A fan-made Titanfall 2 mod going by the name of Northstar may finally be the solution that fans have been looking for in order to remedy the game’s persistent online problems.
As reported by PC Gamer, the Northstar mod was released in December and essentially allows fans to run their own custom servers in Titanfall 2. For the Titanfall community, this is a massive and incredibly important change to the game, as it allows players to bypass Titanfall 2’s official servers, and at the same time, its constant issues with DDoS attacks.
Similar to other modern shooters, Titanfall 2’s official servers use matchmaking playlists that allow players to jump into games with ease. However, vulnerabilities in the game’s servers have left them open to a number of attacks by hackers over the years and for long periods have made the game virtually unplayable for the game’s fanbase.
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As per PC Gamer, the Northstar mod essentially takes a step away from matchmaking by instead pushing the community toward an old-school browser system. While servers on the new system are still theoretically able to be attacked, the process is both slightly more difficult and less likely to cause widespread issues. This point was further illustrated by the community-led Save Titanfall account on Twitter.
“I’ve seen a few people asking if this “gets rid of attacks”,” explains the account. “And the short answer is yes. If an attacker wants to crash your server, they will have to track down the server’s IP address. Private games not on the master server will be impossible to track down & crash.”
I’ve seen a few people asking if this “gets rid of attacks”, and the short answer is yes. If an attacker wants to crash your server, they will have to track down the server’s IP address. Private games not on the master server will be impossible to track down & crash.
— SaveTitanfall (@save_titanfall) December 24, 2021
To find out more about the full story behind Titanfall 2’s infamous history with DDoS attacks, this feature on the game is definitely worth a read. While Titanfall 2 was eventually abandoned by EA, the wider story explored in the piece includes a strange saga of hacks, a forty-page document of collated evidence known as Operation Red Tape, conspiracies theories, and a journalist caught in the middle of it all. And, if you’ve read through that, then why not also check out our review of the game where we awarded it a 9/10.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
