FF general lag problems.

[KubeDawg]

Maybe it's just my PC or connection, I don't know, but lately, I've been seeing a flux of servers, even some seasoned ones start lagging badly and every time I play, I eventually get a HL2 error and it exits the game. The HL2 error is probably unrelated, but IMO, either the servers in general that are being run aren't putting out enough juice to have a full 20 man server going with little lag, or FF isn't optimized enough to go without lag regardless of the server. I have a feeling it's a bit of both.

Yes, it's a source mod, yes it requires more CPU usage, memory usage, and everything else compared to HL1 games, but it's getting old.

Is anyone else experiencing lag problems in general? I may not have the best PC out there, but ain't no piece of shit either. My connection is the fastest my company offers, 15mB down and 1mB up cable. Complaining to the server owners does no good because it's not like they can do anything about it, and renting my own server is another $30 out of my pocket, not to mention possible same issues if I do that.

I've deleted numerous applications on my PC, checked my msconfig startup config, nothing else going in the system tray, so basically only FF is running, with no improvement.

As far as I know, my rates are set correctly:
rate: 35000(because of my connection speed, most servers have a default that overrides user's of 20000)
cl_updaterate and cl_cmdrate: 66(for 66 tic rate servers, it defaults to 33 when I join a server with 33 tic rate)
interp: .03(which I believe was the best as far as FF goes, default is .1 I believe.)

I've turned all my settings to high, turned them all to low, used HDR, got rid of HDR, and with max settings, there isn't much FPS difference at all. Maybe 5-10 FPS difference.

What else can be done to remedy this? Just play like this? Buy a $3000 computer? Rent a server that costs $100 a month?

[squeek.]

Good Christ.

What do you mean when you say "lag"?

FPS = Frames per second

Lag = High ping/high choke/etc

PLEASE stop saying "lag" when you might mean something else.

EDIT: We've been through this before.

Originally Posted by squeek.

Everyone please stop saying "lag" when you mean "bad fps". It's just incorrect and misleading. Each have a completely separate fix.

It's like saying your TV is broken when it's really your DVD player that is broken.

EDIT#2: And moved to the correct forum.

[caesium]

Originally Posted by KubeDawg

I've turned all my settings to high, turned them all to low, used HDR, got rid of HDR, and with max settings, there isn't much FPS difference at all. Maybe 5-10 FPS difference.

if you're getting crap fps (or if it's saying okish fps but feels like crap), and changing gfx settings from lowest to highest doesn't rly make it much worse/better, then get a new cpu with as much cache as you can afford. for a reference point, the E8500 runs FF _perfectly_ in pretty much any scenario that's likely to occur in a match with up to 16 players (assuming the rest of your pc is ok ofc). i've found that FF needs large amounts of cpu power and cache to run perfectly.

ps also be sure to disable dynamic lighting (in the fortress menu).

[KubeDawg]

Sorry, then In/Out on my netgraph, for example, the In when it goes up to 1000+, that's generally when I get FPS drop to something really low. My Choke/Loss are pretty low, but occasionally, my choke will go up from 0 to about 20 or 25. My ping, on the other hand is usually about 10~ on any Dallas server, or around 40-50 on most Chicago servers.

and Caesium, thanks for the suggestion. I was just trying to see if there was anything else I could try before replacing some hardware. My PC only supports up to Dual Core 939 socket, so I'll probably end up replacing both my CPU, and my mobo, then probably my ram, hence why I'm trying to get the best performance out of FF until that time comes.

Here's an example of a 66tic server:
http://kubedawg.com/ff_aardvark0029.jpg

[Credge]

Is this something that has sprung up recently? Like, 2.1 recently? I remember practicing on dropdown a looooong time back and you were creaming yourself over a new video card and how good it was doing .

Anyway, I would try turning off your d-lights if you haven't already. That's a good first step with FF setting stuff.

[KubeDawg]

Well I think this has happened even before 2.1 came out, just not as much, even after installing my new Gfx card. As far as other settings such as dynamic lighting, I've turned everything off or to their lowest setting, same with water refractions/reflections, high fps explosions, etc.

[mervaka]

ideally your choke should be 0. we've been looking at improving this.

[KubeDawg]

yeah I notice the more explosions going on, the more In increases, sometimes above 1500, and that causes my choke to increase, and my FPS to drop.

[mervaka]

your poor fps might be causing the choke. choke basically happens when the server is sending its info before the client is ready to process it.