So I was uploading new a video again and like with what I discovered with the Patch 1.04 testing, the application I had been using was consuming a fair amount of bandwidth that caused the game to lag. Curiosity got the better of me however so I decided to see just how for down the rabbit hole goes. Here's what I discovered:
1. The issue with players getting "stuck on game launch" (where the kits appear to be frozen) can be reproduced on-host or off-host. It doesn't always effect the host or the person causing the bottleneck. It can cause others to freeze and some to be able to play as normal. This is triggered by throttling the upload speed while the game is loading.
2. Rubberbanding obviously.
3. The frozen or rocky map that appears as the zone door is triggered by this as well. This is the out of bounds glitch that is causing players not to be able to see enemies and fall off edges when they attempt to proceed forward. This does not appear to affect the host (from what I can tell) but can affect one or more other players off-host.
4. Store purchases, salvage and lobby operations are slowed down. If the player's bandwidth is bottlenecked then store purchases and salvaging is slowed down very noticeably. Other players joining a lobby, readying and game launch are slowed down as well.
I was able to manipulate how these were occurring by simply pausing and resuming the upload process on the video I was using. This is not limited to video applications doing uploads. I could duplicate this with a Peer-to-peer application as well. I was also able to duplicate this by simply restarting a PC that required Cloud access to certain applications (i.e. basic machine start-up trying to establish network connections).
Normal speed with DAMP game open: http://www.speedtest...sult/4144877678
During video upload and DAMP game open: http://www.speedtest...sult/4144872302
Good news for BioWare, right? It's not the game but the players' fault for having crappy speeds and doing network intensive upload operations. Well not so fast...
My upload speed isn't even halved yet I had so many problems with the game. I decided to take my troll show on the road and try out other games.
GTAV - Cloud server game with thin-client for console boxes.
1. Starting the Single player game took way longer than normal. I had to stop the video upload after finally getting impatient.
2. The online launch did not take any longer than normal (no apparent effect).
3. Joining a contact mission took 1:05 seconds. This is off by about 15-20 of my normal join time for missions.
4. There was a delay between the mission lobby and my switching from the loading screen to lobby screen. By the time I was able to see the lobby screen all the other players appeared to be joined in and already being placed into the mission.
5. There was no lag during the contact mission whatsoever. I tried several missions and saw no lag on my end and none of the other players reported it either.
Left For Dead - P2P
1. Surprisingly... absolutely no lag. I played it for few hours and kept the video upload running the entire time. Hrmm. I finally found a game that lagged... but the video upload was off. I turned the upload on and off during that particular game and still noticed no difference between that and the general lag I was experiencing from a distant host.
Mass Effect 3 - P2P (Err yeah sorry about that guys.)
1. ME3 is already known for being a laggy game by its own right, especially during player drop-ins and changing waves.
2. While pausing and resuming the video upload during the game, I immediately saw rubber-banding issues with other players and myself.
3. Lobby joins appeared to be slowed down as well.
So while there are issues on the player's side that appears to effect game performance, I'm still of the opinion that there may be need for improving the game's bandwidth consumption that can enhance play as well (at least compared to other games).
Retour en haut
If you suspect something on your end you can start by turning off all internet-capable devices (phones, pcs etc). Run a few games (over perhaps an hr or 2 to see if you notice a difference). Turn each device back on one at a time and play a few more games. If you immediately notice that you're lagging then it may be something running on the device that's consuming alot of bandwidth you're not aware of. Other than that you can try contacting your ISP.
