How to, Improve your ping in online games.

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Phallas

Knight
There are many people who suffer from large pings in warband. Here are ways you can decrease your ping in online games.
Most people do not realize the simple tweaks that can Improve their connection significantly.

I have seen previous "Ping efficiency Threads" but many  articles are overcomplicated and ignore the fact that the audience which will be most in need
of these articles are the ones who know nothing of the technicalities. So I tried to make this thread as simple and efficient as possible.

Diagnostics
Go to www.speedtest.net and choose a server to test your connection, I suggest choosing the server closest to  the one you use when playing “Warband”
For example If you live in Singapore and you play in oceanic servers, then you should choose the ‘Sydney, Australia server’  and so on for your location and
the server you play on. Test you're connection 3  times to find an average, which is then calculated for you on the site. The site also tells you the distance
between you and your Internet exchange, More than 50 miles and you're speed will most likely be 1/4 of what the ISP advertised.

A new website was recently released www.pingtest.net, Very helpful to test your ping, nice and interactive.

Simple software tweaks.
1. Download the “Tune UP utilities 2010” trial And Run the "optimize Connection" Feature.
This will optimize your Connection to comply with the latest DSL standards as well as
Some other very technical changes that are all explained to you, overall just comply with
All the changes the Program suggests.

2. Download ‘Game booster’, this program has a feature called “Game Mode" Which disables all programs except a few such as a game programs, music programs,
anti-virus and ect. Most notable it disables all Microsoft services expect those which are required to run the game, this in turn disables all the services
that use your internet connection in the background. This program can also motivate 5-15 more average frames to migrate onto your screen which can mean
the difference between choppy and smooth.

3. Update your Network card drivers, I recommend Driver Genius.
You may also update it manually though there are many articles that you can Google if you do not know how to do that.
This program searches for new versions of drivers for your entire system, just last week I ran it and found out that my Video card driver was 3 months old.
Technology moves fast and you should take advantage of these free but effective Updates.

If you're computer came with a CRT screen, then it’s time to upgrade your motherboard, or Install a new Network card (Explained later).
In any case updating your Network Chip/card drivers can improve your ping significantly.

4. Updating your Modem's firmware and its drivers can also improve Latency, Just Google your modems model usually found under the modem itself.

Misc.
1. If you are on cable try to play during off-peak times, usually from 9am-10pm is on-peak, which means there are more people using the connection during those times.

2. Make sure if you are using ADSL2 that you actually have a ADSL2 modem, an adsl1 Modem will Limit your connection too 8000/1000 kbps.

3. Having a telephone line longer then 1.5 meters can slightly slow down your connection, if you have a 25 meter phone line stretching from the socket to your
Modem/router then you will be loosing a lot of speed, and you would be better off using a short phone cable connected to a wireless modem placed close to the
telephone socket and then installing a Wireless USB to pick up the connection.

4. Common sense really, Do not download files while playing, Make sure your connection is fast enough to allow more then one person using the net otherwise
kindly ask them to get of it or better yet sabotage them so they cannot use it  :razz:.

5. A common misconception is that having someone in the game with a Large ping will in turn slow down everyone else. This is wrong your ping will only
affect you, Sure "laggers" tend to feel weird too fight, but that's because what they see and what they do is 2 or more seconds late.

6. Ping is measured in 'MS' which stands for  millisecond, having a ping of 30 means that your actions are 30 milliseconds late , The average human reaction time
is about 30 milliseconds. For for all intends and purposes a 30ms ping  is just as good as having a 0 ping.

Someone with a ping of 100ms will not be at a disadvantage against someone with a ping of 0ms after all there is only 0.7 second difference, Add in the
time it takes to make a decision, Aim and the times it takes for the actual Effect to start within the game  IE; the time it takes for the animation to start
and finish, not to mention the skill factor,then a 0.7 difference is superficial. It is my opinion that a ping of even 150 is superficial in most games
Including Warband and MMO's, Where as a FPS  game like counter strike. Reaction time can be slightly more important.  I have found my self
playing on the U.S servers with a ping of 220 beating players with 50 ping in warband.


Upgrading Hardware.
1.Install a new Network Card,  a new network card will Improve your connection, Shop around whilst comparing Bang and buck, But don’t skimp on the cost too much,
and do not buy a card older than 2007.

You can purchase Gaming network cards, these cards are specifically designed to work with gaming servers but they can be expensive.

2. New motherboard, Usually people only upgrade motherboards when they absolutely need too. Upgrading to  motherboard with a recently manufactured
network chip can also improve the ping but only if you are making a significant change, such as a 2001 motherboard in exchange for 2008-9 motherboard.

3. Buy a new Modem/router, Again You will only notice changes with a significant upgrade, just like the motherboard.

Large Changes.
1. Improve your Internet connection plan. Instead of just looking  at the download speed, the faster your
Upload speed is the better your ping will be. Try to get a nice balance, Do not purchase a 1.5mbps/256kbps plan instead purchase a 512/512 Plan.

2. Fiber optic Internet might be expensive, but remember when you're connection is traveling at the speed of light… well then you can expect a great ping.

3. Call up your ISP and make it clear to them that you are willing to pay more for better Latency, most times they can oblige.

4. Change your location, yes the closer you are to your exchange, the better your connection will be.  You can Google  for example “Texas internet exchange” to
locate your nearest exchange office.

5. Also if there are too many people using 'cable' internet in your area, then you would be better off with high speed ADSL, because too many people using c
able in one area can slow down the connection.

That is the same reason why it’s better to join a Smaller ISP even if it's more expensive, less people are using their services so there is going t
o be less congestion on the line.

After some of these changes you should run another test on WWW.SPEEDTEST.NET and compare your results with the previous test.
www.Speedtest.net can also you give you other important information like You're areas average Connection speed, The best ISP's by user
opinions and many other Interesting details about your connection and your ISP.

This is an ongoing thread and I will continue to add more and more ways to improve Ping which I am still researching.
Any questions are welcome.
 
Nice, I'll try this latter to see if it helps me. A better ping would always be nice. :smile:

Anyways, can you disable the Game Booster if needed? OR is their a mode on it that un-disables non-game related things?
 
Hmm. Nifty. Even though it doesn't seem to have helped much. It was fine for a while but sparked up to 150-600 before I tried this. Now, after doing these things it only rarely reaches 600 but 50 is equally rare. It's mainly 120-3/400 now.  :sad:
 
AWdeV said:
Hmm. Nifty. Even though it doesn't seem to have helped much. It was fine for a while but sparked up to 150-600 before I tried this. Now, after doing these things it only rarely reaches 600 but 50 is equally rare. It's mainly 120-3/400 now.  :sad:

Well.. at least it helped. :smile:
 
you can disable "game mode"
And you have the option to stop programs from being disabled in game mode.
 
Well... tried it, but it succeeded to make my ping... stay the same. IT actually, thought my internet USB was an unnecessary program and I couldn't figure that out till like the tenth time I tried to connect to the server. :oops:
 
In my country the ping never goes below 200 even if the server is next door. our internet provider sucks. they also charge us more than 100$ a month for 1mp connection!.
 
Best option for you is too move, change location, other then that your provider will continue too take advantage of you.
some locations just have outdated connections, do some research, I'm sure you will find that in the next town, or suburb
you will find a better connection.

also consider a satellite connection at 1.5mbps, And a good ping, there are people out
there who pay isp's in other countries to supply a good connection.

 
To be more accurate : there are satellite solutions with a decent ping, but very very poor speeds.
The most common solution, geostationary satellites, gives 500 to 1s ping at best because of the distance from earth to the satellite (35000 km) and the speed of light (you can't make your packets fly any faster than that). You can make the calculations yourself  :razz: Gives 116ms, and a ping is actually a "round-trip delay time" so 233ms already. But you're not connected directly to the satellite and there are interferences so you quickly attain 500ms and more...
Other solutions can give like 80ms ping but you still get packet loss and the speeds are poor (wiki says 64 kbps).

With geostationary satellites, speeds can be like 3mbps for customers and a bit more for companies, with monthly limitations to the amount you can dl...

Playing games on a satellite connection is absolutely not advised unless it's a non competitive RTS or a MMO  :neutral: Don't forget they're very sensitive to the weather and suffer from packet loss a lot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_Internet_access

All I all I wouldn't recommend satellite internet unless it's an absolute necessity (it's expensive too) and certainly not to gamers.
 
the world's fastest satellite Internet connection has speeds up to 155Mbps, and its capable of a 3-way conference with people in different continents.

Korea last year launched the worlds fastest commercial internet connection 2gbps.

Satellite technology has come a long way, and most of it is due to the fact that Australian scientist have found ways of speeding up the 'speed of light' about 64 times, using
crystal processor technology.

anyway the point is, all is not lost, there are ways of gaining fast speed internet, even if you live on an island in the middle of no where.

I once had a friend on xbox live who was playing live from a u.s aircraft carrier.
 
Phallas said:
the world's fastest satellite Internet connection has speeds up to 155Mbps, and its capable of a 3-way conference with people in different continents.

Korea last year launched the worlds fastest commercial internet connection 2gbps.

Satellite technology has come a long way, and most of it is due to the fact that Australian scientist have found ways of speeding up the 'speed of light' about 64 times, using
crystal processor technology.

anyway the point is, all is not lost, there are ways of gaining fast speed internet, even if you live on an island in the middle of no where.

I once had a friend on xbox live who was playing live from a u.s aircraft carrier.

And the price is?
 
Phallas said:
the world's fastest satellite Internet connection has speeds up to 155Mbps, and its capable of a 3-way conference with people in different continents.

Korea last year launched the worlds fastest commercial internet connection 2gbps.

Satellite technology has come a long way, and most of it is due to the fact that Australian scientist have found ways of speeding up the 'speed of light' about 64 times, using
crystal processor technology.

anyway the point is, all is not lost, there are ways of gaining fast speed internet, even if you live on an island in the middle of no where.

I once had a friend on xbox live who was playing live from a u.s aircraft carrier.

I know there are some fast satellite connections, but they are reserved to scientists or companies and would be ridiculously expensive for a simple person anyway.

And 64 times faster than the speed of light, really? wot the eff, mind giving your sources? I found this : http://www.physorg.com/news5929.html but we're still faaaaaaaaaaar from increasing the speed at which packets travel through the air (or even through cables). 
 
Well i meant, fiber optics, Fiber optics do allow data travel at the speed of light because its essentially flexible glass with a beam pointed into one end , with the beam of light showing up and blinking too indicate 1's and 0's.

Now our only real limit is the processing of this incredibly fast data speed, Australian scientists at the university of Sydney have increased the rate at which this signal was processed
from 1gbps to 64gbps.  There is even now talk of 1.2 terabytes per second.

Australia had started in 2008 the most ambitious fiber optic network ever undertaken at a cost of something like 30.7 U.S billion dollars.

So Einstein was right, nothing can go faster then the speed of light, but you can speed light up.

I cannot comment on pricing in other countries.  But commercially available, means that it is affordable by middle class citizens, after all korea didn't launch that satellite for a handful of people.

As i said Korea launched the 2gbps commercial satellite 1 or 2 years ago. I was outdated with that information, Th french are launching an even faster satellite

"The satellites are being built by French company Thales Alenia Space. They will be low orbit satellites with a round trip transmission delay of 0.1 seconds, compared to almost 0.5 seconds for geostationary satellites. Each satellite will have a capacity of 10Gbps."  the high latency satellites of the past are gone.
http://www.austech.info/australian-isp-discussion/10987-low-latency-satellite-internet-2011-a.html


"making light go faster than the speed of light.
This is not the first time that scientists have tweaked the speed of a light signal. Even light
passing through a window or water is slowed down a fraction as it travels through the medium.
In fact, in the right conditions, scientists have been able to slow light down to the speed of a bicycle, or even stop it altogether"
 
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