Chunks won't load

[paper meteor]

I've seen other players reporting the same issue, or at least something that looks related to it.

This issue started two days ago, i play with my gf hosting through Steam. At the first time, she noticed the game was taking longer to connect, until an error message appeared "Failed to download map from the server". After trying again and again, she noticed this message appeared during chunk load, it would get stuck on 277 or close to it, but it wouldn't load, either an infinite loading screen or just the error message

We play with mods, but we didn't add any on the last days, everything was and still should be working fine, but it just isn't. We started troubleshooting, now hosting without mods, full vanilla, but she would still face the same error. She tried hosting, with and without mods, i managed to connect, but would get kicked out of the server rigth after. I also noticed my ping was really high during the gameplay, but my internet connection was fine and so was her's.

Since this didn't solve the issue, we started troubleshooting in other ways, uninstalling the game on both sides, deleting the Zomboid files on "User", but unfortunately nothing worked. At least this time she managed to connect, but the same error message that was showing to me was now showing to her. This also happened while changing sides, i was also getting the message i was kicked from the server due to ping.

Here is the full list of the troubleshooting we did, not in order:

• Device powercycle
• Internet powercycle
• Hosting with/without mods
• Steam "Verify integrity of game files"
• Unsubscribe to every mod
• Different hosts
• Reinstalling the game on both sides
• Delete User>Zomboid files on both sides

If there is any other troubleshooting we could do, please let me know. We don't have another friend to try and connect on our server, but i do believe this is not an isolated issue.

[safe blade]

Are you able to reproduce the issue without mods? Are you able to play on a server with less than 100 ping?

Since anything above 100 is considered high, its why the ping is in orange

[paper meteor]

Yes, the issue still happens while playing without mods.
No, but we did a speedtest and both mine and her's internet are fine

[safe blade]

It is not really fine if the ping is that high

Best I can suggest is disable the Ping Limit option in the server settings if you want to continue playing with high ping

But there is not much else that can be done

[paper meteor]

Not related to ping, i'm sorry. I've just input the max and it still persists, the red error message still shows during connection to the server

[safe blade]

Yes that is related to your connection between two PCs

Disabling the ping limit will only help with the kicks you get once you manage to load in

This message you get cannot be helped much, only thing I saw help is lower your game resolution, so you have to download less of the map

[dull rose]

Hello ♡
We already tried everything, including lowering the game resolution and etc, but I'd like to ask you a question, how come we always managed to play together like this, for more than 2 years, under the same circumstances, using mods and also without using mods, and suddenly overnight the game just stops loading and we are never able to play again? Idk
We didn't do anything different like downloading new mods or changing any specific setting for the game, it just stopped loading chunks forever.
I don't think it's a connection issue since we are able to play other games normally and we used to play PZ before with no issues.
How could we fix this and find a solution?

[safe blade]

I would suggest contacting your or the hosts internet provider with that

Since as mentioned, the error is purely connection related, the game did not have any secret update that would suddenly cause the issue. While network conditions change constantly.

Mods also update often, so that can add extra issues. Does this problem happen on a new unmodded server as well?

[dull rose]

Yes, the problem started only with PZ, with or without mods, we can still play online games like League of Legends, Valorant, Marvel Rivals, watch streaming platforms with no issues or high ping, the problem is only when playing PZ, this is the reason why I don't believe it's a connection problem, but I can try calling and asking them.
If it does not work, what else would you recommend us to do? We always been active players and we enjoy so much playing PZ, it's really frustrating.

I will try to invite my bf to play on my cabin house, which has a total different internet provider, to see if the issue persists and we can return to tell you if this worked. I hope so. 🙏🏻

[safe blade]

All the services you listed use Dedicated servers, meaning they host a ton of servers all around the world to provide the best ping closest to your physical location.
But you are comparing it to a server you are hosting yourself, right?

This means that the distance is fixed, so it is very important to know how far away physically you and your GF are from each other, the larger the distance, the larger the ping, the worse the connection

[dull rose]

Hello. Tried playing on another network with him and it didn't work
Even using another connection, on another internet provider, we aren't even far away from each other, and we were always able to play together, for 2 years but now, it seems like the game will not work for us anymore. Ty for dedicating your time to reply, but unfortunately the game doesn't work for us anymore. ty