Notice VPN Issue Workaround

Stephen Benedetti

Community Manager
Greetings Commanders,

We have noticed that the VPN networking issue, which was addressed in the September Update - Patch 1, still persists for some players. We wanted to let you know that the team has renewed their investigations into the matter and hope to resolve it for affected players as soon as possible. However, in the meantime, we have identified a workaround that will hopefully help you connect via a VPN.

Please follow these steps below:
  • Locate the IP address used by your VPN.
  • Next:
    • (Steam) Navigate to the folder here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Elite Dangerous\Products\elite-dangerous-64\
    • (Standalone): Navigate to the folder here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Frontier\Products\elite-dangerous-64\
  • You should see a file named 'appconfig.xml'
  • Open this with a text editor such as Notepad and scroll down to the bottom, where you should see a Network section.
  • Add the following line (replacing 'xx.xxx.xxx.xx' with your VPN's IP)
    Code: 
    <UseNic>xxx.xx.x.x</UseNic>
  • The final result should look similar to this:
    Code: 
    <Network Port="0"
upnpenabled="1"
LogFile="netLog"
PingTime="27"
MaxUpRate="250000"
DatestampLog="1"
SendCompressedIDs="0"
>
<UseNic>xxx.xx.x.x</UseNic>
</Network>

  • Don't amend any of the other sections as they'll have been configured for your standard usage already.
  • Save the file in the same location.
Thank you for your understanding.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

ferus

ferus
I remember modifying my config.sys file for specific games on my 486 DX2 ;) Good times are back!

On a more serious note - any information and help is appreciated at this moment. Thanks.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
This explains why I don't have any problem with my VPN - it's on my router, not my computer, so as far as my computer is concerned, it's just connecting to the Internet all normal-like.
 

babelfisch

babelfisch
Un1k0rn said:
An even better resource is a dev using their own property.

But bookmarked. Guess this is the best I can expect.

Man FD could learn a thing or 20 from ZOS.
Click to expand...
I think Will is doing a pretty good job this time. He is all over the place, replying to almost all issues, creating a thread with known issues and what has been fixed, etc. This is way better than the way they handled communication during the other updates. Generally communication has improved a lot this year in my opinion.
 

CMDR Tentacle Love

CMDR Tentacle Love
Tried this method, still not working.
Can't connect to Frontier servers.

Updated my vpn software, noticed the ip address had changed, updated the file, tried again.
Still can't connect.

Using private internet access if that helps.
 

Rixxan

Rixxan
I'm glad to see progress, but this workaround doesn't seem to be working for me.

When I boot up the game I encounter the same errors, and the netlogs don't look any different with this new flag in the AppConfig.xml. In fact, I can't see anywhere in the logs it attempts to use the VPN's IP address. (WAN=0.0.0.0) and the VPN client reading "Not an ethernet device, type=53". Tried with both IKEv2 and SSTP protocols. SSTP seemed however to do something different as the logs, unlike previous times, was sending out "HTTP Request took 30.09 sec to complete: https://api.orerve.net:443/2.0/elite/starsystem/dailydigest?M9ACJfzTUx+vMR+tNO0P" and similar.

I tried again with a L2TP-IPSec protocol VPN. Same failure. Again like SSTP, HTTP requests are sent, but the game server still fails on connection. All three protocols had their own IP addresses and were changed in AppConfig.xml with full game restarts each time.

144271


Just thought I'd post up my testing! Thanks for all the work you guys do. I know this is a confusing thing for all of us.

NetLogs available on request.
 

RReds

R
Tried this, still no connection.
Also, both local and internet address, shown in network options, still 10.128.xxx - my local IP, same as before.
 

EUS

EUS
RReds said:
Tried this, still no connection.
Also, both local and internet address, shown in network options, still 10.128.xxx - my local IP, same as before.
Click to expand...
If I understand FD's post, you need to input the public address of your VPN.
10.128.xxx.xxx is a private address.
 

RReds

R
EUS said:
If I understand FD's post, you need to input the public address of your VPN.
10.128.xxx.xxx is a private address.
Click to expand...
Yes, thats exactly what I did. I found my public IP and set it in appconfig.xml
However, game still somehow uses only local IP as I can see in network options
144282
 

MartinG

M
Stephen Benedetti said:
(Standalone): Navigate to the folder here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Frontier\Products\elite-dangerous-64\
Click to expand...
I think that ought to be: C:\Users\<YourUserName>\AppData\Local\Frontier_Developments\Products\elite-dangerous-64\

Note that the AppData folder is hidden by default — you’ll have to enable “Show hidden files and folders” in Windows folder options, or type the folder name in the address bar by hand.
 

Nasty2015

N
Stephen Benedetti said:
Greetings Commanders,

We have noticed that the VPN networking issue, which was addressed in the September Update - Patch 1, still persists for some players. We wanted to let you know that the team has renewed their investigations into the matter and hope to resolve it for affected players as soon as possible. However, in the meantime, we have identified a workaround that will hopefully help you connect via a VPN.

Please follow these steps below:
  • Locate the IP address used by your VPN.
  • Next:
    • (Steam) Navigate to the folder here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Elite Dangerous\Products\elite-dangerous-64\
    • (Standalone): Navigate to the folder here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Frontier\Products\elite-dangerous-64\
  • You should see a file named 'appconfig.xml'
  • Open this with a text editor such as Notepad and scroll down to the bottom, where you should see aNetwork section.
  • Add the following line (replacing 'xx.xxx.xxx.xx' with your VPN's IP) UseNic="xx.xxx.xxx.xx"
  • The final result should look similar to this:

    < Network
    UseNic="85.244.162.18"
    Port="0"
    upnpenabled="1"
    LogFile="netLog"
    PingTime="27"
    MaxUpRate="250000"
    DatestampLog="1"
    SendCompressedIDs="0"
    < /Network>

  • Don't amend any of the other sections as they'll have been configured for your standard usage already.
  • Save the file in the same location.
Thank you for your understanding.
Click to expand...

NO! IT DOES NOT WORK! Try again kids!
 

hchalkley

Senior Programmer
Frontier
It looks like there was an error in communication at some point - the correct XML for this setting is a child element, not an attribute, as follows:

<Network ... various attributes... >
<UseNic>123.45.6.7</UseNic>
</Network>

This is used when you have multiple network adapters (a VPN driver appears as an extra network adapter to the operating system) and the game for any reason does not pick the one you want it to use - with this setting, if there is a network adapter that has the specified IP address, the game will attempt to use that one.
 
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