Please scroll to the very bottom for a summary of the investigation and solution found. I am changing this post to make the thread easier to read.
2 Likes
I sent a summary of what I found so far to Zwift support (Seth S.). It is difficult to stay in touch due to a way how zwift support systems operate (replies to e-mail from Zwift are automatically rejected and archived), but it looks like Seth is following this forum.
1 Like
I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, and if they ended up switching servers all the time with interruptions in transmission in between.
Typo correction on the graph: 3:57:00, 2 mins disconnect
Guys:
I use Symantec firewall. It is functional and logical. Windows Defender firewall (which is a part of Windows operating system) is not for the faint of heart. It took me good 20 minutes to figure out how to create a rule to allow incoming UDP traffic from a specific remote port. The process is by no means obvious, but I think I figured it out.
I do not want to screw up my system more than I need to do. Right now, Windows firewall on my PC is disabled, in favor of Symantec. Testing Windows firewall settings is a little tricky in my case.
If you see riders disappear during your races (e.g., Tour de Zwift), if you run Zwift on a Windows PC, and if you do not use a third party firewall (i.e., let Defender run as a default firewall), could you please create a rule per instructions below, ride a race, and let me know if this change helped?
Here we go. Type “Windows Defender” in the search bar next to the Start button, or navigate to it: Control Panel → System and Security → Windows Defender Firewall.
In the next window, click on “Inbound Rules”
Click on “New Rule”
Click on the second item on the list, “Port”, then click “Next”
Make sure that UDP and All local Ports are selected, and click “Next”.
Pick “Allow the connection” and click “Next”
Just click Next on the following screen
On the next screen, type in something that will explain what this rule is about in the Name field, as in the example below and click Finish.
You will see your newly created rule in the list of Inbound Rules.
Wait, we are not done yet! You did not expect Microsoft to make it easy did you? There are a few more steps.
2 Likes
Right click on this new rule which you just created. Chose Properties from the context menu. This will open a tabbed window. Find the tab “Protocols and Ports”. Everything in this tab looks like it is greyed out, but in fact you can edit it. You need to change Remote Port to “Specific Ports” and type in 3022.
Then click OK.
Now you are done!
1 Like
Please scroll to the very bottom for a summary of the investigation and solution found. I am changing this post to make the thread easier to read.
Please scroll to the very bottom for a summary of the investigation and solution found. I am changing this post to make the thread easier to read.
You have put a lot of time into this Andrei.
I’m on a clean Win10 PC with only a few things added to support riding (RGT, Spotify, VLC, etc - no additional apps) and use in-built firewall. I have no issues and of course many people out there are in the same position. So why you are having to open firewall settings is still an open question but I am keen to monitor if anything changes for you over the coming days/weeks.
Please scroll to the very bottom for a summary of the investigation and solution found. I am changing this post to make the thread easier to read.
Done 3 or 4 TDZ’s - all good and absolutely no hickups. Even the earlier TDZ events with 1000’s of riders.
I’ve been hoping to have time to also look at win10 firewall as this is very suspicious to me. Will dig into it when I can.
I think if it was easy to figure out, Zwift would have already fixed it…
Yeah, things going wrong only on the UDP side would certainly explain some of the cases I have experienced, like with a racer stopping seeing everybody else but still remaining visible for everybody else (and also connected enough to be able to say what is happening on Discord).
Individual riders disappearing from view for a short while also became a lot more common a few months ago, but that is probably a different issue. Anybody else starting to feel like a living bug database while zwifting?
Geez you have put some effort into this Andrei!!
I havent yet fired up my Zwift pc to check my FW logs from last Zwift ride but I have very clean and low latency network between Zwift PC and my ISP (in contrast to what you had) but sounds like you dont need any comparison data from now.
Its very strange to get packet loss on your own network unless you have a faulty bit of kit somewhere, but really interesting watching you solve this.
My “standard” configuration has an additional router configured in a bridge mode to be a source of ethernet which I needed for my work-related Cisco phone. The PC on which Zwift runs was also connected to this bridge via a short ethernet cable. That bridge router sits under the desk, so perhaps the signal level which it sees is on the low side. This is, however, was not obvious because there are no visible issues with TCP data streams. Direct wi-fi connection to the PC does not lose anything. Yes, this is not what I would expect. But it is what it is. Perhaps I need a new bridge router.
1 Like
Right, makes sense. kind of 
Now that its working fine, “If it aint broke, dont try and fix it” comes to mind 
The latest is that the signal at the location of this bridge router is -73 dB. A step away from the place where it sits, and signal goes into minus mid sixties. I picked a good place for it, what I can say.
Wrapping this up. I wrote a summary of my investigation, troubleshooting methods, tools which I used, and fixes which I implemented. This summary was posted today on ZwiftInsider.com
I am going to clean up this thread to make it easier to read. All previous posts were “work in progress”, description of the ongoing investigation.
4 Likes