Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: bustr on October 25, 2005, 12:47:53 PM
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Skuzzy,
I'm using a BEFVP41 - EtherFast Cable/DSL VPN Router with 4-Port 10/100 Switch V.1. I just flashed it with 1.41.1. I no longer have tracert capability. But my question is about MTU size and how it affects game play.
Last night I was experimenting with the MTU size, 1462, 1472, 1480 and 1492. I connect to SBCGlobal.net with PPPoE. After I would make a change then I would connect to AH and go to the arena selection screen to see what the ping time was. The samller packett size increased my ping number to about 160. As I increased the size the ping number decreased. My best time was at 1500 which is the default if you disable the custom MTU option in my Linksys.
What kinds of issues am I running into with the MTU size? Is there a rule of thumb for the Internet? Do I just experiment untill I find a workable size? Is MTU size of primary concern to AH game playability?
I cannot find a earlier Bios version for my Linksys so I can have tracert. From what I have read Linksys is not very good about updating drivers and Bios updates. Is there a Cable/DSL router that has better support and reasonable functionality for internet gaming?
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MTU should be set to whatever is the default your ISP uses, as the router you connect to at your ISP is always going to fragment any packet larger than its MTU.
1500 is the default for most routers. 1532 is also used by some.
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Skuzzy,
Why was my smaller MTU 1462 increasing my ping time observed in the Arena selction menu, but 1500 giving me my shortest percieved ping time? with tracet effctivly disabled by the last bios flash I'm only able to ping yahoo.com with any results. I tested with the following:
ping yahoo.com -l 1462 -f
Then set my MTU to 1462.
1462 did not request framentation in the test ping. But 1462 MTU at the arena selction menu gave me 160 ping time. 1500 ping test requested fragmentation, but 1500 MTU at the arena selection menu gave me 63-96. I also "perceived" smoother game play. <--- This could have been a good 2 hours last night of Internet communication.
Since I'm tracert blind due to the last Bios firmware I upgraded, I cannot see the path between me and AH. I guess some what this is gray box testing. :)
As always I apreciate your insite.
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Sir, Actually, when you set your MTU for 1500 / Default it will truncate the packet size automatically if you run into a router that uses a smaller packet size. There is really no performance benifit to adjusting it. I can only see your ping times getting worse as I think of it. I am not sure if you understand packet sizes, so here is a smal analogy:
Assume you want to send me a huge painting. Through the snail mail, using strandard business letter envelopes. You would have to cut up the painting, number it, address it, send it. The envelope is thepacket size. When it comes to me, open them, check the number (and ask for the missing ones if they are missing), then reasemble them to make the painting. Say it takes 10,000 envelopes to complete this.
Now assume you want to (for whatever reason) send the same painting in smaller envelopes (smaller packet sizes). You would have to send it in many more envelopes, like 20,000 or so. So, naturally it would take longer to process and complete this process. The only practical reason to do such a thing, is because your have a tiny mail box - this would be your ISP and how you actually see it. After that point, you do not care about packet sizes, for the internet will regulate those things at the ISP levels. I had to make adjustments one time on a clients computer, but is was foe her MAC OS X laptop and an ISP that had a smaller Packet size requirement.
When you game, there is alway this two way connection, however it will adjust itself, and you should concentrate on becoming a better pilot rather than tweeking the internet. To concude, I recommend to use the default that is set in your router.