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Splatoon 2.00's "unstable connection" problem -- still not fixed in 2.1.0

I have been keeping quiet about this because I thought it'd be fixed by the latest update following some encouraging news.

Simply put, a small number of players started having prevalent connection problems in Splatoon post-August update. For these players, everything worked near-flawlessly in the "original" version of the game before that update, but after version 2.00, 80% or more of Turf War matches fail to finish, instead ending in "unstable connection" messages around 30 seconds into the game. Ranked battles work slightly better, but the percentage of disconnects (which is about 50% by my watch) means you won't want to play in fear of losing your rank.

Here's how it looks to anyone on the receiving end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOywoklGXq8

It seems it might be the result of a netcode change. The Testfire re-run last week, which used the same code as version 1.xx, worked flawlessly for those who were having issues, including myself.

I hope they have fixed the post patch issues with EU players (myself included) disconnecting every match

I've not played it in a week as last time I played it I was kicked from about 14 of the 15 matches I played due to an "unstable" connection

This after 55 hours of not having any issues with it, in the OT someone said Nintendo are aware of it, but yeah I've yet to return to check if it's still an issue

Are we sure Nintendo knows about this issue? I've had a look around and it feels like there are just a handful of EU players complaining about this

I tried again last night, got kicked from all 3 matches I started after 30 seconds to one minute, then switched to MK8 and had no issues

MK8 I've never had issues with, and Splatoon was fine as well for the first 55 hours I played it, it's only since 2.00 it's been a mess

Before 2.00 I'd get kicked out of maybe 1 match every 20, whereas now it's every single match

It's a shame because the game is fantastic, but ultimately unplayable for me now, and it's been over a week and we're heard nothing from Nintendo

I and other affected players had our hopes up for this issue being fixed in this week's update, which has arrived four weeks after version 2.00. Alas, it hasn't, both for me and various players who have reported similar findings on Twitter, Reddit and so on.

It's a shame. Because the number of players affected is so small, I have a feeling that the development team does not know it's a problem, as they are usually quite fast at fixing things like this (I seem to remember a stabilisation patch arriving shortly after launch). Someone contacted Nintendo UK a few weeks ago about the problem, but it seems like something got lost in communication from NUK to NCL, then to the development team.

I must stress that this problem is due to the version 2.00 update and not internet connections -- players using wired setups via ethernet/LAN are reporting the same thing.

Does anyone have any ideas? It pains me not only because I can no longer play one of the best games to come out of Nintendo ever, but I'm seeing a lot of Splatoon players lose faith and it seems like this problem isn't getting fixed.
 

gossi

Member
Not saying this is the cause at all, but why do you think the update caused the issue? It may be worth looking at your NAT status and such to rule it out.
 

NotLiquid

Member
I dunno, I've been using a wired connection with minimal errors and have only ever gotten them in Turf War. If anything, the errors started showing even less for me after 2.0.0. I'm half tempted to say check your NAT or such.
 
Not saying this is the cause at all, but why do you think the update caused the issue? It may be worth looking at your NAT status and such to rule it out.

We've all managed to play the game flawlessly before the update, basically. Post update, we started receiving "unstable connection" error messages (which flash on-screen in yellow), which I didn't see prior to that update.

I noticed it straight away, as I was playing Splatoon in the run up to the August update. Everything worked fine. As soon as the update landed, and I got back into the game, it stopped working, and it's been that way since.

The Testfire last week worked flawlessly though, and that was based on version 1.xx.
 
This has been really frustrating for me. I've been disconnected out of every single match ever since the update. I've tried various methods like port forwarding and changing the router channel but nothing has worked.
 

Faustek

Member
Heh, monster hunter is still an unstable piece of crap here in Europe...:(

Man Now i remember that I don't play MH because of fucking idiots and fucking hacked quests and I hate those jackasses :(
 
Not saying this is the cause at all, but why do you think the update caused the issue? It may be worth looking at your NAT status and such to rule it out.

Because it's a problem that's limited only to Splatoon, and wasn't a problem before the update.

I've been experiencing this, too. It's been impossible to advance my rank because of it, because any time I get a winning streak, I'm immediately hit by a 100% disconnect rate for the next bundle of matches.
 
This has been really frustrating for me. I've been disconnected out of every single match ever since the update. I've tried various methods like port forwarding and changing the router channel but nothing has worked.

Thanks for trying that out -- I was tempted to but never did in hope of a patch that fixed it (and I was pretty confident that the update caused the problem, which it has).
 

Tijmen

Member
Have been experiencing Error Code 101-0502 since September 1. Never had any issues with my Wii U or Splatoon up until now. Now I can't access Friend List, eShop or online games. I am however able to access Miiverse, Netflix and the internet connection test is positive. My Wii U also downloaded the patch for Splatoon last night. Oh, I'm from Belgium if that helps.

Someone please help me out, I NEED Splatoon. :'(
 
Early on Splatoon ran fine for me but I do get disconnected a lot now. I never realized it was the patch, I always figured it was my wireless. I run through two NATs, that needs to change....I know that much.
 

Persona7

Banned
I get error codes while searching for games sometimes and a rare game disconnect. I am using a wired adapter. Hopefully they fix it soon.

Early on Splatoon ran fine for me but I do get disconnected a lot now. I never realized it was the patch, I always figured it was my wireless. I run through two NATs, that needs to change....I know that much.

Double NAT does cause a ton of issues with multiplayer games.
 

oni-link

Member
Oh hey I'm in the OP

Yeah still an issue for me too, It fails 100% of the time in Turf Wars, I can't even make it 1min, and it fails every time, so I've basically been locked out of the game during Splatfests, as I can't play

In ranked it's another story, I can make it to the end of a match 4 out of 5 times, but my rank has suffered because of it

I went into Turf Wars today to check, failed within a minute, same the 2nd and 3rd matches. This always happens despite the first minute running fine and lag free

This is the first online game i've had any issues with, on Wii U or PS3

I even checked MK8 and Destiny after 2.00 and both ran fine and flawlessly online for several hours, and like I'm quoted as saying in the OP, the first 55 hours, pre 2.00, Splatoon ran fine for me as well

I'd get maybe 1 disconnect every 20 matches, whereas now Turf Wars is unplayable, and ranked isn't as stable as it used to be
 

DaBoss

Member
What's your download/upload speed?

http://www.speedtest.net/

From what I've read of some people having this problem, it seems they either don't have their router to have ports opened or they have a low upload speed (below 1mbps). The game requires a higher upload speed than the average online game.
 
I get error codes for every update where I need to connect and download the file to proceed. I have the reset the router and the console to get the game to work.
 

oni-link

Member
What's your download/upload speed?

http://www.speedtest.net/

From what I've read of some people having this problem, it seems they either don't have their router to have ports opened or they have a low upload speed (below 1mbps). The game requires a higher upload speed than the average online game.

Yeah again, it's not this, this is exclusively a problem that occurred after the 2.00 patch after the game previously had none of these issues

All other online games i've played have worked fine

If it was a slow connection or ports not being opened why do other games work fine and why did this issue not exist with Splatoon from launch to patch 2.00?
 

mimho

Member
Same problem for us...... was thinking: "Buy a newer router? maybe", but the fact that, pre-update, the game was working fine tell me that maybe is a non necessary purchase.
After various "experiment" on NAT and DMZ and IP adress and other things, we are now simply not playing at all. And it's a shame.
Stupid....... Flander

PS Any suggestion. for more attempt at fix this problem, it's welcome
 
Me too. But only around 5% or so while ingame and 20% or so while in Lobby. So I'm guess I've been lucky. Tho I don't think I have played 2.1.0 yet (unless it came out before Splatfest and I just didn't notice) so who knows if it becomes worse for me.

Hopefully it gets fixed soon.
 

DaBoss

Member
Yeah again, it's not this, this is exclusively a problem that occurred after the 2.00 patch after the game previously had none of these issues

All other online games i've played have worked fine

If it was a slow connection or ports not being opened why do other games work fine and why did this issue not exist with Splatoon from launch to patch 2.00?
I know that. The update clearly changed stuff that made it more stricter or something and made it so some people can't play while a majority of others are able to play without issues.

Some posts from the OT to give some perspective:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=176237763&postcount=5868
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=176897093&postcount=7041

I didn't remember everything mentioned in tapantaola's post, but that should give a good idea of everything you should try.
 

Ninjimbo

Member
Weird. I played for a few hours the other day and didn't get disconnected once. I didn't even know there was an issue.
 

Heng

Member
Have been experiencing Error Code 101-0502 since September 1. Never had any issues with my Wii U or Splatoon up until now. Now I can't access Friend List, eShop or online games. I am however able to access Miiverse, Netflix and the internet connection test is positive. My Wii U also downloaded the patch for Splatoon last night. Oh, I'm from Belgium if that helps.

Someone please help me out, I NEED Splatoon. :'(
Where do you get this error? When you're searching for a lobby? If it is, the game might be matching you with someone who has their firewall up on their router or something along those lines. If not then I'm not too sure. :/

It sucks OP, and the testfire felt like it had better connection than the actual game. I'm not sure if the testfire was run on dedicated servers but maybe that would explain why the connection is different between the two.
 

Tijmen

Member
Where do you get this error? When you're searching for a lobby? If it is, the game might be matching you with someone who has their firewall up on their router or something along those lines. If not then I'm not too sure. :/

It sucks OP, and the testfire felt like it had better connection than the actual game. I'm not sure if the testfire was run on dedicated servers but maybe that would explain why the connection is different between the two.

It doesn't show the news update and when I touch "Lobby" on the GamePad it tells me to receive updates and when it tries to connect to Nintendo Network it shows this error. Same goes for eShop, Friend List, other games but not Miiverse and the browser.
 

Tuck

Member
Oh, this had been an issue for me. I thought it was my internet connection. Didn't realize it was a thing other people had issue with.
 

Darrenf

Member
I've had this issue for a few weeks now. I can't even finish a match, I don't even last a minute in a game before I disconnect. It was fine until a few weeks ago & I've been playing since launch. Really frustrating.
 
Yeah again, it's not this, this is exclusively a problem that occurred after the 2.00 patch after the game previously had none of these issues

All other online games i've played have worked fine

If it was a slow connection or ports not being opened why do other games work fine and why did this issue not exist with Splatoon from launch to patch 2.00?

As a sanity check, do you mind posting your results?
 

oni-link

Member
As a sanity check, do you mind posting your results?

Ok well maybe this is part of the problem then

I got a download of 2.97mbps and an upload of 0.36mbps

What I don't understand though is why (if it is to do with upload speeds) do all my other online games work fine?

Why did Splatoon work fine for the first 50 odd hours I played it?

Could it be they just decided to kick those who have slower upload speeds for the sake of the majority from 2.00 onwards?

Why does Ranked work for me 4/5 times and Turf Wars disconnect 100% of the time? Maybe because there is more paint down in Turf Wars most of the time so that put more stress on the connection?

The OP also said this:

It seems it might be the result of a netcode change.The Testfire re-run last week, which used the same code as version 1.xx, worked flawlessly for those who were having issues, including myself.

I'm not sure if it's a netcode issue or a connection issue

Enable your Wii U on your router's DMZ

This will solve 90% of your connection issues.

Can you explain how to do this to someone who knows nothing about routers/ports?
 
Ok well maybe this is part of the problem then

I got a download of 2.97mbps and an upload of 0.36mbps

What I don't understand though is why (if it is to do with upload speeds) do all my other online games work fine?

snip

.35 is really bad, and admittly I didn't start playing until very recently, but I'm quite sure that your upload speed is the root cause in your situation.

Non scientific test I ran at first not playing Splatoon gave me .800 uploadspeed. After starting a match it only got .120 Splatoon really relys on that upload speed, and my issue showed itself when playing with my roommate on the same connection.

Upgrading my service provider was my only option, but it fixed the issue. I now have 2mb upload now so playing at the same time no longer causes any disconnects.
 
Ok well maybe this is part of the problem then

I got a download of 2.97mbps and an upload of 0.36mbps
Turf Wars uses a bit under .7 megabits up. Speeds below can cause ink lag. Well, they used to. I guess it just DCs you now? Only times I've really seen ink lag since 2.0 is when somebody's getting DC'd whereas before 2.0 it happened a lot more. So I wouldn't be surprised if they changed the handling of ink lag to be much more likely to just DC the laggy player.

It's possible that Ranked uses less upload so your upload speed is just enough to make it through matches a decent amount of the time. As for other games, well, they could just use less upload or be more tolerant of poor upload.
 

totowhoa

Banned
Turf Wars uses a bit under .7 megabits up. Speeds below can cause ink lag. Well, they used to. I guess it just DCs you now? Only times I've really seen ink lag since 2.0 is when somebody's getting DC'd whereas before 2.0 it happened a lot more. So I wouldn't be surprised if they changed the handling of ink lag to be much more likely to just DC the laggy player.

It's possible that Ranked uses less upload so your upload speed is just enough to make it through matches a decent amount of the time. As for other games, well, they could just use less upload or be more tolerant of poor upload.

Makes sense to me, I haven't noticed ink lag since then either. I have a 5mb upload speed over my router and never had issues since the patch with DCs. Maybe one every 40 or 50 rounds
 

oni-link

Member
.35 is really bad, and admittly I didn't start playing until very recently, but I'm quite sure that your upload speed is the root cause in your situation.

Non scientific test I ran at first not playing Splatoon gave me .800 uploadspeed. After starting a match it only got .120 Splatoon really relys on that upload speed, and my issue showed itself when playing with my roommate on the same connection.

Upgrading my service provider was my only option, but it fixed the issue. I now have 2mb upload now so playing at the same time no longer causes any disconnects.

I'm not really able to upgrade, as I live in the countryside in the UK and what we have now is basically the best that is on offer, we didn't even get broadband here until 2008

I know the government is trying to make things better and provide more areas with super fast internet speeds, but god knows when that will be

Edit: This is also why I'm waiting for a several TB PS4 being announced before I grab one, as I don't want to download a 5GB patch, then delete it to make room for a new game, then have to re download the entire thing because I want to revisit a game

A 4.7GB game downloading on PS3 took me about 3 hours
 

Bedlam

Member
Yep, I've been having that problem as well lately. :(

To the ones mentioning router problems: how can it be a router problem when it worked flawlessly before?
 

Jackano

Member
I always had and still have a lesser problem than that. When starting the game and searching a party for the first time each day, odds I get an error after a few seconds and gets kicked back to the hall are very, very high. I just have to retry again and it works.

Strange. Surely the "netcode" can be improved.
 
v2.1.0 literally did little except roll back some code on the rollers and edit the mall very slightly. The file sizes quote prior to the patch suggested it would do more but the actual patch size was small.

Ok well maybe this is part of the problem then

I got a download of 2.97mbps and an upload of 0.36mbps

What I don't understand though is why (if it is to do with upload speeds) do all my other online games work fine?

Why did Splatoon work fine for the first 50 odd hours I played it?
As someone who got a connection upgrade (mainly because of this but also cost) I can tell you the slower upload speed is not fine. Yeah the matches were playable but far from optimum experience. On the slower connection I could not fight against rollers. I would hit them for a far distance with a .96 gal and dead rollers phantom paint trail would just charge right at me (chargers were also a no-go as they would hit me around corners or through cover). On the faster connection they die and stay dead and I have even sometimes taken them on at point blank (which before would just be a kill exchange).

Regarding ranked vs. Turf Wars. In a similar light about less turk inked I found when I was using a blaster I disconnected maybe 25% less (but still too much to enjoy the game). While any weapon can put down a lot of ink if you want it to the blaster can be a bit tougher.

Also the fact the Nintendo support have not bought up the connection speed and continue to waste everyones time with have you tried switching it off, put the router into DMZ and forward ALL the ports (because we don't know what ports our games actually use) just proves the support are incompetent* and the whole forwarding it to appropriate department is meaningless as failing to understand this rather simple cause gives them no hope. Especially when it reaches Japan and their slowest connection are likely being faster than the minimum requirements.

*-Not to mention contradicting MTU values (Japan says 1300, America says 1500...which btw is almost guaranteed to cause packet loss and the wii U default is 1400).

My guess is also Nintendo changed how desyncs are handled. It used to be freeze the floor (unknown if for all or just the desynced player, no paint would go down then all the paint that should have gone down would appear later) but now it seems to be kick the weakest link (which is just as bad if you ask me as fighting 4v3 is not fun for anyone). It is a shame they probably won't code a way to reduce the stress on the weakest link (having a dedicated server so you only need to upload data to one source rather than seven is one way but that is costly and it is implied in interviews the matchmaking server alone will require paid DLC to maintain running costs in the future).

I always had and still have a lesser problem than that. When starting the game and searching a party for the first time each day, odds I get an error after a few seconds and gets kicked back to the hall are very, very high. I just have to retry again and it works.

Strange. Surely the "netcode" can be improved.
Which error code is that? If it is along the lines of "could not connect to partners device" that is just the match making server being too busy to respond. It happens to everyone from time to time.
 

oni-link

Member
v2.1.0 literally did little except roll back some code on the rollers and edit the mall very slightly. The file sizes quote prior to the patch suggested it would do more but the actual patch size was small.


As someone who got a connection upgrade (mainly because of this but also cost) I can tell you the slower upload speed is not fine. Yeah the matches were playable but far from optimum experience. On the slower connection I could not fight against rollers. I would hit them for a far distance with a .96 gal and dead rollers phantom paint trail would just charge right at me (chargers were also a no-go as they would hit me around corners or through cover). On the faster connection they die and stay dead and I have even sometimes taken them on at point blank (which before would just be a kill exchange).

Regarding ranked vs. Turf Wars. In a similar light about less turk inked I found when I was using a blaster I disconnected maybe 25% less (but still too much to enjoy the game). While any weapon can put down a lot of ink if you want it to the blaster can be a bit tougher.

Also the fact the Nintendo support have not bought up the connection speed and continue to waste everyones time with have you tried switching it off, put the router into DMZ and forward ALL the ports (because we don't know what ports our games actually use) just proves the support are incompetent* and the whole forwarding it to appropriate department is meaningless as failing to understand this rather simple cause gives them no hope. Especially when it reaches Japan and their slowest connection are likely being faster than the minimum requirements.

*-Not to mention contradicting MTU values (Japan says 1300, America says 1500...which btw is almost guaranteed to cause packet loss and the wii U default is 1400).

My guess is also Nintendo changed how desyncs are handled. It used to be freeze the floor (unknown if for all or just the desynced player, no paint would go down then all the paint that should have gone down would appear later) but now it seems to be kick the weakest link (which is just as bad if you ask me as fighting 4v3 is not fun for anyone). It is a shame they probably won't code a way to reduce the stress on the weakest link (having a dedicated server so you only need to upload data to one source rather than seven is one way but that is costly and it is implied in interviews the matchmaking server alone will require paid DLC to maintain running costs in the future).

So basically it's an intensive game when it comes to internet usage and Nintendo upped the minimum connection speed to allow a better experience for the majority?

I've not noticed a difference in ranked when I use blasters or chargers, which are the two weapons I use the most, and in ranked I don't get much lag or kill exchanging (though I'll normally get one kill exchange per match on average)

Ranked is playable for me though, but the disconnect ranking penalty does stop me from getting into A territory

I guess this is mainly an EU issue because we have worse internet speeds in general than the US and Asia?

Thanks, Cameron
/s
 

69wpm

Member
*-Not to mention contradicting MTU values (Japan says 1300, America says 1500...which btw is almost guaranteed to cause packet loss and the wii U default is 1400).

Those MTU values are nonsense either way because you have to calculate your own MTU value, it's different for every connection. This is a good tutorial do calculate the correct MTU value.

If people with problems are in here, it'd be cool if they could all list their internet speed (down and up) so we get a clearer picture of the situation. And please calculate your MTU values and set it in your router and Wii U config.

I guess this is mainly an EU issue because we have worse internet speeds in general than the US and Asia?

Thanks, Cameron
/s

It's not an EU issue. I could get a gigabit connection for the price of an a bit more expensive meal in a restaurant. Some countries like the UK have rather poor internet or coverage though.
 

ss-hikaru

Member
Turf Wars uses a bit under .7 megabits up. Speeds below can cause ink lag. Well, they used to. I guess it just DCs you now? Only times I've really seen ink lag since 2.0 is when somebody's getting DC'd whereas before 2.0 it happened a lot more. So I wouldn't be surprised if they changed the handling of ink lag to be much more likely to just DC the laggy player.

It's possible that Ranked uses less upload so your upload speed is just enough to make it through matches a decent amount of the time. As for other games, well, they could just use less upload or be more tolerant of poor upload.

Now that you mention it you're totally right. Haven't had ink lay down lag in a long time. My boyfriend's sister seems to have a lot of trouble connecting and last night got kicked before the match started a lot of times (Turf War). Her internet has always been bad though
Australia LOL
, but when running the speedtest, we were mainly only paying attention to download speed and ping. So thanks for the heads up on the role upload speed plays. In her case it's likely that all 3 are terrible...
 
I can't even play this game anymore because of the update.
Every other title works perfectly but splatoon is broken, almost every match i get cut off and loose my rank points so the game is pretty much unplayable for me now.

I tried changing internet settings, wired and unwired, everything but nothing seems to fix it.
Huge shame as i was loving this title but i can't even play it.

Please, if anyone knows how to fix this speak up as i'm lost...
 

mimho

Member
gaVAJAe.jpg


If the problem is the upload speed under the .9Mb i better play other game.
 
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