Spiral Knights - Has tremendous lag interfered with other knights' experiences too?

Has tremendous lag interfered with other knights' experiences too?

13 replies [Last post]

Sun, 03/04/2012 - 15:04

Simohayha

Hi everyone. I'm Simohayha, one of those horrible "Steam-spawns" that just found his way here after yet another frustrating failure in FSC.

My gear is fairly good (Vog, DA, AP, Grand Flourish as of now). I've studied the fight. I bring a friend with shiver, blitzes, and do my best to keep shadow fire quenched and slags of different varieties distracted. Yet over and over I find myself spending energy on revives not just for me, but my party members too, who know the battle far better than me.

Why? Because we're consistently getting lag spikes to the point of going down to 5 fps or lower. I've experienced similar issues in other boss-tiers such as Royal Jelly Palace and Ironclaw Munitions Factory, but it is at its most flagrant on the path to and then battling Vanaduke. And it's ruining my experience in what is otherwise a game that surprisingly grew on me to the point of edging out TF2.

And that isn't easy.

I notice that when I solo or duo these same levels, the lag spikes that lead to so many deaths are either greatly reduced or non-existent. This seems to me that it would be server-side latency issues, especially because guildmates and party members report similar issues. I'd like to know if others have these challenges -- and if so, why they exist and how OOO might be able to repair them. If this is foreign to others, we all must happen to have hardware issues I suppose, but that seems like a really big coincidence.

So either way, please contribute to this thread. This issue is important to me and many of my friends who enjoy most everything else here in SK. Why?

Because Vanaduke is hard enough without losing control of your character every 3 seconds. :P

Sun, 03/04/2012 - 15:20

Toxicyoccm

Lag, the hardest enemy in the game

I routinely suffer from being snapped back in places, taking damage when I thought I was far enough away, attacks not registering or being delayed, and the ever fun, speeding up and running in place issues. [due to connection spikes I presumed]. This is without mentioning the loading [was on skype with a friend and was pretty funny them getting the key in Roarsterous Ruins and I just then finish loading], and log-outs.

Yes, it does ruin my fun. Roarmulus and Snarbolax, where timing is a factor are never fun when you don't know if you're even near the switches/bell. [plus shock already pulling me in directions, I think I got into the 1k with Roarmulus.] I hear the main problems are with Java, and with the bare minimum settings I get the above problems.

I've never done Vanaduke, and I don't plan to without a stronger, faster computer; I literally don't have the energy for it.

Sun, 03/04/2012 - 15:26

Sniperjoe

Toxiycyoccm:

I've had the pleasure of playing SK on a few different machines. Currently, i seem to have the same problem you do; a one-second "snap back" which I think might be related to my firewall or (ugh) ContentWatch running in the background and clogging up my internet tubes.

Sun, 03/04/2012 - 15:30

Simohayha

One more note

I've also made sure to close browsers and other Internet-using applications to try and reduce stress. So far, I have not witnessed any improvement from this.

Sun, 03/04/2012 - 15:38

Toxicyoccm

@SniperJoe and Simohayha

Like Simohayha [can I call you Simo], I close most browsers, and try to limit the CPU so only the Java.exe is taking up space. [even putting the priority on high, which works occasionally, but sometimes causes the bars to fluctuate from 1 to 4 wildly]. I found it can run on 1 bar with firefox up, or with skype, but it crashes my computer with 2 SK clients up. Firewall could be the problem, I wouldn't think that's the problem, but any process that can be stopped, should help.

Sun, 03/04/2012 - 16:00

Tom-Awsm

@OP

Yes, I have also experienced extreme lag and freeze framing as of late, which really makes every run a chore. I am not doing anything differently than before, and also try every trick in the book to reduce it to no avail.

Sun, 03/04/2012 - 16:02

Megatrondf

Sk servers do lag

I sometimes experience heavy lag and can garunte that it's neither my machine nor my connection. This of course only leaves the SK servers.

Sun, 03/04/2012 - 19:42

Twiddle

yes i've su........f...er.....f........d...e from it

It's mainly due to my terrible internet connection. Granted, I'm sharing my connection off someone else, so I shouldn't complain. But, I need to buy a better internet connection.

I also have a fairly old computer. It was cutting edge about 6 - 7 years ago, but now it's old and struggles to play some of the more intensive flash games. Still, it can handle this game fairly well. When I first started playing this game a couple of months ago, I would occasionally get a graphics glitch where everything would teleport and walk around the screen randomly. But, then I solved the problem by turning all the graphics down to their lowest settings and by turning compatibility mode on.

Sun, 03/04/2012 - 20:57

Simohayha

Some good thoughts

I'll try that fix, Twiddle. I'm embarrassed I didn't think of it myself. XD

Yeah, feel free to call me Simo.

Mon, 03/05/2012 - 19:49

Simohayha

OCH -- Operator: Cringingly Hobbled

Just played OCH for the first time. Level has amazing layout, and the ghostmane stalkers are scary as hell.

But I had to rez three times in the boss fight because I could only see 1/4 of what was happening with all the server lag. AND I was solo.

If I could have some explanation as to why this happened, despite all the precautions I've taken (I tried Twiddle's idea and shudder to think what would've happened if I didn't), I'd really appreciate it. I know you can't fix this overnight, but it's a HUGE issue and blocks full enjoyment of a well made game.

Mon, 03/05/2012 - 19:58

#10

Alynn

hmm.......

The only place I find that lags like no other is the D13 arena in Rise or Fall

Mon, 03/05/2012 - 22:46

#11

Tom-Awsm

BTW, I only have the enourmus

BTW, I only have the enourmus lag in the busiest hours of SK. Earlier or later than that it's fine.

Mon, 03/05/2012 - 23:18

#12

Sykocaster

You mean I'm not alone?

I too have horrible, horrible issues with lag.
At times.

The worst for me seems to be Iron Claw Munitions Factory, though I have not yet attempted Vanaduke.
If attempting, really, *any* level in a full party, I'm reduced to near-uselessness on account of lag. I can't see what hits me, and I constantly find myself swiping at what turns out to be air. And don't even get me started on all the stupid traps I run into, since I turn out to actually be running a good couple feet from where I think I am.

The worst part is Operation: Crimson Hammer. I have all 4 and 5 star gear. I'm able to make my way though the Tier 1 mission solo. Tier 2, I can hobble well enough to not get kicked from a party, at least. But the Tier 3 one? No %@#!ing way. Which is annoying since I did put out the staggering $4 price to purchase it. And now I'm going to have to find 3 equally kind and pro individuals to drag my sorry ass through it, ideally three times.

Anyway.

I've noticed four things that affect my lag the most, and I hope they help you:
Time of day - During traffic-heavy times, I lag more. Even if I'm going solo, mid-evening is nearly unplayable for me.
Instance - Traveling to a less-populated Instance (ie. Haven 20 instead of Haven 3) seems to help a bit.
Party Members - The more people in my party, the more I lag.
Being Leader - When I am in a party, if I'm the one leading the party, I seem to lag less. This affects the "spikes" of lag, more than just general laggyness.

The last one, I only noticed yesterday so I haven't had much time to actually "experiment" with the notion.
But I too want to know why this is such an issue lately.

Tue, 03/06/2012 - 00:26

#13

Jacxis

"steam spawn" level: asian

Just last night I was intending to do a RJP run to get some crowns to fund both a helm and a bomb. From a full team of 4 we dropped to 3 because someone didn't want to wait for the arena to pop up, and I could tell that the rest weren't that happy that he left.

After a short wait, we hit the arena, and the lag came in full force. I was lagging prior to that but it was still manageable. The arena, though, was a completely different story. In the end I "donated" my heat and bid my team farewell and went back to haven.

I do recall several runs with a personal friend of mine. I lagged so badly that I couldn't continue. We're all university students from different schools so it's hard to find time to play together.

As far as I know the lag's not due to playing from Asia or steam, or some obscure mac problem (I play on my 2 year-old MacBook Pro); it's my unstable internet connection. On a good day I can simultaneously open Safari and talk on Skype while enjoying smooth gameplay.

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Has tremendous lag interfered with other knights' experiences too?