Server "unsync" when moving certain items ("reproductible" bug)

Hello everyone !

As this is my first post on these forums, I'd like to say hello to all the community and the Devs ! I know this is not the role of the "Support & Bug Report" board so I'll cut straight to the chase.

I started playing 2 days ago (June 05) and experienced a strange issue just some minutes later. It was just about 20min before the server reset related to the new patch. As I am a "noob", I didn't post straight away and I'm glad I waited because I think I can describe it more clearly.

Issue : I appear to "unsync" to the server when moving precise items.

At first, I had no idea what happened. I just dropped a wand and picked it up. I put it in my inventory and when I wanted to move it to be more organised and store a new shield, I couldn't pick the wand up. I tried moving other objects and picking new ones up but I couldn't either. I could still move my character around but I didn't try to find new monsters. I logged out and immediately re-logged in. I could play normally again. I went back to where I killed the monster that dropped the shield and put it in my inventory. I didn't try touching the wand. After the server reset I continued slaying monsters on the beach and left just after killing "Hillock" (I think I misspelled it). I did a "PackCheck" after logging out and it didn't report an error.

The next day (June 06), I went to the first town and wanted to put the famous wand in my stash. I picked the wand up this time but I'm unable to put it in the stash or back in my inventory. The chat suddenly stops "working" : no more new messages (the same thing happened June 05 but I just thought the other players were just no longer talking). The other players in town stopped moving. As I couldn't get rid of the selected item, I couldn't move my character (occupied cursor). The only thing I could do was to try to put the item on the ground where the game asked me if I wanted to destroy it. I say no, logged ou and re-logged in. When logging in again, I started with this wand on my cursor (already picked up). The chat was working and the players were running around happily ! When I put the item in my inventory, I could once again no longer pick it back up. The "server unsync", as I'll call it, happened again. I have to log out/in to try new things. After a certain log in, I had the item in my hand and destroyed it, this allowed me to continue playing normally. I played fine after that but had to leave the game shortly after (had to get up early :P).

So, now for the interesting information. Today (June 07), I found a new item that caused the "server unsync". I was playing with my brother. This time the item was a "Shabby Jerkin" with 1 red slot and 1 blue slot. What I found interesting was that my brother could still see me move around ! I thought I could no longer communicate with the server ! He could play normally but I was experiencing this "server unsync" (no item movement, no chat activity). So, I log out/in and continued playing normally. I just kept the Shabby Jerkin in my inventory and I had decided not to touch it. I played with no issues for about 40min and got a new "server unsync" after picking up a "Rusted Sword". I dropped other "Rusted Sword"'s and "Shabby Jerkin"'s and had no problems with those. They didn't have the same stats/slots though. I tried moving one of these "unsyncing items" while my character was in a new area where I just slayed 10 monsters. I "unsynced" then ran around a bit. There were no longer any monsters ! None ! Even in the far away non-explored zones.

I now have two items in my inventory (on my Marauder) that I can no longer move without "unsyncing" :
- Shabby Jerkin
- Rusted Sword
Oh, I pressed "F1" to see what happens with my ping. I'm usually around 40 ms and when I "unsync", the value "freezes". It stayed at 37ms for instance. Just before, it was oscillating slightly around that value. Also, when I "unsync" I can no longer view my Kiwi pet in the "transaction tab".

I hope I managed to convey the details of this issue. I read the "known bug list" and tried searching for a similar issue but I didn't find a suitable post. I wasn't sure if the posts where about the exact same issue so I decided to create a new thread. I hope I didn't do anything wrong.

To end with a positive note, I'm really enjoying the game even though I haven't played much yet ! I've spent some time reading these forums and I think I'm really going to have fun ! Good Job GGG !!




TL;DR
-> server "unsync" when I interacted with some precise items
-> what I call server "unsync" is : other players no longer move, I cannot pick up/move/drop items (if I have an item picked up already and am in town, I can choose to destroy it), no general
chat activity, no more monsters in unexplored areas
-> when I server "unsync", the other player in my party could still see me running around precisely
-> I have 2 "server unsyncing items" in my inventory and can reproduce this issue (I can't reproduce "finding" the "unsyncing" items)

(sorry for grammar mistakes and so on, it's been a long time since I had to write in English)

See you soon for some monster slaying, loot hunting, exploring, leveling up, trading, unique item collecting, taking the Kiwis out for a walk and more !
RoedeOurm.

Okay ! I have some new information.

I played a little while with my "witch" tonight and I happened to find 2 new "unsyncing" items. What I discovered was that they don't have to behave like this straight away :
I dropped a wand, picked it up, and moved it in my inventory with no problems. After a bit more killing, I dropped a new "unsyncing" shield. Logged out/in and when I was in town, after running around a bit, I tried moving the wand I previously picked up. Unfortunately I "unsynced" again ! The other items in my inventory are still fine.

I now have 4 unsyncing items :
- 2 on my witch that I acquired in a 25 min play session today
- 2 on my marauder that I acquired in a 1h play session yesterday

This feels like "item corruption" to me. Like an item get's corrupted and the server changes it's behavior towards me. I can send my information to the server because another player could still see me move but I can't "receive" anything. Therefore, no chat, no new ping updates as I no longer have a server answer, no new monsters as the server doesn't tell my client where they are. I may be talking nonsense but this is how it feels.

I'm still keeping the items in my inventory in case it can help.


TL;DR
a "normal" item can catch the "unsyncing" disease

I tried creating a new character but in the "hardcore league" this time. I had no problems on the beach but after playing 14 min, I picked up a new "Shabby Jerkin" from a chest in the Terrace that made me "unsync". The only way I can play for sure is by not picking up any items !


Could a re-install help with this kind of problem?
I may try it tomorrow.


Edit1 : I just installed the game on another partition and I still have the same issue. So I think I can say this is not an installation issue or "Content.ggpk" corruption.

Well, I'll hang around on the forums for the time being. I seem to be the only one with this issue ... Well, I guess it's a good thing for everyone else!

The last test I'm going to do is use my phone's "internet sharing", just in case this is a connection problem from my end. Even though I have a ping always below 50ms.

Edit2 : "Good" News
I no longer have the problem if I share my mobile phone's internet connection. I played a bit (with a high ping near 150ms with lots of spikes) and I had no problems with new items. I tried moving the old "unsyncing" items in my stash and I could !
I moved all the "unsyncing" items to my stash and I had no problems.

I then logged out, activated my "usual" wired internet connection and I still couldn't move those precise items in my stash. Weird Weird.

I guess I have something wrong with my internet connection but I can play other games online just fine (BF3, Diablo 3 (when their servers are up ...), TF2, L4D 1&2, Portal 2 co-op, Diablo 2, Starcraft 2, MineCraft, ...). It also bugs me that I have issues just with certain items and not all of them.

Any form of help would be gladly appreciated.

Could you link the precise items here? You can do that by clicking reply, scrolling to the bottom and clicking on your character. Then navigate through it and click the item once. It will appear inside the reply field.

My best guess is that your router, or else a firewall on the router or your computer, blocks certain packages. If possible, whitelist the application in your computer's firewall and whitelist connections to PoE's servers on the router.

Hello Sumurai8,
Thanks for the response.

So here are the items that I have problems with :



I'll check my FireWall but I'll have a harder time with the Router as I live on a "campus" and we have a "special internet connection" (I can't access it directly). I know the bittorrent protocol is blocked.

Thanks for your help and I'll search in that direction !

Edit : I checked my FireWall and no problems there. Router it is I guess. I wonder what is so special with these items that the router blocks them.

Ugh ! Found another item that "unsyncs" me :
I was not picking up Shabby Jerkin's on purpose but I guess any item can bother me ...

I'm gonna stop playing for now, too much fear of "unsyncing" at every item pickup.

I'll keep you posted if I figure out something.

/sad

Routers at the campus have been a problem more than once. They indeed actively block packages of data if they think it is a torrent or other forbidden stuff. Usually, connections to other game servers are blcoked too.

If playing games as PoE is allowed through your internet connection, ask the person that configures that connection to whitelist packages from and to 159.253.137.128 - 159.253.137.135 (=159.253.137.128/29). Those are GGG's servers.

My best guess is that the router inspects every package and if it contains certain data it will refuse the package. Then the client doesn't receive what it needs to receive and hangs. GGG might be able to let the game fail graceful, but playing behind a firewall that drops/refuses packages whenever it wants is not something GGG can fix. The game needs, after all, certain information/confirmation.

Thanks for your help !

I doubt I'll be able to modify the permissions in the router. If it's not work related, I'm sure "they" will not accept. Well, I guess it's just bad luck on my end! At least it's not a bug!

It's the first time I've had this sort of problem so I didn't question my "ISP". I usually receive an email telling me I used an unauthorised protocol. I didn't receive one concerning this issue.

Once again, thanks for your help,
maybe one day, these packages will be accepted by "my" router (if I'm still living here !)

I'm still glad I was able to support GGG, the game looks really good !

Yay ! Found a Solution !

I used a VPN.

I was browsing these forums and stumbled upon it. After some web searching, I managed to find one where I don't have a giganting ping increase. I'm now at an average 32ms ping and I can move all the objets around :D

I'm off to kill some monsters ! See you in the game !