Patch ~240+ Choke 100%, Rubber Band, Lag Spike, KDR Killer
XzHiBiT
Join Date: 2013-02-03 Member: 182798Members
Join Date: 2013-02-03 Member: 182798Members
So, it would seem since patch 240ish my desktop has been having issues when playing online. The connection spikes, ping goes from <75 to anywhere 300-1000, and I lose ~3 seconds of game time. I tried net_stats and when it happens, it shows 100% choke, all other times 0%. Also, it used to seem consistent, about every 2-3 minutes or so, and now it will sometimes do it randomly, back-to-back, and bass-to-mouth. 
I don't have anything else running in the background, the comp is about a month old and only has steam installed. I don't remember it ever doing this when I built it initially, it seems to have been doing it the past few weeks or so.
Few things to note:
It only happens on my desktop, my laptop is issue free.
Happens whether I am commander or not, and on all servers. The 32-man server can trigger this easily in heavy final hive combat.
Desktop will hit 200FPS in waiting room, 130FPS walking around, 80FPS in combat. Everything MAX except that grainy filter turned off.
Laptop will hit 70FPS in waiting room, 45FPS walking artound, <30FPS in combat. Everything MIN or OFF. I'm annoyed with this game's performance on it, but w/e, it doesn't "choke" and is a decent comm comp.
Desktop: Self - i7-3770k @ 4.2GHz, Sabertooth Z77, 8GB CL8 1866MHz DDR3, 240GB OCZ Ver3 MI SSD, 2x XFX 7970 CF, ASUS PCE-N53 WiFi
Laptop: MSI GT683R-242US - i7-2630qm, 16GB DDR3, 2x 500GB 7200RPM, GTX560M
I don't have anything else running in the background, the comp is about a month old and only has steam installed. I don't remember it ever doing this when I built it initially, it seems to have been doing it the past few weeks or so.Few things to note:
It only happens on my desktop, my laptop is issue free.
Happens whether I am commander or not, and on all servers. The 32-man server can trigger this easily in heavy final hive combat.
Desktop will hit 200FPS in waiting room, 130FPS walking around, 80FPS in combat. Everything MAX except that grainy filter turned off.
Laptop will hit 70FPS in waiting room, 45FPS walking artound, <30FPS in combat. Everything MIN or OFF. I'm annoyed with this game's performance on it, but w/e, it doesn't "choke" and is a decent comm comp.
Desktop: Self - i7-3770k @ 4.2GHz, Sabertooth Z77, 8GB CL8 1866MHz DDR3, 240GB OCZ Ver3 MI SSD, 2x XFX 7970 CF, ASUS PCE-N53 WiFi
Laptop: MSI GT683R-242US - i7-2630qm, 16GB DDR3, 2x 500GB 7200RPM, GTX560M
Comments
Happens on all servers you pick? Be sure to try 18 slots ones.
Single, live alone, turn off all other laptops in the house when gaming online with my gaming laptop and desktop. It does it on all servers, just that the 32 man happens more frequently. I haven't tried <16man servers, mainly because I prefer more action. CPU doesn't show spikes, just flutters all over, but nothing is running in the background and ASUS NetMon is off (some program that controls network activity)..... any idea? What is the definition of "choke" per NS2?
In most parts NS2 has to do with 1 to 2 cores it can actively use. Meaning on some pcs, your cpu had a hard time keeping up.
While choke should be related to network, it is simple to realise that if your cpu can not keep up, it wont process the data, and you do not get the network info you need.
I saw choke happen on bad networks & on a very stressed cpu, hence I suggested both.
If this game chokes on an i7 OC @ 4.2GHz, then what will run it? Again, my laptop with a 2nd gen i7 @ 2.9GHz can run this without choke (granted video is minimum instead of maximum), so why would my desktop have an issue? Nothing else is running, not even chrome.
If that is its standard clock speed you should be ok.. (some people overclock bad, and NS2 is a game which pressures your cpu in such a way a bad overclock shows)
lets asume it truly is choke.
* no addons installed I presume?
* run a ping command in a cmd in your windows nonstop. like "ping www.google.com /t". When you experience choke, tab out to see if it stops reaching the target site. If it does, its surely connection issues.
No add ons selected, have a few installed, but they are the same on desktop and laptop.
When I consistently ping google.com, it does spike the same time NS2 spikes.... and it does it when I'm not in NS2 if I babysit the cmd window... so, time to try and figure out why my computer is spazzing. I'll kill absolutely everything running and see if it still spikes, and then gradually reenable programs. I have a feeling it is something to do with the motherboard garbage, corsairlink, or something else... Keep you posted.
My internet connection is about 2mbps (roughly 200KBps, I know I know, not exact but still, it's above 50KBps and that's what's important) most of the time.
When playing ns2, I get horrible lag spikes whenever the download rate gets to 12+kBps (0.12mbps?)... My ping goes to 3000+ and prediction goes through the roof and the game becomes unplayable. I've not played since 241 though and am currently unable to play it(busy).
Yes.. true. But I had instances myself where the cpu had so much trouble keeping up, it simply did not work through the packages intime, also resulting in choke. (although in fairness, the cpu is the bigger problem then)
Most antenna's can only service one device at a certain time.
How would we have a surefire way to resolve it? We are still trying to find out whats going on. But it definitely seems network related.
A easy test would be to simply disable wifi on the desktop which has the problem & shove a utp cable in it.
I'm certain at this point it is a wireless issue. All three computers are having ping jumps randomly, not in sync, and are on wireless. I will CAT5 one laptop into the router and see if it ping spikes as well, then try resetting router. If it doesn't spike on hardwire, it's wireless... if it does, it may be my internet provider which at that point can be on their end or maybe my router is not working, or my modem is out of date (Motorola SurfBoard)... we shall see.
Also, what router are you using? Replacing my old Linksys WRT-150N (a model that's supposed to be significantly faster than the famous WRT-54G) gave me speed and fluidity of my Internet connection that I didn't realize I was even missing... though it was most noticeable when there were other devices streaming.
edit: E3200 has a 500MHz CPU and 64MB of memory, so it should be more than capable of maintaining multiple fluid connections, let alone a single game running on a single device. I still wonder if you've installed some kind of speed booster though!
10 bucks says using a wired connection to your modem wouldn't have these issues