Photon Integration: Region Selection

Region Selection determines which Photon server cluster your players connect to.
Choosing the correct region is critical for low latency, smooth movement, and stable multiplayer sessions — especially in VR, where even small delays can cause jitter or desync.

This page explains how Photon regions work, how your game should choose a region, and how to handle region selection for both public and private rooms.

1. What a Photon Region Is

A Photon region is a physical server location.

Examples include:

• us (USA East)

• usw (USA West)

• eu (Europe)

• asia

• jp

• au

• sa

Players connect to one region at a time.
Rooms cannot be joined across regions.

2. Why Region Selection Matters

Region affects:

• Ping

• Movement smoothness

• Hand/head syncing

• Room stability

• Voice chat quality

• Hit detection (if applicable)

VR multiplayer is extremely sensitive to latency.
A bad region = a bad experience.

3. How Region Selection Works

When the game starts, Photon can:

A. Automatically choose the best region

Photon pings all regions and picks the lowest latency.

B. Let the player choose manually

Useful for:

• Playing with friends in other regions

• Avoiding overloaded servers

• Testing or debugging

C. Force a region

Used for:

• Events

• Tournaments

• Staff rooms

• Region‑locked content

4. Recommended Region Logic for VR Fangames

1. Default to Auto Region

Most players should connect to the lowest‑ping region automatically.

2. Allow manual override

Players should be able to choose:

• US

• USW

• EU

• ASIA

• etc.

3. Store the region in PlayerPrefs

So the game remembers the player’s choice.

4. Use PlayFab to validate region restrictions

For example:

• Age‑restricted regions

• Staff‑only regions

• Event‑specific regions

5. Show the region on the main menu

Players should always know where they’re connected.

5. Region Locking (Optional)

Some fangames lock certain features to specific regions.

Examples:

• Staff rooms only in us

• Events only in eu

• Testing servers in usw

• Age‑restricted rooms in specific regions

Region locking is done using:

• Room Properties

• PlayFab validation

• Region‑specific matchmaking

6. Region and Room Codes

Room Codes do not work across regions.

If a player tries to join a room code in the wrong region:

• Photon will say the room doesn’t exist

• Even though it does — just in another region

Your UI should warn players:

“This room code may be in another region.”

7. Best Practices

• Default to Auto Region

• Allow manual region selection

• Display the current region clearly

• Store region preference locally

• Validate region restrictions with PlayFab

• Warn players when joining cross‑region rooms

• Avoid forcing regions unless necessary

• Test movement in multiple regions

8. Photon Region Selection Flow (Recommended)

1. Game starts

2. Photon pings all regions

3. Auto‑select lowest ping

4. Load main menu

5. Player can override region

6. Region is saved locally

7. All rooms use the selected region

This keeps things simple and predictable.