❓ FAQ & Troubleshooting

Almost every Game Shield problem comes down to a handful of causes. Find the symptom that matches what you or your players are seeing — each page walks through the checks in order.

Players cannot connect

• "Invalid hostname" — a player joined with a domain that is not registered in your panel, so Game Shield rejected the connection.
• "Unknown host" — the client cannot resolve the domain at all. Usually a missing DNS record, a change that has not propagated yet, or the player's own resolver.
• "Server is offline" — our nodes cannot reach your backend. Start with Proxy Protocol, then your ports and firewall rules.

Performance and limits

• Latency and stability issues — high ping or connections dropping, and the traceroutes we need from your players to trace a bad route.
• Traffic limits — how the rolling 30-day window is counted, what happens when you reach your limit, and how upgrading unlocks a server.

Keeping your server protected

• Hiding your server's IP — stop attackers from skipping Game Shield entirely by connecting to your backend directly.

👨‍💻 Still stuck?

If none of the above matches, open a ticket on our help desk and tell us what you tried — see Support for what to include and our response times.