In this forums section (and in many others) we see constantly LAG! when ever the ride is not smooth anymore. Just to make one thing crystal clear to everyone: A drop in Frames Per Secons (FPS) is not lag.
Definintions:
Lag = your high ping, i.e. the milliseconds a data packet needs to reach the server and come back, is relative high. There is no clear definition what is the threshold that a delay can be considered lagging. In other words we are all lagging (as the action is not instant), some are more and some less. If you have a constant high ping, say 200, you can play the game but ships can jump around you, being in front of one second and behind you the next. NOTE! If you are lagging the screen is still drawn smoothly. So you see a lag spike that everyone keeps floating in some direction smoothly (the distances grow steadily). For me if I get a lag spike (yellow or red blinking icon) if the connection does not re-establish say in 5 secs it almost 100% means that it's server crash time. Lately I've been seeing shorter lags, but that's due to sheer number of people playing at the same time. In-game you can test your ping by writing /ping
What you can do about it? Shut down all the other programs that use the net bandwidth while playing. If this is not helping, ping some IP address near you. Go to Start -> Run and write cmd and press enter. Then write preferably your ISP address like ping www.myispaddress.com to see if your connection to your ISP is ok. Some ISPs have blocked the pinging so in that case you won't get any ping. Then you can try the competitors address. If your ping is high then the problem is either (and most likely) in your router/modem/hub, unless you can find an announcement in your ISP's website that they are having difficulties/maintenance etc. I would say, depending how rural your home is located at, that a 5-20ms is a pretty normal ping to your ISP. At summer house it might get to 30-40ms. If you have found out that the cause for high ping is in your equipment then it's usually google time. Try to google for similar problems. One trick is to minimize the middle men in your connections. That means connect the computer straight to modem leaving all the routers and hubs aside and see what happens.
Low FPS: This is a video card / CPU / memory (PC performance issue) totally. Usually your FPS drops when there are a lot of object to be drawn in your screen. Take for example a big pvp furball. The symptom is that screen stutters and is refreshed slowly.
You can test if your problem might be fps problem by launching a single player game, and then start shooting or get into a dense asteroid field. To get specific and real time FPS info, one way is to load www.fraps.com and click "show fps in corner x". The program is free. There are others available also.
What you can do about it? Update the graphic card drivers. Adjust your display settings in game. Lower the resolution. Buy better video card. Freelancer is such an old game that even integrated graphics card will do a fine job of keeping you in space.
There are cases when the FPS is abnormally low in some recurring situations. Those are the real problems. Could be corrupted Disco mod installation etc. Who knows. Ask for help about them in this very Software & Hardware section.
Of course lag and low fps can go hand in hand. Usually lag occurs when there are lot of players and action near your ship, since all your actions and their actions need to transmitted to each other via the server. And a lot of action means that there's a lot to draw in screen, hence leading to lower fps. So be gent and get out of the system if you are not directly involved in fighting. I know spectating can be fun, BUT you are probably just going to get those Aussies, Yanks and Canucks killed because they suffer of high ping and lag spikes more than you who are sitting next to server in Europe.
Why I do this to you? I usually check this SW/HW part of the forum out and as I happen to know something about computers I'm trying to help others out. And it helps a lot if someone who asks help can either say it's real lag or just fps drop issue. People who are helping can give right advice without first asking about in which one the problem really lies in. So the more precise problem description you can give the quicker you can expect to get help if it's not one of those bizarre ones depending on the location of moon and sun and stars. Problem solving is all about narrowing down the factors involved.
So no offense meant to anyone. We are all learning new things here every week. I the most.
I think im in the last category - i get lag and low fps..
I'm playing on a 5 year old laptop with low ram and integrated graphics, a 2.66ghz processor is a beast that makes my laptop like a toaster but the lack of support in the hardware makes it bad... added to that, i am dealing with Chinese internet.
Apart from the fact that everything here is routed through "the wall" i am still at times able to play more or less ok. The norm though is constant flashing yellow lag interspersed with red. It tends to happen in bursts.
During this time, aiming is impossible, and often i cant even chat in game as the messages take literally minutes to display - trade lanes don't dock, and station docks don't open.
i know its an ISP issue as sometimes web sites take AGES to load... and the problem here is you never know if its "harmony" (censorship), isp silliness ( you want to see the wiring in Beijing, massive coils of wires hanging from poles), congestion or who knows...
My average ping is 380 - 420... after 420 its impossible to play, for a while there it was 480-660.. at which point i couldn't log on. Wanna know why i do lots of forum RP and stories? haha there is part of the reason!
recently its dropped as low as 350.... (fingers crossed)
