stop-and-go Lag

[Dariun]

Since the last update (4.2), I have been experiencing an annoying type of Lag: Everything is perfectly fine, and then the game freezes up for 2-4 seconds.

When it freezes up, I can still make my character swing his weapon, but he won't move. All the monsters freeze. But, if I'm swinging away at the monster, when the 2-4 seconds is up, I will often see several red damage numbers pop up all at once and the monster fall dead, so it seems my actions are going into a queue or something.

I assume this is a type of client lag rather than server lag as other people in my parties have not reported the problem. It happens in quests and in public areas. It happens whether there are a lot of people online or few people online. It has happened on two different servers (one post-merge, one not merged yet). It happens randomly. Sometimes I go 15 minutes without it happening at all, sometimes it happens 3 times in 1 minute.

My first thought was this was a problem with my internet connection. I've checked this and don't think that's it. I have no other evidence of these brief disconnects in any other software I use. I also tried deleting the DDO Exception in my firewall and then putting it back in. This did not help.

I have 2 gigs of RAM, so that's not it.

My processor and graphics card are low end and are probably the problem (although they worked fine for a year), but frankly it doesn't seem like this is happening when processing power is in high demand. I use "very low" graphics setting and have tried to turn off anything that could be causing problems.

Any thoughts, advice, or suggestions would be appreciated.

I don't think upgrading my graphics card is an option because I'm using a notebook computer and I'm not sure I can change it (i.e., I'm not sure the graphics card is a user serviceable part in my machine or that compatible higher end graphics cards are available for my machine).

[Theboz]

Run a tracert

WinXP
Start>RUN>Type "CMD"

in the CMD window Type "Tracert gls.ddo.com"

If you see any * you could have a problem with your connection to DDO

Also when you log into your server and play if you look for a icon to left of your character sheet icon you should see Latency, Loss, Sent and Recv.

Look at Loss if you see any percentage of loss you then have a connection problem.
this could be from a bad wireless connection, router, provider, or any nurmerous connection along the path to DDO.

[Dariun]

Thanks for the tips.

The trace turned up no *s, but there was definitely "loss". I ran around for a bit watching it. It was around 2% when I started watching, then I "froze", when I started again loss was around 6%. It later dropped to 0.3% then went back up around 2%. I "froze" again and it was up at 4% afterwards.

While frozen the "BPS received" dropped to 0 but the "sent" number stayed the same

So, likely a connection problem? I guess I'll start by rebooting the PC, router, and cable modem. Not sure if my expertise will get me much past there...

Run a tracert

WinXP
Start>RUN>Type "CMD"

in the CMD window Type "Tracert gls.ddo.com"

If you see any * you could have a problem with your connection to DDO

Also when you log into your server and play if you look for a icon to left of your character sheet icon you should see Latency, Loss, Sent and Recv.

Look at Loss if you see any percentage of loss you then have a connection problem.
this could be from a bad wireless connection, router, provider, or any nurmerous connection along the path to DDO.

[Altumus]

Do you have a router, firewall or peerto peer network running at all?

[Dariun]

Do you have a router, firewall or peerto peer network running at all?

linksys router
windows XP firewall
one other PC and a printer connect to the router

nothing else

P.S. Tried shutting off the Windows firewall. This did not help.

[Altumus]

Just for troubleshooting purposes can you try bypassing the router and see if you can play well. If not can you post the results of a tracert to gls.ddo.com, thanks!

[Theboz]

i have a linksys router too and when I used the wireless connection, I had very bad loss. I had to go back to using the CAT5 cable

It definately sounds like either its your router or your provider

I would also call your provider and have them do a test on your line

If you have DSL check your filters on your telelphone line.

[Dariun]

Ok, tried taking the router out of the loop and plugging directly into the cable modem.

Only tested for a little while, but it seemed to eliminate a lot of the loss/lag. I still "froze" twice, but after immediately switching back to the router and logging back in, I froze about 10 times and the loss numbers were higher (3-4% v. 0-2%).

I've had the router for a while. Is it more likely that it is dying or that recent DDO changes have put more demands on it and I'm only now seeing its limitations?

Maybe I'll wait til Turbine makes the upcoming performance improvements and if I still have trouble look to get a new router.

Any suggestions for a replacement router? I'm using a linksys wrt54g. I need to have wireless and at least 4 cable connections. I'm in an apartment building, so being able to secure the wireless is good.

FYI, all of the problems I have been having are via a cable connected to the router, not the wireless connection.

[Karch]

Ok, tried taking the router out of the loop and plugging directly into the cable modem.

Only tested for a little while, but it seemed to eliminate a lot of the loss/lag. I still "froze" twice, but after immediately switching back to the router and logging back in, I froze about 10 times and the loss numbers were higher (3-4% v. 0-2%).

I've had the router for a while. Is it more likely that it is dying or that recent DDO changes have put more demands on it and I'm only now seeing its limitations?

Maybe I'll wait til Turbine makes the upcoming performance improvements and if I still have trouble look to get a new router.

Any suggestions for a replacement router? I'm using a linksys wrt54g. I need to have wireless and at least 4 cable connections. I'm in an apartment building, so being able to secure the wireless is good.

FYI, all of the problems I have been having are via a cable connected to the router, not the wireless connection.

Router issues aren't going to be fixed by Turbine software updates. The wrt54g is the most common router in the US, so I'd assume that if it were an incompatibility with our software, we'd see more people with problems. All routers will eventually fail, and if you were happy with yours overall, I'd say get the same again.

[Seneca_Windforge]

If we see a * appear, does that mean that the problem lies with us or is that something on DDO's end?

I got a * on hop 9, going to te-4-4-71.car2.chicago1.level3.net (4.68.110.37)

I don't live anywhere near Chicago, incidentally. A few entries with charter.com in them (my ISP) are around hop 4. After running tracert several times, things seem to hang up on hop 9 frequently. Is there anything that can be done about this?

[Karch]

If we see a * appear, does that mean that the problem lies with us or is that something on DDO's end?

I got a * on hop 9, going to te-4-4-71.car2.chicago1.level3.net (4.68.110.37)

I don't live anywhere near Chicago, incidentally. A few entries with charter.com in them (my ISP) are around hop 4. After running tracert several times, things seem to hang up on hop 9 frequently. Is there anything that can be done about this?

The tracert shows where each packet of information is going on its way to our servers. A * symbol means there was a complete drop (meaning the packet got lost and drove back home to you). This often suggests a failing modem, or any number of funky things going on with a router. You can contact your ISP to test your modem (in most cases).

I'm interested to see the tracert report, though. A few backbone servers have been having issues (which is a problem with the internet at large) during the past few weeks.

[Seneca_Windforge]

The entire report was clean aside from hop 9 (I think there were 18 total hops).

Do basically, this is most likely a problem with my modem or router?

[Karch]

The entire report was clean aside from hop 9 (I think there were 18 total hops).

Do basically, this is most likely a problem with my modem or router?

"most likely" being the key point in that sentence, yes. You may also have a software or configuration problem, where some program(s) on your computer could be blocking certain ports/processes/applications/connection-types/etc but that's a huge can of worms that may or may not lead anywhere. I'd definitely suggest starting with hardware, because you can be 100% sure it's not the cause once you've ruled it out. Most software troubleshooting isn't so simple (and this would be one of those cases).

From what you've described, the router appears to be a part of the problem, but it's hard to say how much. With a new modem, the router packet-drops might disappear altogether.

It may also lead back to your ISP, which isn't unlikely. No ISP is perfect, and they're generally willing to admit if a problem/change is taking place. Let us know what the results are of contacting your ISP, and if you can, trying a different modem.

[ffemtchris]

I'm just curious what the average number of hops and transit time is.
My tracert was 13 hops with about 480ms of time total. The first four hops took a total of about 50ms. After that, each hop was about 50ms.

[Seneca_Windforge]

I tried hooking up my DSL connection (which I haven't dropped yet) instead of my cable connection. This bypasses the router completely. I still get *'s, but a different route is used. I actually get more stars with the DSL modem -- about three different hops have issues, as opposed to just number 9 with the cable modem + wireless router (the router is close to my computer).

[Karch]

I tried hooking up my DSL connection (which I haven't dropped yet) instead of my cable connection. This bypasses the router completely. I still get *'s, but a different route is used. I actually get more stars with the DSL modem -- about three different hops have issues, as opposed to just number 9 with the cable modem + wireless router (the router is close to my computer).

That could certainly be a fluke. The *'s aren't necessarily related to your local network, they could be to a failing server/switch at your ISP's level, or even a faulty Internet Backbone Server. Without seeing the tracert reports, there isn't a definite answer I can offer.

[Seneca_Windforge]

This is what I get over my current cable connection:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings>tracert gls.ddo.com

Tracing route to gls.ddo.com [206.16.13.87]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.2.1
2 9 ms 7 ms 7 ms 10.95.64.1
3 12 ms 15 ms 29 ms 71-80-70-62.dhcp.kgpt.tn.charter.com [71.80.70.62]
4 11 ms 13 ms 11 ms 24-159-64-49.static.jcsn.tn.charter.com [24.159.64.49]
5 15 ms 14 ms 19 ms 64.200.71.13
6 27 ms 26 ms 23 ms 64.200.240.238
7 29 ms 26 ms 25 ms brvwil1wcx3-pos9-1-oc48.wcg.net [64.200.249.37]
8 179 ms 235 ms 98 ms 64.200.249.190
9 * * 25 ms te-4-4-71.car2.chicago1.level3.net [4.68.110.37]
10 26 ms 35 ms 27 ms ae-24-54.car4.chicago1.level3.net [4.68.101.104]
11 35 ms 36 ms 43 ms 192.205.33.209
12 52 ms 50 ms 54 ms tbr2.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.123.6.26]
13 70 ms 51 ms 49 ms tbr2.cb1ma.ip.att.net [12.122.10.105]
14 51 ms 61 ms 51 ms 12.127.5.89
15 59 ms 61 ms 53 ms 12-122-254-14.attens.net [12.122.254.14]
16 58 ms 53 ms 51 ms mdf001c7613r0003-gig-10-1.bos1.attens.net [12.130.0.170]
17 59 ms 52 ms 62 ms 12.130.10.69
18 49 ms 53 ms 49 ms 206.16.13.87

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings>

[Dariun]

16 hops.

Last night, none of the hops was more than 20 ms, but today I got one at 200 ms . The rest were all 1-17 ms.

Then a second and third test gave me some *s.

  3     9 ms     7 ms     7 ms  ge6-2-nycmnya-rtr1.nyc.rr.com [24.29.97.161]
  4     8 ms     7 ms     8 ms  tenge-3-0-0.nwrknjmd-rtr.nyc.rr.com [24.29.119.1
06]
  5     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  pop2-new-P4-1.atdn.net [66.185.141.225]
  6    10 ms     9 ms     7 ms  bb2-new-P3-0.atdn.net [66.185.137.18]
  7   127 ms   215 ms   200 ms  bb1-nye-P4-0.atdn.net [66.185.152.196]
  8     9 ms    11 ms     8 ms  pop2-nye-P0-0.atdn.net [66.185.151.65]
  9    10 ms     7 ms    10 ms  192.205.34.45
 10    17 ms    15 ms    15 ms  tbr2.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.105.74]
 11    16 ms    15 ms    15 ms  tbr1.cb1ma.ip.att.net [12.122.10.21]
 12    13 ms    13 ms    13 ms  12.127.5.109
 13    14 ms    16 ms    15 ms  12-122-254-14.attens.net [12.122.254.14]
 14    15 ms    15 ms    15 ms  mdf001c7613r0003-gig-10-1.bos1.attens.net [12.13
0.0.170]
 15    16 ms    16 ms    15 ms  12.130.10.69
 16    15 ms    14 ms    17 ms  206.16.13.87

  3     7 ms     7 ms     7 ms  ge6-2-nycmnya-rtr1.nyc.rr.com [24.29.97.161]
  4     *        *        8 ms  tenge-3-0-0.nwrknjmd-rtr.nyc.rr.com [24.29.119.1
06]
  5     8 ms     8 ms     7 ms  pop2-new-P4-1.atdn.net [66.185.141.225]
  6     9 ms    11 ms     8 ms  bb2-new-P3-0.atdn.net [66.185.137.18]
  7     9 ms     9 ms     9 ms  bb1-nye-P4-0.atdn.net [66.185.152.196]
  8    10 ms     9 ms    10 ms  pop2-nye-P0-0.atdn.net [66.185.151.65]
  9     8 ms     9 ms    11 ms  192.205.34.45
 10    16 ms    15 ms    13 ms  tbr2.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.105.74]
 11    16 ms    14 ms    14 ms  tbr1.cb1ma.ip.att.net [12.122.10.21]
 12    14 ms    15 ms    14 ms  12.127.5.109
 13    16 ms    16 ms    15 ms  12-122-254-14.attens.net [12.122.254.14]
 14    14 ms    15 ms    14 ms  mdf001c7613r0003-gig-10-1.bos1.attens.net [12.13
0.0.170]
 15    15 ms    18 ms    16 ms  12.130.10.69
 16    15 ms    15 ms    15 ms  206.16.13.87

  3     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  ge6-2-nycmnya-rtr1.nyc.rr.com [24.29.97.161]
  4     9 ms     7 ms     7 ms  tenge-3-0-0.nwrknjmd-rtr.nyc.rr.com [24.29.119.1
06]
  5     9 ms     7 ms     8 ms  pop2-new-P4-1.atdn.net [66.185.141.225]
  6     8 ms    10 ms     9 ms  bb2-new-P3-0.atdn.net [66.185.137.18]
  7    32 ms    72 ms    64 ms  bb1-nye-P4-0.atdn.net [66.185.152.196]
  8     9 ms     9 ms     8 ms  pop2-nye-P0-0.atdn.net [66.185.151.65]
  9     9 ms     9 ms     9 ms  192.205.34.45
 10    16 ms    15 ms    15 ms  tbr2.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.105.74]
 11    15 ms    17 ms    15 ms  tbr1.cb1ma.ip.att.net [12.122.10.21]
 12    15 ms    13 ms    13 ms  12.127.5.109
 13    14 ms    15 ms    15 ms  12-122-254-14.attens.net [12.122.254.14]
 14    16 ms    15 ms    15 ms  mdf001c7613r0003-gig-10-1.bos1.attens.net [12.13
0.0.170]
 15     *       17 ms    15 ms  12.130.10.69
 16    15 ms    15 ms    15 ms  206.16.13.87