Lag nearly all the time

[Flynn]

Okay can someone help me here. There must be more to the internet than speed because I have a 2M/bit connection and it seems I am frequently getting complaints from other players that I am causing lag even though I have been told that 2 M/bits are plenty for online gaming. I am not the sole internet user in my house but I have heard Gyle or Zaphod (can't remember which one) play on a 1 M/bit connection and they say it's okay so a 2 meg connection should be enough with multiple people using it. I can watch Youtube fine although it randomly changes to 240p sometimes yet other times it streams perfectly in near TV quality (not sure which one that is, maybe the one below 1080p, 720p?) and I can also download movies as well in about an hour from film40d. I don't know if any UK users here are with Talk Talk if you can share your experiences? Thank you.

[ColonelSheppard]

CPU Lag?

[Flynn]

As I understand it, CPU lag slows the game down in sim speed, not the kind of horrible "stuttery" lag that connection lag causes. And again, CPU lag doesn't set in until at least a few minutes into the game even on the largest maps.

[snuffles]

Flynn, which ISP are you with, and how are you connecting to your router? (WiFi, LAN cable, smoke signals etc).

Also, when you have 5 minutes spare time make sure your java is up to date and run the Berkley ICSI netalyzer on your connection: http://netalyzr.icsi.berkeley.edu/

If you feel there isn't any personal information in the resultant report, feel free to post up the link ID to the report once it's done.

From there, you can look at isolating possible causes of the problem. You're not the only one with internet issues, and it's a damned shame too.

[Nombringer]

I think I know the kind of lag you are talking about.

It has only occurred to me two or three times, after a large storm or earthquake, as I am in New Zealand my connection will be much slower than yours ( I have seen it drop to under 200 kilobytes per second on downloads) however like I said, the times when I have had serious lag issues like that are in single digits.

I therefore assume it's probably to do with packet loss, and not to do with your speed, however I can't really help you beyond that :L

[Flynn]

Alright, currently trying to install Java, it's not the first time I have had trouble installing it. It seems like every few days there is a new version according to pingtest.net which uses it heavily. Edit: Java installer keeps freezing in Chrome, gonna try IE. Edit: Got it to work on Chrome in the end.

[prodromos]

I suppose 2 Mbit is your download speed?
What is your upload one?
This may be small enough that could not support 12 players for example, but could easily serve 10.

Anyway, a friendly piece of advice. When you play supcom you should be the only person in your network. It is common sense for years now, that multiple people using a network often leads to connection issues. In supcom this is magnified much more.(and your internet speed is a decent one but by no means fast).
To put it differently, if you want to be sure 100% that you won't cause lag, do not
download, do not upload and do not let others use your network.
I have a suspicion that you will always have such issues if you share your connection with others, no matter how fast it is, especially if you play with a lot of people and big unit caps. In fact if you want to be even more sure, you should use strictly cable and no wireless connection.

[Flynn]

Here are the results from the test:

http://n3.netalyzr.icsi.berkeley.edu/re ... c9-b812/rd

I noticed it said there was a vulnerable UPnP device, this was my router which was enabled for UPnP, which I had completely forgotten about. I have now turned UPnP off and I will try it and see what it is like without it enabled.

It also says that "your DNS resolver returns IP addresses for names that do not exist". I am wondering if this could have been due to the UPnP as well.

Edit to say: I am running powerline adapters, but I am pleased to say that there is no fault with them, as I have just ran a ping test on pingtest.net through the adapters and scored a grade D and then gone down stairs and run a ping test connected directly to the router and also scored a grade D So that's something I can rule out hopefully.

[Anaryl]

Thats your problem right there. Powerline adaptors I presume are using the electric wires in your house as lan right? Neat concept but utterly shitty in practice: why? Because when you buy cat5 it is shielded and often twisted to reduce emxt. The wiring in your house is not. Anythinh coming down the line is going to destroy your signal, meaning you need to retransmit, and stop me if im wrong but microwaves dont have a back off algorithm for their transformers. Get cat5, like a normal person.

[E8400-CV]

^^ with him

Power supplies induce noise on the power grid. While is can be fine when your pc runs at a constant low-load, it can be another thing when it's running more or less full-load during a game. Depending on how old* / how decent your electricity has been built in your home, it can also be better or worse. In general, the more cheap "bricks" you (and depending on the network... your neighbours) have connected, the worse it gets.

Also don't forget that ping and bandwidth aren't all there is. One can have a huge bandwidth, a <10ms ping and yet have a totally crappy connection for gaming.

Really, drill a hole in the floor and run up Cat 5e (not the cheap Chinese-fake kind, but the kind that isn't attracted by magnets!). If that isn't doable, run up Cat 5e long the outside of you house; but get wired LAN over dedicated wires.

*) The way wire ends were connected in say 1930 is not as good as they are connected these days. But then it's much easier to drill a hole anywhere in a 1930's house