Quite heavy lag in JK2?

[Landorin]

Hi all,

 

The search function is disabled unfortunately. I read some of the postings here and I'm suprised that nobody complains about high pings / lag when playing JK 2 online. I even read somewhere here that some 56k modem users don't have any lag problems (which quite suprised me).

I usually got pings higher than 150 ms (actually about 220 ms average) when several players play either on my server (non-dedicated, max of 4 players) or on some server I joined. I got an ADSL connection (768 kbit downstream and 128 kbit upstream) and on other games I usually have a game connection less than 100 ms latency.

Am I doing anything wrong? I selected LAN/cable in game browser screen (when joining) since I thought ISDN would not really fit it?

I also read somewhere here there is somehow a "/rate" command that would improve pings.

Anyone got hints for me? Or any other Germans with ADSL ("T-DSL") connections experiencing the same problems? Maybe that problem does not occur in the US or so? If not, any solution for my problem?

 

Sincerely

Landorin

[Landorin]

There must be others experiencing this high ping problem, I can't imagine I'm the only one writing on this!

I'd also like those to comment on this who do not have those problems but only a 56k modem, what are your ping experiences and your connection and did you do any tweaks to achieve fast connection gaming with JK2?

Any Germans here having the same problem with JK 2?

 

Sincerely

Landorin

[Landorin]

bump

 

(am I the only one with that problem? Hardly... or are other people here too egoistic to answer.....? Just wondering)

[Crease]

I have bad ping with a cable connection too. I just don't join a server unless I have under 100ms ping.

[Landorin]

But why do some 56k (!) modem users say they got no lag at all? Or maybe that means they do have a ping of more than 150 or even more but do not experience any lag since the game still "runs" (but with extending moves lol).

I wonder if there are really any 56k modem users that join servers (not their own) that have more than 4 people playing and still a latency value of less than 120 ms or so?

 

Sincerely

Landorin

[TheJediComic]

Hi guys,

 

I have been trying to host a game for my firend and myself, having the 2 of us plus 8 bots. Before I go on, here's my specs.

 

P4 1.8 GHz

Geforce 4 ti 4400 128mb ddr ram

SB 5.1 LIve

512 mb RDRAM

AT&T broadband cable

 

Now, I've truned the options way below what my system can normally handle...video at 1280x760, 16 bit medium detailed textures, bobbing off etc etc, and I've managed to keep the game looking good. But the lag is horrible!

 

My friend goes from 70 ping for about 2 minutes max at a time, to 600's, and all over the place until he freezes at 999 for a minute, then back down again etc etc. I've checked my cable connection, and the upload speeds are way fast enough for 2 people to play with 8 bots.

 

I've hosted Quake III with the bots, wich is the engine this game is supposed to be based on, without any problems whatsoever.

 

I'm sorry, but having mp that unstable for nondedicated servers (wich is the majority of servers for ANY computer game) is absolutely pathetic. I have yet to see any official announcement even stating something like "Yes, we know there are major lag issues, and we are taking steps to fix that with a ptach that will be released soon." I don't know about you guys, but even a cliche corporate line would be better than nothing.

 

Other than that, the game is great. Oh and Landorin, I read your gripe in another post about people not being very helpful on the tech forums, and I agree with you. Try the regular discussion, people seem more willing to help there.

[TheJediComic]

bumpity bump bump

[TheJediComic]

Bump

[JCronic]

I live in the USA and I use an ADSL connection. My average ping with this game is the best I get in any other MP game. My average ping in other games is usually around 100. On JO, my average ping is 50.

 

Now for JEDICOMIC, it is possible you may have something running in the background that affects your internet connection? I realized a few times that I had something installed on my computer that would do something to my internet connection every 5-10 minutes. Sometimes some sort of updater that checks for updates for certain installed programs. Also, make sure you dont have any mail programs running in the background cause some mail programs automatically check for new mail every 5 minutes.

[TheJediComic]

Already did that man, and so did a lot of other people I've been talking to about it. It's a game issue, not a background program issue.

 

Thanks for trying to help though. The answer you gave was the only thing the wizards that made this game could come up with.

[TheJediComic]

Actually Cronic, we're not talking about playing. My lag is fine if I play on a dedicated server. We're talking about hosting a non dedicated server, and having a few bots and a buddy come to play on it.

 

That's where the game screws up majorly, my system specs are way higher than this game requires, and toning everything down should make the game work faster mp.

 

They need to address the issue in a patch, it's not right to ask people to buy an extra computer so they can host a dedicated server. And in another post, a guy with T1 says he's regularly getting 999 ping!!

[Mattock]

Lots of 56k users have problems with this game. TRUST ME. I'm one of them.

 

I rarely find a server I can connect to that is playable for me.

I've also seen alot of broadband users complaina bout their ping's.

 

Hopefully Raven will whip out a patch to clean up the net code a bit.

 

If you want to see a nice long post with ppl griping about lag, goto the main board, Valley of the Jedi and look for a post titled "Un-lag patch possible?"

[Landorin]

Hi all,

 

It's nice to get some replies after all. I checked out a few more servers and even found one where I had pings below 100 ms although there were more than 20 people playing (way too much for those small levels). Must have been a good dedicated but this is rare for JK 2 servers, especially since most servers are password protected.

Oh, Raven, do you read this? Please include in your patch that password protected servers get a symbol in the JK 2 browser list.

It's always a pain finding a non-password protected fast server finally (if at all).

 

I was even able to host a game myself with 2 others who got a ping about 100 ms or less (don't ask me how, somehow my game appeared in the browser list again, really must have been the 2nd NIC I took out).

So what I'd like to share with you all is some, yeah you could call them MP rules I set up for myself (maybe this is something for sticky posting or even for news on jediknightii.net, judge yourself).

 

1) bots (just like in other games) do count (nearly or even fully) as much as a playing human, meaning a bot also takes the same bandwith a human player takes, so the more bots play, the more bandwith is needed on the server.

 

2) For people having only 128 kbit upstream (as I do with "T-DSL" in Germany) it is recommended to host only 4 players maximum, but all of them must have a fast connection to you (meaning good ping) so all players experience a fast, playable game. You can allow only fast players to join (see below). So of course if you have for example 256 kbit upstream, you should be able to host 8 fast players without any problems. If you're uncertain about your upstream bandwith, play a bit around with your server and see how many people can play with a low ping and at how many players it becomes unplayable.

 

3) Set ping maximum for people who want to join at about 200 ms. Quite a few people can't join your game anymore now but in return you get a fast game in which the clients should experience very less lag than normal. And you won't miss those players having a high ping who can't join now anymore, believe me. You, as host, may now sometimes get a message that a client wishes to join with a ping higher than the one you allowed. Now this client will try again and again with steadily increasing ping. Don't bother, sooner or later the client will stop this but it won't affect your game very much.

To set a ping maximum: you find this under "advanced" ("Erweitert" for German version) in your server setup menu (right before you start the game).

In game, bring up the console and type in "sv_maxping 200". To see what value is currently set, only type in "sv_maxping". All of course without the "".

 

4) How fast is YOUR upstream bandwith (upload), fellow forum reader? Do you know? Find it out and be sure that the "rate" value in JK 2 matches your upload speed, if you don't need it for anything else, use your complete upstream bandwith for JK 2 to achieve lower pings. Me for example with 128 kbit upstream which is equal to about 14-16 kb/s I set it to 16000 and I experienced lower pings on my clients.

That's because the rate indicates how much upstream bandwith JK 2 is allowed to use, the more the better for the clients. Set this value in "advanced" in server setup menu.

In game, bring up the console and type in "sv_maxrate <value>", in my case "sv_maxrate 16000". To see what value is currently set, only type in "sv_maxrate". All of course without the "".

 

4a) if the clients raise their rate as well, it can improve connections once more.

For every player (also host) it is especially important that the value is not set too low NOR higher than their bandwith maximum (or packets sent will be too big and thus take too long to send).

 

So in general, host AND clients should set their rate to the proper value.

 

5) I found something out when playing yesterday, which is probably the most important here.

I played with the two other players still when suddenly a 4th player connected with quite some 500 ms or so high ping. A few seconds later, the latency values of ALL clients went on 999 ms!

If you leave it like that for some time, all 999 ms players will be disconnected all together.

When I kicked that 4th person that just joined with a bad ping, they went back to the old, faster values again.

 

So as it seems, some player who have a high latency/ping connection connect to your game, it may mess up the whole connection and all players except the host get 999 ms.

However, this is not normal and should be patched as soon as possible. In the meanwhile, you can prevent this by setting the ping max of clients to a specific value (optimal results at 200 ms max).

 

I hope this helps to improve your JK 2 games online, for me it did.

Thanks to Lord Pimp who helped me out and enabled me to make these rules.

Oh, last not least, although these rules make it a bit better, pings are still too high in this game in general.

Don't question this , I play many different type of games and this one belongs to those that have higher pings than necessary. This should be improved/patched as soon as possible.

 

Sincerely

Landorin

[Landorin]

bump