Connecting to game server that is invisible on Geo-Filter map but auto ping showed me the ping, tick rates etc. and it was the best connection ever, how can I repeat this?

[Niccolo91]

I am playing EA NHL 23 on Xbox Series X and I usually connect to Virginia/DC servers and I live in New York. Ping is usually anymore between high 20s-high 50s. I had filter on around that VA/DC area, because sometime I would connect to a server in Ohio and ping in the 70s. I tried to find a game and within seconds I saw auto ping show some server info like tick rate, but it disappeared and within another few seconds the game said "unable to find game". Usually it searches for minutes before it does that. I thought, this is good, this means the game tried to connect me to a server outside the filter radius and the software stopped me from connecting. I searched for game again, same thing happened. It happens so fast that it doesn't show me the ping, just server tick rate and some other info and it disappears. I think this is weird because no white rectangle is popping up or even the yellow triangle showing that its denied. The game is trying to connect me to a server that is invisible on the Geo-filter map. I tried to search for a game 3 more times, same thing happened. At this point I just turn off the filtering to see what is going on and boom it connects me to a game within seconds. It is still invisible on the map, but server stats are still shown in the ping box below right of the map and what do you know 7ms-11ms latency THE WHOLE GAME. I am used to like 4x that. I took screen shot of the server details. Game felt so smooth, I went up 4-0 within 10 minutes of first period and my opponent just quit! I quickly went to search for another game hoping I would connect to that server but alas, it connected me to my usual not invisible VA/DC server with 40ish ping

The interesting thing is that when I start that specific online mode in the game, a Canadian server pop up for a few seconds, along with my usual VA/DC server, but I never see the servers again, it is only for a few seconds when I start up that game mode. So I restarted that game mode, turned auto ping off and clicked on that server before it disappeared. Well it did disappear but the ping and stats still stayed under the map to the right and what do you know 7-11ms ping! I found the server but for some reason I can never connect to it. I clicked it to allow it and I put my filter in a smaller circle around where it popped up, but I can not connect to it. It won't find a game at all, even though I know server is there, it is in Canada, ca-central-1 amazonaws.com.

The game forces me to only connect to servers further away with worse ping like the one in Virginia/DC or Ohio.

How can I get connected to that one again?

I attached the pic of the servers that pop up when I start that game mode, the yellow one is the horrible Ohio one that I purposely leave outside the filter, the two bottom white ones are the VA/DC ones that are the 40ish ping and the white one in Iowa is a Microsoft server, guess it is because I am on Xbox. The northernmost one is the Canadian one that I connected to once. The MS one and Canadian one disappear quickly.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Niccolo91]

It looks like HybridVPN would help me but there's some issue with putting it on the XR1000 and supposedly it will be in the next firmware, is this a possible solution?

[Netduma Liam]

It could be worth instead trying searching using Ping Assist.

Could you please set your radius as small as possible and put it out in the Ocean. Then, set Ping Assist to 20ms or so and restart your game.

Let us know how that goes!

[Niccolo91]

Hello, I tried this but the only servers that come up are yellow triangle ones on land that I don't want to connect to anyway.

[Netduma Fraser]

What are their pings though when caught by Ping Assist? Zoom out of the map fully and you'll see more information - some servers may be mislocated.

Try this:

1. Quit the application/game/client completely
2. Remove device from the Geo-Filter
3. Resync from the Geo-Filter Map menu
4. Re-add the device to the Geo-Filter with the manual option
5. Set up the Geo-Filter how you like
6. Wait 2 minutes
7. Boot up application/game/client

Then see if it works better.

[Niccolo91]

So I need to keep the filter on right, but if I do that I can't find a game, prob because my circle is in middle of ocean. If i turn filter off, it matches up with a server with bad connection.

 

[Netduma Fraser]

If you're exclusively using Ping Assist and the value isn't high enough then yes. With the steps above try radius over land with PA on 0 again.