Lag and Socom II, the explanation.

Gotham666 · 03-23-2005

all this week I have signed in and played 2 rounds then left, it has been brutal and if they don't fix some of it for S3 I will not buy it, it is too frustrating.

arkard · 03-29-2005

My DSL I connect at the speed of 256 KB/s. We could have bought more such as like 500 and then there was one higher then t1 and up. My ps2 is connected to my modem with a 100 ft cord. I have yet to be told that I lag but i am not sure if I have ever hosted in a game. Also we run our computer at the same time and still I have not been told I lag. Maybe I do but it isnt bad enough for people to complain or vote me. But I do know that it seems sometimes I hit people in the head and they dont die. Would that be lag on my part or there or the host lagging?

Gotham666 · 03-29-2005

its all lagg all the time. unless you play at 3am.

spenser93 · 03-31-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by øtter

First off....I take no credit whatsoever from this, this was all posted by a guy named h20, found in This thread on another socom forum, all the credit goes to him, I'm just posting it because I think it may prove useful

Lag in socom2. We all hate it, but lots of people don’t know what causes it. The truth is-its not sony’s or zippers fault. The patches don’t cause it, there is no magical way for them to solve it. (So don’t keep on making useless threads on it).

What causes lag?

1st lets clear one thing-lag is the amount of time it takes for your packets to be sent to the host, and for the updated host packets to be sent to you.

Take a VIP and shoot him in the head. Count between the shot you took and when the vip dies. That’s your ping, or latency. Its around 500ms which is UNBEARABLE ON NORMAL PC GAMES, but we have become accustomed to it. You will notice about a half-second delay between sniper kills etc.

“NERR OMGZURS I SHOT THAT GUY ONE BAJILLION TIMES AND HE DIDN’T DIE!” ha ha ha! A common problem on socom2, but that guy isn’t lagging, its called packet loss/choke. Lets me explain with this neat little picture created with…paint!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...34/hostps2.bmp

If you can get past how horrible it is-let me explain it. On the Right you can see the host-ps2. It is responsible for everything you see ingame. The kills, grenades, people looking jerky-when they jump, everything. On the left you have the clients, the people who are not the host but are playing. Theres only a couple in that screen, but there can be up to 15 clients playing the game, and 6-8 spectators.

The red…ahh, so evil. There the packets. The info containing just what the hell you are doing. There are a lot of em aren’t they? That’s where the problem is. Most home connections can't handle all of those packets. Lots of packets must be sent every microsecond. They contain everything youre doing, so they must be sent every microsecond. When things start to get backed up, you get a….traffic jam!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/h20534/story.jpg

Yup, all those packets are jammed up in there. So youre shooting that guy a hundred times in the head, but the host isn’t getting those packets. That means its like its never even happening. Theres nothing you can do about it. All home connections handle everything roughly everything the same.

Btw when some guy is facing the opposite way and kills you, he really thinks you are infront of him. On his screen he sees you where hes shooting, and so does the host. So when you die from someone shooting at thin-air its because they actually see your where there shooting.

The only thing the official socom2 servers do are:

Handle Stats

Friends list

Clan list

Msg system

Get you into a game.

ONCE YOU ARE IN A GAME THE SOCOM2 SERVERS ARE NO LONGER HANDLING ANY OF THE DATA EXCEPT YOUR MESSAGES!

Things that can be done to reduce lag.

1. Having connections with more bandwidth be host. (DSL connections SHOULD NEVER BE HOST)

2. Stop downloading Pr0n/turn off all other PC’s when playing socom2. (important for host)

3. Don’t use weapons that have to track projectiles (RPG’s come into mind-the host most track there every movement and send them out to all player taking up more bandwidth for the second or two that its in the air)

4. Voting spectators will help reduce lag/packet loss, but only minimally (it doesnet really matter since there not moving around and shooting there not eating up a lot of packets)

5. Less complicated maps (Example: Foxhunt uses more bandwidth then Frostfire becauses it’s a) Bigger in size and B)In foxhunt the host must track the vips, which eat up a little bit more bandwidth.

Though most of em wont be followed, if you do follow em there will be a major reduction in the incidents where you pump 100 bullets into some guy and he turns around and kills you.

I take no credit whatsoever from this, this was all posted by a guy named h20, on another forum, thread is found Here on another socom forum, all the credit goes to him, I'm just posting it because I think it may prove useful

http://boardsus.playstation.com/play...sage.id=745771

or like most of the "laggers" i encounter r pulling there cords

terminator1 · 04-02-2005

DSL is great!!! As long as your physical connection is relatively close to your sever. Cable is better!!! To an extent. No matter what you do, Lag will be present.

Go host a game. One thing is for sure, you will here it from the other players if your connection is bad. If so, leave the room and come back.

Personally...Socom Online’s staff is doing a good job

99.9% of the time it’s the players individual connection that creating the lag. 16 players report to host, host reports back to 16 PS2's, grenades flying all the way across the board, rocket launchers going off, and hostages being moved.

If you want to play without lag (accept for cord pullers). Stay out of full rooms. Try playing FF 4 on 4 w/no grenades.

The mOBSCENE · 04-02-2005

Ok, I have only read over the first page so excus me if this was already answered in the others but DSL is suppose to be quicker with online gaming than Cable is simply because it sends smaller packets at a quicker rate. DSL is not as fast in cable but its quicker when it comes to online gaming. I think that the reason the guy who made that post said that DSL should not host is because DSL connection are not as strong as cable connections and is unable to handle all of the other players. Cable is stronger even though its slightly slower so it should be able to handle those players better.

Subject 17 · 04-28-2005

if you tried all of these things and still have a bad connection, you have a problem like mine.

my cable company and ISP are cheap as hell, and there is no competition in the area. there is a broken/blown signal booster or something in one of my developments cableboxes, which the company hasnt replaced, even though its been about 8 months now, and we called over 30 times.

irónkid · 05-02-2005

i use cable modem thingy its not so bad but also i use a router so it might lag but its stilll good and sometimes the lag is so gay ppl just take 30 shots and they dont die

Deathmonger · 05-13-2005

Well why doesn't Halo 2 lag? The frame rate is very smooth and people die when they get shot. I like Socom 2 better than Halo 2 but it's the lag that kills it. I mean I keep hearing the explanations on what causes lag but why does Halo 2 not lag at all while Socom 2 does if it only has to do with our systems and not the servers?
Also, it definitely depends on which map you play on whether it will lag or not which sucks, Bitter Jungle, Vigilance, and Fish Hook are horrible at lagging while Foxhunt, Requiem(best map for no lag imo!) and etc. I mean Shadow Falls has more graphics than Vigilance and is relatively bigger so why doesn't that lag? Oh well, I would rather see Zipper get rid of lag than continuosly complain about the obvious lag that Solag 2 is.
I love the game, the lag is just ridiculous though.

Gotham666 · 05-14-2005

I agree, XBOX for the most part is a way better system, every now and then you get some lagg but even then it is nothing like Socom, With Xbox the person lagging is the one that dies, not the guy with the good connection like Socom, seems to me they could set it up so that the guy with the bad connection will die before the guy with the good connection does, it only makes sense. maybe there is hope for S3, If they took away the ranks it would help alot too, just keep the stats page.