Don't Starve Together FAQ — Ping, Servers, Network

Yes. Don't Starve Together has no anti-cheat system, so PingAim's WFP driver works without any restrictions. PingAim attaches to dontstarve.exe and routes its UDP traffic (port 10999) through your chosen second connection — whether that's a phone 5G hotspot, a second Ethernet adapter, or an unused WiFi interface. Because DST connects directly to server IPs without Valve's SDR relay, PingAim has full visibility into your traffic and can route it through whichever path reaches your server with less jitter.

Rubber-banding in DST has two main causes that look identical: your network latency, and the server's tick rate. If the server is running at 15 Hz (the default), position updates only arrive every 67ms — which feels choppy regardless of your ping. If the server runs at 30 or 60 Hz but you're still rubber-banding, it's your network: either high ping, or jitter (ping variability). Check the server's tick rate before blaming your connection. Klei also fixed several false rubber-banding bugs in a 2015 network update — older guides may reference these as ongoing issues when they were already fixed.

It depends on your ping. The 'Lag Compensation' setting in Options → Online controls client-side movement prediction. With it on, your character moves immediately on your input and the client predicts where you'll be — if the server disagrees, you get a correction snap (rubber-band). With it off, your character only moves after the server confirms it — no rubber-banding, but movement feels sluggish at >50ms. On a good connection under 60ms, keep it on. On a connection above 100ms to a distant server, try turning it off — some players find it feels more predictable.

Each additional player increases the server's network load and CPU usage. DST simulates a full survival world including creature AI, weather systems, and crafting queues — each player adds entities that must be tracked and sent to all other clients. On underpowered community servers (which is most of them), a 4-6 player session can noticeably reduce server tick performance, causing everyone to experience higher effective latency even if their actual ping is unchanged. The solution is to find servers with better hardware, or host your own dedicated server on a VPS.

No. Don't Starve Together connects players directly to server IPs via UDP — it does not use Valve's Steam Datagram Relay (SDR). Klei has its own NAT-traversal and relay fallback for cases where a direct UDP connection fails, but the normal connection is direct. This means your network path to the server is whatever your ISP provides, with no Valve backbone optimization. It also means the server's real IP is visible in the browser and in tools like BattleMetrics, and PingAim can route your traffic directly to it.

Under 100ms for comfortable co-op play. Under 150ms is manageable for most survival activities where action timing isn't critical. Above 200ms you'll see visible stalls when picking up items, combat hits feeling delayed, and occasional desync with other players during cave transitions. Klei's own troubleshooting guide recommends joining servers showing 150ms or below in the server browser. Unlike twitch shooters, DST's gameplay loop has inherent animation delays that naturally buffer some latency — but coordinated co-op actions like simultaneous boss fights feel noticeably worse above 100ms.