Heavy spikes lag, low ping

[_yog]

Hey there,

It's been a few months now that I'm regularly experiencing heavy lag spikes despite having a ping around 30ms.


My computer is decent enough to run the game, no problem on that side, plus I've been using the same computer before with no lag.

The Internet lord brought me to several topics around the web where people face similar problems (such as: http://steamcommunity.com/app/440/discu ... 527775027/). However, none of the solution suggested in those topics did any trick for me.

I tried to reinstall both Steam and tf2, with no luck. I'm playing both on Windows and Linux platform and I reinstalled both, which makes me think problem is elsewhere.
FYI, I'm on Virgin Media 30Mb

This was annoying but I dealt with that as I'm not a comp player but since the Gun Mettle update, it has become ridiculously stupid... lag spikes sometimes froze my screen for close to a second... to come back to me being dead because I obviously did not dodge a rocket properly.
From my observation, it is not completely related to the amount of people I've got around me. I experience spikes even in open field where I'm happily running toward front line, but the spikes are shorter. It is just not completely smooth. I even sometimes turn around a corner and realise a second later that I'm still stuck by the wall.
I'm almost to the point where I do not want to play the game anymore, and that's sad :/

Anyone got any clue ?


Thanks

[Enigma]

FYI, I'm on Virgin Media 30Mb

There's your problem. Get a decent provider like Sky. I used to have Virgin and the loss/choke was horrible.

[hagz]

are you using a wired or wireless connection to the internet

[_yog]

Wired connection. I even tested with a new cable but it did not change anything.

Changing ISP is not on the possibility list soon but I might try to contact them. I guess mentionning "video game lag spikes" is not going to be helpful so I'll gently lie and pretend that visiting the x-factor website is far from "a smooth experience"

[heuji]

FYI, I'm on Virgin Media 30Mb

There's your problem. Get a decent provider like Sky. I used to have Virgin and the loss/choke was horrible.

i'm on the 100mb connection, and while i disagree in principle with this, virgin has been pretty bad of late. i get 12-20ms on ukcs and i still spike a little much like yourself. the more obvious one for me is my connection to german servers. usually im 35-45 but recently its been 80+ (it seems specifically german servers too as other servers in europe seem ok)
a few things i can suggest is try dx8.1 as the new patch heavily relys on dx9, defrag, etc. but i think it will be in vain. you'll just have to tough it out i think. try running a normal map offline using the 'map' command and see how that goes, then try running a local server, they're the best ways to find if its your pc. i have heard of other people with great pc's having problems with the new patch.

[Capn-m0nkeynutz]

I've been having the same as of late too, which has been a bit of a pain. I think it is down to bufferbloat, which could be inside of my home network, but it is probably Sky being crap too.

But I am only on Sky's 20mbit connection so it isn't great. Seems to be that whenever my fiancée loads a youtube video, it kills the game - but playing the same video in my computer while the game is running seems to be fine. Not sure what is happening there. Seems to help now that I have switched to a wired connection rather than wireless, but still quite bad at times.

I've been using this tool to try and see what it could be, maybe it might help? http://netalyzr.icsi.berkeley.edu/

[hagz]

I know a couple of friends on virgin connections whose pings have doubled in the UK sounds like an issue with the ISP.

[_yog]

try dx8.1 as the new patch heavily relys on dx9, defrag, etc. but i think it will be in vain. you'll just have to tough it out i think. try running a normal map offline using the 'map' command and see how that goes, then try running a local server, they're the best ways to find if its your pc. i have heard of other people with great pc's having problems with the new patch.

I'm going to do all of that and update this post with results. Thanks
Update: local server and map command all run perfectly fine with no lag whatsoever. That lets Virgin as the culprit.

But I am only on Sky's 20mbit connection so it isn't great.

There was a time were people would chuckle reading "only on 20mbits"

Seems to be that whenever my fiancée loads a youtube video, it kills the game

Had the same issue since ever. Anyone else downloading a file or using the connection for anything while I play is barely noticeable, but as soon as youtube is launched, I jump to 900ms ping (nope, there is no mistake in the amount of 0 after the 9)

I've been using this tool to try and see what it could be, maybe it might help? http://netalyzr.icsi.berkeley.edu/

I've got this issue :

Network buffer measurements (?): Uplink 2200 ms, Downlink 290 ms
–
We estimate your uplink as having 2200 ms of buffering. This is quite high, and you may experience substantial disruption to your network performance when performing interactive tasks such as web-surfing while simultaneously conducting large uploads. With such a buffer, real-time applications such as games or audio chat can work quite poorly when conducting large uploads at the same time.

but on their explanation page it says that I should be able to do one thing at a time without problem (either gaming, using torrents, etc) but not two simultaneously.
I'll still try to investigate that lead just in case.

I know a couple of friends on virgin connections whose pings have doubled in the UK sounds like an issue with the ISP.

And yet Virgin is sending me crappy junk mail twice a month to make me join their "amazing" mobile/tv offer... guess they won't fish me soon

Thanks for your answers all.

[heuji]

virgin are fine. i've been with them since they started up here and bought out/merged with blueyonder & ntl. it's because they're rolling out the free upgrades from the 60mb connection to 100mb. i mean, they run fibre right into your house unlike most. i still don't get this desire for huge data connections. some of my smoothest gameplay was on 126k ADSL through a small company called Nildram way back in the day. ok, so pings have dropped by ~40-50ms but the connections were a lot more true and you could just compensate.

as for youtube screwing you over, no matter how much of a hog youtube is it really shouldn't be affecting you so bad. especially if youre hardwired and the other connection is wifi. phone them up and i'm pretty sure they'll send you a new superhub as it sounds like it's borked. i actually have 1 brand new and boxed superhub as they sent me one last time i had a problem. it was just the power supply that failed but they sent me the whole lot. they basically just throw them at you.
i have another pc here on wifi, phones, and, had laptops connecting to my network at times and never noticed 'that' much of a loss. prio is always given to the wired connection, and much like water, traffic will always take the path of least resistance first. ok, i'm on a bigger connection than you, but, 30mb is still loads. you do have a superhub, right, and not routing through your pc? if not, get one.

[_yog]

Update, in case anyone with similar problem read this thread later.

I contacted Virgin via their online chat. Technical support dropped the much beloved easy answer "I see you haven't restarted your router for more than 7 days, please do and recontact us" even though I specified I've been restarting the stuff 10 times a day at one point when I was looking for a solution.

I nevertheless did restart and tried to reinitiate a chat but I must have missed something because I ended up chatting with a lovely lady that was in charge of billing and Virgin packages. As she wanted to redirect me toward the tech guys, I just randomly asked why I was paying for 30mb while their website was offering 50mb for the same price. She upgraded me for free from 30 to 50mb.

Out of curiosity I tried tf2 after the upgrade, and it seems that I no longer have any lag spikes... I don't know why but something had probably changed somewhere. 30mb seems to be more than enough to play tf2 decently, but 50 fixed the problem.
Biggest issue now is that I'm no longer able to land a headshot anymore as I lack practice after these months of lag

Thanks for the help everybody

[rgslane the trackpad]

Same, having a lot of packet loss and stuff as well, and some nasty ping spikes up into the late hundreds.

Changing from dx8 to dx7 did fix that though it made the game unplayable for other reasons...