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[VIDEO] The Wizards of STO Present: MISFIRE! MISFIRE! MISFIRE!

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  • oldkhemaraaoldkhemaraa Member Posts: 1,039 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I get lag, and stuttering in regular mission in solo play some of it rather severe..

    prime example is the new mission where you have to mini game to get past the security sat..

    It took a lot of practice to figure out how to do it but I was persistant..

    I would hover my mouse over then entry and hold down the mouse button for that selection and then release the mouse button the number BEFORE the actuall number came up..and 9 time out of 10 it registers correct..

    If I click on the number while it lit.. forget it.. Fail!

    I live about 22 miles from Cryptic studio's.. I'm on 512 DSL.. My house is 140 meters of wire from the switching center! From there it connects to fiber optic. The lag is simply not being caused by my ISP, or my connect .. or the lack of umf my computer may or may not have.

    Some missions are a slide show, some are smooth as glass with no problems.

    The issues are not server though there are currently server issues.. The issues are in the game and more specificly mission and map code.

    I've been an internet gamer for more then two decades.. And I've delt with multiplayer 3D shooters over dialup. There are things I recognize..

    What ever you want to call it, I've seen it before! To much information/data being sent to the client and the client machine simply cannot keep up. This is truely amazing in a single player mission (to me anyway.. how could the QC folks have missed this are they just not set up to test for it?)).. The problem isn't data loss, It's data mishandling.. The client side is being sent information that it just does not need and its packing the client machines. Buffer over runs like crazy. The server is for a specific mission constantly sending positional and state of object data for every object in the mission space. This is where I think its getting wonky based on the missions i see it most often with.

    It's pretty obvious to me that its sending information on position and state of objects in the mission. Every single last object in the mission. And where you have missions with nebula like effects caused by light reflection of of body's.. graphics engines have rule they operate under. If your going to have a light scource reflected, no problem.. but its got to have some sort of virtual object to reflect it. Once you have a few hundred virtual objects in a volume those object and any state change has to be constantly be updated. There basicly two ways to do this. Either provide all information for the virtual volume from server side calculation, or have the client side computer do the work. And it can be wieghted.. These items are merely atmosphere and decoration.. let the client side machine deal with that. I've taken a real good look at how the STO client acts over the years.. It's all being done server side. And that is where the problem is. The server is doing ALL the work.. all of it.. every last bit of it.. All you've got client side appears to be artwork files, sound files and instruction on how to render.. its the client side of a render engine.

    I wonder if the company running the servers for Cryptic has made mention of the fact that if they asked the servers to do a little bit less that They'd run a hella lot smother.

    Less is better. Always remember the limitations of hardware that you don't have control over.

    K.I.S.S. and Murphy, and Gremlins are your constant companions in net gaming.

    STO used to run quite well on a 2 gig i-3 laptop with intel video.. I wasn't uber pretty, detail was minimal, but it ran. I suspect if I tried to run several of the Delta quadrant mission on said machine the poor thing with let its magic smoke out and expire permanatly. And 2 years ago that was exactly what I ran STO on for several months while I was on the road.. and aging lesnova laptop with a 13" screen. If I tried running some of the more recent content I'm real sure it would be crash and lock up city.

    I am today on a i-5 desktop with 4 gig of ram, and onboard intel video. Yes, its a DELL *gasp*

    It a pretty close to a lowest common denominator, yet, I can play CA's Shogun 2 total war on it, I can play Rome 2 total war on it, and if you think the load on a machine for STO is huge.. Client side STO isn't even in the same league! The more recent total war games take my old desktop machine to its upper limit of performance and run just fine!

    The problem is in the code. Not the server hardware, not the client side hardware.. or software (I hope). Its most likely the game engine its self when operating server side. Un-needed calls.. things like this. And it could be as simple is as when the server task switches client side call to another processor.. it could be a processor in another server bank (on demand use) that its creating the virtual space on a server machine that does not have a GPU availible. If your going to have a graphics intensive application on a server, then that server needs to have a GPU availible that meets the products client side minimum requirements (more then minmum preferred but ya got what ya got). if you don't your software is either going to hang and simply not run or its going to seek processing capacity from some where..

    Care to guess where? Well, its got this data connection to a client side computer..

    I think someone has let the game engine break its own rules..as follows.

    I smell a "Feedback loop"

    The client is stuttering and bogging down because the client side computer is being asked to take up part of the computing load, which isn't its self a big deal, But it's then got to send the results of its computation BACK to the server side process for confirmation, and then the server sends updated information back to the client... of which part of needs to be chewed on my the client machine and send back yet a again... This is happening at a much faster rate then the communication medium (The Net) will allow.

    I've been monitoring packet transmissions on my computer associated with the STO client... What I'm seeing a great deal of is more data being transfered with the missions I'm seeing high lag on.

    I've been watching net load, not CPU load. Look in the right place, The clues are in your face!
    .. ohh that rhymed.

    SO, anyway.. That is what I strongly believe to be happening.. Not the most technical of explanations but hopefully an understandable one to laymen.. and Professionals.

    And I dearly wish Cryptics programming team would please hurry on developing the means to stop letting that happen!

    The lag that shuoldn't be there is particularly annoying. And when its happening constantly in single player mission. It's going to be the same core cause just about every time.
    "I aim to misbehave" - Malcolm Reynolds
  • captainpugwash1captainpugwash1 Member Posts: 908 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    What ever you want to call it, I've seen it before! To much information/data being sent to the client and the client machine simply cannot keep up.

    I have noticed that the npc are not always effected by the lag,,,,,,when that happens i blow up,,lol
  • zobovorzobovor Member Posts: 198 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    sunfrancks wrote: »
    It has to be Traits, and the new specializations.

    Some Traits affect other players, so I am guessing the combined effect is lagging the servers to hell.

    The more players with Traits bouncing off other players, and it gets worse.


    Well Cryptic have been known to be their own worst enemies ... . ;)

    Guess their half-assing finally caught up to the power creep train they made us ride , and seemingly the latter half of the OP's vid just shows what happens when some folks step off that train intentionally .
    (although I'm not sure how completely "off" those powers were , as I still saw one or two powers activating on that Excelsior , and I'm not counting the Borg regeneration .)
  • ir0ncladbravoir0ncladbravo Member Posts: 51 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I get lag and it seems to get worse when there are more than one command cruisers in the team. Trying to do Conduit Adv has been a pain this 2 weeks always fails on the optionals as the Nanite spheres seem to suddenly appear and have become immune to Gravity Well and can still move away even when engines are targeted. I use a T5U ship on a different character and when the other players are using T5U there seems to be no lag. but that seems to becoming a rare thing now as many are getting T6 cruisers.
    Everytime I see complaints about the same thing
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • spaceeagle20spaceeagle20 Member Posts: 971 Arc User
    edited April 2015

    BTW this has happened before, remember the Dauntless & Sar Theln traits + Agent Nerul bug? If there was 1 person on a team that was running both these traits with the Nerul DOff it would lag out the whole team.

    I remember that Agent Nerul was different as soon as DR hit : his tooltip said "regenerates your hull 0,2% per shot fired" or something like that ...
    Now he regenerates your hull when APB is used ... if I remember well?
    Has it got something to do with that bug?
    zobovor wrote: »
    Well Cryptic have been known to be their own worst enemies ... . ;)

    Guess their half-assing finally caught up to the power creep train they made us ride , and seemingly the latter half of the OP's vid just shows what happens when some folks step off that train intentionally .
    (although I'm not sure how completely "off" those powers were , as I still saw one or two powers activating on that Excelsior , and I'm not counting the Borg regeneration .)

    Yes, that's tragic and funny at the same time.
    They introduce new OP powers and traits and abilities for the players to buy/acquire but , then, the same players can't enjoy them because those OP thingies make everything lag.
    This doesn't bode well : customers' disappointment may be very dangerous.
    P58WJe7.jpg


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  • xapocalypseponyxxapocalypseponyx Member Posts: 577 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    lebtron wrote: »
    Thats the reason I asked for a video of a lag free stf run.

    More to the point, a lag free Infected Space run. Because for whatever reason, the problem seems to affect some queues more than others. and it affects space queues more than any other aspect, which is why I think we have people saying there is no lag.

    I can do pretty much anything on the ground, including queued events without noticing much of anything. I can do solo content and the new queues like Gates of Grethor, with little issue, most times. Azure is a toss-up and Crystalline can have issues, but Cure Space and Khitomer are... rough, at best with Infected always being a disaster, as depicted. Maybe because players are in closer proximity to each other? :shrugs:

    Honestly, I don't know much beyond that, since the other queues are um, less active.

    SUUUURREE would be nice to get this squared away.
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  • lucho80lucho80 Member Posts: 6,600 Bug Hunter
    edited April 2015
    The second song, lol. Wow. Would have been nice with the original Spanish version.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1TubAzyBjk

    Mira lo que se avecina a la vuelta de la esquina
    viene diego rumbeando
    con la luna en las pupilas
    y su traje agua marina
    van restos de contrabando
    y donde mas no cabe un alma
    alli mete a darse ca
  • valianttomevalianttome Member Posts: 157 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Have you watched the full video? First part of the video there is a lot of lag, everyone who participated in that run was affected by it. The group was made up of people from the states to europe...

    Now look at the second part of the video, no lag? what's the difference? They didn't use any abilities.

    Here's the problem, when you have so many traits, specs, doffs, and starship mechanics that are affected by, or effect BOff and captain abilities, it puts a massive load on the servers.

    Before DR, when you activate an ability it just goes off. now when you activate an ability a whole lot of extra calculations are done before it even triggers.

    Youre wasting your energy trying to get through to that guy. Hes on a personal mission to 'disprove' the server lag issue. Just look at his history and youll notice the majority of his posts are in threads like this. He chases them like a sleazy ambulance chasing lawyer.
  • jarvisandalfredjarvisandalfred Member Posts: 1,549 Bug Hunter
    edited April 2015
    I believe... one of these days, Jena's gonna post a video about the lag on Holodeck being fixed... Until then, Virus, count me among the people just fading away without flaming all over the forums about it.

    Tachyon beam, that's bull**** that's easy to fix. Lag might not be as easy, but it's even more frustrating.
    SCM - Crystal C. (S) - [00:12] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 8.63M(713.16K) - Fed Sci

    SCM - Hive (S) - [02:31] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 30.62M(204.66K) - Fed Sci

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  • sarcasmdetectorsarcasmdetector Member Posts: 1,176 Media Corps
    edited April 2015
    I believe... one of these days, Jena's gonna post a video about the lag on Holodeck being fixed... Until then, Virus, count me among the people just fading away without flaming all over the forums about it.

    Tachyon beam, that's bull**** that's easy to fix. Lag might not be as easy, but it's even more frustrating.

    Speaking about fading, i've been playing a lot of WoW and D3 lately.
  • virusdancervirusdancer Member Posts: 18,687 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I believe... one of these days, Jena's gonna post a video about the lag on Holodeck being fixed... Until then, Virus, count me among the people just fading away without flaming all over the forums about it.

    Tachyon beam, that's bull**** that's easy to fix. Lag might not be as easy, but it's even more frustrating.

    Think folks could manage with the Tachyon Beam stuff better if not for the lag...well, some folks - folks that know that the Borg kind of work like clockwork, so they're going to do A then B then C sort of thing, so they know what buffs to hit and when. But when you can't do that...or...when you think you have but you haven't and then you can't...it just isn't any fun.

    There was the week before the Anniversary stuff where it seemed to get worse as if they were shifting resources for that. Same happened before the Crystalline Event...and it got worse again leading up to S10. There was also the adjustment they made for folks with lower end machines to improve their performance which appeared to affect the performance of others in an adverse manner. There were the new icons which appeared to increase load. There's probably another half dozen things if I had the caffeine that I could mention that they've done as well.

    There's the tinfoil hat bit I've got going on wondering if it's tied into the lack of CSE, KSE, and ISE while other new queues have had their Elites...wondering if there's some Borg revamp going on there so that they're shuffling resources. But yeah, somehow I don't think so.

    I was concerned about how Cryptic was planning to nerf the Advanceds and turn them into hostage situations unless folks gave up on the public queues all together...but with the way things have gotten progressively worse...meh, not sure I care anymore about that.
    Speaking about fading, i've been playing a lot of WoW and D3 lately.

    Over in The Secret World...with system requirements far more intensive than STO and stuff happening on the screen that's just beautiful to see - without the slightest hint of the wanting to punch the wall TRIBBLE going on here.

    patrickngo was trying to get that BoP thing started for Advanced/Elite queues - but man, broadsiding with a couple of aft turrets cause the ship's just bouncing every which way as it rubberbands...just isn't fun.
  • johnstewardjohnsteward Member Posts: 1,073 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    in all seriousness as someone who doesn't seem to experience the same lag I would also like to hear the answer to this question

    Well it depends on playstyle, possible powers, time when you play or just luck. Maybe you are affected but just dont realize it.

    In any case a server that is set up to handle 10 instances may work for 2 of them and lag for the rest just because of thread priorities and how much cpu-time each instance need.

    I think they reduced the number of servers to save money and some bugs on top of that. If its really not lagging for you playing isa just post a vid and show us.

    Vid or it didnt happen^^
  • quistraquistra Member Posts: 214 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I've had more than a few misfires lately.

    The lag has just been disgusting.
    The artist formerly known as PlanetofHats.
    Actual join date: Open beta, 2009ish.
  • peterconnorfirstpeterconnorfirst Member Posts: 6,225 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Thank you for providing this video sarcasmdetector. It’s quiet informative again.

    Somehow very sad that those space toons one has put most effort in seem to suffer the most accordingly.

    After I unlocked the all Hands on Deck trait for my new acquired fleet Dauntless and inserted 15 more points in pilot I was really looking forward to try it all out in ISA yesteay… my bad I guess.

    If cryptic acts on topic I soon have to wonder why I go to all this trouble.

    My workaround is to play ground for the time being. Good rewards, cheap builds and no annoying lag as thank you for you efforts.
    animated.gif
    Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
    felisean wrote: »
    teamwork to reach a goal is awesome and highly appreciated
  • millimidgetmillimidget Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I think it's time to bring up the giant elephant in the room...
    That it isn't 4+ scimitars? I know, right. I also appreciated it wasn't exclusively AP.

    There are too many weapons on a ship. And beam arrays fire too often.
    "Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
  • nh3rdnh3rd Member Posts: 65 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Even the missions are getting worse by the day. One of the devs needs to bite the bullet and step up to address the mob forming. ;)
  • johnstewardjohnsteward Member Posts: 1,073 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    At least for me its not even limited to stfs, i get lags on episodes (although they are still playable) and even just running around on esd. All other games I play have no issues whatsoever with lags or the like.
  • guilli88guilli88 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    What we need is for a few people to write to gawker and other game news sites about how the game is broken since the last seasonal expansion.

    With proof (videos, testimonies, etc). Game media sites love to pickup on how an update breaks games, especially mmo's.

    Once the lag issues become actual news articles (and bad press for a PWE game) you can be assured the issue suddenly gets top priority.

    sig

    http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/5451/om71.jpg

    It is a peculiar phenomenon that we can imagine events that defy the laws of the universe.
  • peterconnorfirstpeterconnorfirst Member Posts: 6,225 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    guilli88 wrote: »
    Once the lag issues become actual news articles (and bad press for a PWE game) you can be assured the issue suddenly gets top priority.

    Yea man and considering that this sort of lag seems to be correlated to how much effort (gear, doffs), money (ship traits) and time (skill points) a player has dedicated toward this game this is quiet embarrassing.

    I mean… those who do most what cryptic wants us to do are going to suffer the most?!? :confused:

    Noob teams with no ship traits, minimum spec points and crappy gear n doff/boff layouts probably fare well or at least a lot better than those who took care and supported cryptic best.
    animated.gif
    Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
    felisean wrote: »
    teamwork to reach a goal is awesome and highly appreciated
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  • nh3rdnh3rd Member Posts: 65 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Read an article where they openly admitted they knew pvp sucked. That was the headline lol. But they can't ignore this one and the can't be flippant with it. Too many people being hit by it. And it makes for a nasty detterant to upgrading your ship I.E. spending money.
  • nh3rdnh3rd Member Posts: 65 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    So we just got finished with multiple consecutive lag free runs. And without a doubt traffic is most definitely compounding the problem. Which goes back to what I have been saying its a cumulative effect. High traffic + combat spam + convoluted combat system = shat storm of an stf. It can't be attributed to any one item alone but add them all up and its going to suck. So yeah..... We know the time frame now(state secret muahahahahaha) and it isn't the traits/boffs causing the problem but definitely adding to it.
  • spyralpegacyonspyralpegacyon Member Posts: 408 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    guilli88 wrote: »
    What we need is for a few people to write to gawker and other game news sites about how the game is broken since the last seasonal expansion.

    Why stop there? Start up a Change.org petition! March on the White House! TORCH THE PWE HEAD OFFICE!

    Or, y'know, you can understand that Cryptic knows there's a problem, knows that said problem is likely driving its players nuts, and is trying to sort it out without breaking the game further. Patience is a freakin' virtue.
    tumblr_n1hmq4Xl7S1rzu2xzo2_400.gif
  • holofrogholofrog Member Posts: 111 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    nh3rd wrote: »
    So we just got finished with multiple consecutive lag free runs. And without a doubt traffic is most definitely compounding the problem. Which goes back to what I have been saying its a cumulative effect. High traffic + combat spam + convoluted combat system = shat storm of an stf. It can't be attributed to any one item alone but add them all up and its going to suck. So yeah..... We know the time frame now(state secret muahahahahaha) and it isn't the traits/boffs causing the problem but definitely adding to it.

    I have Lag around the clock: in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and in the night (CET).

    If it's not so bad rubberbanding, I have a lot of missfire. Look at your abilities, when you got the CD but not the buff.

    The Lag on Tribble is better now. A few weeks ago, it was the same Lag like on Holodeck. But they made changes to Traits and other stuff and it became better. So, I have still hope for Holodeck, but I'm not sure how much patience I have left for Cryptic to fix that issue. We have it for months now!
  • dgdolphdgdolph Member Posts: 592 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    holofrog wrote: »
    So, I have still hope for Holodeck
    Nah, just kill it with fire! Nuke that damn thing from orbit and start again from Season 1.2 when the game was actually enjoyable.

    holofrog wrote: »
    ...but I'm not sure how much patience I have left for Cryptic to fix that issue.
    Well the PvP crowd had to wait for 5 years now to get anything...still nothing happened. Srsly guys, hoping for better times in STO is foolish. Your dreams of a better game are nothing more than dreams. There're really only 2 options for us players:

    a) Accept the fact that everything is going to hell and try to have fun until the servers shut down next year.

    b) Just leave like most vets already did.
  • woodwhitywoodwhity Member Posts: 2,636 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    dgdolph wrote: »

    b) Just leave like most vets already did.

    If only all pvpers had chosen that option...
  • maobemaobe Member Posts: 86 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    It's definitely related to Traits, specialist ship mechanics (gather intel, inspiration), specializations (intel, command, pilot), and certain doffs.

    Players with maxed out, powerful toons, with all the toys get more severe lag and misfirings. While toons, like the new delta recruits, that don't have the latest and greatest shinies do not seem to have any problems. ...

    i think i can confirm that for my toons. my main, lv60 engineer with maxed out gear, traits, 3 sets on ship, lots of procs etc etc has even minor lags in solo pve at some times. my 1st delta, meanwhile lv53 engi, with only purple none-rep stuff has only every now and then a lag. it seems somewhat inside the game regarding the communication between client(s) and server gets in trouble when lots of special abilities are involved? connection is totally OK when playing, i´m from germany with 50/5 cable, even watching netflix, youtube or a musicstream during a patrol is no problem.
    U.S.S. JUGGERNAUT - Command Science Cruiser
    "Where we are is the front."
  • zobovorzobovor Member Posts: 198 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Yea man and considering that this sort of lag seems to be correlated to how much effort (gear, doffs), money (ship traits) and time (skill points) a player has dedicated toward this game this is quiet embarrassing.

    I mean… those who do most what cryptic wants us to do are going to suffer the most?!? :confused.

    Well, for all we know this could be some fancy new way to rebalance the game . :)
    It certainly seems to work better than anything they tried previously .
    Just look at the 9K DPS from our top DPS folks .

    Sure, it may look like Darth Vader's version of bringing balance to the Force ... , but between the Emblems to Dil conversation and STO: Rebirth , it's certainly not the worst joke Cryptic ever pulled . :D
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