Server not responding?

[Celicni]

I want to play with a friend, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It just says "server not responding". Anyone can help out with this?

Everything is "run as administrator", no firewall interfering (entirety of steam whitelisted). Ping is ??? on the server.

[drinkmetogrow]

It could be one (or more) of several things:

-Both players PC specs.

-Distance from all players (including wherever the host is if you're playing on a random server).

-The size of the world being played in (and if there are caves/any extra resources/creatures/mods/etc that were added during world creation).

-Caves being enabled on the server (as caves require 2 seperate servers running at the same time, and takes alot from any PC).

-Mods (whether it's one doesn't get along with another/one (or more) is outdated or corrupt/there's just too many being used/etc).

-High latency (congestion/other programs, or windows, open in the background/other people in households using the internet/bandwidth/connection type/distance from other players/etc).

[Celicni]

Both specs are way above the recommended.

She's in the same city as me.

Size of the world is average. No caves enabled.

No mods.

Another guy also couldn't connect to her server.

[drinkmetogrow]

That's odd. When trying to join and it says "not responding", does it just never respond, or does it just take multiple minutes to finally connect? Or is there by chance an error code or a different message that appears?

[Celicni]

Never responds. Always the same message.

[drinkmetogrow]

When you're actually in the world, and you hit "tab" (in-game), what color/how many bars does it show for connection (for both you and the host)?

[Celicni]

I can not actually get inside the world. It says ??? for the ping.

[drinkmetogrow]

The reason for the ping showing "??" on your friends server is because their router isn't set to allow ping requests (that can be changed though).

[Celicni]

Sometimes I can connect and it all works perfectly though.

[drinkmetogrow]

Probably due to high latency then. Like if there are other people in their household using the internet at the same time they are hosting. If they have other windows/tabs open, or other programs running in the background. Or maybe their internet just isn't very good for being able to host, and play, on a server.

Have you both tried joining the same random/low ping server to see if you can both play without any problem (and hitting "tab" in-game to check connection)?

You could have them launch the game, go to settings, and "enable netbook mode" and giving that a go to see if their server is then joinable. It's a simple little change that does work for some.

[Celicni]

Just tried all of that.

We can join the same server together.

Enabling netbook mode (and also low textures) did nothing.

[drinkmetogrow]

What were both connections showing when you pressed "tab"?

[Celicni]

Client performance: good on both.

[drinkmetogrow]

Sounds like either your friends PC, or internet, just isn't up to the task of hosting a server. If they are hosting a dedicated server, have them try a hosted on instead. They could also try dumbing down some of the world creation settings.

[Celicni]

Well, I think that's probably it, but I'm wondering WHY. She can connect to my server, and I can connect to hers some evenings, and some not at all (like now).

It's a hosted server.

[Celicni]

Bump. Not working.

We tried over hamachi to host a lan game. It works that way. Doesn't work online at all though.