Getting stuck on a Amsterdam server

[RichardB]

Hey,  
I often get stuck on an Amsterdam server even when my filters are set to other regions like NA or other parts of the US. It shows up as the host and keeps switching back and forth between that server and the US server I’m trying to connect to, but nothing actually happens.

Is this some kind of authentication server or what exactly is it?

And how can I avoid this from happening?

[Netduma Fraser]

In a previous topic you mentioned you had fixed it, have you been allowing/denying more servers since that point?

[RichardB]

Hello,

 

Yes, I managed to fix it enough so that I’m able to use the Geo-Filter most of the time, but very often this server also shows up and causes issues. Especially when I have other EU friends in the party, even if I’m the host.

 

I’ve also allowed a lot more servers now — could that be causing problems? Or are you supposed to have some servers on allow and some on deny?

 

Do you know if this Amsterdam server is an actual game server or if it’s an auth/relay server?

[Netduma Fraser]

Sorry a bit of a long one but hopefully this gives you a good oversight and will help in figuring out what is happening.

Allowing or denying could have impacts on your ability to filter if you allow/deny the wrong ones. Everyday filtering you don't need to add any servers to allow/deny except in these possible scenarios:

Allow:

• Adding friends
• Adding servers that had a good connection that you may like to play on in the future - it won't necessarily make you connect to it more but if your radius would ordinarily block it then you could still connect
• Adding servers you suspect are authentication/required servers i.e. servers that appear blocked when running a console speedtest, servers that appear blocked when you're unable to sign into a game etc

Deny:

• Blocking servers that have given you a bad connection - this will prevent you connecting to it again but remember there are multiple servers clustered in a singular location so it can appear as though you're connecting to the same place but it will be a different server in that location.

So in these scenarios, if you were to allow a server that's outside your radius you could connect to it regardless of your settings, that might go against what you're trying to achieve. If you've denied a server that was actually an authentication/required server then this may prevent you playing at all or playing in a specific region. There is a possibility as well that if you've denied/allowed the wrong server that the game could relay you to a server outside your radius that would normally be blocked - this isn't something I've seen for CoD though. If you're blanket allowing anything in your radius and denying anything outside your radius that's not the best way to do it and could definitely lead to issues - anything inside will be allowed and anything outside will be blocked anyway, just temporarily.

The only authentication servers I am aware of for CoD are in Ireland and Washington so I don't think the Amsterdam server is one. 

From your screenshot you've manually allowed a server in Ireland - an authentication server - that is correct. There are two other servers, the server you're playing on and then one that is allowed in France - not one that has been added to the allow list though. So what that tells me given that I can't see where you've placed your filter is that very likely one of the following things have happened:

• Geo-Latency or Ping Assist are enabled or Strict Mode is disabled
• The Geo-Filter wasn't enabled prior to turning on the console/game
• The Geo-Filter radius/settings were changed while already on the game but the game/device wasn't restarted after doing so, therefore it still thinks you can connect to the servers you were able to before
• Filtering isn't enabled
• You have set an Internet Rule to allow ALL traffic to the device thereby bypassing the Geo-Filter restrictions

After looking up the ID of this Amsterdam server I can see it belongs to Cloudflare and as far as I am aware they don't use this for the gaming or authentication servers so I'm wondering if you've changed your DNS manually to 1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1 and the Geo-Filter is picking it up, hence why it's always showing as being connected, in which case it's more likely that server in France is the game server in your screenshot but the other aspects would still apply anyway.

If you have allowed/denied something you haven't/have been blanket allowing/denying then a good thing to do if you want to of course would be to remove all the servers you've allowed/denied and see if the issue still occurs.

Last but not least I've given you access to the Early Access firmware which is a big one for fixes/QOL changes including some made to the Geo-Filter so if it is caused by an actual firmware issue (which I think is unlikely) then it would probably be fixed by this version: https://forum.netduma.com/topic/60946-new-r3-firmware-dumaos-401147/