PVE lag?

rikersdad

How can I tell if I have local or server lag? when doing the big 20 player PVEs like fleet defense,
my ships shake uncontrollably and go in random directions. Its fine in the 5 player games.

I am running an NVdidia GT 630 card with "2770" mb video memory
Direct x 11
tried lowering graphics option to lowest, didn't really help.

gizmox64

Seen the same thing happen to me.
I will fly in one direction but the ship will tilt or wiggle on port and starbord, all the while staying on course.

Very graphically annoying, but no effect on actual gameplay.
I to think it is an issue with the game tracking the players position and syncing it with everyone.

darkjeff

As far as I know, there's no such distinction between "local or server lag", so I'm assuming you're talking about a drop in frame rates vs lag.

A drop in frame rate happens when your GPU can't send frames to your monitor fast enough, characterized by "stuttering". When you rotate your view it will stutter (freeze and then pop to the next viewpoint instead of a smooth transition), but when you move your character they will actually go where you told them to go. The problem here is your hardware, and assuming you meet the system prerequisites the solution is to play with the settings.

"Lag" refers to high latency between your computer and the server, characterized by "rubber banding". Your client and the server aren't communicating in a timely manner, resulting in desyncing - and since the server data takes precedence, your client won't accurately reflect what is happening. When you rotate your view everything will render properly, but when you try to move your character they will bounce back to where they were, or carry out commands you issued sometime earlier. The problem here is with your connection. Your router might need to be reset, your brother might be downloading TRIBBLE, or your Internet Service Provider sucks.

You can diagnose it yourself with console commands. Use /showfps 1 and it will pop up a counter displaying your frames per second. If you're experiencing your issue but the FPS counter is still showing 30+ frames per second, then it's not your hardware and fiddling with settings won't do anything. Similarly you can use /netgraph 1 for it to display a graph of your latency. If you're experiencing your issue and there's a massive spike in the displayed latency when that happens, then it's your connection.