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Sharing Information Regarding Network Delay and Packet Loss for FFXIV

This is Naoki Yoshida, Producer and Director of FINAL FANTASY XIV.

Since around the release of Patch 6.1, we have been receiving reports from players in Japan and other parts of the world stating that they have been experiencing network-related issues, such as a few seconds of network loss, or lag.

We are currently investigating the matter; however, we have not detected any issues on the development server. Based on the information that most of the recent reports are specifically coming from Japan, while others are playing without issue, the network-related issues may be due to the network routing. In the past month, some of the internet service providers (ISP) in Japan have been reporting issues due to high network concentration or trouble related to construction. That said, it may still be possible for us to contact the ISP and work together to see if we can resolve the issues.

The following covers the main causes of network issues, such as packet loss, and how to address them, as well as information we would like you to provide to us. Please submit your information through our support form.

* Please submit a report through the "Providing information on packet loss and lag" section located at the bottom of the Contact Us page.

What is Packet Loss?

Your gaming hardware and FFXIV server are connected via an internet connection and FFXIV works by sending and receiving data called packets on this network. A packet loss occurs when the packet data generated from your gaming hardware or the response packet data from the FFXIV server is lost on the internet path. A packet loss can cause your game screen to stop for a few seconds, or make it feel like your game is frequently lagging.

Additionally, these issues are more prevalent in online games where transferring data is required in real-time, and less noticeable for video feeds, such as those on YouTube and Twitch where the data is accumulated and streamed. In FFXIV, player inputs need to be processed in real-time, and therefore, the data cannot be streamed.

How to Investigate Packet Loss and Lag

If you feel you may be experiencing packet loss while playing FFXIV (such as the game screen stopping from time to time or large delays), please investigate and provide the following information:

  • (PC/Mac users) Please provide your traceroute results.
    * Instructions are listed below.
  • Please provide information about your ISP.
    Details such as the name of your ISP and the type of internet connection you use.
  • Where are you connecting from?
    Please provide the name of your country, state, and city.
  • What time do you experience the issue?
    Instead of broad statements like "constantly," please provide the approximate time frame and your time zone.
  • The frequency of the network issues.

For investigations into network routing issues, information regarding your ISP and location is much more valuable compared to your hardware specifications. We may be able to provide information to the carriers we have relationships with to investigate the matter based on the information we receive.

Please note that we won't be able to contact every ISP, but we'll do our best to ask the providers to investigate the matter. Even if we are unable to request an investigation from some of the ISPs from our end, the situation may be improved if players can provide this information to their ISP.

We would like to continue to provide information regarding network issues and methods for investigation. Understanding your network situation is crucial in order to play online games in a stable environment. The FFXIV Operations team would like to support users as much as we can, so we ask you to please continue to provide this information to us.


How to Obtain Your Traceroute Information

Windows
* Images and instructions below are from Windows 10.

1. Right click on the Start button

2. Click on "Windows PowerShell"

3. In Windows PowerShell window type "tracert [IP address of your data center]" and hit Enter.

IP addresses for each of the physical data centers are as follows:
Japan: 119.252.37.58 (traceroute 119.252.37.58)
North America: 204.2.29.122 (traceroute 204.2.29.122)
Europe: 80.239.145.101 (traceroute 80.239.145.101)
Oceania: 153.254.80.65 (traceroute 153.254.80.65)

* The IP address of the European data center has been changed. (Updated on July 6, 2022)
* The IP address of the North America data center has been changed. (Updated on April 3, 2023)
* The IP address of the North Japanese data center has been changed. (Updated on January 15, 2024)

4. Once the traceroute is complete, copy the traceroute results (the red section shown in the example below) and paste them into the form.

Mac

1. Open the Applications folder

2. Open the Utilities folder

3. Open the Terminal

4. Type "traceroute [IP address of your data center]" and hit Enter.

IP addresses for each of the physical data centers are as follows:
Japan: 119.252.37.58 (traceroute 119.252.37.58)
North America: 204.2.29.122 (traceroute 204.2.29.122)
Europe: 80.239.145.101 (traceroute 80.239.145.101)
Oceania: 153.254.80.65 (traceroute 153.254.80.65)

* The IP address of the European data center has been changed. (Updated on July 6, 2022)
* The IP address of the North America data center has been changed. (Updated on April 3, 2023)
* The IP address of the North Japanese data center has been changed. (Updated on January 15, 2024)

5. Once the traceroute is complete, copy the traceroute results (the red section shown in the example below) and paste them into the form.

By running a traceroute, you can track information such as the network pathway a packet has taken from your hardware to the FFXIV data center, the response speed from each route it passes through, and the frequency of packet loss that may occur in the pathway.

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