Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Australia / New Zealand
200-300ms to US East peer sessions; 30-80ms to AU-hosted dedicated servers- No official servers — peer-hosted sessions with US or EU friends reach 200–300ms due to geographic distance
- PlayFab Party relay adds overhead on top of geographic distance for cross-continental sessions
- Local dedicated servers exist but AU community is smaller than US/EU — finding populated sessions harder
Southeast Asia
150-250ms to US/EU peer sessions; 30-80ms to Singapore-based dedicated servers- Low local server density — most players connect to US or EU hosted sessions
- Cross-continent peer sessions with US/EU friends reach 150-250ms
- PlayFab Party relay routing may not optimize well for SEA players
South America
100-200ms to US East- No local server infrastructure from major hosting providers
- SA players connecting to US East peer sessions typically reach 100-200ms
- PlayFab relay from Brazil to US East routing quality varies by ISP
What players commonly report
- Rubber-banding and character sliding for non-host players at 150ms+
- Connection timeouts after game updates affecting PlayFab Party backend
- Non-host players experiencing 500ms+ ping to distant hosts
- Performance degradation over long sessions as world state grows complex
- No native in-game ping display makes diagnosing latency issues difficult
- Host machine hardware being the bottleneck for all guests
- Disabling crossplay as the only workaround for some connection issues
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Use a wired Ethernet connection instead of WiFi
1. Connect a Cat5e or Cat6 Ethernet cable from your PC to your router 2. In Windows: Settings → Network & Internet → Wi-Fi → turn off Wi-Fi to force Ethernet 3. Confirm in Settings → Network & Internet → Status — Ethernet should show as primary 4. Rejoin your Core Keeper session and compare latency 5. If cabling is impossible, a powerline adapter is an intermediate option that dramatically reduces WiFi jitter
WiFi adds 5–30ms of jitter that causes rubber-banding in Core Keeper even when average ping looks acceptable. Switching to wired eliminates this source of instability for non-host players.
02 Close background bandwidth consumers before joining
1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc → Task Manager → Performance → Open Resource Monitor → Network tab 2. Sort by 'Total (B/sec)' to identify what else is using bandwidth 3. Common culprits: Windows Update (pause it: Settings → Windows Update → Pause for 7 days), cloud backups (OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox), torrents, Spotify, Discord video calls 4. Pause or close all non-game applications before launching Core Keeper 5. On your router, enable QoS to prioritize your PC if multiple household members are active simultaneously
Background uploads and download spikes cause 50–200ms latency spikes that translate directly to rubber-banding for non-host Core Keeper players. Eliminating competing traffic is a free fix for a common issue.
Core Keeper uses Steam Datagram Relay. PingAim optimizes the path your ISP controls.
General network tips (not Core Keeper-specific)
03 Check your actual latency to the session host
1. Core Keeper has no native in-game ping display — use Windows Resource Monitor 2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc → Task Manager → Performance → Open Resource Monitor 3. Click the Network tab, find CoreKeeper.exe in the process list 4. Note the remote IP address it is connected to 5. Open Command Prompt (Win+R → cmd) and type: ping <that IP address> -n 20 — press Enter 6. This shows your real round-trip latency to the PlayFab relay or dedicated server 7. If ping is low (under 100ms) but you still rubber-band, the host machine hardware is the bottleneck — no client-side fix
Confirms whether rubber-banding comes from your network or from the host machine being overloaded. Essential first step before any other fix.
04 Have the player with the best connection host the session
1. Core Keeper peer-hosted sessions use the host machine as the server — host's upload speed and CPU matter for all guests 2. The player with the fastest upload and lowest latency to the others should host 3. To test upload speed: visit fast.com — check the upload Mbps (need at least 2–4 Mbps for a 4-player session) 4. Host's geographic location also matters — someone central to the group minimizes worst-case latency for distant players 5. If latency is unavoidably high for some players, switch to a dedicated server hosted in a neutral region instead
The single most impactful fix for peer-hosted sessions. If the wrong player hosts, everyone else suffers high ping regardless of their own internet quality.
05 Set up a dedicated server for persistent group play
1. Install Core Keeper Dedicated Server from Steam (App ID: 1963720 — free separate tool) 2. Or rent from a hosting provider: BisectHosting, Indifferent Broccoli, and GTXGaming all support Core Keeper with region selection 3. Choose a server location geographically central to your group (US East for mixed US players, Frankfurt for EU) 4. SDR mode (Steam-only players): launch the server without the -port argument — Steam relay handles connectivity, no port forwarding needed 5. Direct Connect (crossplay PC): add -port 27015 to server launch arguments, forward UDP 27015 and 27016 on your router 6. Share the server IP:port or Game ID with your group
Eliminates the host-is-the-server problem entirely. A dedicated server in a central location gives all players more equal latency compared to routing through one player's home connection. Essential for groups with 5+ players or friends spread across continents.
06 Disable crossplay to fix connection drops (PC only)
1. Launch Core Keeper and open Settings 2. Find the Crossplay or Multiplayer settings section 3. Toggle crossplay OFF — this restricts the session to Steam-only connections using Steam SDR relay 4. Restart your session and try again 5. This reduces the available player pool but may improve connection stability if PlayFab Party is experiencing issues
Community-reported fix for connection timeouts after updates. Crossplay uses PlayFab Party to bridge different PC storefronts — when the PlayFab backend is unstable, Steam-only (SDR) sessions can be more reliable.
Regions with good connectivity
Players in these regions likely won't benefit much from a network optimizer.
- Western Europe — High density of EU-based players and hosting providers in Frankfurt/Germany. Most EU players achieve 15–60ms in peer-hosted sessions within the region.
- US East Coast — Largest player base. US East hosting is well-represented by major providers. East Coast players in the same region typically achieve 20–60ms in peer sessions.
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects Core Keeper automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Core Keeper by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.