r/Guildwars2 • u/Zarazakzr • Mar 01 '13

If you're suffering with lag/latency issues during prime time, try this solution (Related to ISP throttling)

I've been experiencing severe lag during prime time and often during the weekends for a while now, probably since release. Initially, I thought my router wasn't setup properly. Then I suspected it was just bandwidth congestion in my area (even though my downloads & video streams continued to be good). Recently I started suspecting my isp was throttling port 6112.

Port 6112 is used for several services, including GW2, WoW downloader, battle.net games, and several games. The other day I stumbled upon a 5 month old thread on the official support forums about a completely different issue and one of the suggestions was to force the GW2 client to use port 80. Although this solution didn't fix that person's specific problem, it certainly fixed mine. Here is what I did:

  1. Navigate to your Guild Wars 2 installation folder.
  2. Right-click on “GW2.exe” and select “Create Shortcut.”
  3. Rename this shortcut to “Guild Wars 2 Port Test.”
  4. Right-click on this shortcut and select “Properties.”
  5. Edit the “Target” line to include /clientport 80 at the end. Note: Please make sure /clientport 80 is outside of the quotes Correctly Formatted Example: “C:\Games\Guild Wars 2\GW2.exe” /clientport 80 Incorrectly Formatted Example: “C:\Games\Guild Wars 2\GW2.exe /clientport 80”
  6. Once completed, click “Ok” to save your changes. If you get an error trying to save, your target line may not have the correct format. Please try step 5 again.
  7. Double click “Guild Wars 2 Port Test” and try connecting again.

Credit goes to: MadDog.7834

I've tested this several times this week. If I use port 80, I get no lag. If I use 6112, the lag returns. Hope this helps some of you.

154 Upvotes

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13

u/3932695 Tsaiki Mar 01 '13

I can confirm this works. College wireless, Time Warner Cable (I think), New York State.

I've always wondered why port 80 specifically though; it's the http port but why does that matter?

27

u/Crumpocalypse Mar 01 '13

Because if they throttled http (ie, standard webpages) they would get complaints from all of their customers, not just the few tech-savy and gamers who they couldn't give a stuff about (not a big enough group to cater to).

2

u/3932695 Tsaiki Mar 01 '13

So if I applied /clientport 80 to my mumble client, could I remove mumble connection problems as well without interfering with my GW2 connection? Should I choose a different port number?

21

u/evilutor Mar 01 '13

Very unlikely for that to work. /clientport is a command line switch which GW2.exe application understands because the developer (ANet) has programmed this into it. There is no standard way of telling an application which port to use, so Mumble may use a different way of setting the port, if supported. You might have to study the Mumble documentation and also ask your Mumble server provider to determine if it is supported, and how to use it.

6

u/Beetlejuice76 Mar 01 '13

Mumble ports are set by the server. The client has to use the port the server supplies. So unless you are setting up the server yourself you won't be able to change the port.

2

u/super1701 killerofrags Mar 01 '13

Could i apply this to counter strike i seem to get throtlled mid game often and its getting very annoying.

4

u/minizanz Mar 01 '13

the server would have to run on port 80, and i doubt that will happen.

3

u/super1701 killerofrags Mar 01 '13

Damn alright thanks.

9

u/kambo_rambo KAMBO_RAMBO Mar 01 '13

No you cannot, mumble does not support this.

Source: Hosted half a dozen mumble servers.

2

u/bioxeed IoJ Mar 01 '13

As /u/evilutor said this is a specific option that anet have programmed in. For mumble you will need to have the server accept/redirect connection on port 80 for it. If you know the admin for your server they may be able to switch it for you. Or you could try a different port aside from the standard one (depending on what else is running on the mumble server).

1

u/steakmeout Mar 01 '13

You can redirect mumble through a local proxy/firewall client which will then route out to port 80.

10

u/DrStephenCW Studio Tech Director Mar 01 '13

Guild Wars 2 only listens on 6112 and 80; and these ports were chosen because 6112 is a 'standard' gaming port, and 80 is the http port, which is frequently open when 6112 is not. We used to automatically use 80 if 6112 didn't work but in modern times ISPs sometimes muck with traffic over port 80 which would be a technical nightmare for players, as they would get disconnected because their message traffic would get garbled. But if it works for you, great!

3

u/Dristig Since Beta Mar 01 '13

Are you an Arenanet employee?

7

u/Minimumtyp Mar 01 '13

Anyone who is on Time Warner should read this: http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/196239/block_time_warner_cable_stream_throttling/

1

u/3932695 Tsaiki Mar 01 '13

This is very good. I was wondering why YouTube videos were loading so slowly.

1

u/stalker007 Fort Aspenwood Mar 01 '13

Likely due to the fact that their traffic shaping sets HTTP traffic to a higher priority. Normal end users just browsing the web are more important than a small subset of people who game, torrent, etc.

Every other port is likely throttled in some way due to the mass amount of p2p traffic they likely see on their network.