[FIXED] Game looses connection to Racenet AND to Steam

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

This is an advance/continuation of my previous thread where i was having trouble loosing money on the wagers.  Everything has been fine all year until the last week of Monday 30th Novermber.
(http://forums.codemasters.com/discussion/35259/racenet-keeps-becoming-unavailable-its-costing-me-a-fortune)

I have uninstalled/reinstalled, verified cache, run with/out custom skins, etc etc.

I started to run the delta achievements last night, and after getting 4 or 5 of them, i stopped receiving them, if i completed a stage where i would have received the achievement, but didn't, i could then go to the PVP option, where it would tell me that i was "unable to connect to steam" - Likewise, if i navigated the menu to select online events, i would get my same old message of, "unable to connect to racenet.  

If i restart the game, both those options work.  If i go straight to those options upon loading the game, they work.

I'm struggling to work out what would cause the game to essentially loose all network connectivity, it's evidently what was causing me issues trying to take part in wagers and daily's etc. 
I would almost always be able to do the normal daily (daily 1) but the wager, or delta or owners club, invariably i'd get all the way to the map, and hit start stage, screen faded, then fell back to the menu screen with the pop up, regarding racenet being unavailable.

FIX FOR ALL OF THIS:

With a lot of help from @Hatward I have been able to confirm a few people with this exact problem and we have all successfully fixed it doing this.

If you have already re-validated your cache and/or deleted local content in steam (uninstalled) i can confirm that will not fix it.
You will need to open the Dirt Rally installation folder, delete all of the files and folders from that location, and then ask Steam to re-validate the cache files.

This fixed all the problems associated with;
Unable to race WRX online. 
Unable to save championship progress
Unable to take part in certain daily/online events.
Unable to upgrade some cars.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Alright, followup as i'm trying to nail this one.

The only other online portion of the game i can think of is the PVP WRX; subsequently, i can matchmake, connect to lobby, ready up, game loads, soon as the track appears in the background, i get disconnected, lost connection.

Returning to the menu i get the aforementioned unable to connect to steam.

Obviously this is also playing havoc with my garage too; i can't upgrade cars as that function appears to need an online connection to register the upgrade progress.

[versedi 39]

Maybe you've blocked dirt process from connecting to internet on some specific port (or your firewall did it yourself)?
Try running some kind of a game mode or disabling firewall/antivirus and see if it helps.

One more thing came to my mind.
Run drt.exe, minimize it, click windows icon + r,
type cmd

type:
netstat -v -n -b 5

Look for drt.exe and check which port it uses.  Port is the number after IP address with : before.

Make sure that port is opened on your router or forward it to another opened port with f.g. "Smart Port Forwarding".

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Hey @versedi thanks for the netstat stuff.

I was looking around the router firewall last night (windows is taken care of) However, this is one of those "nasty" issues where it's not consistent enough to be non-routable, simply restarting the game gets the connectivity back again, it's also losing connection to two services during all this, meanwhile, the racenet website and steam services remain connected outside of DR.

IGNORE, I'M TOO STUPID TO USE NETSTAT
Both Steam and Dirt are using SSL over 443 with the following respective IP's:

Steam int. port 53954 - 23.59.189.99   (443)
Drt int. port 53955 - 94.75.496.235      (443)


Let me do a little more testing (have to head out now) i want to see if they're still established connections once i lose the connection in game.

[versedi 39]

Check the port on your side, the port on server's side will not be a problem.

 [drt.exe]
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50648     70.42.73.72:80         CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA

50648 is the port that you should check on your PC and router.
0.98 is my computer's local network IP.

After entering Online Events menu:

[drt.exe]
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50648     70.42.73.72:80         CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50650     70.42.73.72:80         CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA

And after few seconds:
 [drt.exe]
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50648     70.42.73.72:80         CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50650     70.42.73.72:80         CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50656     70.42.73.72:80         CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50657     23.253.184.229:80      USTANOWIONO


So i guess you should try to check the output of netstat in window while messing with menu and entering online events to check which connection is breaken when you get disconnected. This can be someway to narrow down your problem.


Edit: It looks like DiRT is constantly switching it's servers or somehow is connected to few servers at once, few seconds later:
 [drt.exe]
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50659     70.42.73.72:80         CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50660     31.13.81.13:443        USTANOWIONO

 [drt.exe]
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50676     70.42.73.72:80         CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50684     70.42.73.72:80         CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA
  TCP       192.168.0.98:50688     92.123.226.201:80      USTANOWIONO


Conclusion:
Make sure every port from around 50500 to 50999 is opened.

P.S. Interesting that you have only one connection over TLS / SSL port while I have many on standard 80 port + one over TLS / SSL. Maybe this is the problem that you somehow forbid unencrypted connections?

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Haha, i couldn't work out your output until i realised your Windows is in another language ;)

So, starting the game establishes one connection and netstat reports it as established.  Hitting online services opens another 3 with time wait, they eventually time out and disappear, never getting established.  So you're showing the same thing there with CZAS_OCZEKIWANIA - TIME_WAIT in English.

IGNORE, I'M TOO STUPID TO USE NETSTAT
TCP    192.168.1.8:55710     130.204.7.251:58155     TIME_WAIT
TCP    192.168.1.8:55711     82.147.186.187:3402     TIME_WAIT
TCP    192.168.1.8:55712     192.168.1.1:2555            TIME_WAIT <--------- I like this one, it's a request back to my router.....
TCP    192.168.1.8:55716     94.75.196.235:443     ESTABLISHED


I decided to hit a WRX online game, got to the lobby, host started the game, got the map loaded and then the disconnected message, sure enough, drt.exe has no connections at all now.


Couldn't find lobbies after restarting, so started my own, eventually showed extra ports but without establishing them:
IGNORE, I'M TOO STUPID TO USE NETSTAT

TCP    192.168.1.8:55794      74.125.239.116:443     TIME_WAIT

  TCP    192.168.1.8:55834      96.7.168.188:80        TIME_WAIT

  TCP    192.168.1.8:55839      23.72.38.96:80         TIME_WAIT

  TCP    192.168.1.8:55846      96.7.168.188:80        TIME_WAIT

  TCP    192.168.1.8:55849      94.75.196.235:443      ESTABLISHED

 [drt.exe]

Typically, i'm only showing one connection for drt.exe the one on 443.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

You know what, holy crap :(  Sorry, i've been reading the outputs all wrong, gah, any addresses/ports mentioned above can be ignored, i thought it was funny that the exe was mentioned underneath the connections :(

In other news where i don't make such a rookie mistake.... today's Daily 1 loaded, then faded to black as normal, then dropped back with no connection to racenet :(

The owners just completed fine though (obviously restarted the game to do so) 

Anyway, let's see, let me get some ports/addresses from *under* the drt.exe process (/shakes head, still don't know why i thought it was reading the other way)

Online Custom champ:

[drt.exe]

  TCP    192.168.1.8:56821      216.58.216.174:443     TIME_WAIT

  TCP    192.168.1.8:56835      104.244.43.7:443       CLOSE_WAIT

After selecting matching making and getitng into a lobby.
 [drt.exe]

  TCP    192.168.1.8:56821      216.58.216.174:443     TIME_WAIT

  TCP    192.168.1.8:56838      199.59.150.8:443       ESTABLISHED

After loading the map and getting the disconnected message.

 [drt.exe]

  TCP    192.168.1.8:56821      216.58.216.174:443     TIME_WAIT

  TCP    192.168.1.8:56838      199.59.150.8:443       ESTABLISHED
AND THEN
 [drt.exe]
  TCP    192.168.1.8:56838      199.59.150.8:443       ESTABLISHED

Hit OK and sent back to the menu, greeted with "You're not connected" "Unable to connect to steam, make sure you're signed in and you're connection in ok"  Standard stuff.

[drt.exe]

  TCP    192.168.1.8:56869      173.194.33.131:443     TIME_WAIT

  TCP    192.168.1.8:56872      199.59.150.8:443       ESTABLISHED

Followed by:

[drt.exe]

  TCP    192.168.1.8:56872      199.59.150.8:443       ESTABLISHED

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Alright, so, as i think i've done all i can for tonight, to sum up, any dev input/things to test, please let me know - 

Almost guaranteed a dead connection for anything online now, but some stuff in online events has a chance of going through, the longer/larger the event, the better chance it has.  Monthly>daily etc.

In case i didn't mention it before, this affects car upgrades, and offline champ progress, custom champ progress, achievements etc.


*Edit - keep thinking what i can do whilst this stuff isn't working, so i figure than i need to go earn money for the WW cars :) - one FIA WRX champ, do one track and don't make the finals, win just over 100k - save and quit after the next track loads as i wanted to check the money - it's there, exit game, restart, it's gone :(  explains why my engineer contract warning showed up when i just renewed them yesterday :(

[METAL666nz 0]

You could try running something like this TCP optimizer http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php Just run it in optimal mode with changes to all network devices. I am not a pc wiz but could be worth  a try. Also I have used it lots of times.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Thanks for the suggestion, but i don't actually have a connection/network problem, this is very much game specific, whilst something on my system/connection may be affecting the game, messing with my network settings like that is not going to fix this i'm afraid :(

[versedi 39]

@F2CMaDMaXX you would be suprised how many things can be fixed by so many small things. As an example I couldn't play BF4 because of ports and had to forward 36556 and 3659.

I'd say that you have problems with keeping the unsecured connection...I have always at least 2-3 unsecured connections from drt.exe
I'll test it today at daily this afternoon and let you know.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

I did forward all port 80's - basically opening up my system to respond to anything on that port, so i'm thinking it's not that.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Small update just to keep this 'live'

Yesterday (Thursday)

Daily1 - no - failed at stage start.
Daily2 - yes
Weekly 1 - no - failed at stage start.
Weekly 2 - yes
Monthly - yes
League - no - failed at stage start
WRX online - have to assume no, didn't test.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Update as of tonight:

Trying to run sprint stages to get the achievements for the deltas, as with the ability to sometimes manage a custom champ of 1 location, 2 stages, i can sometimes get these in.

However, that's not working tonight, one sprint stage, i do not get the achievement, so i finish the stage, attempt anything online (to confirm) and immediate no racenet.
I restart the game to get it back again, and when i go back to custom race, i get asked if i want to resume, so it's holding that i started it, but sometime in the ~3 minutes to do the stage, i'm losing racenet/steam.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Sunday update.

Daily - Fine.
Daily 2 - Wager - No deal, failed at start stage.
League - no.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Monday Update.

Daily - no
Daily 2 - don't own the car
Monthly continuation - yes.
League - YES! (it did change to a new set of stages)

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Tuesday update.

Daily1 - Yes
Daily2 - Yes
Weekly1 - Yes
Weekly2 - Yes
Monthly - Yes
WRX - no - loses connection after lobby and map load.

Only change made was enabling vsync.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

No updates over the Christmas period as i was away.

Back to the daily events, they're working more than not, however i still have problems:

1) Cannot progress in championships (always loses racenet connection after the end/can't save)
2) Cannot race in RX multiplayer (loses connection to steam AFTER the track loads)
3) Most wager events fail (currently seeing if my 200k comes back tomorrow for not participating, down to 366k cr right now)
4) Obviously can't update cars via championship, daily events usually work but makes for amazingly slow progress.


Today's events:

Daily - OK.
Wager - Failed after start stage selected.
Weekly 1 - ok

Others not run yet.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Got 200k back from the wager.

Daily throwback thursday - failed on stage start, lost connection to racenet.
Owners club - failed on stage start, lost connection to racenet.
Weekly 2 - continued from earlier this week.
Monthly - Started ok.

I will note that due to it being a 'permanent' racenet fail when it happens, i have to restart the game each time in order to allow reconnection and selection of the online events.

[versedi 39]

F2CMaDMaXX said:

I will note that due to it being a 'permanent' racenet fail when it happens, i have to restart the game each time in order to allow reconnection and selection of the online events.

If I don't have a connection I can go second time to Online Events and DiRT will try to reconnect without quiting the game. Did you tried that ?

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

No, sorry, to be more clear on that - once it fails, the game insta-decides that there is no connection to race net (or in the case of PVP, no steam connection), the only way it will retry is if you exit and start up the game again.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Friday's events.

Daily RX - ok
Daily Dela - ok


Saturday:
Started wager first - ok (but retired!  both rear wheels :(  )
Daily - failed on stage start.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Sunday Events.

Daily - ok
Owners - failed after stage start.

I'm beginning to wonder if the two dailies depend upon which i run first, bear in mind that i also restart the game between them just to make sure.

I also want to add to the custom championship stuff i've previously mentioned, i cannot do a single stage/single event now, by the time i've completed the single stage, be it sprint or full, i cannot select online events, it insta-states no racenet connection - this of course means that the money and upgrades i just earned in the custom champ do not save, so restarting the game will lose all progress/money etc.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Thought i'd try and get some of the sprint stage delta achievements, i've managed some before.

Went for Pant Mawr, using comm delta as a reference, by split 2, the difference had gone from 11 seconds under at the first split, to that huge number you get sometimes, apparently that's when the connection to racenet spazzes out and can't tell you the time for the community from the server.  I no longer need to finish in order to tell when i've lost the connection :(

**Edit - the messed up timer does not indicate connection lost, seems separate if i get it.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Hmm, it's just occurred to me that i have to rely on the dailies that work and the weekly/monthly (that normally work) to earn *any* money, i only have maybe half the cars and several of those aren't upgraded.  I literally have no other way to earn money or upgrade cars :(

I can obviously play, but cannot progress, it's nice to 'own' the cars and have them upgraded, as opposed to a custom event.

I clearly need to stop taking the wager chance, as, if it works, and i mess it up (like i did this week) i lose more money than i earn in a month :(