Re: Need for Speed Carbon: Can not play online 2/16/16

@Flolais

Can you try the troubleshooting steps in the following article and let us know your results:

https://help.ea.com/article/issues-connecting-online-with-xbox-360

None of those steps worked Barry.

I have my xbox plugged into my router, I cleared my cache, I redownloaded the update, I have already opened all of my ports and have open NAT and the Need for Speed Carbon servers are still down. Before you try to troubleshoot my xbox  and profile more, I would like to mention that I have no issues with any other game either EA or otherwise. In fact, my connectivity is good enough to run multiple xboxes at the same time with different games like Army of Two or Gears of War.

I would also like to mention that no one in the world has unlocked an online achievement in Need for Speed Carbon since December. Now granted there are less people playing nowadays but there are achievements you get online for doing 1 race. And no one has gotten those achievements since that time.

Here is a forum with other people who are having the same issue. http://www.trueachievements.com/forum/viewthread.aspx?tid=758292

So either everybody in the world who plays Carbon is having connection issues or something is wrong with the Need for Speed Carbon servers.

Could you please put in your Need for Speed Carbon game and see if you can host an unranked custom match? Because I have played this game since it came out and this is the first time I cannot host a lobby.

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@Flolais wrote:

Could you please put in your Need for Speed Carbon game and see if you can host an unranked custom match?

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I played NFS Carbon yesterday (PC version). I hosted a few unranked events & invited my son. We played without any problems/issues. We even did "get to free roam" bug at Starlight Street sprint event.

@Mikimuster3 @Flolais

I double-checked for you: the servers are up and running. However, I can't say that they are very busy.. If you continue to experience connection issues, then these additional steps might be of use:

• http://help.ea.com/en/article/connection-troubleshooting-basic/
• http://help.ea.com/en/article/connection-troubleshooting-advanced-xbox/

The servers aren't down, they are just broken. I don't know what server status message you are getting, but I have logged into the Xbox 360 game everyday since January and have been unable to play online like I have in the past.

I've played xbox 360 games for 8 years. So I know all about opening ports, clearing system cache, and nat errors. And I have beaten this game and have gotten all achievements in it except for the glitched one due to bad coding. So I have a good understanding of how the game is supposed to function.

Simply put, there is no troubleshooting on my end that will resolve this issue because it is not specific to me. My friend has the same issue as well as a bunch of other people. I've already proven to you that no one in the world has been able to play online since December because you can track specific achievements and see when it was last unlocked. No one has been able to play online.

And until this issue is actually brought to EA's attention and actually tested in the game, it can't be fixed. So can you please forward this issue to the appropriate people or test it yourself if you have the game? You should be able to host an unranked lobby to invite friends if the servers are working properly.

And to the previous poster: I've already said that this is an xbox 360 issue. The PC version of this game is different and looks like its functioning fine according to your testimony. But that doesn't help me on the xbox 360.

I'm running into the same issue on the Xbox 360 version of Need for Speed: Carbon as @Flolais.

I can assure you that my issue is not local to my LAN environment since I work on networks professionally and am a CCIE.  The issue is either on EAs servers for the Xbox 360 version, EAs LAN, or the POP (point of presence) of the service providers between our location and EAs data center.  Realistically the issue will reside on the server itself since issues with the POP or the LAN would affect more than just this game (unless you have a VLAN or VRF specific to the 360 version which is missing on a device somewhere in the data center LAN).

@Mikimuster3 the PC version would not use the same servers (or at least the same virtual location on the server if EA uses something like VMWare/UCS in their data center) as the 360 version of the game.  If they did you would connect to both PC and 360 players which gives a competitive advantage to the PC player.

I'd prefer not to have to troubleshoot this issue myself with packet captures and connectivity testing like traceroutes or pings.  @Straatford87 @EA_Barry if this is necessary please let me know.

I already did a trace route connectivity test on case # 22758255 and it was determined that the issues were not on my end.

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@Straatford87 wrote:@Flolais

I double-checked for you: the servers are up and running. However, I can't say that they are very busy.

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Well, Tom this is because no one on an Xbox 360 can get online! (chuckle)

When I very first played / purchased this game I wasn’t in a position to be able to own an Xbox Live Gold pass so I was never able to go online.

But now that my situation has changed I was really looking forward to being able to engage in some online racing.

NFS Carbon in my opinion is still one of the best NFS made. I was looking forward to catching up with like-minded people to play a great game.

I am also experiencing exactly the same problem as Flolais and Craigla10. I can successfully connect to the EA Server (as it states bottom right of my screen on start-up) but cannot connect to players. This is even when I’m hosting an Xbox party and I know that we are both searching at the same time. I have been continually trying this for the last almost 2 months now and with people in different places around the world.

Please EA. Fix this problem!! This game still has a great fan base and multitudes of players still wanting to play it. If you don’t believe me . . . check this link out.

http://www.trueachievements.com/gamingsession.aspx?gamingsessionid=578437

This is a gaming session that people have made with the hope/faith that this issue will be fixed. This is just one instance and at one given time, that suits these people and they want to play!!

@mitsievo5 @Flolais @craigla10 @Xenodys @Mikimuster3

I have forwarded a request to double-check the status of the servers. As soon as I get a response I will update this thread.

cheers tom i appreciate the time and effort your giving us

This has been happening for 2 months, and EA refuses to believe there's even a problem. What a joke. For the record, I can confirm that it hasn't been possible to connect to other players in ranked or unranked since at least early January. I know damn well my NAT is open, etc. I wire everything. I ran the game on 2 consoles for days doing some of the online just a few weeks prior to the servers going wonky.

@Viper187666

Why would you say that we refuse to believe that this is an issue? I mentioned in my previous reply that we are currently investigating this.. 🙂

and if multiple people hadn't showed up to back the original poster, you'd still be arguing the problem is on his end instead of actually testing. What I'd really like to know is how EA justifies having the servers up for this all these years but NOT patching the broken achievement.

@Viper187666

Multiple user reports is indeed something we would be looking for to determine if an issue is for everyone or a single user.

Which specific achievement are you referring to?

"Urban Battle" achievement. Been broken since day one. Nobody has ever legitimately unlocked it.

@Viper187666 @Flolais @acdavey @craigla10 @mitsievo5

We have double-checked the server status for Need for Speed Carbon, and I can confirm that they are up and running with users online at this very moment.

We know the servers are turned on, but something is wrong with them! We've explained the problem. What does it take to get someone at EA to actually boot the goddamn game and attempt to create a lobby!? You can't even create your own lobby much less join others. "Creating lobby...joining lobby...Could not join game. Please try to join a different game." I can't join my own * game? Yeah, there's a problem.

@Straatford87 It's situations like this that cause EA to lose credibility with their customer base. Checking the servers isn't enough for this issue.  You have multiple customers reporting that there is an issue.  The output you are basing your post on is clearly inaccurate or looking at the wrong location in the network.

It is up to you as a company to root cause the issue.  Please push your escalation team do their job by validating connectivity end-to-end and not just "checking the servers."

@Straatford87 Testing the server internally does not validate the health of the firewall, IPS, NAT, etc. separating your LAN from the internet where we, the users, are connecting.  Your test would be more valid if two of the employees were able to connect to each other from their homes (not through a VPN) to the server.  This is the closest simulation of the connectivity issue we are encountering.

You could alternatively go through your change control process to early January roughly and see if any changes were made then that may interfere with the connection from the internet to the LAN.

@Xenodys

I cannot go into details about our investigations but I can assure you that we have a dedicated team to check everything through multiple aspects.

Additionally, firewall, NAT, etc, are settings that should be checked on your personal network. If you need help with that, then there are dedicated guides available via portforward.com:

• XB360
• PS3
• PC

Furthermore, there has been at least one user in this thread, other than me, that has confirmed that he was able to connect to another user. So if the above and previously suggested information in this thread does not help you, then the last suggestion I have is to contact your internet provider for further assistance.

We can't all suddenly have the same NAT issue after previously connecting fine. We connect to the EA servers, but lobbies don't work. Even MightyMango, the guy YOU gave "EA Moderator" status to can no longer play online to hand off that achievement to people. He's been trying to reach you through twitter the past month. This problem started near the end of December right after I saw a trending article on Facebook about EA having online server troubles with a bunch of titles all at once. The rest were fixed, but whatever that issue was is likely the problem here.

@Straatford87

As a reminder, I'm a networking professional and have a CCIE.  I have more knowledge of the process and protocols involved in packets from my home LAN getting to your servers than you as a community manager does.

You seem to misunderstand what I'm talking about.  What you are referring to in your response to my post is a common issue with TCP/UDP port translation during the NAT process on home routers resulting in packets being forwarded with incorrect TCP/UDP ports preventing the remote server from being able to know what kind of data (i.e., HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, etc.) is in the packet.  I have UPnP and port triggering enabled on my home router to ensure that the correct TCP/UDP information is retained from the Xbox when it's packets are going through NAT translation.

When I say NAT, which is a protocol used primarily to preserve the IPv4 address space by allowing companies and users to have one or a few public IP address for several devices behind their router with private IP addresses (RFC 1918), I am talking about the translation on EAs end of this process.  Unless EA uses an IPv6 address space (unlikely) or has it's servers in a DMZ (requiring that all servers have a public IP), you will have NAT on your internet edge devices to translate the public IP address and TCP/UDP ports on the packet sent from my Xbox into the private space used in your internal network.

In addition to NAT, you will also have a firewall, intrusion prevention system (IPS), etc. to protect your corporate LAN from the internet.  This is another potential location for a drop to occur if your internal test has already validated connectivity via your LAN.

The user reporting no issues is playing the PC version of the game.  Everyone reporting issues is playing the 360 version of the game.  If these servers (or virtual servers) were the same, we would be able to connect cross-platform for this game.  This is not the case. A PC players experience is not proof that the 360 version works.

It is situations like this that lead to EA being voted as worst company multiple years in a row.  I'm glad you didn't get it this past year but you are not helping your companies case by giving us the same initial response this far into the post.  I would appreciate if you can escalate this further up the chain or have someone from your escalation group be involved in our conversation.

I checked the game tonight and found that it was working again for the 360. I think the EA specialist team I have been talking to for the past week figured out the issue. But thank you for responding to us and for following up on this problem if you did so as well. It helps to keep sane if we have someone that responds, even if they can't address the problem right away.  Thanks again!

🙂

That is good news, @Flolais. Thanks for updating us 🙂