UO Trace

UO Trace  will allow you to find out exactly where any problems in your Internet connection may be occurring. If you are online, click here to get the program. Click once on the link, and save it to your computer's desktop. 

1. Double-click on the uotrace.exe to run it.
2. You will be asked if you wish to download the server list. Answer No to the question. (this option is no longer available)
3. Click on the Options menu then select Advanced.
4. Enter in the name of the server you are trying to connect to. This can either be an IP address or a web address without the www (ea.com for example)
5. Click on the Trace Route button. A succession of host names will begin to appear in the main window. These are the computers your data passes through on its way to the UO Server. Once the function is complete, a message that says Traceroute successful will appear in the lower left corner of the window.
• If you get a message saying Maximum number of hops exceeded :
• Click on Options
• Then click on Settings
• Change the max hops to a higher number and re-trace.
6. To the left of each host name there is a shield icon. These should be green, indicating no problems.
7. Select the Poll button.  This tells the program to send packets of data through the route to the final host. As the data is being sent, look at the "pkts r/s" column. Let it send about 40 packets then select Stop Poll.

How to interpret the results:

• Host names/servers  - These are the individual computers that make up the Internet. The connection you make to the server may travel through 15-25 individual hosts before reaching it. Problems suffered by these hosts can cause poor game performance. The shield icons next to the host names give a graphical display of quality.  Green indicating a good connection and as it worsens, the colors pass through various shades of yellow, red, gray, and finally, black.
• Ping Average  – Most games use the TCP/IP protocol that sends data in the form of packets. A ping time is the amount of time it takes for a packet of data to be sent from your computer to a host server.
• If you are getting pings that are higher than 200ms then you will notice a bit of latency in the game.
• If the ping for a particular host is too high (above 225ms) it usually signifies that the host you are testing is either receiving more traffic than it can effectively handle, or is having some type of technical issue.

A high ping will cause your client to not be able to communicate fast enough with the server for the game to maintain fluid motion. This will result in your game's movements appearing jerky and you will notice that the players around you seem to be able to move much faster than you can. This is due to the fact that the other players are most likely taking a different route to the server and are not being affected by the problem. 

If you consistently notice high ping times, contact your ISP and discuss the problem with them. Be sure to have a list of the problem hosts or to actually be running UOtrace while you are speaking with them. 

There will be some routers that your data will pass through that are independent companies and your ISP may not have any influence over them. In this case you can use the nifty Who is? feature of UOtrace.

1. Simply right-click on a host name
2. Select Who is?
3. You will be given information about that hop, usually including an email address and telephone numbers which you can use to contact them yourself.

• % Loss  - This is the percentage of packets that are being lost. In other words, you are sending information to or through that host and the host is either not receiving the data or is not able to return it to you. Any packet loss is a sign of some type of problem. These problems could be caused by hardware issues at the host server, bottlenecking (too many users communicating through that host), telephone line noise, and other causes.

Most packet loss issues are generally resolved quickly by the hosts (a matter of minutes), although some may take several days to resolve. If you consistently notice packet loss, you should contact your provider to discuss possible solutions. You may also consider trying a different ISP.