Winter Games Lag

[Gorby]

So I decided to finally check this out today. I've got 3 major problems with the winter games which are preventing me from joining in on them.


1. Ramp Location - My PC is not good by any means. It was top of the line about 7 years ago. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a PC who can handle instances just fine, but get FPS lag out in the harbor and densely populated areas. I've got awesome twitch skills and have been playing video games since they were first marketed but when I'm getting 1-7 FPS at lowest settings flying over the harbor with all it's new textures and models and snow effects it's a **** shoot on being able to time anything.

I'm unsure of the cost and development aspects of creating a new private Winter Festival instance (dungeon) but the events would have kept my interest if my video card didn't have to compete with displaying the next ramp or the armor textures of the guys waiting to step into Waterworks.

2. Coin Spawns - I can't count the number of blood vessels I've popped in my forehead as I launch up through the purple coin spot only to find nothing but seagulls there as I fall into the harbor and grimace at eating another turbine point of cocoa. Where did the coins go? I didn't see anybody ahead of me for the ten seconds I was standing at the top of the ramp. Once I saw them spawn as I looked up from the water after they failed to be there, but usually I give up before I see them respawn. Maybe it's naked halfling ninjas but I think it's a bug since I've stood and watched them respawn instantly on many occasions.

3. Naked Halfling Ninjas - I hate you so much.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

I've got a 2 year old PC build for business use, not gaming... No lag in the ice jump. It's your PC and/or internet connection.

Coin Spawns - people are instance jumping.

[Gorby]

Logging back in after my latest /ragequit - I was just now able to fix the majority of my FPS lag by turning off player overhead names and hitting ALT-Z to hide the UI. It's running pretty smooth now. Not sure why I didn't think of that before since It's how I deal with raid lag.

[Xionanx]

I've got a 2 year old PC build for business use, not gaming... No lag in the ice jump. It's your PC and/or internet connection.

Coin Spawns - people are instance jumping.

I too have horrible lag in this game, and just so we are clear on it not being my PC:

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: INTEL_
System Model: DG33TL__
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8126MB RAM
Page File: 1467MB used, 14781MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTS 250
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0615&SUBSYS_82E61043&REV_A2
Display Memory: 4077 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1005 MB
Shared Memory: 3071 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: FHD2400
Monitor Id: GWY096B
Native Mode: 1920 x 1200(p) (59.950Hz)
Output Type: DVI

Now, I would LOVE to blame my internet connection.... however I have played countless other MMO's, FPS's, XBOX360 and PS3 games online, without ever running into the kind of lag I have with DDO. The shroud is like watching a slideshow its so horrible, which makes it pretty much unplayable for me as I lag so far behind the rest of the party that I am usually still swinging at what I think is a portal while the rest of the party is already at the shrines.

As far as these ice games go, I completely agree that it was a horrible idea to only make purple coins available to those lucky enough to not be experiencing lag. I have been reduced to using the abundant step cheese to get purple coins after hours of trying to do it the "right" way only to be frustrated over and over again by lag.

[Gorby]

I spoke too soon. I'm still failing 3 out of 4 jumps due to screen lockups which kill my velocity and aiming.

I did figure out that when the mid-air coins I collect are auto-gathered into my collectible bag, theres a short pause. Turning off auto-gather seems to help a bit as well.

I think I'm done with these. I did manage a recipe 3 through 5 out of the 6 or so purple coins I was able to get so I'll just call it a day. It surely wasn't worth the hours of frustration though. I hope Turbine will consider lower end PCs in the future when it comes to festival events.

[Cedwin]

[Gorby]

Well, I'm not fortunate enough at the moment to be in a position to buy a new computer.

+1 rep for the funny googled picture though since that's what you were aiming for.

[suitepotato]

I too have horrible lag in this game, and just so we are clear on it not being my PC:

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: INTEL_
System Model: DG33TL__
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8126MB RAM
Page File: 1467MB used, 14781MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTS 250
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0615&SUBSYS_82E61043&REV_A2
Display Memory: 4077 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1005 MB
Shared Memory: 3071 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: FHD2400
Monitor Id: GWY096B
Native Mode: 1920 x 1200(p) (59.950Hz)
Output Type: DVI

Now, I would LOVE to blame my internet connection.... however I have played countless other MMO's, FPS's, XBOX360 and PS3 games online, without ever running into the kind of lag I have with DDO. The shroud is like watching a slideshow its so horrible, which makes it pretty much unplayable for me as I lag so far behind the rest of the party that I am usually still swinging at what I think is a portal while the rest of the party is already at the shrines.

As far as these ice games go, I completely agree that it was a horrible idea to only make purple coins available to those lucky enough to not be experiencing lag. I have been reduced to using the abundant step cheese to get purple coins after hours of trying to do it the "right" way only to be frustrated over and over again by lag.

You can have all this, turn the game resource usage down to nearly zero, and still have lag. IT IS NOT YOUR MACHINE OR CONNECTION.

I regularly run MTR at .2 second interval with a 1400 byte payload at Turbine's servers and there's zero issues (most of the time) and that is low priority ICMP, not TCP sessions.

It's astounding how many people want to blame this on players and not Turbine when you have IDENTICAL lag reports with IDENTICAL reports of effects and specifics in games and in public areas.

[Rumbaar]

Lets talk about lag for those outside of the US, down in Australia I often find my toon is well off the ramp before my client has bothered to visually show me I've started the fall.

That's not to say I've not done successful runs, but a twitch based mechanic linked to precise timing in a MMO makes for a difficult time.

At least it's relatively open to no combatants, but those with the resources for jump and haste [tho white coins can yield pots, 10min buffs] fighting those instance hoping to get all coins doesn't help.

[donfilibuster]

The alt-z tip seemed to help a bit.

Note that FPS lag is usually not due to latency, lag from latency gives other problems like being stuck in a spot.
This FPS lag happens on the harbor (and marketplace at peak hours).
The other FPS lag seems to come from overload of spell effects like firewall.
This may be lack of cpu, lack of ram usually slow loading instances, but that is apart.

Speaking of cpu, having the turbine download manager open seems to cause more fps lag, where walking around slows down.
Closing it alleviates it, so it can be that background programs take hold of a cpu core instead of letting the game use the two cores.

[Modinator0]

I've pretty much boycotted the event.... One of the top 3 reasons I play this game instead of random MMO #34328 is because you don't have to fight over spawns.

[ReaperAlexEU]

i found the purple coin (and all others) respawn after a second or two when another player grabs it. so i stop at the corner, make sure no-one else is heading for the purple then i let rip.

once i've got a purple i swap instances as it takes friggin ages for your purple to respawn.

[mjrepro]

I have found that the coins are on a per person spawn. This is from doing jumps with another monk one after another, and we both got purple coins. So the others "taking" them shouldn't be an issue, otherwise two people jumping around four instances of the harbor would take them all, but I see that happening all the time. It is just a while for the coins to respawn, that is all, not others stealing them.

[ReaperAlexEU]

i've followed a player too close once and not got my purple, give it a little gap and the purple respawns for you to grab it. just let them get onto the next ramp before you set off and thats plenty of time.

[Rhysem]

I have found that the coins are on a per person spawn. This is from doing jumps with another monk one after another, and we both got purple coins. So the others "taking" them shouldn't be an issue, otherwise two people jumping around four instances of the harbor would take them all, but I see that happening all the time. It is just a while for the coins to respawn, that is all, not others stealing them.

There is a very small but non-zero player-to-player respawn timer too. Sorry. I followed someone by about 0.25 seconds back (they were 30 or so feet ahead) and I didn't get the purple. Yes I'm sure I nailed the jump -- I passed through their still animating pickup-sparkle-effects.

The spawn timer is small, and I think pulsed server side, so it is completely possible to follow someone as close as 1/1000th a second and still get your coin, but it isn't guaranteed.

Look for the blue coin between rink/pipe#2 and pipe#3 to repop, then go.

You only need 2 instances (zoning resets your coins to all spawned) to get coins in back-to-back-to-back runs*.

*: Cocoa may mean you need 3 instances. But I don't think so based on below-the-ramp lame white coin farming.

[GeneralDiomedes]

There is a very small but non-zero player-to-player respawn timer too. Sorry. I followed someone by about 0.25 seconds back (they were 30 or so feet ahead) and I didn't get the purple. Yes I'm sure I nailed the jump -- I passed through their still animating pickup-sparkle-effects.

Happened to me as well .. I was heading towards the purple when suddenly this Monk comes flying out of nowhere and nicked my coin by a beard hair.