Wierd lag spiking problem

[Peeko2]

I've searched around the forums and have been reading the "stuttering/invisible biuldings" problem threads and I don't think this problem is quite the same as those. Ever since 1.2, it seems, that sometimes I join a server and I sometimes stutter then it goes back to normal then stutters again. Now I know its lag because I look at the scoreboard and my ping will suddenly jump from 40 to 300 or even up to 1000. But I know it's not the server or my connection because I 1) always have a ping window open pinging google which doesn't show any problems 2)I open up a dos prompt and ping the server IP that I'm on and that shows up smooth, no spikes or lost packets and 3) I've done several connection tests from broadbandreports. com and none have shown packet loss or lag at all. So this leads me to believe that it is the patch that is causing this. I started thinking maybe its graphic lag which locks the game up for a second which in turn shows it as lag because according to the server I am not responding, but since I can't get the show fps command to work I don't know how to verify this.

I'm just curious, is anyone else getting this problem and if so do you know how to fix it?

[Eden]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

Do you use a router. Ive had a similar problem my ping is ecstatic jumps around from 20-600.

I opened up the ports that bf2 needs on my router which may have solved the problem, im still testing it out.

But it is a 1.2 patch problem because it was never like that before.

[=DG=TheRog]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

I think it has to do with patch cause ever since i installed it i get alot of stutter and before i didn't.

[cheesewz]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

Peeko, have you updated Punkbuster since the patch? After installing the patch I checked to see if there was a PB update and there was. I used to get that problem awhile back and the PB update took care of me.

[Talus]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

Moved to support.

[cheesewz]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

Moved to support.

Aren't you the diligent one;? Putting posts in the correct forum and getting rid of dupes and plain old bad threads must be a nearly full time job.

[RAF92_Warhawk]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

I seem to get this problem too except its not spiking. Its constantly above 200 or more... It started happening after the patch.... My FPS is so terrible that I can't even move. I tried updating PB and still nothing...

[cheesewz]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

I seem to get this problem too except its not spiking. Its constantly above 200 or more... It started happening after the patch.... My FPS is so terrible that I can't even move. I tried updating PB and still nothing...

System specs? Did you defrag after patching and clear your shaders cache? Have you checked out the BF2 Tweak Guide?

[RAF92_Warhawk]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

No I haven't defragged and haven't cleared my shaders cahce, I'll have to try that. I looked at the BF2 tweak guide a while ago and did most of it....
Specs.
1.8ghz P4 Intel
ATI 9800 PRO w/256 MB
1 gig. of mem
DSL connection
Netgear Router

[Peeko2]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

Peeko, have you updated Punkbuster since the patch? After installing the patch I checked to see if there was a PB update and there was. I used to get that problem awhile back and the PB update took care of me.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try this out and report back. Funny thing about this problem is that it only happens sometimes, it's not consistant. Ive been able to play the game 5 hours straight some days and not a single problem, other times like tonight, I can't even play a minute because I end up lagging off of cliffs and dieing consistantly.

And Eden I do use a wireless router but I don't have it set as a firewall, rather I'm in DMZ mode and I use zone alarm as my firewall. ZoneAlarm is set to allow all traffic relating to BF2 to come in and out without problems. But I will check my settings again to see if my router reset somehow, thanks for the suggestion.

[cheesewz]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

No I haven't defragged and haven't cleared my shaders cahce, I'll have to try that. I looked at the BF2 tweak guide a while ago and did most of it....
Specs.
1.8ghz P4 Intel
ATI 9800 PRO w/256 MB
1 gig. of mem
DSL connection
Netgear Router

Seems like your spec is a little low from what I've seen in other posts. There are quite a few people talking about issues with ATI cards. Do a forum search and see what others are saying. I think that EA actually said something in their community update today talking about working on an issue with certain ATI cards in the 1.21 patch.

[cheesewz]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

And Eden I do use a wireless router but I don't have it set as a firewall, rather I'm in DMZ mode and I use zone alarm as my firewall. ZoneAlarm is set to allow all traffic relating to BF2 to come in and out without problems. But I will check my settings again to see if my router reset somehow, thanks for the suggestion.

Have heard of people having lag issues when on wireless instead of wired. I plug directly into my router. Search the forums for posts about wireless routers. Maybe you'll get some insight from old posts.

I am not a fan of Zone Alarm. I've used the pro version before and it was always flaky. It would be fine for awhile and then start inexplicably blocking things without bothering to mention it to me via popup. If you are behind a hardware router that is correctly configured, ZoneAlarm is largely a waste anyway (as is the Windows Firewall). Just a system hog that touches every bit of network traffic.

[Peeko2]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

Have heard of people having lag issues when on wireless instead of wired. I plug directly into my router. Search the forums for posts about wireless routers. Maybe you'll get some insight from old posts.

I am not a fan of Zone Alarm. I've used the pro version before and it was always flaky. It would be fine for awhile and then start inexplicably blocking things without bothering to mention it to me via popup. If you are behind a hardware router that is correctly configured, ZoneAlarm is largely a waste anyway (as is the Windows Firewall). Just a system hog that touches every bit of network traffic.

Your right, I never did like Zone Alarm in the past but then I started getting high pings which I attributed to something or someone using my upstream without my knowledge, come to find out I had a worm that none of my virus/spyware programs could identify. Ever since then I use zone alarm because it gives you more control over the things that want to launch email programs or change registery strings. I consider the program more of a software managment tool than a firewall.

[RAF92_Warhawk]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

Looks like I'll just have to cross my fingers and put my future in the hands of EA...

[cheesewz]

Re: Wierd lag spiking problem

Your right, I never did like Zone Alarm in the past but then I started getting high pings which I attributed to something or someone using my upstream without my knowledge, come to find out I had a worm that none of my virus/spyware programs could identify. Ever since then I use zone alarm because it gives you more control over the things that want to launch email programs or change registery strings. I consider the program more of a software managment tool than a firewall.

Have you tried Adaware for spyware? Maybe just turn off Zone Alarm when you're playing. Make sure that your router is locked down by turning of any unnecessary inbound and outbound ports. There are free sites out there which will penetration test your firewall for threats. At the OS level, Microsoft has a thing called MBSA (Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer) which will check your system for security threats. Also free, also pretty good. I've never had a virus or piece of real spyware (other than tracking cookies) make it onto any of my systems by just following some basic precautions. Be careful with things like Kazaa or e-donkey because many of the things you can download are infected. I also never trust attachments from anyone, whether they are friends or not. Scan everything. If you happen to run a web server that is visible to the internet, make sure to lock it down as well. For IIS, use the IIS Lockdown tool. For Apache, there are tons of articles about how to lock it down in five minutes or less.