Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: Latrobe on December 24, 2013, 04:26:38 PM
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I have a really really crap internet and ISP. Graded F- and slower than 99% of rest of the US based on some internet speed test sites. On a good night my net status to the servers look like this...
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n101/Latrobe_2006/ahss22_zps3326b844.png) (http://s110.photobucket.com/user/Latrobe_2006/media/ahss22_zps3326b844.png.html)
I have 1.32Mb/s download, 0.32Mb/s upload on rare occasions. For the most part its well under 1Mb though. My ping to the LW arena varies greatly anywhere from 80-900.
I've done the ping plotter test before and apparently my connection is going through 2 bad routers along the way. I have many many instances where I see people's tracers falling well behind my plane but they are getting hits on me. How can I fix this because it's start to really drive me crazy! Do I need a new router? Is there a program I can download that can fix it? Going to a new ISP is out of the question since I only get 1 to choose from out here. They have said they are going to be upgrading the internet around here to better speed, better everything but that was maybe 5 years ago so I'm guessing they lied and are never doing it.
How can I improve my internet? :headscratch:
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Now that's really bad. Not the speed but the variation! Unfortunately there's really not much that you can do outside your house.
There are things that you can do, though, listed in the order they pop my mind:
- Check your cables. The one from the wall to your modem and the one from the modem to your computer.
- Speaking of cables, cut off excessive length especially in the cable between your wall and modem. Use good quality cables.
- Make sure the cable between your modem and computer is rated at least cat5e. A shielded cat6 would further eliminate problems, worth a couple of bucks to try!
- Modems don't last forever, after changing the cables that would be the next on the list. Your ISP might lend you one for testing purposes.
- I noticed your cursor is kind of non-standard. Hopefully it doesn't include a truckload of crapware phoning home during your gaming.
- Referring to the previous, make sure your computer is running only the processes that are needed.
- If you at least suspect there might be some unwanted software, run Eset Online Scanner (http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner-popup/). Check the the two boxes under Advanced settings for Potentionally Unwanted and Unsafe programs.
- If there's lots of crap, take further actions to get rid of all of them.
- Remove your network card in Device Manager, reboot and and let Windows reinstall it. Also reset Winsock. How? Type cmd in the search box. Right click and run it as administrator. Type "netsh winsock reset" without quotes. Reboot.
- New network drivers from the motherboard download site
- After making sure everything is perfect at your end, show the ping plot results to your ISP and ask if they would like to get better service from the problem spots. Making it look like they get poor service for their investors' money would probably work better than saying that one player over there has problems...
There's software that claim to improve your network performance. Don't use them! It's true that your download speed may improve but with a cost of instability in gaming or somewhere else. Windows default settings is what online games work with - or any online service for that matter. If you have tried some of that kind of software, reinstalling and resetting your network settings may work. If not, a clean reinstall of Windows would solve both malware and settings problems.
Last but not least: Remember that there's been a lot of bad weather in several areas in the USA, dropping down lines. If your problems have popped up recently, check the conditions in the areas Ping Plotter gives poor results.
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Thanks for the advice Bizman! I'm going to try some of these and see if it fixes my issue. I've had this problem for as long as I can remember. The bad weather may be adding some more problems but it's had plenty of problems even before that.
:salute
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Now that's really bad. Not the speed but the variation! Unfortunately there's really not much that you can do outside your house.
There are things that you can do, though, listed in the order they pop my mind:
- Check your cables. The one from the wall to your modem and the one from the modem to your computer.
- Speaking of cables, cut off excessive length especially in the cable between your wall and modem. Use good quality cables.
- Make sure the cable between your modem and computer is rated at least cat5e. A shielded cat6 would further eliminate problems, worth a couple of bucks to try!
- Modems don't last forever, after changing the cables that would be the next on the list. Your ISP might lend you one for testing purposes.
- I noticed your cursor is kind of non-standard. Hopefully it doesn't include a truckload of crapware phoning home during your gaming.
- Referring to the previous, make sure your computer is running only the processes that are needed.
- If you at least suspect there might be some unwanted software, run Eset Online Scanner (http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner-popup/). Check the the two boxes under Advanced settings for Potentionally Unwanted and Unsafe programs.
- If there's lots of crap, take further actions to get rid of all of them.
- Remove your network card in Device Manager, reboot and and let Windows reinstall it. Also reset Winsock. How? Type cmd in the search box. Right click and run it as administrator. Type "netsh winsock reset" without quotes. Reboot.
- New network drivers from the motherboard download site
- After making sure everything is perfect at your end, show the ping plot results to your ISP and ask if they would like to get better service from the problem spots. Making it look like they get poor service for their investors' money would probably work better than saying that one player over there has problems...
There's software that claim to improve your network performance. Don't use them! It's true that your download speed may improve but with a cost of instability in gaming or somewhere else. Windows default settings is what online games work with - or any online service for that matter. If you have tried some of that kind of software, reinstalling and resetting your network settings may work. If not, a clean reinstall of Windows would solve both malware and settings problems.
Last but not least: Remember that there's been a lot of bad weather in several areas in the USA, dropping down lines. If your problems have popped up recently, check the conditions in the areas Ping Plotter gives poor results.
I agree kill it with fire.
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is there a different is you can try? in my area there's 3. trust me they will fight to bring you back, you may not get a better isp but at least you will pay a few bucks less for all the aggravation.
semp
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I have 1.32Mb/s download,
With that internet?! I have (on a good day without anybody hogging up the wifi) download speed of .5Mb/s with this connection on AH:
(http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p659/XxDaSTaRXx/ahss216_zps626106f5.png?t=1388117945)
:headscratch:
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Latrobe, what is the advertised speed of your Internet connection? Bizman addressed the networking side rather thoroughly, but he didn't mention the cable side. One trick that not too many people know about is how to see the signal performance of their cable modem. Point your browser at 192.168.100.1. That should take you to the status page of your cable modem.
Check your send and receive signal strengths. The receive strength should be 0 dBm optimally. If it is less than -5 dBm or more than 15 you're not going to get your best speeds. The transmit strength should be above 30 dBm. If any of these are way off you could have problems.
If the receive strength is too low, check all of the cable connections and make sure the cables are firmly attached to the connectors and the connectors are tightened. Also make sure that there aren't a bunch of splitters between the cable modem and where the cable enters the house. Ideally there should be only one splitter between the modem and where the cable enters the house.
If the receive signal is too high you can get a splitter with a bigger signal drop. Most splitters have a 3.5 dBm drop, but you can find them with higher values. Whatever you do, don't put an amplifier in between the cable modem and where the line enters the house. That will cause all kinds of grief.
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Thanks for the addition, Auger. I didn't actually think about the connection could be via the TV cable. Especially your comment about the splitters is very valuable. Someone once said that each joint - splitter or extension - can cut as much as 5 dB from the signal! People here have had problems with the splitters going bad. When cable came to my town, the ISP warned about cheap splitters, but now the better quality splitters they used to recommend and deliver are causing issues. Now instead of the traditional Y-splitter recommend ones with some built-in filter, having dedicated outputs for data and TV.
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Latrobe, what is the advertised speed of your Internet connection? Bizman addressed the networking side rather thoroughly, but he didn't mention the cable side. One trick that not too many people know about is how to see the signal performance of their cable modem. Point your browser at 192.168.100.1. That should take you to the status page of your cable modem.
Check your send and receive signal strengths. The receive strength should be 0 dBm optimally. If it is less than -5 dBm or more than 15 you're not going to get your best speeds. The transmit strength should be above 30 dBm. If any of these are way off you could have problems.
If the receive strength is too low, check all of the cable connections and make sure the cables are firmly attached to the connectors and the connectors are tightened. Also make sure that there aren't a bunch of splitters between the cable modem and where the cable enters the house. Ideally there should be only one splitter between the modem and where the cable enters the house.
If the receive signal is too high you can get a splitter with a bigger signal drop. Most splitters have a 3.5 dBm drop, but you can find them with higher values. Whatever you do, don't put an amplifier in between the cable modem and where the line enters the house. That will cause all kinds of grief.
That's something I'd like to confirm myself. I think if I remember correctly we were promised 2, maybe 3, Mb/s download speeds but I have never seen it higher than 1.32. Where exactly in my router status page can I look that up?
BTW, I did a complete uninstall and reinstall of my network adapter yesterday. The game "seemed" to play a bit smoother but from past experiences I am not going to get my hopes up thinking it's going to stay that way for very long.
I also checked the cables and it's running cat 6 from the router to the wall, and cat 5 from the wall to my computer. It's not very far from the router to my computer either, less than 20 feet into the other room.
EDIT: Ah! I think I found it.
Down Stream Path Transmit Power is 6.2 dBm, Up Stream Path Transmit Power is 9.9 dBm.
Is Margin (dB) or Line Attenuation (dB) something I should be looking at too?
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The transmit strength should be above 30 dBm.
I'm not certain but I don't think you want the transmit power to be really high. 30 or 40 dBM is fine, but if it is high (like up near 50 dBm) it means that the cable company's CMTS cannot "hear" your modem very well and has told it to "shout".
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Change the cat5 to cat6, too. Doesn't cost much but may help a lot. I didn't quite get what you meant with the cabling description. Do you have the modem in another room and built-in data cables from one room to another? If so, how is the built-in cable rated? Most probably your computer has a gigabit nic and so might your modem, but cat5 can't handle that speed. You might also want to try a direct cat6 cable from the modem to your computer.
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We have an ethernet cable (cat 6) plugged into one of the ethernet ports on the router. That runs from the router in the other room to the wall of my room and into an ethernet wall port. Then we have another ethernet cable (cat 5) plugged into the wall port and running into my computer.
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So there's a double joint in the cable from the modem to your computer both sides of the wall? Router to wall - inside the wall - wall to computer? If the length of the cable inside the wall is only that of the thickness of the wall, the category doesn't matter, I guess. But it definitely does matter to change the cat5 cable in your room to a faster category, cat6. The cheapest cat5 cables won't even work at all with gigabit connections, better quality may work but cause instability. Cat5 is specified to 100 MB connections and below, and while it is far more than your Internet connection speed, it can't handle the faster connection between a modern router and a modern network card.
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I'll change the cat 5 out for a cat 6. We might even have some left over from when we built my room! :)
Hope it fixes it at least somewhat.
EDIT: Ok, so just as I predicited reinstalling the network adapater did not fix the issue. Still getting spikes in the net status, still getting kill from shots that are clearly missing me by several feet. Hopefully changing to a cat 6 cable will have a better effect once i get one.
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While shopping for cables, get one long enough from the modem to your computer in case there's something in the cabling and connectors between the rooms. After all, the Ethernet cable will work up to 100 yards lengths without losing signal strength, so you may even go the one long cable way if you wish, even if you still end up using the wall plugs between rooms. A long cable is also a must if you ever go to a LAN party - we'll be probably having a con again sometime between March and April...
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Well, I've got everything on cat 6, still getting some erratic jumps in the net status. Host Queue time doesn't look to be stable either. This was only tested for about 10 minutes in the MA though and I'll keep with it and see if anything changes.
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n101/Latrobe_2006/ahss25_zpsf11767dc.png) (http://s110.photobucket.com/user/Latrobe_2006/media/ahss25_zpsf11767dc.png.html)
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OK, So a little more flying and so far it's just as laggy and warpy as before. This is the Net Status at it's worst. (I was told I was not warping at all, but I could see lots of little warps)
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n101/Latrobe_2006/ahss26_zpsa7c0da03.png) (http://s110.photobucket.com/user/Latrobe_2006/media/ahss26_zpsa7c0da03.png.html)
I'm still getting a lot of shots on me like this one were the tracers are 3-4 plane lengths behind me but I still take damage.
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n101/Latrobe_2006/cat6_zps91cdc869.png) (http://s110.photobucket.com/user/Latrobe_2006/media/cat6_zps91cdc869.png.html)
If it means anything I went and looked at the signal strengths with the new cat 6 cable. Downstream is now 6.5 dBm and Upstream is 10.5 dBm
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Latrobe, what is your downstream signal to noise ratio (SNR)? That can have a big impact on transfer rates and overall Internet experience. It should be over 30.
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Downstream varies very slightly but is over 30. Lowest it's been in the last 4 hours is 31.4, the highest is 32.5
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Years ago Skuzzy pointed out that the VnD is a better indication of a systemic issue with your PC and the Host Queue is an indicator of your connection. I've seen your VnD line events on my PCs over the years both as results of an ISP or Internet event and of hardware, service, and driver issues.
Do you play on a laptop or a PC?
In the past some cable providers have not configured their routers to be game friendly. A few players in the past found this to be an issue. Not sure if cable providers are doing that anymore. That's one of the reasons I'm still on DSL. Something as simple as leaving your TrackIR GUI open with the game running has caused my FPS to tank and strange VnD lines as the CPU was stressed. Video drivers have caused strange VnD lines for me in the past. If your CPU congests you can cause your own warps.
You might for due diligence, ask Skuzzy to look at a DXDiag report of your PC\Laptop.
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So I did a msconfig like someone pointed out the other night and cleared a lot of background programs out. Seems to have had some sort of affect as the net status isn't as all over the place as it used to be but I am still getting hit from shots that are no where near me. It's very frustrating to done everything right in a fight and yet still die because the bullets were no where near me.
What part of the dxdiag is needed again? All of it or just a specific part?
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MsConfig is one way to clear background programs, but it doesn't show everything. Try CCleaner by Piriform (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner). It not only can clean your temp files and registry, it also has a very detailed Startup manager in its Tools section. There you'll get a sorted view, showing even browser extensions which may live their own life even with the browser seemingly closed. Some of them can't be disabled directly from there, but you'll get a hint for what to look after either in the browsers' add-ons or in the Programs and Features in the Control Panel. Some of them are very sneaky to remove, often the best way is to use some malware cleaner with "potentionally unwanted programs" checked - like the Eset Online Scanner I referred to in my first input.
Another thing that can affect your gaming is your antivirus. What are you using? If the anti-virus is checking every single package received in-game, that will surely cause variance, because packets aren't identical! You can try to put AH into the Exceptions list, maybe even change the anti-virus program you're using...
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My anti-virus is AVG. I'd forgotten that people sometimes have issues with aces high while the anti-virus is open. I'll have to look into that. I'll also try that CCleaner and see how that goes.
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It would be very helpful if you had another known clean computer to run AH with. I believe it need not even be a gaming rig to view the netstat sitting in the tower. I was first thinking about a laptop used by a female family member, but on second thought something plagued by crapware installed by Facebook apps and ads wouldn't be any better than your own computer... Anyway, a second computer would give you a hint whether the problems are in your computer or in your Internet connections.
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Don't have a 2nd computer to try it on. Did the CClean and checked out my anti-virus. Set it up so Aces high is an exception for my anti-virus. CClean cleaned out 5GB worth of stuff. So far the game feel pretty smooth. The net status kind of jumps up just a bit every now and then but it's no where near as severe as it used to be. Had a few incidents where tracers well behind my plane were doing damage but not quite as often as before. Some of this might be caused by the weather so I guess I won't know if it's 100% fixed until we get clearer weather.
So far though it's a heck of a lot better than what it used to be. :aok :salute
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That's good news! 5 GB is quite a lot of stuff, especially if it's in the browser temp files. At least Internet Explorer has a setting to "check for newer versions of stored sites", which in my understanding will use a great amount of internet resources. That's (one reason) why I've set every browser in my computer to delete temporary files at closing. I've also checked "never" in the Internet options of IE or Control Panel, whichever way reaching them better suits you. And I still suggest you to do a scan for "potentionally unwanted" applications, which AVG necessarily doesn't find because they're not viruses.
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So I did a msconfig like someone pointed out the other night and cleared a lot of background programs out. Seems to have had some sort of affect as the net status isn't as all over the place as it used to be but I am still getting hit from shots that are no where near me. It's very frustrating to done everything right in a fight and yet still die because the bullets were no where near me.
What part of the dxdiag is needed again? All of it or just a specific part?
The first third, up to and including <SOUND DEVICES>
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Here is a Windows batch script that I run before logging on to AH. It stops various extraneous processes and programs that run on my PC under Windows 7. (see link in sig for PC parts) I keep a copy of this right on my desktop. To run it, I right-click on it to bring up the actions/properties menu, and then left-click on "Run as administrator." The script ends with a "pause" command, so I can review the results. If the script tries to stop something that's not running at that time, it just displays a warning message.
Script follows...
#####################
rem ### this file shuts down selected windows 7 programs
rem ### simply reboot machine to return to normal config
rem ### Home Group Provider
net stop HomeGroupProvider
rem ### Network List Service
net stop netprofm
rem ### Network Location Awareness
net stop nlasvc
rem ### PNRP Machine Name Publication Service
net stop PNRPAutoReg
rem ### Peer Networking Grouping
net stop p2psvc
rem ### Peer Name Resolution Protcol
net stop PNRPsvc
rem ### Peer Networking Identity Manager
net stop p2pimsvc
rem ### Function Discovery Provider Host
net stop fdPHost
rem ### Function Discovery Resource Publication
net stop FDResPub
rem ### Background Intelligent Transfer Service
net stop bits
rem ### Windows Update
net stop wuauserv
rem ### Windows Search
net stop WSearch
rem ### Windows Backup
net stop SDRSVC
rem ### Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
net stop WMPNetworkSvc
rem ### Disk Defragmenter
net stop defragsvc
rem ### IP Helper (IPv6 transition gizmo)
net stop iphlpsvc
rem ### TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
net stop lmhosts
rem ### Offline Files
net stop CscService
rem ### Superfetch
net stop SysMain
rem ### Print Spooler
net stop Spooler
rem ### FAX Service
net stop Fax
rem ### Remote Registry
net stop RemoteRegistry
rem ### Routing and Remote Access
net stop RemoteAccess
rem ### Microsoft Office Service
net stop OfficeSvc
rem ### LightScribeService Direct Disc Labeling Service
net stop LightScribeService
rem ### Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
net stop stisvc
rem ### ArcSoft Connect Daemon
net stop ACDaemon
rem ### Apple iPod programs
taskkill /f /t /im "iTunesHelper.exe"
net stop "Apple Mobile Device"
net stop "Bonjour Service"
net stop "iPod Service"
rem ### RIM BlackBerry programs
taskkill /f /t /im "RIMBBLaunchAgent.exe"
net stop "Blackberry Device Manager"
rem ### Java Update Scheduler
taskkill /f /t /im "jusched.exe"
rem ### Steam Client Bootstrapper
taskkill /f /t /im "Steam.exe"
rem ### HP Network Printer programs
taskkill /f /t /im "NPNetworkCommunicator.exe"
taskkill /f /t /im "ScanToPCActivationApp.exe"
rem ### Adobe Acrobat gunk
taskkill /f /t /im "acrotray.exe"
pause
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So now that the nasty weather has mostly gone I've been able to see if any of this has fixed my problem. The answer is not really. Planes aren't as warpy as they used to be but still jerk backwards and forwards sometimes. Biggest issue of all has not been resolved and that's that I am still taking hits from planes that don't even have their nose pointed towards me. I am not sure what else I can do other than save up some money for a new router and hope that somehow fixes it.
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So now that the nasty weather has mostly gone I've been able to see if any of this has fixed my problem. The answer is not really.
The bad weather has not directly caused any anomalies in the Internet. It has only been breaking the infrastructure. Now that the weather is better, the rebuilding can start at full throttle. They can't check those 500 mile long telecommunication cables in mere hours, though. So you can't really exclude the bad weather effects from possible causes. Not saying that a new router wouldn't help, but only as a means of troubleshooting. Doesn't your ISP support lend routers for troubleshooting?
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So now that the nasty weather has mostly gone I've been able to see if any of this has fixed my problem. The answer is not really. Planes aren't as warpy as they used to be but still jerk backwards and forwards sometimes. Biggest issue of all has not been resolved and that's that I am still taking hits from planes that don't even have their nose pointed towards me. I am not sure what else I can do other than save up some money for a new router and hope that somehow fixes it.
All that means is that on the front end of the other player, you are in line of fire. It is due to lag you are seeing the bullets appear to come from odd angles.
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All that means is that on the front end of the other player, you are in line of fire. It is due to lag you are seeing the bullets appear to come from odd angles.
And how do I go about fixing it so it doesn't do that anymore? :headscratch:
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And how do I go about fixing it so it doesn't do that anymore? :headscratch:
Move to Texas :noid
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If I ever move anywhere it's going to be further north. I hate the summer heat!
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And how do I go about fixing it so it doesn't do that anymore? :headscratch:
As the lag is cumulative, you only have a chance to impact your connection. If you see all players appearing to hit you at off angles, then it is your cumulative connection from your computer to the server. Run a PingPlot and see what the path looks like.
With all the damage to the telecommunications infrastructure, from the winter storms, the Internet is a mess with physical lines carrying more than they are capable of causing excess packet loss, huge variances and other anomalies, all bad.
There are a few things one can do to help on the local connection. Make sure you never install from Norton, McAfee, Roxio, Intuit, Apple (iTunes is particularly nasty), or any other applications which are going to phone home, even when they are not running as the main application.
Avoid using a wireless connection, if you can. Quit running background applications. Power cycle your home router, from time to time.
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Thanks for the advice Skuzzy! I have notice it happening with just about everybody I run into. I don't have any of those programs installed (Norton, McAfee, Apple, etc). I do have a wired connection. This is my pingplot after I quickly checked it this morning.
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n101/Latrobe_2006/static-71-252-137-154dllstxfiosverizonnet_zps2c4dc9e7.png) (http://s110.photobucket.com/user/Latrobe_2006/media/static-71-252-137-154dllstxfiosverizonnet_zps2c4dc9e7.png.html)
I think it's weird that it's showing me a ping under 200 when I usually see 300-800 whenever I log on. :headscratch:
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Level3, from Washington DC to Texas. That is a bad route, right now, with all the damage done to the telecommunications industry.
There are also problems on the trip back to your computer, from Texas. Looks like it is all in Level3's network.
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Is there anyway I can fix it? Maybe change the path it uses? Or do I just have to wait until the route gets fixed?
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Change ISP's is about the only way for you to change that and then it may not fix anything. There is simply too much physical damage to the telecommunications infrastructure, right now. It will get fixed, but it is going to take time and we really need the weather to give the repair crews a break.
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Is there an internet site that tracks the whole internet health in terms of congestion, damage and the like? Maybe some sort of map by regions.
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There are a few sites that try to gauge how the Internet is doing, but they are pretty spotty and average a data from a few sources, which is not a good indicator of how things really are doing.
That said, you can run your own tests, for your own connection, and see what is going on, using Ping Plotter.
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Change ISP's is about the only way for you to change that and then it may not fix anything. There is simply too much physical damage to the telecommunications infrastructure, right now. It will get fixed, but it is going to take time and we really need the weather to give the repair crews a break.
Well that sucks for me. I only get 1 choice out here. :(
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Level3, from Washington DC to Texas. That is a bad route, right now, with all the damage done to the telecommunications industry.
There are also problems on the trip back to your computer, from Texas. Looks like it is all in Level3's network.
In here is a point everyone should understand about intent communications and the game. It's not only about the data streaming from your computer to the host, but also from the host back to your computer. These streams likely take completely different paths. One - - your outbound stream-- can be traced by you. The other--the stream back--can only be traced from the other end. Your trace might not look that bad but it's return path might be totally FUBAR. That isn't something anyone would have direct control over. And that will be a fluid situation as things get fixed and/or rerouted in the coming weeks /Months. Then it'll be spring here in the US and the thunderstorms will start the process all over again. :aok
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it was funny yesterday, me and a friendly got into a fight with a higher con that us. after making him give up his alt then I could see both friendly and con warp, the friendly said the same thing, you guys are warping. when we asked the con, he said that he was fine but both of us were warping.
so it looks like all 3 of us were fine but the other two were warping. :rofl :rofl.
semp
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Is your modem a westell or netgear?
Let us know what the sticker on the back of says concerning make and model.
Often, you can type 192.168.1.1 in your browser and it will put you on the modem diagnostics page but the addresses differer between manufacturers.
Best to start at the end where you have access to the hardware when doing diagnostics just in case your problem is a background program polling the internet or another device in the house causing the issue.
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Having iTunes installed will cause it, for sure.