Dedicated Server Shows "???" Ping in Lobby – How to Fix?

[Jupiters]

Hi everyone,

I'm running a dedicated server on Ubuntu 24, and everything seems to be working fine—players can join and play without issues. However, in the server browser (lobby), the ping value appears as "???" instead of showing a normal number. This might discourage players from joining since they can't see the latency.

Here are my server details:

• OS: Ubuntu 24
• Port Forwarding: UDP 10999 is open and accessible
• Firewall Rules: Configured to allow traffic on port 10999

Has anyone encountered this issue before? What could be causing it, and how can I fix it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[nome]

When in the lobby screen the client sends UDP packets directly to the servers to determine their ping times. Steam NAT traversal can allow servers to connect using STUN/TURN even when the firewall has not been set up correctly (hence players being able to join your server) but for pings only direct UDP connectivity is good enough. So you'll need to debug why you're not seeing those packets. Could be iptables on your linux machine or could be your router or maybe your router is double-NATed.

[AteIas]

@nomeThis is a long-standing problem, isn't it? We lost a huge number of people due to the fact that the servers are not pinging. What do the developers think about this?

[Auhrer]

On 2/17/2025 at 2:06 PM, nome said:

When in the lobby screen the client sends UDP packets directly to the servers to determine their ping times. Steam NAT traversal can allow servers to connect using STUN/TURN even when the firewall has not been set up correctly (hence players being able to join your server) but for pings only direct UDP connectivity is good enough. So you'll need to debug why you're not seeing those packets. Could be iptables on your linux machine or could be your router or maybe your router is double-NATed.

@nome
 

This problem may seem silly or irrelevant, but it significantly reduces the number of players.

There are people who search the server list by typing:
BR, Brasil, Brazil, Portugues.
But they can't find the server

1- The server doesn't show the ping immediately, it stays ??? and only after a few minutes does the ping appear on the list.
In other words, it's at the end of the list.

2- The names are bad. Someone from South America will hardly search for "South America", they will search for the name of the country

In short: the server doesn't show ping, it's hard to find a server to play on, this would be improved by searching for the country's server name. But the server names don't have the country in them.

[nome]

It doesn't seem silly or irrelevant, it's just a matter of how we correct the problem. If we decrease the rate at which we ping or retry the pings more then it becomes much slower to ping all the servers on the list. If we increase it then it goes faster but the numbers are less reliable and more servers show up as ??? even though they should have a ping. And that's separate to the problem that some servers are going to show ??? for everyone because their firewalls were not set up appropriately. And there are other solutions but those involve completely changing how DST networking works, so an even bigger undertaking that would come at the expense of content for DST.

[Auhrer]

9 hours ago, nome said:

It doesn't seem silly or irrelevant, it's just a matter of how we correct the problem. If we decrease the rate at which we ping or retry the pings more then it becomes much slower to ping all the servers on the list. If we increase it then it goes faster but the numbers are less reliable and more servers show up as ??? even though they should have a ping. And that's separate to the problem that some servers are going to show ??? for everyone because their firewalls were not set up appropriately. And there are other solutions but those involve completely changing how DST networking works, so an even bigger undertaking that would come at the expense of content for DST.

@nome 
 

Wouldn't creating just one Country category on the servers help solve the problem?

For example, when creating the world, having the option to put country flags.

South America would be Chile, Argentina, Uruguai, Paraguai, Brasil, Bolívia, Peru, Equador, Colômbia, Venezuela, Guiana e Suriname

Even with ping "???" people would find the server

With the flags on the server, if someone types the name of the country it will appear.

A more intuitive interface would solve the ping problem without the high cost of changing the don't starve network.
 

It would still be optional

People could still join servers from other countries if they wanted, but it would be more intuitive and easier

Edited April 29, 2025 by Auhrer

[nome]

18 hours ago, Auhrer said:

For example, when creating the world, having the option to put country flags.

If someone wants to experiment with this it should be doable from mods.

[AteIas]

On 30.04.2025 at 00:23, nome said:

Если кто-то хочет поэкспериментировать с этим, то это можно сделать с помощью модов.

We don't want to experiment with this, or change settings on our firewall (its not helped btw), we want to be able to find servers normally and not lose a huge number of players. Do you realize how many people and how much money you've lost in ten years?

This is not a matter of whim

[RudyTheNinja]

I posted about this in bug section years ago

Stopped checking it a few months after I did since there wasnt any response

Still havent checked even now, given up at this point. So it's nice to see ppl are actually starting to notice it

Hosting a server sux arse due to this since your server will be sorted to the BOTTOM of the server list when it says ??? vs the others even if their ping is 600+

Really takes the "together" out of the game. I had a fix for this but doesnt work anymore, couldnt remember it so I tried alot of solutions w a friend checking the server list for me

Also doesnt help that I cant see it myself, only found out after hours of playing alone (unlucky yet lucky it wasnt days like some that still don't know) n a random joined to tell me my ping wasnt showing

Edited June 6, 2025 by RudyTheNinja

[Auhrer]

It seems like it will never be resolved.
I've never seen this in other games, except in Don't Starve Together.

All pings in other games work normally.

[Peanut Brain]

Hey I also set up dedicated server yesterday. Found solution in the forum post I linked below.

In my case, the port used on my dedicated server is not 10999 but 11000. 10999 is for game that hosted in normal way. So my port mapping setting is from 10999 to 11000.

I also had one annoying issue, in my router there are WAN Name we need to specify when doing port mapping, the correct wan sometimes one sometimes the other so I had to port forward to both those WAN.

I'm not familiar with network thing so if what I did was stupid, please let me know.

 

On 6/6/2025 at 1:41 PM, RudyTheNinja said:

Also doesnt help that I cant see it myself, only found out after hours of playing alone (unlucky yet lucky it wasnt days like some that still don't know) n a random joined to tell me my ping wasnt showing

IKR, so annoying. If they know the limitation of their hosting system, it would be cool to have a tool to check if we set up our server correctly.

 

==============

UPDATE: 

Now mine shows "???" again, I didn't change any setting and it randomly didn't work, and this time I have no idea how to fix it. Man this sucks.

Edited September 13, 2025 by Peanut Brain
Solution didn't work anymore.