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aeowolf's avatar
aeowolf
Joining in
3 days ago

Server timeouts playing MMO game

I play the MMO Star Trek Online. For the past week or so I kept getting disconnected every five minutes with a server timeout error. I've contacted the developers and they say it's possibly due to the ISP changing the connection path. Nothing else I do online is affected. Any ideas on how I can fix this?

1 Reply

  • Michael_M's avatar
    Michael_M
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    8 hours ago

    Hello aeowolf,

    If everything else you do online is running fine, it could still be an ISP routing issue — MMOs are especially sensitive to packet loss and unstable paths. Here are a few things you can try that often help with Star Trek Online disconnects:

    • Run a traceroute to STO’s server
      This helps reveal if there’s a bad hop between you and the game. You can share the results with your ISP or the STO support team so they can spot routing issues.
    • Try using a different DNS (like Google or Cloudflare)
      Sometimes DNS problems cause delays in reaching specific game servers.  (Google DNS: 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4) (Cloudflare DNS: 1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1)
    • Restart your router or try a wired connection
      A simple reboot or switching from Wi‑Fi to Ethernet can stabilise the connection, even if everything else seems fine.
    • Check for any VPNs or firewalls
      If you use a VPN, try turning it off. Sometimes STO works better with one, though — routing can improve through a different path. Worth testing both ways.
    • Verify game files
      A corrupt file sometimes makes the client time out even if your connection is OK.

    If the problem only happens in STO and started recently, routing is a very strong possibility. We hope some of these steps resolve the matter but please let us know if you need more assistance, we are here to help 😀