Calamity Gundam
March 16th, 2007, 10:16 AM
Alright, here is a checklist of things you can do if you are having high ping, or choppiness in-game. In most situations, following these steps should improve your ping/fps.
Ping Issues:
1. Restart your modem+router+switches at least once every two months. These devices store IP addresses in their internal memory, and restarting them clears the RAM and can increase your throughput and ping.
2. Try adding the NR server to your routers 'static routes' section may help with your latency.
3. If the cabling in your area is older, it may still handle the faster speeds, but be sluggish due to distance/congestion/ noise on the line. Does your ping improve on the server ever? Any particular time of day?
Cable is usually shared between you and your neighbors so if the latency goes up from 4PM onwards, it may be a congestion problem.
4. Here is a small little program that optimizes the packets that your network card sends out, according to your bandwidth.
[link]
Go to [link]
find out your actual bandwidth (not what the ISP says, 6Mbps in your case).
Open up TCP optimizer, slide the arrow to the appropriate download bandwidth. Select 'optimum settings' at the bottom, and then apply. Restart.
5. ISP's can usually add a ‘fast path profile’ to your internet account. This may lower your ping.
6. Disable as many background programs as you can that you don’t need. Click start-run- type in msconfig. Click on the startup tab. Uncheck as many things here as you can, if you can’t identify it, uncheck it. You can always enable it later. Close this window. After you restart, click on “don’t run/show system config at system startup”.
7. Do not download anything while gaming online. Period. Even IM programs can increase your ping significantly. As for Ventrilo, it all depends on how many people are talking at the same time. Ventrilo uses 4Kbps per person talking, so with 6 people talking at once, that’s 24kbps, which would probably raise your ping by a bit/add some choppiness to CSS.
8. Another useful feature is enabling the DMZ (demilitarized zone) on your router/modem. This is only recommended if your PC is hooked up to a switch and has a software firewall, for security reasons.
DMZ leaves all ports going to and from your PC pretty much open. This may decrease your ping and eliminate blocked ports issues. Useful if you cannot forward ports properly.
FPS Issues:
1. Make sure your video and audio card drivers are up to date. If your card is working fine with a particular driver, don’t bother changing it until you have to, or for experimental purposes.
2. Make sure your computer meets the minimum specs for CSS. For the most part, the real world minimum for RAM is 1GB now. CPU-wise you would not want a CPU more than 3 years old.
3. Try downloading omega drivers; they are the manufacturer’s drivers scaled down to pump out more FPS. Download them here: [link]
4. Try disabling your sound card and audio in-game.
5. Defragment your hard drive once every couple of months.
6. Scan scan, and more scan. Make sure you have software that will scan and remove viruses, spyware, malware, and other nasty pieces of code. I recommend Lavasoft’s ad-aware, and Eset’s NOD32. Otherwise, AVG Anti-virus free is decent also.
7. Crank down your in-game video card settings. Sometimes raising one feature, like textures may actually result in higher fps than the lowest setting – so play around with these settings until you get a balance you like.
8. Run CSS at a lower directX level. Right click on your CSS shortcut. Go down to the target field and add: (spacehere)- directx(versionhere)
Example:
"F:\ Program Files\Steam\ Steam.exe" -directx8.1
If all this diagnostic work still does not help out for FPS, chances are:
A: Your system is too old. Sorry Mac, but that Pentium 2 won’t cut it.
B: A component may be failing, like the video card or motherboard.
9. Check out the TNR Rates guide here:
http://www.northernresistance.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17
PHEW, I hope this helps you guys. If anyone has something to add, by all means. If Winston could sticky this (again), I would appreciate it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v368/Addy_S/cuttingtheair.gif
Ping Issues:
1. Restart your modem+router+switches at least once every two months. These devices store IP addresses in their internal memory, and restarting them clears the RAM and can increase your throughput and ping.
2. Try adding the NR server to your routers 'static routes' section may help with your latency.
3. If the cabling in your area is older, it may still handle the faster speeds, but be sluggish due to distance/congestion/ noise on the line. Does your ping improve on the server ever? Any particular time of day?
Cable is usually shared between you and your neighbors so if the latency goes up from 4PM onwards, it may be a congestion problem.
4. Here is a small little program that optimizes the packets that your network card sends out, according to your bandwidth.
[link]
Go to [link]
find out your actual bandwidth (not what the ISP says, 6Mbps in your case).
Open up TCP optimizer, slide the arrow to the appropriate download bandwidth. Select 'optimum settings' at the bottom, and then apply. Restart.
5. ISP's can usually add a ‘fast path profile’ to your internet account. This may lower your ping.
6. Disable as many background programs as you can that you don’t need. Click start-run- type in msconfig. Click on the startup tab. Uncheck as many things here as you can, if you can’t identify it, uncheck it. You can always enable it later. Close this window. After you restart, click on “don’t run/show system config at system startup”.
7. Do not download anything while gaming online. Period. Even IM programs can increase your ping significantly. As for Ventrilo, it all depends on how many people are talking at the same time. Ventrilo uses 4Kbps per person talking, so with 6 people talking at once, that’s 24kbps, which would probably raise your ping by a bit/add some choppiness to CSS.
8. Another useful feature is enabling the DMZ (demilitarized zone) on your router/modem. This is only recommended if your PC is hooked up to a switch and has a software firewall, for security reasons.
DMZ leaves all ports going to and from your PC pretty much open. This may decrease your ping and eliminate blocked ports issues. Useful if you cannot forward ports properly.
FPS Issues:
1. Make sure your video and audio card drivers are up to date. If your card is working fine with a particular driver, don’t bother changing it until you have to, or for experimental purposes.
2. Make sure your computer meets the minimum specs for CSS. For the most part, the real world minimum for RAM is 1GB now. CPU-wise you would not want a CPU more than 3 years old.
3. Try downloading omega drivers; they are the manufacturer’s drivers scaled down to pump out more FPS. Download them here: [link]
4. Try disabling your sound card and audio in-game.
5. Defragment your hard drive once every couple of months.
6. Scan scan, and more scan. Make sure you have software that will scan and remove viruses, spyware, malware, and other nasty pieces of code. I recommend Lavasoft’s ad-aware, and Eset’s NOD32. Otherwise, AVG Anti-virus free is decent also.
7. Crank down your in-game video card settings. Sometimes raising one feature, like textures may actually result in higher fps than the lowest setting – so play around with these settings until you get a balance you like.
8. Run CSS at a lower directX level. Right click on your CSS shortcut. Go down to the target field and add: (spacehere)- directx(versionhere)
Example:
"F:\ Program Files\Steam\ Steam.exe" -directx8.1
If all this diagnostic work still does not help out for FPS, chances are:
A: Your system is too old. Sorry Mac, but that Pentium 2 won’t cut it.
B: A component may be failing, like the video card or motherboard.
9. Check out the TNR Rates guide here:
http://www.northernresistance.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17
PHEW, I hope this helps you guys. If anyone has something to add, by all means. If Winston could sticky this (again), I would appreciate it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v368/Addy_S/cuttingtheair.gif