Lag

I'm getting a strange kind of lag in all my Source Games (talking about network lag, not fps issues).

My rate: 10000 (default)
cl_cmdrate: 30 (is this default ?)
cl_updaterate: 40 (is this default ?)

A good ping (40-50), but lots and lots of choke and loss, on most of the servers.

(I've ran a full system scan on my computer for viruses/trojans/spyware or any other stuff that could steal bandwidth, and found nothing.)

I'm on cable, but it's a uni connection, so a lot of people are slowing the network down, mostly in the evenings.

Anyone an good advice to get things right ?

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:: Forceflow.be :: Nuclear Dawn developer

I'm not sure if this will help very much, but, does it lag when playing other online games (WoW, GW, BF2)? If it doesn't, then you've narrowed the problem to "Most likely not your computer", or something along those lines.

I'm not entirely sure how the steam servers really work everything out, but the data servers themselves are slow ... very slow actually ... they really can't hold the demand they currently have (I can't update anything and the damn servers are only 70 miles north of me) I'm not sure what effect something like that would have on the map servers ... I imagine if it's an independent one, they could have poor uploading ... but this is all assuming it isn't your connection.

It could turn out that your University is cracking down on bandwidth use ... or there's more people on the connection now (which would slow everyone down, since they dynamically give access)

You could find out how much bandwidth you're "promised", if it does turn out to be on your end. Compare it to how much you need for steam games. It really could just be more people on the network. Possibly people downloading stuff through bittorrent or edonkey too. (In which case, I'd imagine it would go on for too much longer ... most universities will just block your MAC address when using bandwidth like that)

Anyway, check those things to give you a better idea where the problem is, if you already have and just didn't mention it here, I guess check with your university as to what speeds you get.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Try making the rate higher. That ussually gets rid of choke in my experiences.

Thanks for the advice crono. I've already checked, I just have a damn slow internet connection in the evening. Is there any guide with low-bandwidth net tweaks ?

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:: Forceflow.be :: Nuclear Dawn developer

Beat everyone up at valve?

Or better yet, beat everyone up who is guzzling your DM bandwidth.

I don't see what net tweaks would help, honestly, steam requires a certain amount of bandwidth to operate on and each map server needs additional bandwidth ... then there's also going through your school's servers, which authenticate connections every X minutes (unless they've set it up differently where you are) ...

I mean, the issue is really, the bandwidth that you're left with when everyone in your dorm, flat, whatever, is using the connection too just isn't enough to handle the package sizes from source games.

Also, is it really just source games? No "goldsource" problems or WoW or anything like that? Cause it may just be steam ... or maybe there's a bug? I heard there was a stuttering one a little while ago, however, I'm not aware of the specifics at this moment.

Anyway, I'm not really sure how you could speed it up from your end. You could always ask for more bandwidth, but I doubt they'd go "no problem", so.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Forceflow said:
A good ping (40-50), but lots and lots of choke and loss, on most of the servers.

i had the same problem when i played tfc through kotnet, and that was even when i was at cit? where there's glassfibre. sometimes it was ok, sometimes there was lots of choke and loss :sad:

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These words are my diaries screaming out loud

Yeah, I'm on kotnet too.

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:: Forceflow.be :: Nuclear Dawn developer

Dunno if any of the info is relevant anymore but you can always try www.tweak3d.net

They used to be my home away from home.

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The best things in life, aren't things.