COD and VPN, why and is it really working ?

[unknownid]

Hi, 

I was just trying to figure out technically why using a VPN should get you easier lobbies.

After a bit I found out that it's actually a split tunnel VPN that would work and I assume everybody in europe with a DumaOS sees that Ireland server connection. The theory is that connection it's used for SBMM and so and by split tunneling that traffic to a different country without actually sending your online multiplayer connection through the VPN, would make the game believe you re somewhere else aka in a region where players are not that good but it would still connect you to your closest servers for actual playing as those are different connections.

Well that's at least what I understood so far.

 

So now my questions would be, does anybody else knows anything different about this theory? And, if the split tunnel connection theory is true, how can we achieve that with the R2 ? 

 

P.S After one more hour of research I m now sure that if you split tunnel and pass only 185.34.0.0/16 through VPN to Africa let's say it would be do what those COD specific VPNs are doing and what everybody is so excited of. So how can we create this split tunnel in the R2, i know it will be used with OpenVPN but not sure how? @Netduma Fraser

[Netduma Fraser]

This isn't something we are able to give advice on/support so I won't be able to comment on this.

[unknownid]

Hi, but regardless of COD or anything, can you support R2's VPN split tunnel config with some steps/advice if needed?

[Netduma Fraser]

You can't VPN specific IP/CIDR addresses, you can select a device to VPN and then select a Application/Service/Ports that you want the VPN to apply to

[unknownid]

Ugh, I see. So there is no option to upload a config file as I ve seen ppl split tunneling doing ?

[Netduma Fraser]

You can upload a config file from the VPN provider, you could edit it and it may work but we only made it with the intention of supporting standard configs.

[unknownid]

Well, for what matters as a closure to this topic for the rest of you wanting to try that let me explain you technically why now at least it doesn't do anything:

I have set up a WireGuard (same as OpenVPN) connection on my PC directly and used a VPN subscription which can generate config files. I have added the matchmaking server IP from Ireland 185.34.0.0/16(well this whole subnet) and I made it connect to Turkey and one more test to Myanmar. The IP gets routed to those countries but then I am still connected to Ireland.

I figured it out and it was some telescope.battle.net or so hostname connected to a server in Bucharest (I'm from RO), so that was probably to geo locate me. I don't have my R2 so I just added it's IP to the windows firewall. Even with that disabled I was still connected to that Ireland server for matchmaking.

Last resort was to redirect the telescope as well ad the initial 185 IP to the same region like Myanmar, which I did without a result. 

Just to confirm that the game has some kind of different way to locate me, I turned on the full VPN in my PC,no split tunnel, everything connected to Africa. So I was shwing in game in Africa, same as previously in Myanmar and Turkey but I was still connected to the Ireland matchmaking server. How is that possible? Not sure yet :))) 

Well that's my discovery, so F all of this, I will use geofilter and QoS and that s it I guess.

 

P.S I was using NETLimiter software, it's amazing, you can see al your connections /process and it resolves the IP do hostname +region so you know real time what's going on with your connections in COD. 

 

P.S2 By using NETLimiter I could understand which traffic needs to go through QoS. The only connection that is made to the actual gameserver where playing the match happens was from source port 3047 UDP (only UDP!) -> 30k range or so.

So the only rule in traffic prio you'll ever need is UDP only, source port 3074, dest port: 20k-65k (just to be sure, no other traffic will be sourced from 3074 anyway).

[Kingzzy]

19 hours ago, unknownid said:

Just to confirm that the game has some kind of different way to locate me, I turned on the full VPN in my PC,no split tunnel, everything connected to Africa. So I was shwing in game in Africa, same as previously in Myanmar and Turkey but I was still connected to the Ireland matchmaking server. How is that possible? Not sure yet :))) 

 

Quite simply that the Irish server is a relay server which simply consists of authentication.....I say that I say nothing

 

[unknownid]

Yea but any connection it would make towards myself should indicate I'm in another country and use another relay, no ?

[Kingzzy]

28 minutes ago, unknownid said:

Yea but any connection it would make towards myself should indicate I'm in another country and use another relay, no ?

no it looks more or less like that:

[unknownid]

It shouldn t look like that if i m tunneling all my traffic to a GW in south africa right?

[Kingzzy]

in warzone network setting you are located depending on the destination chosen by your vpn

[Kingzzy]

Whatever you do you have to go through the authentication server in Ireland otherwise you can't connect to the games it's as simple as that.

[unknownid]

yea but i m pretty sure that if i m on another continent i should definitely go through another one no? 

[Kingzzy]

1 minute ago, unknownid said:

yea but i m pretty sure that if i m on another continent i should definitely go through another one no? 

Watch by blocking just a range of the server ireland:

 

 

[Kingzzy]

You make me think of myself at my beginnings good continuation😉😉👍

[unknownid]

Yea, I blocked it myself just to see what happens. But the guy is French so it's normal. I would bet that if someone in USA blocks it it doesn't matter. 

 

So that's my exact point, why does it still see me in Europe when fully tunneled? Like any kind of connection it would initiate it should originate from Africa where my VPN gateway was. If you we're retaining some technical details, you can go full on, I'm working on palo altos.

 

P.S at this point i don t give a crap about it, my HITREG got better when lowering the MTU a bit and disabling control flow(I can prove with bloat tests :)) -10ms each direction when fully loaded). But I am just trying to understand as much as I can how this shit game works. 

[unknownid]

Hi, the geo filtering and QOS are enough for getting the best connection(nobody guarentees easier lobbies, just better connection to the servers).

 

What I wrote anove were just tests and they failed aka didn t improved shit

[Zli]

On 10/22/2023 at 3:00 PM, unknownid said:

Hi, 

I was just trying to figure out technically why using a VPN should get you easier lobbies.

After a bit I found out that it's actually a split tunnel VPN that would work and I assume everybody in europe with a DumaOS sees that Ireland server connection. The theory is that connection it's used for SBMM and so and by split tunneling that traffic to a different country without actually sending your online multiplayer connection through the VPN, would make the game believe you re somewhere else aka in a region where players are not that good but it would still connect you to your closest servers for actual playing as those are different connections.

Well that's at least what I understood so far.

 

So now my questions would be, does anybody else knows anything different about this theory? And, if the split tunnel connection theory is true, how can we achieve that with the R2 ? 

 

P.S After one more hour of research I m now sure that if you split tunnel and pass only 185.34.0.0/16 through VPN to Africa let's say it would be do what those COD specific VPNs are doing and what everybody is so excited of. So how can we create this split tunnel in the R2, i know it will be used with OpenVPN but not sure how? @Netduma Fraser

https://youtu.be/0RBjgzo-dRY?si=FwlRDMOq0IPtdVRl