PEAK Pathfinder

PEAK Pathfinder

PEAK Pathfinder is a free client-side connection helper for PEAK. It is intended for a specific class of Photon connectivity problems where the game can reach Photon services but assigned GameServer connections over UDP are blocked, filtered, or unstable.

Multiplayer requirement: PEAK Pathfinder must be installed on every player in the session. Before connecting, all players must select the same Pathfinder connection mode. Do not mix UDP Server Selection and Secure WSS/443 in the same session.

PEAK Pathfinder is not a VPN or proxy and cannot fix every possible networking problem.

Video demonstration

Watch the PEAK Pathfinder demonstration on YouTube

The video shows the first-run UDP learning/retry flow, immediate skipping of already-known BAD GameServer assignments, /24 subnet rejection after sufficient BAD history, the local GOOD/BAD history file, and the optional WSS/443 mode.

Connection modes

UDP Server Selection

Keeps the main Photon game connection on UDP.

• Checks the Photon GameServer assigned to the player.
• Uses a 60-second stability check for an unknown server.
• Stores the latest GOOD/BAD result for exact GameServer IPs locally and rejects known BAD assignments immediately on later attempts.
• The first connections may take noticeably longer while PEAK Pathfinder builds local history for the player's network.
• As that history grows, the retry/scanning stage can become significantly faster. Rejection of an already-known BAD assignment itself is immediate, because the mod does not wait for the same timeout again. Total connection time still depends on which GameServer Photon assigns next.
• A whole /24 range is only promoted to BAD after 4 distinct currently-BAD IPs in that range and no currently-GOOD IP there.
• Photon Voice uses WSS/443 independently of the MAIN UDP GameServer connection.

Secure WSS/443

Uses Photon's WebSocket Secure transport over TCP/TLS port 443 instead of the normal UDP GameServer path.

This mode is intended for cases where the problem is specifically related to Photon UDP. During development, WSS/443 avoided the observed UDP GameServer timeout on an affected test connection. It is not guaranteed to solve every ISP/network issue and it may increase latency.

The UDP GOOD/BAD database and 60-second UDP scan are not used in this mode.

Voice chat

Starting with v0.6.10, Pathfinder prepares Photon Voice for WSS/443 in both connection modes. This is intended to avoid depending on a separate UDP Voice GameServer when Photon Voice UDP is affected by the same network restrictions.

The v0.6.10 implementation moves the WSS preparation earlier than v0.6.9. Pathfinder gives VoiceConnection a private WSS settings clone, requests Voice transport construction with WebSocketSecure, and temporarily forces the exact Realtime ConnectUsingSettings settings instance to Protocol=WebSocketSecure and Port=443 while Photon builds the connection. It does not rewrite Voice ServerPortOverrides or EnableProtocolFallback, and it does not manually replace redirected Master/GameServer addresses. Photon remains responsible for the normal NameServer → MasterServer → GameServer redirect flow.

The Voice issue reported in earlier versions is fixed in v0.6.10. Multiplayer testing confirmed that Pathfinder now reaches the actual Photon Voice connection as WSS/443. Because the Voice transport is configured locally on each computer, Pathfinder must be installed on every player, and all players must select the same connection mode before connecting.

How to use

UDP Server Selection

• Make sure every player has PEAK Pathfinder installed.
• Make sure every player selects UDP Server Selection before connecting.
• Start an online game normally.
• Then wait while PEAK Pathfinder checks the assigned Photon GameServers.

During early attempts, the online session may start and then disconnect a few seconds later. PEAK Pathfinder can then return through PEAK's normal flow and begin another attempt with a newly as