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My problem with game latency

Last response: in Networking
January 2, 2011 6:28:34 PM

Hi, Please take the time to read through my message as im not quite smart about how the network latency works when it comes to gaming.

My problem is i have a really good latency of 25ms to my local gaming server wich is roughly around 500Km away(dont know how far in miles). What i cant understand is my hits do not always register as good as others even though their latency is higher and sometimes very much higher than mine by atleast 4 to 6 times as much, aswell as being almost double or some even tripple the distance away from the server roughly 800-1500Km away.

Most times i can sit still shooting a non-moving target slowly on single shot, and no hits are registering. i find myself always having to throw alot extra bullets just to get my kills.
other players with higher latencies register their hits with ease and i have no idea whats causing this issue, because i know their has to be something wrong.

So my real question is whats actually happening and is their anyways i can do something that can work? i have moved from 3 locations(not for gaming,haha) and it still always feels very much the same. could it be my computer causing this problem or something from me to the server?

I have played on an international server thats about 10000km away and it seemed to have a better hit registry on non-moving targets when they just stand there. I sometimes do the same on my local server and i sit there like a duck shooting without anything happening.

I have a pretty decent computer rig i think.

E8400 core2duo
gigabyte G31M-S2L motherboard
4gb standard ddr 2, 800 memory
geforce 9800gt 1gb
on-board HD sound
standard keyboard,
and a cheap gaming mouse
windows 7 ultimate 64x

please, if there is any more info you need to know that could help i'll be glad to tell you in hopes that someone can know what the issue is.

thank you in advance.

Kind Regards

More about : problem game latency

January 5, 2011 3:06:21 AM

Does nobody no whats the problem?
January 7, 2011 3:31:06 PM

Still nobody knows abit more about this than i do?.

or a website that can tell me all i need to know from my first post, please?
Related resources
January 7, 2011 3:46:03 PM

Do a tracert to the server and see if there are any dead hops. If you are using dual monitors, set up a continuous ping to the server while you are playing and watch your replies. (eg. ping -t)
Try lowering your graphics settings, it could be video or harddrive lag. Make sure you have no uploads running, no tasks such as antivirus scans or whatever running. Try updating the drivers on your NIC/try a different NIC if possible.
While you are in game, hit the desktop and run a command prompt and do a netstat -a and make sure there are no tcp connections in a time_wait/close_wait state.
Try taking your router of the loop, see if it is causing the problem.

just some suggestions.

January 7, 2011 4:09:41 PM

Sounds like you are dropping packets. So, some of the packets are making it to the destination and some are not. Which would be why sometimes you can hit the target and sometimes you cannot.

What kind of Anti Virus are you using? Some good free ones are AVG, Avast, MSE
Also download "malwarebytes" and run a scan and search for spyware/ect.... Enough spyware can eat your connection... Since the problem "followed" you, it seems like (to me), that it is a local issue.

I also agree with -lukin-, try and lower your game settings and see if that helps...
January 10, 2011 2:15:00 AM

i will definitly try these things. I stopped using anti virus software, it was getting more in the way of things than anything else. I try to format my full machine about every 3 months.

I have a 9800gt 1 gb i dont know how that could give me video lag as the game runs very smooth on full GFX. maybe its the hard drive and the NIC, i'll give those ones a good check into and see what happens
January 10, 2011 6:18:17 AM

Bear with me, this could be a lengthy post....

Generally speaking you break the basics of networking into bandwidth and latency. If you get good download speeds in general that would mean your bandwidth is fine. Latency just like bandwidth, nailing down the specific problem is a fairly lengthy process sometimes cause you need several start with the easy things first. Remember distance to server actually means very little as it's what is in BETWEEN you and the server that matters. You COULD have a server in the same city as you but run a 500ms ping because of something in the hops between your systems.

1) Like the post before mentioned you could stat with a tracert to the server you are playing on from the cmd window. If there are any unusually high or dropped packets between you and the server then you know it's not originating from your system unless ALL the hops are bad or at least getting worse with each hop. Or even the first hop or two could be bad then gets better. This basically allows you to NARROW the results of the issue. (Start -> Run -> cmd ->enter....type tracert x.x.x.x where the server IP would be.)

2) Ok once that's narrowed down you begin to troubleshoot...start with your Cable and NIC to ensure they are working fine. Try new drivers for NIC and reset the adapter. Ensure the CAT-5 or CAT-6 cable is in good condition; maybe pick up a brand new CAT-6 to be certain, they are cheap and well shielded from EMI (Electromagnetic Interference.) Try connecting directly to the ISP connection with no router as mentioned before to see if that's the issue.

3)Now you can start to narrow it down. Windows TCP/IP stack functionality is bloated and horrible. You can try to subvert this somewhat if you want to try the Nvidia FirstPacket software among others like this basically gives you 2 ingoing/outgoing (Outgoing packets is 75% of the issue with latency usually.) queues to your network stack protocol. You can set priority packets as per program with the Nvidia software. So even if there is other programs or TSR programs running in the background that check periodically for updates (eg. windows update, AV software updates, Steam, some motherboard software, etc..) you can prioritize your game for outgoing and/or incoming packets. They recieve their packets before other programs.

4)check how many programs are running in your startup...the more there, the more RAM is used, the slower you can get. (Start -> Run -> msconfig -> enter -> click startup tab -> disable all -> restart.) If it's working as intended now, then you can go in there and start to enable them again one by one until you find the culprit.

5)Find out how many incomming requests/processes are coming IN to you from outside your network (Or maybe even from INSIDE your network if there is more than your system on it, maybe IT has a virus/malware/spyware, etc..) This is done as before mentioned with a command prompt and netstat -a command.

6)A new NIC might help as well, it seems the rest of your system is pretty good for gaming in general. If you do get something that doesn't use the windows TCP stack. Get a managed NIC like an Intel or one of those Bigfoot NIC that is basically a 400MHz 64MB RAM linux machine in a PCI slot..or PCI-e x1 slot i think for the new one. It completely bypasses the windows networking. I believe they have a packet/program prioritizing software package there as well.

7)It actually sounds as if it's not your issue at all if your latency is 25ms that's phenomenal. If hits aren't registering it could just mean people are exploiting the server. This is usually done now days by THEM ADDING latency to their connection and since a lot of games don't have very good server prediction vs latency built in a lot of times they get the advantage of playing like a person with 800ms ping but the server prediction/correction actually usually FAVORS them over you; so they can say that anyone can play even with a connection that isn't very good. It's meant for accessibility but can end up working in their favor. Since this is technically not running scripts or hacks because it's CLIENT side not server side, things like Punk Buster and whatnot won't pick it up. The way around this is usually server admins can stipulate that no one under 150ms latency can play, they will get auto-kicked or something. That's about the only way around that issue. In game play it gives the illusion that they are jumping/standing still when they are not, and have moved based on THEIR system and when the packets finally arrive to the server from them, the prediction is based of THEIR client so you see him standing still but he's actually 20 ft to the left according to the server so you end up missing. This is what the issue sounds like to me...I HATE when players do that online, I think it's a cowardly move. But each to their own.

Hope that helps ya!
January 11, 2011 1:53:33 PM

the above posts are awesome guys thank you all very much for putting the time in, its much appreciated.

Although it is very hard to explain every detail to the problem i seem to have. most of what you guys have given solutions to could possibly help my situation and i will
definitly put in practice.

One thing to mention from my side is, i dont seem to suffer any LAG issues due to the latency from myself or other players on the server with regards to what players call as rubber banding (where everything jumps back as you move or players move). The server itself is in fact set to low pings only, and i know that only local players from the same country can join, i think its set to the region and not an exact ping rate. The players that do join are well below 100 and most average around 40-70ms.

For the past 4 days or so, hit registry has improved alot for some reason. I had a power failure one late night, and power was only restored about 10 hours later.
I had only switched everything back on roughly around the 20 Hour mark and since after that its been atleast acceptable. i am not sure if the power itself sorted a problem out or the actual reset of my router. if i had to use my knowledge id say the router got a nice good restart and works better now or the NIC for that matter or pc itself, although i do restart the pc a few times now and then and never saw a change.

One thing i would like to ask is, i see in game the players aswell as mine fluctuate, Mine is generaly around 25 and spikes every 1 minutes to about 30-35, This ping rate is while playing and i can see the update of it when i want to.
now in the menu before i connect to the actual server it has another ping ther wich is roughly around 65 and fluctuates alot more, but is pretty stable on 65ms. what is the difference between this ping and the one i see in the game? the ping in game is the connection to where? and the ping in the menu when i select the server is to where?

thank you all again for the effort in helping
January 11, 2011 2:06:57 PM

one more though, since you don't like to run av in the background check out "malwarebytes", it is an on demand trojan/maleware/ect scanner. So it does not run in the background... I use it to clean machines that normal av scanners cannot clean, and its free!

One more thought, after reading through everything. It could/probably be the remote server since you have no issues with other servers...

In game is the server (people/gamers rent/host themselves), the menu is from the main game server. The main game server is clustered, many many servers all over the globe all syncing data... They usually are usually beast servers with very high bandwidth. The game server(people/gamers host/rent), who knows what kind of hardware its running on, or how much bandwidth is its max up and down...