The "???" Ping Issue (personal and dedicated servers)

[x0-VERSUS-1y]

For some time now, I reckon at least 5-6 months, I've seen something bothersome in general server populace and, more pressing, in relation to friends' personal servers that in past not only were showing the actual ping of said servers, but were good pings, around 60-100 with people from my country (Romania) and ~neighboring countries (Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Poland, Germany, France): now almost all my friends' personal servers show "???" even though, in-game, actual ping still is ~60-100 pings, same with some frequented dedicated pubs. Problem is "???" servers get almost no traction aka no one playing on them, and that's my dilemma (and, by extension, my friends' issue): we get no more people aside original group of 2-3 friends.

We all haven't done any modifications on our PCs, no new modems, new Windows installations/updates, new Internet Security System/AntiVirus, VPNs and so on. At some point the "???" ping just appeared. This happens for both vanilla and modded servers. Checking server list for Co-Op pubs par example (print-screens in spoiler below - Mods plus Password Protection: on/off) reveals around 1/2-1/3 of total existing servers as being "???". It may just be that such servers have a very high ping/unstable connection to be shown like that. Yet, after trying randomly some, in about 1/2 of cases that wasn't the problem - still green-to-yellow pings (50-200 actual pings), only mentioned servers were "???" nonetheless.

Spoiler

I've made a poll to inquired about perceived prevalence of topic's issue.

Likewise I've tried to find similar posts from past and only came up with this one: "HELP Ping shows as ???" - still I know I've seem more in recent times.

Could this issue be caused by recent updates, modifications on how server data is sent out and could that conflict worlds and their settings?

[Toutan]

I'm glad someone finally brought this issue to the forum. I've been playing on a personal server for a while now, but a friend told me that the ping displayed on my server was "????", and it becomes annoying because nobody joins my server D:

[Baguettes]

Now this right here needs some attention. If you choose best connection as a filter type, all of those servers get pushed down to the bottom.
i want to know the solutions to this as well, so I should sit back and wait for an answer to this long-unsolved issue.

[x0-VERSUS-1y]

I do hope KLei will take a look into this issue. It appears quite a sum of players encountered said "???" problem developing over recent times on servers that otherwise were "A-OK". As to quote a forumite from linked OP regarding possible solutions:

On 2/13/2021 at 1:00 AM, Daniel86268 said:

...sometimes [can] be fixed by portforwarding, fiewall, etc, whereas the rest sometimes fixes themselves or stay that way.

In certain cases perhaps mentioned port forwarding could help. A general example: How to Port Forward – General Guide to Multiple Router Brands. But I don't know how much (if any) such practice could help for DST personal servers that got the "???" outcome out of the proverbial blue. Once more I wish KLei would weight in, maybe has something to do with a recent-past DST update (and looking at "Year of the Beefalo" with all its bugs, crashes a.s.o., it might very well be the case here too).

[sphericalcow]

I am extremely curious as to why Klei is so silent on this issue, not even a word about possible technical reasons for this occurrence. I recently set up my own dedicated server on a personal server and forwarded all the necessary ports: no change, no fix.

It's very annoying to go to all to the trouble to set up a public server on a good connection, and then have no one join because of this issue. @Klei, is there at least some explanation as to what's going on please?

[ShadowDuelist]

In my server it seems to happen more often after the server has been open for a while (100+ days) or there are a lot of people playing. Ironically even with that, the ping sometimes fixes by itself and that’s when new players get to know the server.
 

Also, since I live in Argentina, most people from the southern tip of South America (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay mostly) tell me they have a decently smooth experience playing at about 60-80 ping on average, even when the server shows “???”

So yeah, no clue how that works...

[prettynuggets]

i just wish they add region tag while making and searching server .. if they didnt find a find to solve '???' ping . 
atleast player can find their own country or in the same timezone area that probably have low ping 
like in south east asian's country i usually have 17 to 80 ping 
australian/japan server about 80 to 150 ping 

im not really technical expert but its seem really easy promising way to make player can find low ping server ...

just wait for another QoL update maybe they will notice this haha 

[ichi.]

I've had this issue as well, since I started playing this game. I also notice that my partner's ping also doesn't show up. It doesn't matter whether it's a hosted or dedicated server either. I've googled this before.

There have been posts about this in the past. I've tried solutions I read about on Steam and the Forums, to no avail. Those solutions basically included changing the router's settings, something with the ports and proxy and whatnot. I'm not that knowledgeable in these things but I am 99 % sure I did everything correctly. Nothing changed. It's bugging me as well, especially even more since I changed my internet provider and now have a very strong internet connection.

It's something with the router's settings for the device you're using to play DST, combined with some small issues (?) on Klei's site, I guess? I'm not sure if it's possible to change it with an update. I've always thought it's just my laptop or console but I don't think every single person who does have a ping showing for their server did some changes to the settings. 

[maxiu]

I've had this issue almost every time I host a dedicated server. I forwarded the ports as per the docs, but I see the UPnP is working fine too. My best guess would be some sort of rate limit or filtering of the method used for UDP ping that's present on most routers.

I would be glad if someone from the dev team would share more details on how server ping is determined, perhaps this will give a place to start debugging this problem.

[x0-VERSUS-1y]

Sadly not even now - over 3 months later since this thread specifically underlined the "???" ping problem (way older in actuality) - has this issue been addressed by KLei in any shape-or-form. "Freshly" for my most-played community pub, with excellent ping for yours truly in past (~50-70 constant), but now isn't shown anymore in server estimations - aka "???":

Of mention: this server is in my own country, roughly 100km away.

Am sure "apologists" can find excuses why this might be, on a case-basis; yet what I know for sure is now almost all my recurrently-DST-playing friends had this problem on their personal servers, plus at moment of this post is happening with dedicated pubs we were constantly popping-in for play-sessions like with "Mighty Beard" from print-screen above - once more: servers that in fact have very good ping; only is not shown/appears as "???".

[Atkvin]

My friend noticed this when I was hosting a ReForged server for us to mess around in. It made finding a game very not fun, you could say. The people that joined also turned out to be across the world and trucking through the ping... Bless them for being good sports and sticking it through for two games.

[Wardin25]

On 4/4/2021 at 1:58 AM, ShadowDuelist said:

Also, since I live in Argentina, most people from the southern tip of South America (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay mostly) tell me they have a decently smooth experience playing at about 60-80 ping on average, even when the server shows “???”

So yeah, no clue how that works...

same bro