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I am trying to figure out why I always get
"The Ubisoft server is not available at the time. Please try again later."
Apparently, the server is actually up and running, so it seems the problem is on my side.

I used Wireshark to capture the network traffic.
I am no network expert, but I have understood that the usual handshake is [SYN] - [SYN,ACK] - [ACK]
What I am seeing in the Wireshark capture however, is that the remote server is..
.."suddenly" sending 3 [RST, ACK] packets, at 500 ms intervals
- without my side ever sending anything to that IP address.

Wireshark screenshot Click to see a screenshot separate window

Packet 1: My PC (WINULTX; 10.0.0.3) asks (resolver1.opendns.com; 208.67.222.222) what is the IP address of gconnect.ubi.com

Packet 2: DNS server replies that gconnect.ubi.com is CNAME for lb-onl-vh-wspub01.ubisoft.com, and that lb-onl-vh-wspub01.ubisoft.com has IP address 216.98.48.133

Packet 3: 216.98.48.133, tcp/80 "suddenly" sends a 54 byte [RST, ACK] packet to my PC at tcp/27939

Packet 4: My PC at tcp/23632 sends a 55 byte [ACK] packet to 216.98.48.69, tcp/14000 ( - the DNS server has earlier told my PC that lb-upc-dmx.ubisoft.com has the IP address 216.98.48.69)

Packet 5: A 100% copy of Packet 3, sent 500 ms later

Packet 6: 216.98.48.69, tcp/14000 replies with a 55 byte [ACK] packet to my PC at tcp/23632

Packet 7: A 100% copy of Packet 3, sent 500 ms later

Packet 8 -> Packet 22: My PC at tcp/23632 continues to talk with 216.98.48.69, tcp/14000

I have some questions regarding this.
First, is it possible that there are some packets missing here?
I find it very strange that, my PC first wants to know the IP address of gconnect.ubi.com,
but then, after learning that it is a CNAME for lb-onl-vh-wspub01.ubisoft.com,
and that lb-onl-vh-wspub01.ubisoft.com has IP address 216.98.48.133
- it does not do anything..?
Instead, 3 packets from that very IP address is suddenly sent to my PC..?!
Is it possible that Wireshark missed some packets sent from my PC to that IP address,
and if so - how could that happen?

In the case that there is not any packets missed by Wireshark..
- how is it possible that 216.98.48.133 started to send those packets?
And why did it do that..?


Additional info:

The "3 [RST, ACK] packets, at 500 ms intervals" situation repeats itself later in the capture. This corresponds to when I manually clicked "Additional content" in the game. What differs, is that my PC now wanted to know the IP address of onlineconfigservice.ubi.com
However, onlineconfigservice.ubi.com is also a CNAME for lb-onl-vh-wspub01.ubisoft.com, meaning there is the exact same IP address; 216.98.48.133

Wireshark screenshot Click to see a screenshot in separate window

I have Windows 7 SP1, with Teredo IPv6 disabled.

I am not 100% sure that Ubisofts server "are up", but there is no information on their Twitter page that it "is down" - so that is why I assume there is a problem on my end.

Even though I have played PC games before, this is the first time I am trying to get a multi-player game to work. All the earlier games I have played have been completely offline.

The game in question is Assassin's Creed III. I start Uplay, then choose Assassin's Creed III, Play single-player, then at the menu, I choose Extras. There are 3 options after that; all of them requires a connection to the Ubisoft server, all of them gives the same result.

The tips and fixes on the Ubisoft forums are ..strange. Somehow, the "make sure your firewall lets you connect to a server on [the server's] port 80 and 443" have become "make sure you set up your router NAT to forward incoming packets on ports 80 and 443 to your PC". And this misinterpretation is repeated over and over, without anyone noticing it is a bit strange to do this when there are no server at either port 80 or 443 on your PC.

I have tried to use my normal browser, Mozilla Firefox 28.0, and entering the URLs;
gconnect.ubi.com and onlineconfigservice.ubi.com both gives a 403 Server error message.
While lb-gconnect.ubisoft.com (which is yet another CNAME for lb-onl-vh-wspub01.ubisoft.com),
lb-onl-vh-wspub01.ubisoft.com itself, and also when entering the IP address directly - 216.98.48.133
- these 3 gives me a simple "OK" message.
Most importantly - there is a normal handshake [SYN] - [SYN,ACK] - [ACK] for each of these 5 URLs.
So this is a kind of evidence that there is a server at 216.98.48.133, listening at TCP port 80.

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