Cannot get network prioritisation to work properly (XR500)
Hi everyone,
I recently bought a XR500 Nighthawk gaming router. I cannot however get the network traffic prioritisation to work properly. Sometimes it picks up game traffic (Blizzard launcher) but then it turns off when actually playing a game (World of Warcraft). Some games it doesn't even pick up at all (Battlefield 1, 2 & 3; Call of Duty: WWII). I've tried automatic by enabling the "DumaOS Classified Games" option via the associated checkbox. I've also tried adding devices/profiles but that doesn't seem to work either. I've also tried manually entering ports, but get an error message saying that they overlap with another profile. There are some prioritised packets but hardly any at all (~150 out of ~500k).
I've also applied anti-bufferbloat and capped it at 75% for both upload and download. As far as bandwidth allocation goes, that's also at 75% for upload and download for my PC and 25% for upload and download assigned to my smartphone. I also have the geo-filter enabled, based in the UK and set to 1400km in filter mode (profile is for Call of Duty).
My current setup network wise is I have a BT home hub 5 (an awful piece of equipment I know) setup as an access point. I have the XR500 WAN port connected to the BT router via a LAN socket. This setup will change in the future though when HyperOptic get back to me about why my 1Gbit/s fibre only has a download speed of 5Mbit/s. When that's sorted I'll put the HyperOptic router in modem mode and use that instead.
Any help is much appreciated! If you need any more information then please feel free to ask.
Re: Cannot get network prioritisation to work properly (XR500)
Hi there - thanks for all the info. Very useful explanation.
From everything you have said, your Geo-Filter and Bandwidth Allocation settings are great. So there’s two things I recommend you do:
1. Traffic Prio - this works by detecting when a console is being played, or when a PC game is being played. It just prioritises those packets. So your CoD game should be fine, but it’s likely WoW is not being detected. Could you clear all the port rules you have added and start again. First, make sure DumaOS Classified games is checked. This will catch most games. Now add the ports for WoW.
After doing this, check that the red light comes on next to ‘High Priority Traffic Detected’ and packets increase. If they’re not, then it means you probably have not added the correct port.
If this is not happening let us know the game you are playing and the ports you have added.
If the overlap issue occurs again, could you also let us know which ports you have added
2. Secondly, and much easier this time, set Anti-Bufferbloat to the mode ‘Always’ when you’re playing, and Never when you’re not. Once we figure out the Traffic Prioritization issue you can then use the more convenient ‘High Priority Traffic Detected’ mode
Re: Cannot get network prioritisation to work properly (XR500)
Oh sorry, it seems like some of my post got deleted.
The prioritisation works for about 1 minute after I launch each game I set ports up for; then it turns off (background packets then continue to rise and the priority packets stop rising). So when I'm actually playing, the packets are not prioritised.
Re: Cannot get network prioritisation to work properly (XR500)
I see what's gone wrong here, do not change source ports, only the destination ports. Leave source ports as 1-65535. Reason being they could be any ports used. When a game gives the ports that is only the destination not to be done for source as well. If you do that then the individual rules will work for the ports the games tell you to use.
Re: Cannot get network prioritisation to work properly (XR500)
Leaving the source ports as 1-65535 and only changing destination ports does not work properly either. It prioritises packets for about 1 min after launching, then turns off again.
Re: Cannot get network prioritisation to work properly (XR500)
If the manual ports aren't working then you have either not selected the correct device or the ports are incorrect. Double check correct device has been selecting by comparing the name/IP in device manager to IP PC is showing and double check ports on the Battlefield site for PC.
Re: Cannot get network prioritisation to work properly (XR500)
Could it have anything to do with my Ethernet port settings? Previously made some changes. Any settings in particular that could interfere with packet detection?
Re: Cannot get network prioritisation to work properly (XR500)
If anything is likely to interfere with packet detection it may be a PC firewall so disable briefly and try again. It's worth noting, traffic will only be detected when your actually in the game playing.
