Fortnite appearing as "unknown (gaming)" on the smart boost feature

[phdel82]

Fortnite is appearing as "unknown (gaming)" on the smart boost feature, so even though I have set it to high priority, it does not get high priority as the game isn't recognised. It also has a "traffic identified" sign next to this activity which apparently means the application is encrypted but the router can still identify the type of traffic. So how do I get the router to detect Fortnite and get it to actually have high priority. 

Putting gaming as a whole or a certain device at high priority instead is not an option in this case.

[Netduma Fraser]

That is giving it high priority, it wasn't able to tell it was Fortnite specifically but knows you're gaming and so is still prioritizing it. We'd need to update the Fortnite server for it to specifically state Fortnite so I'll pass that on. Functionally though the result is the same.

[phdel82]

I'm not sure I understand I have specifically just Fortnite as high priority and the router doesn't know I'm playing Fortnite so how does this work. The activity is still appearing on the right side of the smart boost pie chart which is the none prioritised side and not the left prioritised side. So I don't understand how it can have the same effect. I currently have no other devices or activity set to high priority, only Fortnite. Like I said setting gaming as a whole to high priority is not something I can do so even if it detects it as a game surely that means it's not prioritised like it is telling me it isnt

[Netduma Fraser]

Prioritize Gaming and then it will work that way

[phdel82]

Like I said multiple times, prioritising gaming as a whole is not an option for me in my current situation please read my full text before responding otherwise it is not helpful and will only confuse things. Please respond when you can offer me something actually helpful and relevant to my questions.

[Netduma Fraser]

Why is it not an option specifically? The only solutions currently are wait for us to update the Fortnite service which I suspect will be next week or add Gaming as a priority. Alternatively you can just prioritize the whole device that is being played on if gaming would cover more than the one device you want to prioritize.

[phdel82]

Again please read my previous texts, adding a specific device is not an option either. I don't think it is relevant to get into fine details of my personal situation however it is due to multiple different devices on the network at once with regular sharing of devices between people doing different tasks and multiple different games being played at once. It is crucial for my situation that I can specify certain games to have high priority not devices or gaming as a whole.

Also as an update I found out that a service called exit lag, which optimises routing to gaming servers, is running on the computer. When turned off Fortnite is now recognised by the router. This is a temporary fix for me as apparently exit lag is needed to be on and running again soon and I checked with the exit lag team who informed me they do not encrypt any data and there shouldn't be an issue from there end. Would you know why this service causes a clash with the router?

thank you for your fast responses.

[Netduma Fraser]

I understand that you may not think it is relevant but it is precisely the details that people don't provide that come out later on as being very relevant, not in every case of course but I find it can help cut the time down. There is always a reason for me asking something, perhaps in a specific use case I can provide a workaround that I wouldn't have been able to suggest otherwise. You don't need to go into excruciating detail, what you have provided there is enough thank you. 

Okay that makes more sense, it's essentially a form of VPN, you're creating a tunnel between you and the game server and so we can't see/influence that traffic. While they're not encrypting the traffic they're still controlling it and bypassing the normal way the router would handle that traffic. That's why BI kicked in, it realised that you were gaming, it just couldn't tell what.

[phdel82]

Thank you this is very helpful, would there be a way around this so exit lag can be used as well as prioritising the specific game on the router or is this not possible doing it this way?

[Netduma Fraser]

2 minutes ago, phdel82 said:

Thank you this is very helpful, would there be a way around this so exit lag can be used as well as prioritising the specific game on the router or is this not possible doing it this way?

In this case the only way to simultaneously prioritize the game and use exit lag is to either prioritize gaming as a whole or prioritize the device so for the way you want to use it no, there isn't a possible workaround. The simplest solution is to disable exit lag prior to gaming and re-enable it after ready for the next person. 

Again not knowing too much about your situation, if you have multiple users using the same PC and it is possible to do so then having your own user account on the PC would resolve this. It would have your own personal settings, files, programs etc. So you could just login to your account where exit lag isn't enabled and game as you would normally knowing it will be prioritized as expected and then when the other person signs into their user account they'll have exit lag installed/running and will work how they want. 

[phdel82]

Okay thank you very much, also as I cannot get Fortnite to be detected as a game I would like to setup a bandwidth reservation on a few devices however cannot select the device itself or even gaming as a whole on a certain device, I am only finding the option to set bandwidth reservations for a device and a specific game like Fortnite. However this won't work if Fortnite isn't detected. Is there a way to set bandwidth reservations for gaming as a whole on a certain device ?

[Netduma Fraser]

Unfortunately not no, the workaround for that would be to do it via ports, i.e. the general gaming ports that are used across most games/the games you play.