LAN Connection: Client connection dropout (work-around)

[lcobiac]

Description

Related GitHub Issues
#468

Two PCs on LAN with identical Skyrim installations:

• No mods
• No SKSE
• Skyrim Together Reborn is the latest version (1.2.0) and was deployed according to wiki
• Firewall rules identical
• Windows Defender settings identical
• Default server settings

Both clients will stop receiving packets from server. This is observed by toggling "Show debug information" in the overlay settings (Right Ctrl > Settings) and watching download stream (kB/s) go to 0 for short periods (1-2 minutes).

During this time, players cannot interact with one another. Visual bugs such as other player in running animation without movement occur.

Connection will automatically re-establish, and then disconnect after about 5 or so minutes.

Steps to reproduce

1. Start SkyrimTogetherServer.exe with internet access.
2. Both players connect to server via LAN (note: both clients connect using local network IP address, not local host (127.0.0.1:10578) as indicated in guide).
3. Experience frequent disconnecting/desync issues as described above.

Reproduction rate

• Consistent: I can reproduce this bug by following the steps to reproduce 100% of the time (every time)
• Occasional: I can reproduce this bug by following the steps to reproduce around 50% of the time
• Rare: I can reproduce this bug by following the steps to reproduce around 10% or less of the time

Expected result

No disconnection/desync.

Proposed work-around

The work-around in my case is to prevent the server from accessing the internet.

The objective is to see the console message "[error] Server could not reach the server list! Connection"

I achieved this by either:

• Disabling the network adapter with internet service
• Blocking connection to the server by creating an outbound windows firewall rule to block the executable located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Data\SkyrimTogetherReborn\SkyrimTogetherServer.exe