Lag Issues

[Castano]

Please post here the type of lag you encountered.

Also post here the type of computer you use to game on MS.

Note: If you are on a laptop it's most likely your video card if you experience things like stuttering.

[I-KP]

Lag (as in network latency) was an issue but there isn't much that can be done about that due to the sheer number of hops between me and the server. (No big deal for me, just means not playing combat heavy types.) However, one thing that I did notice that doesn't quite fit into the typical latency bucket is that the server would spike at regular intervals, i.e., approximately every few minutes the latency would become severe for about 10-20 seconds and then settle down again (relatively speaking). It's impossible to tell where this issue originates (without doing a few hours of trace route monitoring - someone else can do that) because the route path is extremely long; it could be at any point along the route. No such issue with the other ALFA servers.

Lag (as in local system performance) I had no problems with bar one location, and do you know what I can't remember the name of the place. Typical! It's a port town, a very large port town, that is horribly over-built and needs to be cut (at least) in half. I run at highest settings for all NWN2 games and if this port city can bring my rig[1] to its knees then I feel for those trying to play there with lesser spec. machines. I only visited the place once so there may have been over-zealous DM event 'leftovers' just out of sight that may have been causal.

[1] 3.5GHz quad-core, 8GB, SSD, HD6870 (@1920x1200), W7-64.

[Zelknolf]

I continue to be baffled by the people complaining of lost performance on their computers, and then boasting about their awesome stats.

I play on a 2.7 GHz single core with 4 gigs of RAM and just the graphics card that happens to be in the motherboard. I bought it last year for a couple hundred bucks. I turn down the graphics settings and have none of these problems. I usually have Pandora running in the background even; I only turn it off if I'm trying to figure out where latency is coming from. If I don't mind losing fps, I can even have the toolset open too -- though I admit *shamefully* that I close it to do anything other than talk to people, because I prefer smoother animations when traveling or murdering things.

So, I say-- turn down your graphics settings. What impact does your screen's resolution have on the story? Or the presence of every blade of grass? Or multiple light sources? Moreover -- how much are you actually paying attention to that? "Say, this vampire is making a snack of my neck. But look at the cat tails on that ridge. Isn't that pretty?"

[I-KP]

I continue to be baffled by the people complaining of lost performance on their computers, and then boasting about their awesome stats.

Scenario #1: Poor performance on a low spec machine in most areas = turn stuff off to get the most out of the game.
Scenario #2: Poor performance on a reasonably high spec machine in one area only = perhaps it might just be an overly ambitious area build.

The NWN2 engine is not known for its poly-pumping capabilities, quite the opposite, and it is possible to bog everything down by simply plonking far too much stuff in a large exterior. Masses of foliage/trees each with a unique seed is another way to hobble the engine unnecessarily.

Game performance optimizations should be implemented by both level designers (in not dumping five thousand objects into a large exterior and hoping for the best) and players (in not expecting every area to run at maximum detail settings). It's not fair to 100% blame players for having **** machines.

[Castano]

no offense but we weren't 100% blaming player rigs.

But when the laptop set come it with you need to redesign your server so it works on my rig...well I won't...it's laggy because the player's vid card can't handle it. So yeah turn the settigns down and you can run the most of the areas just fine.

We are working on areas we know are an issue like that big city...because walking around is a a pain.

But we need cutoffs, which is why this poll is here in part. And also to report stuff because Zelk & Co. can sort out what is definitely the host from the client issues.

[CaptainVictory]

The issue I'm dealing with currently is a "Stutter" issue.

No matter where I go I'm constantly encountering a distasteful "backtracking" issue. Several times I've run (walked) across town, and when I let off the mouse/keyboard, find myself halfway back, or exactly where I started. Alternatively, my character will do an about-face and take a few steps back (making for a roller-coaster ride when trying to mosey on up to a bar). Practically the only time I don't experience an issue is when the game has some sort of clickable item that will cause you character to walk toward it, the character still has a big of an issue, getting to where he's going, but iit;'s not so bad as being teleported back across town.

Suffice to say the game runs fine outside of the stuttering. Hardly any real lag to speak of (unless its server-side), and my rig is more than capable of running this on maximum pretty without any real slowdown.

I run an Alienware M15x laptop, and my specs are as follows:
6G of performance ram (Don't know what kind, Dell picked it out)
Intel i7 Quad-Core 740 @ 1.73GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M (I'm not aware as to whether or not the drivers are up to date, but it's not been an issue for most other games I play)
A lot of strobe-lights.

I've attempted to eliminate the issue by:

• Turning down all of my graphical settings (Bloom, Sound, Trees, Leaves, Kittens, View Distance, Anti-Aliasing, etc).
• Turning down some of my graphical settings.
• Turning down some of my graphical settings, then turning a few back up and down intermittently in hopes of finding a happy medium.
• Disconnecting and reconnecting to the game.
• Turning off my multi-colored LED keyboard (seriously, I know that it causes problems in at least one other game I play).

Currently I'm running all of my settings at medium, and I've got my machine in Performance mode to improve the chances of decreasing this issue, but, to my dismay, the issue persists. Any help, ideas, hints, or ultimate strategies to overcome this problem?

[dergon darkhelm]

The issue I'm dealing with currently is a "Stutter" issue.

No matter where I go I'm constantly encountering a distasteful "backtracking" issue. Several times I've run (walked) across town, and when I let off the mouse/keyboard, find myself halfway back, or exactly where I started. Alternatively, my character will do an about-face and take a few steps back (making for a roller-coaster ride when trying to mosey on up to a bar).

This is exactly what I have happening. I turned all my settings down as low as they can go and perhaps have seen some slight improvement, but still persists. It's not making it unplayable or anything, just wanted to add my experience to the list.

[CloudDancing]

This might seem stranger than strange, but Haven just hit a severe lag patch since Xmas. starting on the roll over to the new year.

While the server pop has seen a ten/twenty player rise at peak hours, I am thinking someone is packing in the Override Haks or something globally has been tweaked Gamespy side?

Next time this FPS break down happens, see who is server side.

Also it has been suggested to get off Gamespy and direct connect.

http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic ... %20connect

Thoughts?

[AcadiusLost]

I would also recommend the click and wait method of movement if you're getting stuttering/jumpback- although patches significantly improved keyboard walking (WASD), it's still circumventing all the normal pathfinding optimizations NWN2 uses, essentially sending the server a new "route" for your character several times a second.

If you haven't already, I would also recommend downloading and installing Skywing's Client Extension, which improves upon the networking code between client and server (as well as dramatically reducing AT-crashes, speeding up ATs generally, and generating a self-appending logfile for ingame chat, including translations of DMFI language text).

Details here:
http://www.alandfaraway.org/forums/view ... 31&t=43769

[dergon darkhelm]

I would also recommend the click and wait method of movement if you're getting stuttering/jumpback- although patches significantly improved keyboard walking (WASD), it's still circumventing all the normal pathfinding optimizations NWN2 uses, essentially sending the server a new "route" for your character several times a second.

If you haven't already, I would also recommend downloading and installing Skywing's Client Extension, which improves upon the networking code between client and server (as well as dramatically reducing AT-crashes, speeding up ATs generally, and generating a self-appending logfile for ingame chat, including translations of DMFI language text).

Details here:
http://www.alandfaraway.org/forums/view ... 31&t=43769

I use only click walking, not WASD. I'm walking along through an area heading for wher I first clicked. Before I arrive atthe point I click somehwere else (this is my standard means of moving across an area). Upon the second click my PC appears to jump backwards a number of steps.

My problem is unrelated to WASD.....just fyi for those people troubleshooting...


Will checkout the skywing thing. If it is a good thing to have, maybe we should roll it into the standard ALFA d/l s?


edit: also...this happens on both my laptop and desktop.

[I-KP]

FWIW, I tired SkyWings gadget and it only seemed to fix local expression of high latency episodes but not the actual cause itself, i.e., my avatar didn't jump around much but everyone else's still did; this suggests to me that the underlying issue remains and has been merely cosmetically concealed. Combat during such periods of high latency remained nothing short of disasterous IMHE, but at least my avatar wasn't bouncing around like a palsied Star Trek Site-to-Site teleporter!

[Tridisus]

To me its not graphical lag but lag possessing and commading npcs, this is only temporary but can happen at important junctures.

[Zelknolf]

Everyone I've talked to has been getting the issue of not actually walking as fast as they seem to (i.e. ending up a few steps behind where they appear to be, with the client "resetting" them every time they click or when they let go of W, and animations that make one want to play Geddan in the background when on auto follow.) -- not something I've seen on BG or TSM; I think that one's genuinely the server. Or the mod. Hard to say without knowing more.

[CaptainVictory]

As a followup, I've adjusted my controls to where I can simply point, click, and move without having to hold down M1 or the WASD keys, a majority of my problems have been eliminated during short-distance clicks, but the issue persists (at a somewhat reduced rate) when long-range travel occurs. My graphical settings have been restored to "max" and after extensive adjustments/testing, they don't seem to have any impact on the experience whatsoever (the only exception being areas where there are a large amount of light sources creating shadows, a la King Ragnar's hall - it can get obnoxious, but otherwise has no real impact on performance).

[hollyfant]

I'm not getting any significant lag. I am getting crazy latency though.

Whenever I change direction, my PC first backtracks a few steps and then obeys. So I always end up turning my back to an NPC I clicked on.

(1.86GHz, 2GB ram 1GB video. The stutter didn't happen on TSM or BG.)