Lag

Hi, I have learnt new things XD

I have no updates, all are manual - All Apps Closed every time I FAF.

CPU Mark - 15914
Average Thread Rating - 3047

Quote: Is the Intel Core i5-11400H @ 2.70GHz Good for Gaming?

"This is relatively new CPU that contains 6 Cores and 12 Threads. The Intel Core i5-11400H @ 2.70GHz also has reasonable threaded performance that will serve well in games. Paired with a good video card, is this CPU Good for Gaming? Yes, this would be a suitable CPU for gaming"

CPU Specifications: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-11400H @ 2.70GHz 2.69 GHz

I have found my "Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling - Enables this
Variable Refresh Rate - I have Enables this aswell

Lets try it out!

@youthenoob said in Lag:

The game only uses a single core

the sim uses a single core the game can use another core for other things

single core performance is whats need for faf still tho and with a laptop you don't have much cooling so can thermal throttle quicker

I use this website to check CPUs: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

I did a comparison with mine. My CPU is a 10750H, meaning your CPU is better than mine. I am never the slowest, so it's not your hardware.

Is your laptop plugged into the power? Windows has power settings that can limit the CPU to save power. At a high level, it is called energy-saving mode but it can be enabled at any time. I would suggest playing a game and monitoring your CPU to see if that's the bottleneck. Task Manager has a good graph.

Did you check if your internet connection is using IPv6?

As MadMax said, the CPU might throttle if it gets too hot.

Have you tried updating your drivers? Under Update there are "optional" drivers

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the feedback, it really does help me determine the issues.

The Legion Pro comes with an unbelievable cooling system.

The IPv4 is being used for networking.

I will try update drivers, that is something I have not tried so thanks for that.

I have seen a random app that is taking 75% of my CPU but does not allow me to uninstall it, not even found in the registry if I am looking in the right place. I need to figure how to germanely remove this rogue app

Responses above are much appreciated. If I "end task" on this random app. I have noticed a better in lobby speed.

I have tried recently to play 3 v 3 and it runs like a dream.

When you got your laptop did you do a fresh install of Windows or use the installation from the supplier? Some of the best laptop manufacturers ship with a lot of bloatware. I did a 100% fresh install from USB, that i downloaded from the Microsoft. My Dell laptop was wasting loads of resources on really stupid programs that I 100% didn't need. Some of the software is so badly written that it can take a sizeable chunk of your resources.

Its also possible that you have some malware, that's doing other things like mining crypto in the background. I wrote some software to do this, using a browser. Maybe you have installed something you shouldn't have?

One thing you could try is creating a new user profile in Windows. Don't delete your current one, just make an additional one. Try logging in as the new user and running things in that one. See if the performance is any better. It sounds like your struggling because of your CPU. The programs that startup under the new user only be the default ones installed on your system, which hopefully isn't the bloatware/malware. See if you are experiencing the same issues with that account.

What's the name of the program that's hogging all the resources? A half decent programmer would bundle the bloatware into another program so it looks half legitimate. I believe you can add custom programs to windows programs, so they aren't visible in Task Manager. Try loading up "Resource Monitor" in Windows. It should give you a "per core" view of the CPUs. Its installed in Windows by default. If you play a game, check to see if your CPU is the bottleneck (at 100% when you play)

What's the cpu "speed" in task manager when you play games? Intel CPUs speed up massively, to get the most out of the chip. It's called turbo boost (i think). It might be that it's not Turbo boosting like it should

No matter how good a person's connection may be, at the end of the day, FAF is FAF...
It uses a peer-to-peer connection and that will always be inferior, 'lag'-wise, to a server-based connection.

On another note, speedy connections are not always stable.
I once had a really fast connection, yet it was quite unstable, and though I could download any game within minutes,
my packet loss at times was high.
This resulted in my ping showing as really low, however, I would always be the source of 'lag' in large team games.

And since FAF uses Peer-to-Peer connections; a great factor in connectivity, here, is Geology.
The farther the distance from players, the more 'lag' you may encounter.
I don't currently have the best connection, myself, but, I tend to experience more 'lag' with players across the globe from my location than with players residing in the same continent / nation.

And, based on my experience, some 'lag' is just based on network activity.
For example, my matches at 9 PM are usually smoother than my games at 1 PM due to less network activity - again, regardless of network speeds.

Last thing, the more players... the more connections... the more 'lag'.
For every player that is in a match, the number of connections grow exponentially.
If you're in a match with 4 total players, at most, every player has 3 connections. That's 12 (ish) connections.
But, in a match with 5 players, every player has 4 connections. That's 20 (ish) connections
And FAF can hold up to 16 players in a match. That's about 15 connections PER player.
(Now, I'm not sure if this is precise, but, the overall point about exponentially growing connections, is made.)

That being said, here are some options for you to try out:

Try the "Force Relay Connection" option in the Client settings, "Forged Alliance Forever" tab.
This setting will most likely increase your ping, but it may end up being less jittery, overall.

The next option, "Allow the ICE Adapter to use IPv6" could also cause issues if you (don't) use IPv6, depending on your network settings.

Hope this helps!

~Stryker

HI. Again, great tips.

Ok, removed a Malware called "Altruistic" - Was using 80% of my CPU resources - Happy about this.

Yes, i believe the comment on Lag over distance is true, alot of games play perfect, however, those midnight 12 vs 12 (you know, the ones you really want to play" is an issue (Connection comments above).

I have enabled the force link but must research how to enable IPv6 swop around for the ICE Adapter.

Going to see if this works out.

Would be lost without the comments from you guys - many thanks

Will holler out about the progress

Zigster

Zigster, I've got my fingers crossed for you. Sounds like it was the malware. Looking forwards to seeing how you get on

Stryker, I don't think the game is peer-to-peer. If I run the command "netstat -b" in Powershell, I can't see the IP address of the other users. I believe that FAF uses relays around the world. A Russian/Australian relay would really help as Russia/Australia seems to have issues. I believe it adds lag (probably going via the Nuremberg relay).

I'm a bit of a network Nazi (living in Australia). Any poor connections absolutely ruin the game. I wrote a program to test the network. By pinging a server from the person's machine, it's possible to see fluctuations in the response time. It's also possible to upload and download a file, to test the network speed. Using that data, it's easy to assess the network.

I would contribute to FAF and add the functionality but I can't be bothered to learn Java. I know C#, Javascript, React, Python, SQL, PowerShell, and enough C++, but I've got kids and a full time job

@youthenoob
The game is peer to peer, however due to the prevalence of NATs sometimes it is not possible for people to get a direct connection.

This is what the ice adapter is for. It can choose between either direct connections or using a relay server. We have three coturn up right now including one in Australia that people could potentially use.

You can read more about it in this post https://forum.faforever.com/topic/3288/but-what-the-heck-is-the-ice-adapter