Failed to connect to Host server error

AXAHAHHAHXA · June 13

Dear Esteemed Community,

I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to share my ongoing predicament regarding a rather vexing issue I have encountered while attempting to engage in ranked matches within CrossFire.

To provide some context, I have been an avid player of this game for quite some time, relishing the competitive spirit it fosters. However, I have recently found myself plagued by an incessant error message stating, "Unable to connect to host server," which has rendered my participation in ranked matches virtually impossible.

In the past week, I have experienced no alterations to my system or network configuration. My computer not only meets but significantly surpasses the minimum system requirements, achieving an impressive 240 FPS during gameplay. Until three days ago, I was able to play seamlessly, with no connectivity issues whatsoever.

In my quest for resolution, I have undertaken a series of troubleshooting measures, including:

Restarting my computer and router: Despite multiple attempts, this has yielded no improvement.
Consulting my Internet Service Provider (ISP): I contacted them to elucidate the situation, referencing the game and its requirements. They assured me that there are no restrictions or impediments on their end.
Verifying my DirectX version: My DirectX is updated to the latest version, and it was functioning perfectly prior to the emergence of this error.
Checking firewall settings: I have not altered any firewall configurations, and I do not employ any antivirus software that could potentially interfere with my connection.
Ensuring no other applications are running: I have confirmed that no extraneous programs are active during my attempts to launch CrossFire.

Despite these efforts, I find myself in a most frustrating position. While I can occasionally join public matches, the error persists with alarming frequency in ranked games, leading to unwarranted penalties for leaving matches that I am unable to enter. This has resulted in a rather disheartening wait of up to five hours due to penalties, despite my unwavering commitment to playing diligently and contributing positively to my team.

In light of these circumstances, I reached out to the support team, and GM Mango kindly advised me to share my experience on this forum, hoping that fellow players might offer insights or solutions to this perplexing issue.

Moreover, I have reason to believe that this problem may not be isolated to my account, as a friend from Egypt recently reported encountering the same error. This suggests a broader issue that may be affecting multiple players.

I would be immensely grateful for any assistance or guidance that members of this community could provide. It is disheartening to consider that my enjoyment of the game is being compromised by this persistent connectivity issue, particularly in ranked matches, which are the very essence of my engagement with CrossFire.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I eagerly await your responses.

[MOD]ShadowRo · June 18

You could also try resetting the connection on the windows side using reset tcpip and flush DNS commands, see this tutorial
https://kb.wisc.edu/dermatology/page.php?id=31480

From what I know (as long as I had the time and interest to look for explanations on the internet), the connections are not direct: from your home directly to a game server (or any other server or web page that you need to access), instead it works like this ( * in a slightly simpler way):

your pc -> home router -> ISP network -> country gateway -> country network 1 -> country network 2 .... and so on -> country gateway where the server is located -> ISP network for the server -> game server

On your side, you can only investigate up to your ISP (as you said, possibly contact the ISP to see if there are any restrictions), and the support team the same up to the game ISP.

BUT If there is a problem somewhere between your ISP and the game's ISP - then the connection is unstable - and it is not in anyone's power to solve it ( normally these physical connections between your ISP and the game's ISP work automatically, so if the shortest route is affected at one point - an alternative route is used to bypass the problematic node on the route, usually the difference being imperceptible ).

That would be the theory explained in a very simplistic way, things are a bit more complicated at the internet network level, with multiple gateways and DNS - that's why I said that if the problem is at the internet network connection level (between your ISP and the game's ISP) - we have no solutions so far.

AXAHAHHAHXA · June 18

I conducted quite a bit of independent research over the weekend while waiting for support response and generally ANY response haha.

The issue with the 'failed to connect to Host server' error is not just happening to me, but to most players from Russia and some players from Egypt as well (I’m not sure why Egypt is involved, but it seems that some connection rules for Russian players and Egyptian players might be similar).

The fact is, I can only join SOME matches. I can freely access the server and the channel, but when it comes to joining the actual match, I often encounter this error.

I enabled the resource monitor and started sniffing all the traffic going through CrossFire to understand at what point something disrupts my connection and that of many other players.

Here’s what I found:
When trying to join a match, if I see the following hosts:

arash.haghighi.example.com
arash1.haghighi.example.com
arash2.haghighi.example.com

I will definitely receive the 'failed to connect to Host server' error and will not be able to enter the match, even if I keep trying to reconnect. I don’t know what this is related to, as I called my ISP and asked, and they confirmed that they do not block or have any restrictions with Akamai Technologies servers and, in general, with the game CrossFire West, at least intentionally.

Just in case, I tried whitelisting the following networks:

akamaitechnologies.com
ax0.akamaistream.net
ax1.akamaistream.net
ax2.akamaistream.net
ax3.akamaistream.net
ns2-32.akamaistream.net
ns3-32.akamaistream.net
ns6-32.akamaistream.net
p5.akamaistream.net
p6.akamaistream.net
p7.akamaistream.net
p8.akamaistream.net
a2-17-146-19.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com
a2-17-146-32.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com
a23-73-2-157.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com
a23-73-2-152.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com
a2-16-56-95-deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com
akamaihd-staging.net
akamaihd-staging88.net
akamaihd.net
arash.haghighi.example.com
arash1.haghighi.example.com
arash2.haghighi.example.com
DESKTOP-DA8ORID

Just to ensure that this is clearly not a bug on my end. And indeed, even when I fully opened access for these hosts from my network, I still continued to receive this error.

However, if the following hosts appear when connecting to a match:

109.163.239.14
109.163.239.11
80.239.138.89

and many others, everything is fine.

But as soon as I see something like "arash.haghighi.example.com" while connecting to a match, I will definitely get disconnected.

This is the case for all Russian players who do not use VPNs or ExitLag and other traffic obfuscators. Some Egyptian players are also experiencing the same error, likely due to the host 'arash.haghighi.example.com'.

Thus concludes my independent investigation.
Any thoughts? Except advicing VPN services and things like ExitLag, GearUp of course

AXAHAHHAHXA · June 19

[MOD]ShadowRo said:

You could also try resetting the connection on the windows side using reset tcpip and flush DNS commands, see this tutorial
https://kb.wisc.edu/dermatology/page.php?id=31480

It seems this is one of the things [GM]Xenon recommended I do in the ticket I opened, and unfortunately, it didn't help. However, I will try to do it again exactly in the order specified on the website you provided, just in case.

[MOD]ShadowRo said:

That would be the theory explained in a very simplistic way, things are a bit more complicated at the internet network level, with multiple gateways and DNS - that's why I said that if the problem is at the internet network connection level (between your ISP and the game's ISP) - we have no solutions so far.

I see where you are coming from..
«between your ISP and the game's ISP» — the line i was holding in my head for awhile.

This situation made me ponder, and I decided to dig a little deeper and manually gather public information about my provider's actions and anything related to it. So, once again, I conducted something akin to an investigation, haha, and I noticed that on many Russian-speaking gaming forums, people are complaining about connection drops with various in-game services, but no one seems to know what the issue is. The game support teams all shrug their shoulders, responding uniformly that everything is working perfectly on their end. Of course, it all seems rather vague and looks like the usual errors that happen to everyone all the time. However, since Crossfire remains the only FPS shooter that can provide me with such dynamic and fast-paced gameplay, I held onto the last hopes that this might somehow help me get closer to the root of the problem.

Having analysed servers in other games where players experience connection drops (including major titles like Dead By Daylight, CS2 Faceit, and Rocket League), I discovered a common thread: they all utilise Amazon servers and Cloudflare CDN services, among others. I began to investigate the issues with Russian ISPs regarding all of this and found that not long ago, the Russian internet regulator was cracking down on undesirable internet resources. Instead of banning them directly, they blocked the services that the sites use for content delivery. As you might have guessed, these services are also used by thousands of other sites, including games.

After conducting a thorough analysis, I indeed found that some sites using Cloudflare do not load for me. And as you know, there are probably nearly half the internet's sites that fall into this category. I suspect that Crossfire might be using something that was mistakenly or unintentionally banned. (Though I’m still curious why some players from Egypt are also struggling with the same situation; perhaps it’s just a coincidence.)

So, I suppose the question can be considered answered, albeit not resolved.

I have a few ideas and potential solutions on how to 'fix' this at the user level while still playing Crossfire without using any VPNs, proxies, or anything that could significantly affect ping. Instead, I’ve discovered a method involving data obfuscation that might help and, in doing so, have little to no impact on ping, allowing us to play under our real IP addresses. Would it be worth opening a discussion about this, where I could present the solution to the problem (if I manage to find one) and all the tools I’ve used? Perhaps someone might want to assist me with this, haha. Or are such topics not worth posting on the forum?

Also, thank you for such a detailed response; it must have taken you some time, and I’m truly grateful for this invaluable gift..

fepbbdkwfx · December 4

так как пофиксить?

Failed to connect to Host server error

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