On, using TCP.

[karashiiro]

What version of the plugin are you using, and what data center are you using it on?

[gammarax]

What version of the plugin are you using, and what data center are you using it on?

Version 2.0.2.0
Data Center: Elemental (JP)

[karashiiro]

If you ping the connected server address from the command line, does it show anything above 0ms?

[karashiiro]

My understanding was that FastConnect doesn’t break ICMP, which is what I’m using exclusively as of 2.0.

[gammarax]

When Mudfish is active, the PingPlugin pings 127.0.0.1 instead of the server.
The JP server IP is 124.150.157.26

[karashiiro]

Are you testing it while logged in? The IP address was changed to be hardcoded based on your current data center, so it requires being logged in, now. If the plugin is pinging 127.0.0.1, it sounds like the problem might not be related to Mudfish.

[gammarax]

Okay it seems this issue may be caused by me playing in different data centers in 1 session.

I was playing on Materia (OCE) earlier and it was working correctly with Mudfish OFF.
I then logged out to the title screen without closing FFXIV, I turned Mudfish ON, then selected and played on Elemental (JPN).
Now it was showing 0ms (pinging 127.0.0.1).

After your messages above, I closed FFXIV and opened it again, this time connecting directly to Elemental (JPN) with Mudfish ON. It's working now and showing 75-80ms, though 20ms higher than what's on Resource Monitor.

Thanks so much for the help in finding out what was going on!

[bloodyrein]

is NoPing not supported by this plugin? since the plugin only displays the same ping whether the vpn is on or off

[karashiiro]

If the plugin shows the same ping regardless of if the VPN is on or off, then that probably doesn't have anything to do with your VPN. I might be misunderstanding, what are you expecting to see?

[bloodyrein]

I was under the impression that if I have my vpn on I should be seeing the a value more near the ping I have with the vpn especially since I play on JP Elemental while I am physically in NA.

Then I saw someone playing OCE recently that had the plugin too but physically lives on NA displaying a 40ms ping which I thought to myself "so should the plugin be actually showing me my reduced ping through the vpn?" sorry if this sounded too confusing but its really been bothering me since I recently had problems with latency and I wanted to see my actual ping or at least close to it

[karashiiro]

That depends on how your specific VPN works, but you can pull up Resource Monitor and see how far off the plugin is from that. With gaming VPNs especially, it's hit or miss depending on how that specific gaming VPN does ping reduction, since there's usually more going on in those than just better routing.

[Elypha]

Hey karashiiro, sorry I'm afraid it's a little off topic. Do you know if there are any (preferably open source) working solution for such a purpose, if I presume not all VPNs and proxies are broken?

[karashiiro]

I haven't been keeping a list, but any non-gaming VPN should work fine, as should any normal proxy. Gaming VPNs that don't mess with active connections should be fine, too. The only problem is gaming VPNs that do things like instantly respond to outgoing messages, which trick the system into thinking that ping is lower than it actually is.

[Elypha]

I haven't been keeping a list, but any non-gaming VPN should work fine, as should any normal proxy. Gaming VPNs that don't mess with active connections should be fine, too. The only problem is gaming VPNs that do things like instantly respond to outgoing messages, which trick the system into thinking that ping is lower than it actually is.

Ah I see, thanks for explaining what the problem is. Sorry to ask again but do you know any safe solution to force ffxiv to go through a proxy? I have a http proxy on local machine for general purpose and I've tried to use Proxifier to redirect ffxiv connections through proxy and then I got 0ms shown >.<

[karashiiro]

That sounds like it should be fine, but if it's not working, Proxifier might need to be configured differently? If it's doing anything to ICMP messages, that could have some effect on the ping readout. Beyond that, I'm not sure, since I don't know how every proxy works.

[FairyAmber]

Hey karashiiro, I'm in NA and trying to connect to CN server with a VPN. The plugin pings 127.0.0.1 and gives 0ms pings when my VPN is active, but works correctly when my VPN is off. It is probably my VPN's fault, but do you have any possible solution?

[karashiiro]

Not currently, unfortunately 😔

[FairyAmber]

This problem does not occur with the ping plugin in ACT made by Noisyfox, maybe it can help?

[FairyAmber]

Here is the link: https://github.com/Noisyfox/ACT.FFXIVPing

[karashiiro]

Looks like it's changed since the last time I looked at it, I'll go through it again to see if there's anything useful, this time. The last time I looked, their approach meant things would need to be updated every patch, which is a time drain I'm looking to avoid.

[FairyAmber]

Sounds good, thank you so much!

[karashiiro]

Possibly working in v2.3.0

[karashiiro]

Manual configuration was added in v2.4.1; try setting the tracker to use game packets manually if it's still not working.

[Elypha]

Thank you so much for fixing it! v2.4.1 is now working well with my socks5 proxy
You saved me 70 pounds for my VPN sub lol