Lag? Every now and then…but it’s only me.

[DW_damn_weasel]

Hello UT04 community, I’ve been playing for a few weeks in DW Spam Vikings and I must say it’s awesome, unless I get my ass kicked, which is not very funny. :crybaby:
Anyway, this is what is happening to me…when I’m playing online every now and then my system start to lag, usually happens when the server has more than 24 player or maps like Dreamus or Chain Island or big maps. So my question is...:sleepy2:
What do I need to modify to improve the performance of my online game?
Do you know have a known good link where I can make some changes to my .ini without making any damage to my system?
Thanks so much for time guys.

[Gorzakk]

Ahhh. We may be able to help you here.

First, obvious one. Check your PC for viruses, spyware and adware. Also make sure your firewall isnt bugging your UT in any way. (someone else can help you with these as I am naff at them).

Second, what maps are the worst for causing lag? Just make a note of when it happens and list the maps here. Some maps are terrible for creating lag (such as Dinora-32p).

Third, is it FPS related lag? Press Tab and type Stat FPS. Your screen will display the frames per second up where the minimap is. How low is that? If its very low it means the lag is probably on your end. Easy fix - lower your world detail settings in the options.

Fourth, is it packetloss or some-such? Download Winmtr. Start it up and then imput the IP of the Vikings server and click start. Let it run for 50 cycles, it will display how many hops the signal is taking and if there is any packetloss along the way. Post the results here so Toxic can beat up his ISP.

inmtr link: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winmtr.html

[Kraken]

I find it very helpful to kill any and all other applications that may be running (i.e. anti-virus programs, anti-spyware programs, etc.).

Any program that is lurking in the background could be sucking away valuable CPU horsepower from you.

Just my two cents..

[zeus]

I also find I have to reboot from time to time... You would think that they would have these problems figured out by now, but if I start lagging pretty badly one reboot almost always fixes the problem. I have not investigated if it is my wireless card or the way that windows handles memory.

[Namu]

There are a few maps on the serv that always seem to lag towards the end: ChainIsle, Deathdome, Gritnights. They are usally still playable though. Definintely check your FPS to see if it is your own PC having troubs, and the spyware/virus sweeps help too (really depressing when we have to deal with all this internet garbage b/c people are so greedy they have to find quick ways to make cash with spyware).

[DW_KarmaKat]

Hey Weasel!

Here are a couple of links for ya! I use both AdAware and Spybot. Sometimes one or the other will miss something, so running them both catches up just about everything!

AdAware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

SpyBot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

Best of all..they're both free!

KKat

[BRYAN_OF_OYBRO]

I just connected to the server and played some bots on Torlan with my wireless connection that's getting 54 Mbps. It was actually fairly reasonable, but then I loaded Maelstrom just for shits and the bots beat me because i couldn't move fast enough with the lag. I love wireless! :love4:

[DW_damn_weasel]

Well I'm spyware free. I had runs some anti spyware on the system and I'm ok. No runing programs in the background. So my question is, if I can make some modification to the .ini file on UT04 to improve the performance of my on-line game, such as increase the mem when loading maps and stuff like that.
So, if you guys know any tweak that can help me out, let me know.
Thanks you all for the ideas.
:notworthy:

[joeblow]

Well a couple of the regulars have been complaining to me about lag as well. It may be your location to the server. Im in Knoxville TN and I dont have any but maybe some of our west coast players are having troubles.

Do one of those ping tracers and see if you have a bad hop to the server.

When I played on Cains Lair we had a bad hop in Atlanta that would be bad for alotta of players and then some it would not effect at all.


wp

[DW_Wraith]

I know that I have a couple of bad hops connecting to the server, on one, I lose almost 44% of my packets with regularity yesterday when I tested it. Another hop had an average of 14%. For the most part it plays well for me, dunno if when I tested it, it was bad just at that time (daytime around 3-4 p.m.)

I will test again and see if I have the same results...

EDIT:
I just checked right now with WinMtr (thanks Gorz!) and I still get a 38% average packetloss. It is coming from this hop:

ae-5-5.ebr1.Atlanta2.Level3.net - 38
Out of the 14 hops, this is the worst, followed by ae-3.ebr2.Chicago1.Level3.net with about a 7% packet loss. All the other 12 hops are 0% packetloss. So today its a smidge better. I had tested at my office which is 200 ft. from my apt, and on another cablemodem and it was slightly higher, but that machine is on a network with 20 machines.