Why is the lag so bad? My girlfriend and I just tried to do a run and had to abandon it after the lag got so intense that we were skipping all over the map, stuttering, having attacks/item use be ignored, etc. That was 50 ce down the drain! We share a 5mbps connection and have never had this issue before, but over the past week or so, the game has gotten progressively laggier to the point of no longer being enjoyable. Any idea what's causing this? Is Spiral Knights becoming a victim of its own success?
Obscene lag
Sun, 07/24/2011 - 15:00
Sun, 07/24/2011 - 16:42
#2
Spiral Knights hates romance!
Spiral Knights hates romance! (Says Casey's lagged-out girlfriend)
Sun, 07/24/2011 - 23:25
#3
Casey is a funny guy
Casey is a funny guy
Sun, 07/24/2011 - 23:28
#4
New content
It's the new boss creature they created......the LAGolax. Its ability to make the knights lag so much to the point of insanity is unstoppable.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 00:19
#5
It might be because too many
It might be because too many players logged on at once for the event.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 00:50
#6
lolol
"This has been happening to me as well. I was beginning to think it was my ISP, but based on your story I have concluded that the problem is being caused by girlfriends."
hmmm.....eh? wait? wut ? what? ............. LOL
that was unexpected conclusion XD
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 06:37
#7
Crap server.
It is not you i play the game on the following spec and i Freeze lag, Yes my FPS drops to ZERO, Not to mention the delay to the server is to high, USA servers can't match our connections in europe, Three rings needs to put a Europeon server up for us, Because i honestly have died so many times due to lag and massive delays, Now before you say, It's your PC etc, It is not i have a custom build PC with Custom watercooling and it's operating at stupid speeds, The game needs a massive over haul, Just my 2 cents, Spec is as follows.
Core i7 990X @ 4.7Ghz x6
6970 2Gb
12 Gig of corsair vengence
850AX corsair psu
240gig vertex 3 SSD
2Tb hdd
Fiio E7 Dac
Full custom watercooling
Virgin media 100Meg coonnection.
Three rings if you're reading this Congrats on making a game even i can't run correctly, And i can max Crysis 2 out in DX11 with 8AA, I can't do that on spiral knights. Go optimize.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 06:59
#8
"Virgin media 100Meg
"Virgin media 100Meg coonnection"
Well there's your problem. Virgin Media? I cannot help but laugh. Hahahahaha.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 07:16
#9
I lag as well
I lag as well, but i have a 5 megabyte connection.
I DL entire DVD's in about 10 mins.
My system specs are
Phenom 2 tri-core processor
4 G's RAM
Nvidia GTS 250
SATA HDD
And I still lag, even when solo......
I remember reading somewhere that this game is run off of a server cloud, and not dedicated servers.....might be wrong though.
Also the tightness of the code may have quite an effect on the game.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 07:41
#10
"Virgin media 100Meg
"Virgin media 100Meg coonnection"
Well there's your problem. Virgin Media? I cannot help but laugh. Hahahahaha."
I can ping any UK server for 0 to 10MS and download a 5gig game in 7 mins, Don't bother posting if you have no idea what you're talking about, I've never once droped a connection or even had lag, Other then Spiral knights.
If you're commenting about their 10 - 20mb service you should know they don't use the same servers and there is no restriction for gaming.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 09:43
#11
I'm in Ontario, Canada.
The
I'm in Ontario, Canada.
The lag I get (as well as my friend and my girlfriend) is horrendous. There's times when we'll stutter, or just jump across the level all of a sudden. Attacks won't connect properly, we'll be hit by things we can't see, or are far away from us.
It's pretty pathetic really.
And the main reason I'm refusing to spend any real money on this game.
Once they get off their duffs and set up real servers that let people play lag free, I'm going to be buying lots of CE.
Until then, I'm not wasting my money on a game that doesn't work properly.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 09:56
#12
Don't blame yourself.
I used to run the game very smoothly as well, but since the addition of Steam accounts, the game seems a little laggy (though I only seem to experience it in little .5 second spikes). I have been in parties though where players have had to leave in the middle of tier 3 levels due to lag.
Anyway, the lag may be due to 000's own bandwidth, no? I'm no network expert, but I'm guessing somewhere along the way, their network got a little tight with the new accounts and the new link to Steam (I'm completely ignorant of Steam's architecture, so forgive me if I don't know how they're physically linked). Either that, or their servers are too loaded down and need some hardware upgrades or more numbers in the clusters (moar load balancing plz).
Sound legit?
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 11:08
#13
.
What gates are you guys doing? I have a mediocre computer and a 15mbps wireless connection, and I only lag in the munitions factory when there's lots of rockets.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 11:48
#14
"What gates are you guys doing?"
Re: "What gates are you guys doing?"
I didn't really notice lag until about Depth 25 inside FSC, which sort of bumps up the challenge even more considering the amount of FIRE damage you can take. I would lag just long enough to side-step into a fire, or my character would perform the iconic "lag teleport" that so many of you online gamers are familiar with.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 11:52
#15
Oh!
This happened to me too. The rest of the team got ticked off with me because I was fighting a wall apparently for a full 10 seconds. I totally thought I was kicking butt in the arena. :P I think it was for the event because people logged on just to have a chance to win. I haven't had problems before or since the event.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 11:59
#16
.
@Mr_Giggles
I have yet to do FSC other than a suicide run when I first got 4* gear, but I'd guess the magma, wheels, etc would have a similar lag effect to the rockets in the munitions factory.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 12:11
#17
I'm in Canada and generally
I'm in Canada and generally have a good internet connection.
When I experience lag, I tend to take a look at what may be causing me issues.
I'm pretty sure my graphics card needs an update, as snowy levels tend to cause my game to lag also, heavy monster saturation and/or explosions (like 3rd level arena) chop badly, and often result in death.
If someone else in our house starts watching Netflix, or begins a large download I drop down to about 2 bars.
Sometimes it is the game, but I try to see what else might be causing the issues at my end.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 12:50
#18
Meh
@Perp:
Oh, it DOES lol. But worse than that was the glitches it cause during the boss fight. My group made it to Vanaduke, but then things got even worse. I couldn't tell if there were glitches from lag, or just code, but we saw some weird things. One of my mates caught damage from Van's mace back-swing, and another claims he saw a water globe catch fire. We also had what sounded like an animation lag. Whether it was him or the game server is beyond me, as I didn't experience that at all.
@Sfeinman:
Yeah, I've seen that too. I personally wonder if it had something to do with the number of animations the server has to process, since there is a LOT of fire to animate in FSC. I say this because I don't recall experiencing any lag prior to THAT DUNGEON, even during the event. Then again, I know nothing of OOO's network infrastructure, so I can't say too much.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 15:14
#19
steam players (like me) are
steam players (like me) are going to be causing the lag, but even we are frustrated i would imagine. I'm in new zealand so my ping can be naff to american servers anyway, but adding actual server lag to it too just makes it ridiculous.
My ping is VERY rarely even yellow, and I get hit by things I think I avoid, and I have to shield BEFORE a monster's aura appears to block an attack.
I froze a jelly with a bomb, and it moved because of the lag while I was moving to attack it.
Nasty.
I think some australian servers might be useful, given that people from aussie and nz are going to have big pings naturally.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 15:47
#20
I have both a good connection
I have both a good connection and a good computer which have run many games that require high end equipment and fast connections and I rarely have the problem with those that I do with spiral knights.
Many people think that it is THEIR computer or THEIR internet, when it is the OOO servers or something behind the scenes we dont know about. You have to remember it uses Java which has a variety of lag issues to begin with, but there are other java games which dont have this problem. It usually happens when you've been playing a while, the lag gets worse and loading times increase not just for levels but for looking on the AH and equipment
They will figure it out eventually Im sure... I hope. :o
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 19:28
#21
My constant (and I imagine
My constant (and I imagine irritating) support requests have so far gotten responses that Three Rings has no control over the 'lag', but that they think the problem is my local network or some breach between us.
This is a scary thought. What if Three Rings is unaware of the problem? Those of us it affects get it hard.
What if... What if it IS on our end? It's a pretty wide-spread problem, as far as I can tell.
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 19:54
#22
Southern California
SoCal - Same Time zone as San Fran
PIECE OF CRAP LAGS!
Mon, 07/25/2011 - 19:59
#23
I've been hit hard by lag
I've been hit hard by lag lately. Every 3~10 seconds my screen will freeze for 1~4 seconds, often resulting in a quick and painful death.
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 00:40
#24
HXC Lag
You know that there is a lot of lag when Haven is lagging.
I haven't even bothered to play anything in the clockworks with this lag lol
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 02:27
#25
We already know...
Some of us already figured it's on their end. A lot of posters and people I talk to claim this is their only laggy game, while their other ones run quite smoothly, even those with high-end specs for both hardware and connections. There again, this wasn't a problem before Steam, so it's on their end. The game's inner code is handled by server, and depending on their network infrastructure, there could be any number of problems. Anything from clogged bandwidth to just not enough processing power/cluster numbers. However, if they really do have no control, then that would probably make it either a code thing, or an ISP thing I suppose. Any network professionals around with a good solution?
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 10:42
#26
I've actually found that lag
I've actually found that lag is much less since the last patch. I run SK on a laptop that just meets the minimum requirements - particularly the graphics card. Since the update, level load times and in-level lag, particularly FSC, are MUCH improved.
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 10:57
#27
*This is a scary thought.
*This is a scary thought. What if Three Rings is unaware of the problem? Those of us it affects get it hard.
What if... What if it IS on our end? It's a pretty wide-spread problem, as far as I can tell.*
Considering how many "lag" topics come up all the time, and the flood of people reporting it constantly... there's no way that Three Rings DOESN'T know about the lag issues.
I think it's more a matter of that they don't care.
Otherwise they'd work to fix the problem.
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 11:12
#28
I dunno... what lag is
I dunno... what lag is everyone talking about?
i7 920@3.1ghz
6gb corsair XMS at xmp latency settings
2x Nvidia 9800GT 1gb in SLI
cable modem IN HAWAII~ thousands of miles from the severs...
i may get a stutter once every hour but nothing like everyone is talking about...
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 13:16
#29
Lag...not always your Ping
While Ping is an ok reference point for how bad your lag can be...please remember to take a look at your Jitter as well. Dont know what it is? Go to www.pingtest.net and run the test. Jitter is basically noise on your internet line..the lower it is the less junk coming in to your connection that your computer has to try and sort out.
For optimal useage do what you can to get your Jitter below 5, the may require you to update your router drivers, change the channel the router is on, move the router to another location so it is not near other electronics (microwaves kill a wireless) & even possibly calling your ISP or phone company to see what they can do to clear the static on the line.
I figured all this out after having major disconnect issues WAY before the Steam players came...and you cant blame them cause if it was all the new players then the lag would be letting up more and more as people from Steam stopped playing. Just as a reference one of my guildmates (Notbob) was having horrible lag (along with his wife) and then I had him check his jitter...it was at 31...after a few tweaks like those mentioned above he got it down to a 6 and has SIGNIFIGANTLY less issues with lag and disconnections. So everyone please do yourself and these boards a favor and check your connection not just for speed (www.speedtest.net if you want to see what you are REALLY paying for) or ping...but also for JITTER
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 15:25
#30
Not sure how much more money
Not sure how much more money we have to put in their pockets to get an official response? Makes fighting fiends a chore.
Oh hey it's gonna attack! I better use my shield! Oh -- seems he still hit me. Well that sucked...
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 21:01
#31
The Serves are Horse Cr@p!
im running a 10 Meg Connection and im from spain and have lag to, its seams that its not the players computers or internet connections, its just that OOO rings have week of servers low on POWER! for sow many players all at ones. they need to buy as many servers with POWER! as they can before the game servers go Bye bye! " TIME TO REBOOT" like all ways! all this week i have lag like crazy i could not play properly like before my character surfs all over heven or baazar or durng battle, its crazy this hole week the game signal is bean i bar or two its crazy!
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 09:44
#32
I see two distinct problems
I see two distinct problems here.
1) The game freezes every few seconds.
This probably isn't a network problem. Try updating Java, running the game on lower graphics settings, or reinstalling your video driver (or install a sane operating system that doesn't take two gigs of ram just to sit there).
If you can, pop up a system usage monitor and keep an eye on your memory usage. If it hits the ceiling every time the game freezes, you might have memory leak issues or just not enough ram.
2) Knights run on the spot, monsters run through walls, actions just don't quite line up.
This is lag, or latency errors, and is caused by the client and the server failing to synchronize.
Stop any downloads, move closer to the router if you're on a wireless network, call your ISP and complain.
I hear microwaves really kill wireless connections.
If none of this works, just keep making noise and hope that someone at Three Rings will notice.
If it gets really bad, you can open the gear menu, click Support, click Request Support, and fill out a quick description of what's going wrong. A GM will pop in and have a look at the server side to see if there's anything that can be done. If enough of us do this, perhaps it will become a recognized problem.
To restate, two out of two support requests got the official response of 'it's on your end'.
This leads me to believe that Three Rings is not aware of this broad problem, and is not planning on fixing it.
Again though, maybe it is on our end.
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 11:40
#33
As Myou mentioned above, I
As Myou mentioned above, I was having a lot of problems with lag and disconnects (the type where you get booted back to the login screen). I made some changes to my network--I updated the firmware of my router (D-Link DIR-601), opened the ports in the firewall recommended in the Tech Support Sticky, changed the wireless channel to a less-common one, and so on. I went from a ping/jitter of 30 ms/31 ms to 23 ms/6 ms.
Results: In general, the lag seems to be better. This is more noticeable on the desktop, which is more powerful with a better graphics card compared to my laptop (and also directly plugged into the router as opposed to wireless). On my laptop, I still have lag when a lot of enemies spawn, and the large lichen colonies still slow the game down immensely. This is probably due to my laptop being less than optimal, though.
Disconnects are another issue. Where before we were getting randomly booted back to the login screen, the phenomenon now is more irritating. We still get randomly disconnected, but it's the type where it *looks* like you're still connected, but everything else is frozen except for you and you have the "disconnected" icon above your head when the rest of the party sees you. Unless you're paying attention, it just looks like everyone else is hanging out and nothing is wrong (this happened to us while waiting for party members in terminals before)--it's more noticeable in a level, when the monsters seem to just stop moving. Of course, to everyone else, they're still moving, and now attacking your uncontrolled character. The only way I've found to solve this is to launch another instance of the game, log in to that to return to the previous spot, and close the first one.
I don't know if that's related to the changes I made to our network configuration, but it's an odd coincidence if it's not.
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 11:58
#34
I am connected by cable. No
I am connected by cable. No wireless.
I have nothing else running while I play. I know that my speed/connection is fast and constant.
The problem is most definitely with the servers.
I can play any other online game I have and I get no lag issues at all.
It's only with Spiral Knights.
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 12:37
#35
Linux is fast. I play on
Linux is fast. I play on Ubuntu over wireless G with an intergrated AMD video card.
I only lag in IMF - and it is still very playable.
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 14:33
#36
Lag today
I am noticing terrible lag today. I was in tier 2 in the cold storage area and the game just stopped, the fellow players on my screen ran off screen and jumped around, enemies stopped. Then I finally was able to move and my character jumped around. I ended up quitting because I couldn't move in the next depth, it was just lag hiccup after lag hiccup. Not to mention the game gets a tad laggy when I reach IMF - but it's nothing as bad as this -- I could only imagine reaching IMF and being carried because I couldn't do anything. Tried to return to haven, game wouldn't respond, had to quit.
I played the game fine yesterday. And I've been playing this same gate all week because I want the tokens of Roar. Dunno if it's just a one time thing or not, but today is lag-a-riffic day on SK for me.
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 16:44
#37
heres a thought, all you ppl
heres a thought, all you ppl with lag, do you guys have the latest java?
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 17:47
#38
Yeah I skip lags when I'm
Yeah I skip lags when I'm like five feet away but it's not a problem for me yet
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 17:47
#39
Yeah I skip lags when I'm
Yeah I skip lags when I'm like five feet away but it's not a problem for me yet
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 19:34
#40
Lag was miserable for me
Lag was miserable for me today as well. Interestingly, I was basically disconnected for a good minute or two in terms of interaction, but I had full bars the entire time. Hit CTRL+ALT+ESC to check my network traffic and it was a solid 0%. The game didn't ever disconnect me even though this happened multiple times, oddly.
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 22:01
#41
I often drop from three bars
I often drop from three bars to one bar and get the snail-movement, jumping-across-the-screen, actions-missed lag every time. It's a bloody pain in FSC when you're surrounded by lava. My laptop isn't the best but it ought to be good enough. I still get the lag if I kill every application apart from SK. I've just visited pingtest.net and my jitter, from here (England) to San Fransisco, was 2 and 3 ms. Ping was 184. I concede I should be getting occasional lag, but nothing like the crap I do get.
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 22:25
#42
Huh. There was no noticeable
Huh. There was no noticeable lag for me today, or any of my party members.
I did as the faq said and made sure my router had those particular ports opened, and hey, that seems to have done the trick. Tomorrow or the next day I'll stress-test it with the Roarmulous Twins.
Bon Chance, guys, and try out that port thing.
Thu, 07/28/2011 - 08:06
#43
So you say its not your network...
When you say your laptop isnt the best but should be good enough for SK what exactly are your computer specs?
SK has the following MINIMUM requirements:
Windows & Linux
Windows XP, Vista or 7
Java 1.5
Display 1024x600
1.3 GHz processor
Graphics: 64mb Video Memory. GeForce 5 series, ATI Radeon 8500. Latest video driver.
Memory: 512mb for Windows XP or 1gb for Windows Vista/7
300MB Hard drive space
Mac
OSX 10.4
Java 1.5
Display 1024x600
1.3 GHz processor
Graphics: 64MB Video Memory. GeForce 5 series, ATI 8500. Latest video driver.
1GB memory (1000MB)
300MB hard drive space
and if your system is just bearly at this then there is a very good reason you are lagging and having issues. Coming from a computer background I can tell you that for any decent usage of any game to experience a more optimal gaming experience you want to at least double the minimum requires of the game or your OS (which ever is greater). Honestly if you have just the min of your system and expecting the best game play then you just dillusional.
And really they arent even putting down some of the more technical stuff that can modify your game play. Like using a solid state HD vs a 7200RPM or 5400RPM drive...SSD always wins for speed, and thats where the computer pulls information form. 1GB of ram...well are you using DDR, DDR2, or DDR3..and which speed, does your motherboard fully support the bus speed of the RAM so you arent bottle necking the information. 1.3GHz? is that for a single chipset, dual core, triple...quad...etc? And dont get me started on vidRam...DDR, DDR2, DDR3, or DDR5...speed is power for a computer...so how much speed do you want and how much can you spend. Cause the more optimized and over the top your computer is the less resistance and lag you are going to feel in the game if you dont have major network issues.
Thu, 07/28/2011 - 13:52
#44
I more than meet the MINIMUM
I more than meet the MINIMUM requirements, I'm not stupid enough to complain about lag without checking I meet the minimum requirements so don't treat me like an idiot. I say it's not that great because some of the specs people have listed are way beyond mine.
Windows 7
Latest Java
Display 1366 x 768
2.1 GHz dual core processors
Graphics: 64mb Video Memory. AMD M880G with ATI Mobility Radeon 4200. Latest video driver.
Memory: 3GB RAM, DDR2
800MB Hard drive space
Java and all my drivers are up to date, I check it all last night. So like I said, I should be getting some lag, but not the crap I'm dealing with.
Thu, 07/28/2011 - 14:39
#45
Horrible Lag
I usually don't lag but today has been different, not only for me but some friends as well. Everything freezes, then it resumes after a few seconds, and you're just in this annoying routine of freezing, ending up somewhere you weren't before, playing for a couple seconds, freezing, ending up somewhere else, and it just keeps going on and on. It's horrible! It's not our internet because everything else that needs internet seems to be running normally. It would be appreciated if OOO could do something about this.
Thu, 07/28/2011 - 16:41
#46
Yyyup. False alarm on that
Yyyup. False alarm on that port thing. We did a Roarmulus run today, and it was brutal.
Three Rings! Hear our cry!
Bad lag is bad!
Thu, 07/28/2011 - 16:53
#47
Really Dumb
People seriously saying that Computer lacks hardware causing lag is surprising ..
CPU - i7 860 - Overclocked to 3.3 Ghz
Mobo - ASUS Maximumus III
RAM - 4 GB Corsair Dominators - Overclocked Cas 7 or 8 (don't remember)
HD - 1 TB, Sata 3 (time to upgrade to sata 6), 32 MB Cache, 7200 rpm
GPU - HD 5850 Overclocked
PSU - 750 Antec
Game lags to the point where sht teleports.
Thu, 07/28/2011 - 17:03
#48
Okay, yes, but what's your
Okay, yes, but what's your ping? Your jitter?
Thu, 07/28/2011 - 19:53
#49
My ping was 184 and 192; my
My ping was 184 and 192; my jitter was 2 and 3. Anyone want to tell me it's still on my end?
Thu, 07/28/2011 - 20:06
#50
Did you choose the Los
Did you choose the Los Angeles server? pingtest automatically chooses the closest server to you. 3 is a very good jitter if you're not going further than the corner store.
This has been happening to me as well. I was beginning to think it was my ISP, but based on your story I have concluded that the problem is being caused by girlfriends.