HELP! New laptop has huge ping when playing

[Flintlock Burnfur]

So here is my issue.  I have recently purchased an ASUS X515 laptop (last May).  Because my old Mac was not that great, and it was time to get something new.

 

Here's the specs on it.

 

 

And for information, it has an integrated video Intel Iris Xe.

 

When I first started running the game, the graphics were fine, but things were choppy.  Where I had quite a lot of lag.  With some help, someone suggested putting this in the command line in the launcher.

 

 

The first is to limit graphics, the second is to limit frame rate to 30 fps (it was holding nicely at 60 fps even with the problems) and the third one is to direct the launcher where the mods are located (Vidiot Maps and such). Just for information sake, here are the mods I'm running.

 

 

Now, while I don't get the lag with the first command line, there are a couple of other ... issues.  This first being a texture problem.  The spoiler has the examples.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See through walls, textures that just aren't there ...

 

To be fair, I can live with that, that's fine.  What I can't live with is this.

 

Upon launching the game after a short time I began noticing a severe amount of lag.  NPCs walking would hover, then move to a new location after a second, cars would drive in place, then continue down the street and repeat.  Even other player characters were having the stutter walk.  So, I ran a netgraph.

 

 

Upon launching the game and starting up the netgraph, this is what I get.  And I let it settle down for a moment.

 

 

Still good, run through a couple of missions (in this case in Faultline, but I've seen this in Steel Canyon, Atlas Park, the Hollows), and after about two, maybe three missions, the ping just tanks.

 

 

The second icon on the map is Arbiter Sands.  His icon blips in and out as he travels following me.

 

So I've gone from 150 ping to about 650 to 850 ping.  And it stays that way until I close the game and relaunch it (I've kept it open an hour, two hours and three hours and always within twenty minutes to half an hour of launching the game, it goes from 150 ping all the way up to 750 on average, the worst I've seen is 1500).  And it gets worse.  See all the red, as time goes on, that red just becomes larger and larger, giving me nothing but lots of Lost Connection to Mapserver messages.

 

I'm at my witts end with this.  I bought this laptop to have an upgrade from an aging Mac (2015).  And now, I can't even use one of the games I have enjoyed.

 

To add a few things extra that I've done, ASUS does have proprietary optimization programs that run in the background, all of that has been turned off, I've also changed the DNS Server assignment to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (which runs through Google).  But any additional help outside of calling up my ISP to see if it's my router would be appreciated.  In the last three months, I've gotten nowhere with this.

Edited August 7, 2023 by Flintlock Burnfur

[WanderingAries]

IDK if it would make a difference, but have you tried the Cloudfare DNS? What about assigning the laptop a Static IP?

[biostem]

OP, I don't think it's an issue with your laptop itself, and using the -usetexenvcombine switch should help with the integrated graphics adapter.  Is there a reason you are manually pointing the the game to that directory?  Also, are you at all able to try connecting via ethernet?  have you tried removing the manual directory command and verified the files?  Do you have any mods installed?

[Captain Fabulous]

If there's a network issue between you and the server there is nothing you can do about it. One thing you can try is playing on the Reunion shard as that's a different server than the others.

You don't mention what kind of connection you're using, but if it's WiFi you should try a wired connection, see if that helps. You can also try connecting your PC directly to your modem (if you have a separate one) to rule out issues with your router.

If all else fails definitely call your ISP and have them send a tech out to test the lines.

[Ago]

Honestly, FPS is entirely your machine.  It's not like video where the entire performance is coming over the pipe: the instructions from server to client aren't tremendously different between 30fps and 60fps.  I'd drop the graphics turn-down until the network ping is solid myself.  (Run in one of the preset slider positions except "Minimum" or "Performance".)

 

Other thoughts: Is the Windows 11 on that system pre-installed, or did you wipe the system and any ASUS Bloatware first?  I'd check the Task Manager and the Network tab to see what is running during Cityofheroes.exe gameplay and see if it's the game causing all that ping or something else. 

 

Also: Wi-Fi?  Just so you know, even with expensive, well tuned, or new equipment, an occasional brief drop on Wi-Fi around 600ms or higher in ping is normal.  It is a radio technology at the end of the day and sometimes interference stops it from working for a moment, like any wireless tech.  It shouldn't persist, nor be recurring on an hourly or more frequent basis, but keep that in mind when leading teams or doing a raid.  Sometimes the router loses contact for 3-5 seconds maybe a few times a day.  That is totally normal.  (Judging from your graphs, it's happening more frequent than that or you couldn't snip it in time to share it with us.)

 

Also, location, location, location.  The higher your router/wi-fi equipment is above eye level in the house, the better it'll work.  (Human bodies block signal, moving or not, so chest height or lower may be fine if you're single or living with one other person, but in a family or gathering situation, it isn't great.)  Along with microwaves, fridges and metal appliances, avoid bookshelves, linen closets, and other dense absorptive objects in your path between router and device.  If you have a wide house, brick walls on the interior, or multiple floors, a mesh kit may make sense to spring for.

 

In any case, make sure your new laptop and router are sympatico.  If your home network has a Wi-Fi 802.11G device somewhere and you're on  Wi-Fi 4 or Wi-Fi 5, neither are going to realize the higher speeds until the G device is powered off (or isolated on a 2.4Ghz SSID, with all the others on 5GHz), for example.  Link speed is especially important: If your laptop uses Wi-Fi 6 on a Wi-Fi 4 router, it may be capping connection speed to be able to work with your router.  Two fixes:

-- If you have a reliable USB Wi-Fi adapter you know works well with your current router, try disabling your laptop Wi-Fi and see if the USB does a better job.  FOR NOW.  Like mentioned above, moving slower devices to 2.4 Ghz and putting newer ones on 5 GHz may help.  But ultimately...

 

-- If the router is over 4-6 years old, consider replacing your router as well.  Check your laptop wireless specs and get a router that matches the network type (Wi-Fi 5 or 6) and thoroughput (400-800Mbps for Wi-Fi 5, or 500-1200 for Wi-Fi 6).  It doesn't have to be exact, but consider the bottleneck: your laptop will never communicate faster than your router OR your ISP Plan.  Buying a router that exceeds your laptop speed is best in most cases even if your ISP doesn't/never will. Also, home network equipment isn't all that resilient.  Brown/black outs from the power company, lightning, and RFI shortens their lifespan over time compared to more expensive commercial gear.  Especially in rural places, given enough time, ALL consumer home routers eventually fail.

 

TL;DR: Like Captain Fab suggests, rock a test Ethernet cable (if you can, some laptops don't have them anymore) and see if Wi-Fi can be singled out.

-----

* Sorry for all the numbers, the Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6 crap still knocks me for a loop.  I know the intent is to get users to be in the mindset of replacing their network equipment all at once instead of mixing/matching old tech with new routers.  But as someone who works with people still using it and won't/can't upgrade, it's confusing to me as well.  https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/feature/A-deep-dive-into-the-differences-between-Wi-Fi-6-vs-Wi-Fi-5
 

Any network older than Wi-Fi 4 doesn't have a name, but technically there's Wi-Fi 3 (802.11g), Wi-Fi 2 (802.11b) and Wi-Fi 1 (802.11a).  Still using any devices with those radios or routers in your house, they are definitely slowing your house down until they're removed.

 

Wi-Fi 4 =  Wi-Fi 802.11n or Wi-Fi N.  These were state of the art in the 2010s.  If your router is one of these, there's an excellent chance you'll have a hard time with HD streaming in a house with more than one TV set as well.  Unless you're on DSL or have an ISP that only does 3Mbps or less speed, it's long past time to upgrade.  (Don't have to throw out Wi-Fi 4 devices, but the router is holding you back at this point.)

 

Wi-Fi 5 = Wi-Fi 802.11ac or Wi-Fi AC.  Most mesh routers/kits sold today are Wi-Fi 5 capable. 

 

Wi-Fi 6 = Wi-Fi 802.11ax, formerly Wi-Fi AX.  This was in top of the line kits only a few years ago.  Now as time progresses, Wi-Fi 6 is set to replace Wi-Fi 5 on store shelves.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Tock

[Marine X]

This may not be important but I see from the specs that your laptop is 64 bit, yet you are running the Homecoming Launcher at 32 bit, was that intentional?

[Hyperstrike]

Also, check to see if you're running any sort of download/content management software on your machine.
3rd party game accelerators, etc.
These things, are almost always universally BAD for normal function.  As they screw around with regular network traffic in an attempt to speed up certain types of traffic.

[Flintlock Burnfur]

On 8/8/2023 at 2:06 AM, Marine X said:

This may not be important but I see from the specs that your laptop is 64 bit, yet you are running the Homecoming Launcher at 32 bit, was that intentional?

 

Whether it's on 64-bit or 32-bit, I run into the same issue.

 

On 8/7/2023 at 5:39 PM, Tock said:

Other thoughts: Is the Windows 11 on that system pre-installed, or did you wipe the system and any ASUS Bloatware first?  I'd check the Task Manager and the Network tab to see what is running during Cityofheroes.exe gameplay and see if it's the game causing all that ping or something else.

 

It's a preinstalled machine, and all the Asus software was disabled after this issue was discovered, and continues even after it's all disabled and the computer is restarted showing the Asus stuff is not running at all.

 

On 8/7/2023 at 5:39 PM, Tock said:

Also, location, location, location.  The higher your router/wi-fi equipment is above eye level in the house, the better it'll work.  (Human bodies block signal, moving or not, so chest height or lower may be fine if you're single or living with one other person, but in a family or gathering situation, it isn't great.)  Along with microwaves, fridges and metal appliances, avoid bookshelves, linen closets, and other dense absorptive objects in your path between router and device.  If you have a wide house, brick walls on the interior, or multiple floors, a mesh kit may make sense to spring for.

 

The router is on the wall at head level in my house.  Same location as where it was when I ran the Mac, which never had this problem.

 

On 8/7/2023 at 5:25 PM, Captain Fabulous said:

If there's a network issue between you and the server there is nothing you can do about it. One thing you can try is playing on the Reunion shard as that's a different server than the others.

You don't mention what kind of connection you're using, but if it's WiFi you should try a wired connection, see if that helps. You can also try connecting your PC directly to your modem (if you have a separate one) to rule out issues with your router.

If all else fails definitely call your ISP and have them send a tech out to test the lines.

 

My bad on not mentioning the connection, it's WiFi, and to my amazement... there's not a single Ethernet port on the laptop.  At all.  Because that was something I was going to try.  It floored me, because I've seen newer laptops that have a "hidden" Ethernet connection (like a small "door" where you can pop in the cable) but there wasn't anything at all I could find. Turns out the ASUS X515 does indeed not have an Ethernet port at all and the suggestion is to get a USB Ethernet connection.  Which I'll try on Monday as the one shop in town is not open on the weekend.

 

... by one shop, I mean the only computer store.  Which doubles as the SaskTel Mobility centre.  As well as the Mac authorized store.  And they sell high end televisions/monitors.

 

On 8/8/2023 at 2:32 AM, Hyperstrike said:

Also, check to see if you're running any sort of download/content management software on your machine.
3rd party game accelerators, etc.
These things, are almost always universally BAD for normal function.  As they screw around with regular network traffic in an attempt to speed up certain types of traffic.

 

Not running anything like that at all.  I do have Vortex for mod installation for Skyrim, NWN, The Long Dark, Tomb Raider, etc., but when I'm not using it I shut it down.  I've even checked in the taskmanager to see if it's still running and nothing is there to identify Vortex.

 

And all of the locations of the router are no different than when I ran it on the Mac (2016 Mac running Catalina). The only difference is that the laptop is running Windows 11.  Now, while the Mac's FPS ran poorly (averaging 15 fps) there was no issues with horrible ping such as described above (going from 150 to 600 or even 800).  The router is even the exact same router.  Now, unless that's an issue where the router is used to a Mac and not a Windows laptop... though this would not surprise me.  I've even tested it recently with the Mac being in a completely different room and it still works fine with no lag and no horrible ping.

 

I may have forgotten people through reading, but I'm doing this while cooking supper.  I will most likely come back and read some more.

[Captain Fabulous]

One thought, the new laptop is likely using a faster WiFi protocol than your old Mac, which could make the connection unstable at a distance. Try playing the game very close to the router to rule out distance as an issue. You could also try connecting at a slower speed/lower protocol, see if that helps, e.g. 2.4 GHz instead of 5 GHz.

[Flintlock Burnfur]

18 minutes ago, Captain Fabulous said:

One thought, the new laptop is likely using a faster WiFi protocol than your old Mac, which could make the connection unstable at a distance. Try playing the game very close to the router to rule out distance as an issue. You could also try connecting at a slower speed/lower protocol, see if that helps, e.g. 2.4 GHz instead of 5 GHz.

 

I'm literally three feet away from the router.

[Hyperstrike]

Also, if you're going to try an USB-to-Ethernet adapter, it's going to eat one of your 4  USB ports.
Recommend getting a USB-C-to-Ethernet adapted with additional USB ports.

https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Adapter-ABLEWE-Aluminum-Chromebook/dp/B07YWTTP9L

 

You're in The Land Of Maple, so use this link:

https://www.amazon.ca/Ethernet-Adapter-ABLEWE-Aluminum-Chromebook/dp/B0BGR5JQRQ?th=1

 

 

Don't simply "settle" for whatever's sitting on a shelf in your only brick and mortar option.

For the Ethernet cable,. I recommend shielded CAT6a.  Only get something as long as you absolutely need.

Link is to a 5 foot cable with the option to choose longer/shorter..
https://www.amazon.ca/Monoprice-Cat6A-Ethernet-Patch-Cable/dp/B077H5N5L5?th=1

[Flintlock Burnfur]

1 minute ago, Hyperstrike said:

Also, if you're going to try an USB-to-Ethernet adapter, it's going to eat one of your 4  USB ports.
Recommend getting a USB-C-to-Ethernet adapted with additional USB ports.

https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Adapter-ABLEWE-Aluminum-Chromebook/dp/B07YWTTP9L

 

You're in The Land Of Maple, so use this link:

https://www.amazon.ca/Ethernet-Adapter-ABLEWE-Aluminum-Chromebook/dp/B0BGR5JQRQ?th=1

 

 

Don't simply "settle" for whatever's sitting on a shelf in your only brick and mortar option.

For the Ethernet cable,. I recommend shielded CAT6a.  Only get something as long as you absolutely need.

Link is to a 5 foot cable with the option to choose longer/shorter..
https://www.amazon.ca/Monoprice-Cat6A-Ethernet-Patch-Cable/dp/B077H5N5L5?th=1

 

That's a good suggestion.  I've already had to purchase a USB hub due to the fact I have more connections than USB ports (mouse, keyboard, mic, an XBox controller).  I'm gonna check with Western Wireless first just to see what they have, but I'll ask for those specs.

[Hyperstrike]

1 minute ago, Flintlock Burnfur said:

 

I'm literally three feet away from the router.

Believe it or not, that actually IS  (or could be) problem.
3 feet is way, WAY too close.
Does the router work at that distance?

Yeah...ish.

Does the signal propagate OTIMALLY at that short a distance?

No.

Optimal spread of the signal is a 360 degree radius at the plane of the antenna.
From there, it's optimal dispersion (not the right word, I know, my brain is farting for the proper term at the moment), is in roughly a 100-120 degree arc vertically from the antenna.

Sometimes you can adjust the angle the router is mounted at, or you can play with the orientations of the antennas.

I don't know EXACTLY how you're set up.  But this could be a consideration for you too.

For basic web-browsing, it's not a show stopper.

For a continuous connection?  It could be.

[Luminara]

If you haven't powered the router down and powered it back up since you got the laptop, do so.

 

If you have multiple devices accessing the router, change the laptop's Wi-Fi channel to an unused one.

 

Open the Task Manager and keep it open when the game is running.  Alt+Tab out of the game when the lag begins and watch the Network column (click the column header to lock the focus on it).  If you see something that isn't the game using bandwidth, that's the problem.  Steam, Asus software, Windows Update (and Background Intelligent Transfer System, and Delivery Optimization (which will be hidden under Network... something, i'm blanking out and it's not running on my laptop at the moment)).  If you have other devices connected when you're playing, tell them to fuck off for a while.  That could be phones, printers, faxes, other computers, your television, etc.

 

Co*'s network usage caps out at barely what ISDN used to provide (i use my phone as a hotspot and have a horribly weak signal (barely two bars), and my ping is only 180 when Verizon is throttling me, which is every fucking day after 5 p.m.).  To get that kind of lag, you're either being aggressively throttled by your ISP, or you have multiple devices fighting over the same channel, or something on your network is blitzing the data line.  The only time I see my netgraph do anything like that is when Windows is going banana balls with updates... which it really likes to do when I'm playing Co*, for some goddamn reason.

[GM Crumpet]

To be honest, just the fact it's an integrated Intel graphics chip is enough to be causing all your issues. You can get it to play with the command you have in the box, but you aren't going to get anywhere close to the graphics performance you want and need. You can play, it just won't look pretty.

[Herotu]

If it's a 32-bit client, doesn't that mean it will "only" use 4GB of memory? That doesn't sound awful for such an olde game, to me.

[Flintlock Burnfur]

Just got a tip from Crystal Dragon on discord.  She was offering a suggestion to someone else for another model of Asus, but it worked with mine as well.  Power the laptop down, then hold the power button for 30 seconds.  Turn it back on and the reboot should be a bit slower, but that's because it's resetting hardware.

 

So far, an hour and a half in game and the ping is stable at 150.

[honoroit]

underpowered gpu, internal to cpu.  looking at asus site x515 has been series model for many generations. looks like you have one of x515ea (11th gen i5)

 

you may have a gpu NVIDIA® GeForce® MX330 (2GB), if is i5/i7, this would be in addition to your on cpu graphics.  depends in model of laptop.

 

time based slowdown, thermal may cause issues, is system heating up?

 

get good laptop cooling pad.

 

kill any and all background processes, browsers, music apps, anything bon necessary at all times when gaming in system like this.

 

good luck.

[Hyperstrike]

59 minutes ago, honoroit said:

underpowered gpu, internal to cpu.  looking at asus site x515 has been series model for many generations. looks like you have one of x515ea (11th gen i5)

 

Underpowered GPU: Laptop
Internal CPU: Uh.  COMPUTER?  I don't know of any system out there sporting an "external CPU".

Anyhow, it's not really a "power" issue.

It looks like it's using Hibernation/Saved State/Fast Reboot.

These can introduce problems on laptop systems.

If they can get into the BIOS, there SHOULD be a setting for "Fast Reboot" that can be turned off.
Not that a proper system reboot on a machine with an SSD should be "slow".

Reboots will take longer.  But you get a clean system load and hardware test every time.

 

59 minutes ago, honoroit said:

you may have a gpu NVIDIA® GeForce® MX330 (2GB), if is i5/i7, this would be in addition to your on cpu graphics.  depends in model of laptop.

 

time based slowdown, thermal may cause issues, is system heating up?

 

get good laptop cooling pad.

 

kill any and all background processes, browsers, music apps, anything bon necessary at all times when gaming in system like this.

 

good luck.

Good catch Flint.
This is one of those stupid things I always forget about myself.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Hyperstrike

[honoroit]

9 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

 

Underpowered GPU: Laptop
Internal CPU: Uh.  COMPUTER?  I don't know of any system out there sporting an "External CPU"

ummm.... dont think you read that right, nor quoted it as so oddly.

 

10 hours ago, honoroit said:

underpowered gpu, internal to cpu

an on dye gpu, like intel iris, is a portion of the cpu, which has (by comparison to dedicated hardware) a low end gpu built into the cpu

 there are an approximation of function found in dedicated gpus, and the elements that run it try their best.  newer ones even have things like very stripped down ray tracing cores.

 

cpu-internal-gpus dont have dedicated memory, instead sharing the system ram, in current implementations.  this tends to be slower ram, and distant, when compared to dedicated hardware.

 

if anything, on cpu gpu operation will contribute to heat.

 

if it is OK for a while, then goes to crap, check heat.

 

run 3dmark or another benchmark and compare with available common results to see... 

 

probably something like: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/24421961

 

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by honoroit

[Hyperstrike]

Again, the main problem isn't thermal throttling.

The problem is network latency induced by a bad saved state.

 

 

[Herotu]

23 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

Again, the main problem isn't thermal throttling.

The problem is network latency induced by a bad saved state.

 

 

I can only guess what that means. It seems like you're saying that there's a corrupt save on the server side?

[Hyperstrike]

2 hours ago, Herotu said:

I can only guess what that means. It seems like you're saying that there's a corrupt save on the server side?

No.  But modern Windows, when you do a default reboot doesn't actually shut all the way down and restart from scratch.
It's basically using the same systems for Hibernation that it does for fast reboot.
It saves the system state to a dump file, and uses that to quickly reboot the machine.

The major problem with that is that over time, minor bit-level errors creep in and corrupt that saved state.

This is happening on the CLIENT END (your local machine).
For workstations you have easy physical access to, and can managed a hard reboot on, it's not a problem.  Because you CAN manage the hard reboot.
But using fast boot on a server is about as dumb as cleaning out your ears with a hole saw.
Possibly DUMBER.

[Flintlock Burnfur]

Yeah, I've been in game playing for about two hours a night since I posted that on Sunday and have had only minor issues.  Doing a hard reset on the hardware of the machine has helped tons.  There's been the odd time that the ping has skyrocketed to 750 but I just log out to character screen and go back in and it's fine.  I'll eventually get an external GPU but that's just to help make things pretty.  Outside of that, everything runs fine, I have no issues at all and even server side things like the environment animations not created clientside are running fine now.

 

It's been a journey, in which I was hoping a brand new laptop would alleviate the issues my Mac was having and just run that machine as basically a fancy TV that I can watch movies and shows on or use it to run GIMP, Inkscapes and Scribus.

[Flintlock Burnfur]

Spoke too soon, it's back to what it was doing before.