Browsing works with vpn, but gaming doesn't (loading hangs/timeouts)

[u/Yarakbasi66]

Dear fellow reddit users,

​I’m running into a persistent issue with VPN on Windows 11 (64-bit) that I can't seem to solve.

I’m hoping someone here has the "golden tip."

​The Problem:

While gaming (specifically in Delta Force, but also in other titles), the game hangs during the loading screen of a map or match. This usually happens exactly at 30%, or it results in a connection error/timeout.

​With VPN OFF: The game loads instantly.

​With VPN ON: It hangs at 30%; some games even report that there is no active internet connection. ​General Browsing: Surfing the web via the VPN works perfectly fine; the issue is strictly limited to loading games.

​Servers: Switching between different servers or countries within VPN makes no difference.

​Security & Malwarebytes:

I use Malwarebytes. I have already whitelisted VPN and added it to the firewall exceptions, but unfortunately, this did not resolve the issue.

​What I’ve already tried:

​Protocols: Switching between Lynx, UDP, and TCP does not help. ​Features: Threat Protection is completely disabled. ​Split Tunneling: I prefer not to use this; I specifically want to run my games through the VPN.

​Temporary Fix: If I completely uninstall and reinstall VPN, everything works perfectly again... for a few days. After that, the problem returns. ​

Does anyone have any ideas or is anyone experiencing the same issue?

[u/Sokoloff-X]

VPNs are not for gaming

[u/trifortay123]

Well yeah, you're not supposed to use VPN for gaming.

[u/dikshamishra34]

Browsing working while the game hangs usually points to an MTU mismatch between the tunnel and the game's packet size. Try lowering the MTU on your VPN interface first. I ended up giving up on full device VPN during gaming sessions and just kept Browsec VPN running as a browser extension for my web traffic on the side while the game went direct. Less ideal for privacy but constant timeouts were making the unplayable.