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Faustus! |
Drafell
Grand Admiral
Mythica
Joined: May 30, 2003
Posts: 2449
From: United Kingdom
|  Posted: 2004-12-29 04:14
It's pretty funnyreally. I run on 56k and the lag is ok most of the time. The game doesnt even use all the bandwidth of my connection. On average it works out at 28000-36000bps. I can play using teamspeak, although in big battles its best to turn it off. Sure we get the occasional lagspikes. But so does every single game I have ever played, they just have different ways of hiding it. I hope these new fixes have the desired effect. It does still seem that most 'lag' issues are when waiting for data to be received from the server.
Keep up the good work Faustus.
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It's gone now, no longer here...Yet still I see, and still I fear.rnrn
rnrn
DarkSpace Developer - Retired
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Dempster
Grand Admiral
Joined: August 03, 2003
Posts: 668
| Posted: 2004-12-29 12:56
someone had to say it, i play many online games and im sorry but this one always lags like a bitch, and dont even try to blame my pc or connection. and im not on a stupid dialup modem, im on "Ultra High Speed DSL" from Sympatico, oh you know the company merged with msn, aka microsoft http://sympatico.msn.ca/ makes no difference i still lag into planets, and worste of all half the time cannot turn.
[ This Message was edited by: Dempster on 2004-12-29 13:00 ]
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Pakhos[+R]
Chief Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: May 31, 2002
Posts: 1352
From: Clean room lab
| Posted: 2004-12-29 16:46
Quote:
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On 2004-12-28 10:20, Faustus wrote:
However, some lag still may be caused by server CPU issues....
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Server : Pentium Celeron 1.3 ghz. 32 mb Sdram, 12 gb hardisk , pavilion laptop.
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* Josef hands [PB]Quantium the Golden GothThug award for best melodrama in a miniseries...
[-GTN-]BackSlash: "Azreal is a master of showing me what is horribly broken in the game."
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Diabo|ik
Grand Admiral
Joined: August 16, 2002
Posts: 327
From: Quebec, Canada
| Posted: 2004-12-29 18:01
I can feel your pain Daylight, lag happens to me even when I'm in the middle of nowhere, control lag and when I look at the data traffic, it doesn't saturate my bandwidth which is kind of frustrating considering my lowly 56k bandwidth. Why is it that the band doesn't get saturated yet I lag out like mad with a good ping and thats being in "free space" not near any planets... ( 100-150, with some sudden jumps into the 2000-3000 ).
Oh well. Gotta to live with it after the 1480>1481 change ( predictions that were done client side are now done server side... which causes a lot of problems for us Daylight, but not that much for the others ).
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Mostly Retired.
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DangerBabe
Cadet
Joined: December 21, 2002
Posts: 429
From: Charlotte, NC
| Posted: 2004-12-29 18:45
From reading the reponses, it looks like 'connection' (DSL or dialup) doesn't seem to be the main problem with lag, nor does it seem to be related to the beefyness of the client PC's. Sure, any internet connection will lag on occasion, but it seems to be excessive in some player's cases....which leads me to wonder if the problem would be more related to other software installed on the clents. Has there ever been a thread asking the people who lag alot what their vid cards and sound cards are? Even their NIC cards? Maybe there's a common driver issue.
[ This Message was edited by: DangerBabe on 2004-12-29 18:46 ]
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Fattierob
Vice Admiral
Joined: April 25, 2003
Posts: 4059
| Posted: 2004-12-29 20:14
Quote:
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On 2004-12-29 00:09, Meko wrote:
im in an internet cafe with 200+ computers on ONE T1 connection. in CHINA. and im not lagging.
the only lag i get is when i alpha strike.
no seriously, if i alpha strike i get lock up for 5-10 seconds. if i use my hotkeys Zero lag.
possibly this might help? i know its an issue in beta, maybe its issue here too.
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interesting..possible the fact that pressign the alpha button is equilvent to sending out a zillion too many packets? or 'virtualy' pressing every hotkey on your computetr at once, causing lag? hmmm....
cause I get NO lag, and the only time I ever got lag was when everybody else did (see: ugto last planet, 3 stations, 4 dreads, tons of little tiny ships....and like a huge luthie armada)
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spidersense
Cadet
Joined: September 18, 2004
Posts: 47
From: Taf
| Posted: 2004-12-29 20:38
100-110 ping on a DSL but, everytime I connect it says I am connected at 3072 BPS(why so slow?).... and I do still lag some, but not as bad as I did a couple months ago when I had AOL dial-up.
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Placebo
Vice Admiral
Joined: September 16, 2003
Posts: 450
| Posted: 2004-12-29 21:18
Faustus!
We love you!
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Xilaratu
Cadet
Joined: May 06, 2004
Posts: 745
From: Florida
| Posted: 2004-12-29 23:39
Quote:
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On 2004-12-29 21:18, Placebo wrote:
Faustus!
We love you!
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Nuff' Said.
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Move like water.
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Drafell
Grand Admiral
Mythica
Joined: May 30, 2003
Posts: 2449
From: United Kingdom
| Posted: 2004-12-30 05:30
A few things for people to try if they have issues with lag. They may not help everyone but it's worthwhile seeing if it helps.
1) Make sure that all of the drivers in use on your computer are up-to-date. This includes motherboard, graphics, soundcard, network adapters, modem etc. Also make sure you are using the latest version of Direct X.
2) Change 'Connection Speed' under the 'Options' tab in DS Setup to the closest match to your connection type. Do not leave this on Auto Detect as it has been known to cause some issues. You may want to start out at the closest match and then work down the list until you find the setting that gives you the most stable gameplay. It is also possible to manually set this bitrate, although this requires editing the config.ini file in the Darkspace directory.
3) Shut down any unnecessary programs that might be running in the background. If you are only playing DarkSpace and not browsing the web or checking email and providing you have a firewall installed then turn of the antivirus monitor until your gaming session is over.
4) Under the 'Video' tab make sure that 'Wait VB' is ticked. In many other games disabling this has a positive effect, but in DarkSpace it just means your computer is working harder than it needs to.
5) Under 'Options' adjust the FPS limit to 60 or 90. This is epsecially helpful if your computer isn't quite so fast, but it also again reduces uneeded CPU usuage.
6) Under 'Video' play about with the slider settings. It is worthwhile reducing Parfticle/Explosion Detail to about 60% on almost any system. Having it set any higher has caused graphics lag on ship explosions on nearly every system I have played DS using. 60% seems to be a happy average. Also try reducing ship trails to about 30%, this doesn't have any real effect other than it looks a little better IMO .
Give it a go. You won't know unless you try it.
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It's gone now, no longer here...Yet still I see, and still I fear.rnrn
rnrn
DarkSpace Developer - Retired
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Daylight \"The Beginning\"
Grand Admiral
Joined: July 24, 2002
Posts: 608
From: Oregon, USA
| Posted: 2004-12-30 11:18
Yes, Faustus, we love you...thats why we are here!
Drafell Moraxi
that was a usefull post. Thank you!
As for the rest. Good job all, no flames just ideas and information. I think some of you have it right. Theres something we are all missing. Server? Alpha? drivers? God only knows, so, Faustus, sence your the only one that can, fix it! hehehehe.
MSI KT4V via kt400 chipset
AMD XP 2000+
1.5 gig DDR 2400
NVIDIA GForce 4 MX 440
SB Live
2 maxtor 40 gig HD ata 133
Fresh install XP Home
Latest updates and drivers. Reviewed and double checked by a tech other than myself.
Not the hottest rig around but it works!
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Neo*The*Wicked {C?}
Fleet Admiral
Joined: September 12, 2002
Posts: 94
From: houston texas
| Posted: 2004-12-30 13:47
Now im not one to complain but this is just getting stupid. I have the highest speed dsl connection home users can get, yet i lagg constantley. I have lost too many ships to ask for compensation. I understand Faustus you say it's our connection to the servers, Im here in houston about as close as most people get yet i can hardley play. If i hadnt have signed a 3 month commitment i would quit today. For the love of god why is the lagg so bad. I used to play no problem, well maybe an occasional spike but nowadays its just terrible. A person could get turned away real fast from this game with gameplay as it is now.
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2005-01-09 09:57
Im starting to belive that people here may be getting FPS and Lag mixed in with each other (not the first time).
JUst before you jump to that FPS is lag ill define them:
FPS is the FRAMES-PER-SECOND, higher FPS means a higher rate of frames that are playing per second (a good thing), low FPS will produce a 'chugging' effect, where it looks as if the screen just moves in short quick motions where everything seems to slow down. FPS is directly tied to your graphics card and settings. More often than not, the more graphics detail you enable, the more likely you are to get a low FPS (lower resolution settings help as well to increase FPS).
LAG is slang term for LATENCY and is measured my PING in MS (milliseconds). Lag is based on 3 important factors: the server you play, the ISP/Connection you use, and your computer. Lag is simply your position in relation to every other object in the game (including other players), more objects mean more lag, more players mean more lag, more actions mean more lag. However, each players lag adversly effects another (this is especially true of RTS games). One player who lags badly can unfortunately lag every other player. Your computer also can play a major role in lag. Whether or not you know it, online games/programs use a set ammount of your hard-drive as well to help process data comming in and out; bear that in mind.
Lastly, another important factor is your connection. IN truth in doesn't mean a diddly piece of modly cheese how fast your connection is. Whats important is how its connected and how well the ISP you use controls your connection. ISPs may or may not downgrade your performance to suit every custumors needs as well as their servers, this means if your ISP is getting overworked, your likely to get the short end of the stick for using a larger portion of their servers to play games online (mostly true of Dial-Up).
Just remember out there that its not ALWAYS the games fault, we must realize that sometimes it may be outside sources or even our own computer/connection that may be screwing us over.
And lastly I would point out, I can't even PLAY online games due to my specific computer problems, and you all complain that the lag is horrible! Try not even being able to stay connected to ANY online game for longer than 5 minutes; then you might realize its not as bad as it could be.
And not only that, there have been other times in DS history in which I have played painstakingly through my Dial-Up connection through countless dropoffs, stalls, boots, kicks because I llooked past the fact that my connection sucked and that I was playing a superb game and that ay problems eventually would go away.
Remember out there that nothing will last forever, and that NOTHING, not even LAG is permanent.
"Patience is the key in life that is locks all doors of Aggervation and opens all doors of Time."
-Ent
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Ham&Swiss
Grand Admiral
Joined: October 12, 2004
Posts: 418
From: 10$ to whoever finds me
| Posted: 2005-01-09 15:42
another thing, i find, is if i'm running other internet programs...like msn and explorer...and watever else there is. If u cut those off, just like exite the programs all together for the time ur playing DS, then u likely won't get as much lag because your cpu is diverting less attention elswher andmore to the current program, DS! I dunno, works for me and it just a thought.
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If violence doesn't work, Your not using enough!
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Drajka (The λ Snark)
Cadet
Joined: December 01, 2004
Posts: 21
| Posted: 2005-01-11 12:31
Alright, I should lay this to rest.
Faustus, first of all, you ROCK. Even though there is alot of lag, the game is still very much worth playing, though...
Alright... These are my specs... There is no reason I should have an itch of lag, yet I get spikes quite often.
AMD Athlon 2000+ (1667 mhz)
256 MB RAM
Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 (256MB)
Cable / Wireless - 390KBps / 3mbits down - 64KBps / 512 up. 3mbit/512kbit
^(These are not rated speeds, these are actual observations/benchmarks)
Windows XP
No programs running in background (besides critical system processes)
Newest Modem Drivers....
I get average 60 FPS in DS.
My ping is normally around 60 in game.
But then when the lag spikes hit... It's like someone unplugged my keyboard. One becomes completly helpless.
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