Author Topic: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?  (Read 5345 times)

Strigoi

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Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« on: January 13, 2012, 05:38:16 AM »
hi all,


recently ive been getting strange internet lag when i load into POTM. when i check the ping for the server it registers a constant 150 which for me is the normal. the problem starts when i log in game, i started noticing it takes 10 - 15 seconds to get the loading screen when clicking on a area transition (very unusual for me). sometimes NPC's will take a long time to load in, and appear out of no where, long lag time when moving items in my inventory.

i know its not Video lag as im on a powerful machine as the game runs perfectly, and ive already searched the forum/goggle for a solution to no avail. i recently installed some new software/games, and im off my regular hardline Internet (visiting my brothers place and on a wireless USB router adapter). other games run fine and dandy, but cant seem to figure out whats causing these internet lag spikes in NWN.

any help or ideas would be appreciated at this point.

Axel

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2012, 06:24:41 AM »
Do you brother live in an urban area?

A wireless network in a noisy (w.r.t. electromagnetism) environment lose packages because of collisions, which, together with the algorithms used for collision avoidance, leads to a rather jittery connection. In urban areas it can get rather bad, as not only wireless communication but also e.g. microwave ovens pollute in the used electromagnetic band.

Can you test if the wireless connection is the culprit, by using a cabled connection for an hour or so?

Side note: 802.11, i.e., the family of wireless protocols used for wlan, was not designed for gaming! It's actually rather horrible at it!

Purist

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2012, 09:14:51 AM »
I know what the problem is. Wireless wasn't mean for gaming for sure, as Axel said. My country has one of the worst internet connections of the planet, and belive when I say that USB, probably connected to cellphone signals, can be worser than dial-up when playing games. You probably are suffering packetloss, delayed packets and possibly low bandwidth. Just find yourself a hardline and everything will be normal.

Edit add: By the way, is the wireless router connected to a hardline by any chance? I first thought you were using a wireless connection to the internet, not just to a router.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2012, 09:16:44 AM by Purist »

Strigoi

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2012, 12:47:38 PM »
my brother has a strong cable hard line hooked up to a wireless router (runs at 2 - 3 megs usually, its really fast). the USB router runs at 99% all the time, i play games like battlefield 3, and other online games with no problems or hang time.

i am using NETGEAR WNDA3100v2 wireless usb Adapter, also he lives in the suburbs which is not to crowded.

Amon-Si

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2012, 05:16:32 PM »
I've been having similar issues and I'm on hardline adsl 2+. Lots of lag, to the point of combat ineffectiveness.  Seems to mostly fix itself for me though.

Axel

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2012, 05:20:50 AM »
my brother has a strong cable hard line hooked up to a wireless router (runs at 2 - 3 megs usually, its really fast). the USB router runs at 99% all the time, i play games like battlefield 3, and other online games with no problems or hang time.

i am using NETGEAR WNDA3100v2 wireless usb Adapter, also he lives in the suburbs which is not to crowded.

Sure, but surely those servers aren't located on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean?

The problem is most likely that the server is far away. You'll therefore notice the extra latency and jitter introduced by the wireless network. Also, nwn doesn't have predictive models for npcs and pcs, as most 3d-shooters have, so it's not really a fair comparison.

By the way, bandwith, i.e., 2-3 Mb/s, is a horrible metric for latency and jitter. The good old example from Tanenbaum goes something along the line of: "Network one consist of a trained dog, carrying a 1TB hard drive between two houses. It takes the dog one hour to go from one house to the other. Network two consists of a 1Mb/s line. Which has the highest bandwith?"

It turns out that the network consisting of a trained dog has a bandwith of ~4.7 Mb/s... I don't think that particular network is any good for gaming. ;)

edit: Misspelled Tanenbaum's name.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2012, 08:20:57 AM by Axel »

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2012, 09:11:41 AM »
I live in a rural area and have no other choice but wireless and for the most part it's fast enough to handle most of what NWN can throw at it but there are times that I too also experience alot of lag, especially if there are large crowds.
My Ping to Ravenloft on a good day is between 200-350 but I've effectively played on pings in the 500-700. I think this is largely due in part to what Axel was saying about packetloss while my pings are high, I don't' believe I experience alot of packetloss which removes alot of the lag. Just long loading times :(

Ercvadasz

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2012, 09:30:11 AM »
well my ping is <60. Though any time i logg on to the server it shows a -1 for ping. Sometimes, and at some places i witness the same thing that Petrus describes.
I use a 5-15 Mbit/s connection. Minimal guaranteed dl is 5 mbit, min upload is 2 mbit. Most times it is 11 Mbit dl.

I live fairly near the server, i have hardwire, and a good connection as well.
(BTW 2  MBit /sec dl is quite enough for nwn to play online.)
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Purist

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2012, 09:59:18 AM »
In my first days of NWN and PotM for some time I did play through dial-up, and I didn't have big problems back there. NWN usage of bandwidth, player side, is neglegivable. It certainly does not use more than 3kb/s. I think it doesn't even get to 1kb/s. But that also doesn't mean that you can have torrents on and suffer no lag, that's a different story.


Add: Just a fact, if I play for a few hours, and check upon my firewall for how much bandwidth NWN has used, it's never much, can't recall but it doesn't even reach to 1mb of data downloaded.

Strigoi

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2012, 04:47:58 PM »
this lag started recently when i came to my brothers house, i think it is one of two things maybe.

either it has to do with some issue with my USB Wireless adapter (because it feels Latency related)

or, i recently installed BF3 a week back, and had to install the latest driver for my Nvidia 9800 card. is it at all possible for a video driver to cause latency related lag/hang time symptoms?


its to the point where its basically unplayable. if i get into any pvp or monsters attacking me i cant do much but die. and the strange thing is that the ping registers normal at 150 (normal for me since im in the mid-western USA, and the server is in Europe)

im just not sure what to do at this point, its annoying because i really want to fully enjoy my time on POTM!

Bluebomber4evr

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #10 on: January 17, 2012, 06:22:33 PM »
out of curiosity, what ISP are you using?

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Strigoi

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2012, 09:39:46 PM »
using comcast (3 - 4 meg speed) then we have a Cisco Linksys router, and since i dont have a wireless network card, im using a NETGEAR WNDA3100v2 wireless usb Adapter.

i actually just tested the vinnilla game, and i have no latency type lag at all (no lag transitioning, or managing inventory, or typing etc). it works perfect, so i think that rules out any graphical problems.



Edit: i didnt open any ports for the game, could it possibly be Ports causing conflicts on the router?
« Last Edit: January 17, 2012, 09:44:15 PM by President Petrus »

Axel

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2012, 07:48:14 AM »
Have you tried without the wireless-to-USB adaptor yet?

Bluebomber4evr

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2012, 12:26:34 PM »
If you're using cable, you might want to have your signal checked. I have Comcast for TV and I was getting craploads of signal problems (interference, picture quality issues, remote control stopped working) until they came out and did repair work on the cable wiring.

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EberronBruce

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Re: Recent Internet Lag while playing NWN?
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2012, 08:41:11 AM »
I'm having some serious lag recently that I didn't have before. +20 sec response. I talk to others and to send a tell it takes min 10 sec sometimes. But they aren't receiving any lag. Im playing from a dorm room in Korea. ISP and the other (fill in the blank) they do is unknown. I suspect its more the schools internet. The authorities likes to peek in everyone's computer here. Any way to maybe lessen the lag?