Performance Issues

[thesauce]

So since the patch I've been getting some unholy lag on PS. I defragged, checked for c drive errors, updated drivers and cleaned out all my spyware with the trial McAffee program thats supposedly top notch. Still its unbearable. Any suggestions? I'm prob gonna cancel my sub if I can't get this figured out within the next week or so.

[duffman626]

max out your virtual mem to 4096 MB, set the min and max to this value.

and you may be getting that lag because of packet loss too, if you have any. For the past month now 90% of the time I log on I have 1.5%-2.5% loss, because of some stupid AT&T line.

[Xenode]

negative.

Setting the virtual mem too high can result in performance loss too.

Have multiple partitions? Which partition is the pagefile on?

The correct amount of virtual mem to be allocated is 1.5x that of your physical RAM. How many background processes are there?

click start ---> run, then type "msconfig" go through and clear out things that dont need to run at startup. McAfee is a resource WHORE. By whore I mean if I try to access my G: drive with McAfee protecting it, it will take 15 mins to scan every file before I get a listing. I have to ctrl+alt+del and kill all mcxxxxx processes.

So things to disable, McAfee (or at least ctrl+alt+del and kill all the processes), quicktime, winDVD (these are things I have disabled just to give you an idea of things to disable), anything not possibly system related. These are in the startup tab. Also removing mcafee services if you dont mind. In the services tab at the bottom, click "Hide all MS services" and look through for things you dont need. If you have ATi they throw alot of stuff in, I would leave this, but anything else you can live without (mcafee).

I will also give you the ISP help desk bullshit info, because who knows. Clearing the cache in your browser may work too. I have logged in for the past 2 weeks with a 300ms ping and a constant 1.2% loss. Comcast links up to AT&T. Something is messed up. I have been able to get 46 ms last night though. Was a great non-lag experience.

Remove the spyware/adware.

[thesauce]

Thanks guys. Yeah Duff, I already have things set up that way. I'll disbale McAfee as my next step cuz, come to think of it, when I installed the new program the lag started...duh. I also learned that there have been some major network problems where I live because of some changes my carrier has made. Hopefully this will clear some things up. Thanks again.

[Zetite]

What also can help a lot is to reboot. Make sure you remove all the unneeded crap from your startup and give it a good restart. Could also defrag your memory/free up wasted mem with some tools like the stuff included with SystemMechanic.

Delete temporary files (\documents and settings\%username%\local settings\ and \windows\temp) and defrag your drive(s).

Putting the pagefile on a different/faster drive than windows and even planetside are installed on can be a great help too.

And sometimes updating the drivers can decrease your performance, but best to just benchmark to check that.

[duffman626]

negative.

Setting the virtual mem too high can result in performance loss too.



well I'm not much of a comp geek, but that's the only way I can even attempt to play planetside.

[Stan-The-Man]

Well, rasing your virtual memory to very high amounts (anything above maybe 2x/3x that of your actual RAM) can be unhealthy for your system, depending on your HardDrive and CPU speed. anyway.

And, yeah, to me, it wouldn't help too much in performance, nor would putting 3GB of RAM in a system that only has a 1.8GHz CPU.

In a sense, all of the said stuff is just more for your computer/system to do. It has to count all of said memory up and such things.

Doing that takes more away from what you wan't your memory/CPU to be doing, which is running PlanetSide. ;)

These are just things I think and run by, and are based on stuff I've noticed working around with our computers, with some references from my father (Who used to work a on computers).

Not really sure if my rabble makes sense to anyone else, but oh well. :roll:

[Noyjitat]

max out your virtual mem to 4096 MB, set the min and max to this value.

and you may be getting that lag because of packet loss too, if you have any. For the past month now 90% of the time I log on I have 1.5%-2.5% loss, because of some stupid AT&T line.

I havent had the packet loss problem at all myself. But everyone that i have asked that had this problem said that they have Comcast. So comcast must be a pretty generic internet company.

[Zetite]

lately ive been having some packet loss problems too. 1.2% - 2.0 % or so. nothing that effects gameplay a ton, but its HUGE compared to the 0.0-0.1%

And yeah i do have Comcast. Formerly AT&T BI in this area.

[RagOnAStick]

max out your virtual mem to 4096 MB, set the min and max to this value.

and you may be getting that lag because of packet loss too, if you have any. For the past month now 90% of the time I log on I have 1.5%-2.5% loss, because of some stupid AT&T line.

That's actually a bad thing to do. :(

[duffman626]

max out your virtual mem to 4096 MB, set the min and max to this value.

and you may be getting that lag because of packet loss too, if you have any. For the past month now 90% of the time I log on I have 1.5%-2.5% loss, because of some stupid AT&T line.

That's actually a bad thing to do. :(

:) obviously not, since I've tested it and the higher I put my virtual mem, the better performance I get...

[Xenode]

duff then you have a shitty PC :lol:

Pagefile is basically using HD space as memory space (duh) the problem is that RAM is faster. So if you max out the pagefile your system bogs down. For those that dont think they can drop a grand on a new PC, Dell has some nice deals that come with extras. I will only build a PC for people looking for cheapo (about $300 and have their own peripherals) or anyone looking for a nice high end system (about $800-$900 for top of the line)

putting the pagefile on a less busy partition is always a good thing. The least fragmented drive is a good place to put it.

Comcast blows as far as service

I figured zetite would post with his all so technical PATHS :x If any of you have questions ask him he does this stuff for a living. I cant find a PC shop job in this city :(

[Pytheas-K]

In defense of Duff, he's on a laptop with SDRAM, so he is very limited to what he can do. Low speed ram, probably 2100. As well as a 4200rpm HD.

[Xenode]

not attacking him and yea 4200rpm is killing him. :( if you have a desktop and for some reason have only a 5400rpm drive, upgrade its only like $80 and you will see performance skyrocket

[duffman626]

duff then you have a shitty PC :lol:

no I don't. I have a shitty laptop.

1.7 GHz P4m, 32 MB Nvidia GeForce4 440 Go, 512 DDR RAM, 40 GB

^that was what I played on since the beginning of the game 'til about two weeks ago. Now I have 1024 DDR RAM :)

Oh, did I mention I use Comcast...and I wouldn't mind spending some money to buy/build a comp, but I don't need to...I usually have smooth framerate (20-50), and since I got a gig of ram I never crash anymore. Plus I can alt+tab all I want.

[Xenode]

comcast blows, 1GB isnt that bad, the HD is probably killing ya. Plus the video doesnt helpmuch

[Stan-The-Man]

1.7 GHz P4m, 32 MB Nvidia GeForce4 440 Go, 512 DDR RAM, 40 GB

^that was what I played on since the beginning of the game 'til about two weeks ago. Now I have 1024 DDR RAM :)

Oh, did I mention I use Comcast...and I wouldn't mind spending some money to buy/build a comp, but I don't need to...I usually have smooth framerate (20-50), and since I got a gig of ram I never crash anymore. Plus I can alt+tab all I want.

I have 1.5GHz Athlon XP with just the 512 DDR. The HD is 30GB-7200RPM, and the video is a Geforce FX 5200 128MB.

Also had Comcast. We're in the process of switching ISPs...something I'm not sure would help if I was still playing right now.....thats another deal, though.

I always thought our actual comcast connection was fine, but it definately wasn't too good once it got to my end. The computer I gamed on was behind a router, and was last to get the bandwidth/connection.

I usually got about 40/50 idle, 20/30 moving about and fighting (low-level) and got down to 10 in heavy shit.

Anyway, Duff, you got enough RAM, or at least enough for your CPU, anyway. Any more and your comp could actually slow down some.

A faster HDD would help, apparantly, and definately a faster CPU. Some better video probably wouldn't hurt either.

I know that's impossible, being you're on a laptop, but hey, bah. Your fault. :P

[Xenode]

512MB blows. 1 GB is nice. Also, your router wasnt the problem. Routers dont discriminate on who gets what amount of bandwidth. They are a smart switch which distribute bandwidth evenly. So if you, your sister, your dad, and mom each ran kazaa and downloaded 50 songs each of illegal MP3's then the connection would be slow.

I use to use an ATi er Connect3D Ati Radeon 9200 pro or LE or whatever it was. 128MB mem and it blew. I would get 20-30fps.

[RagOnAStick]

negative.

Setting the virtual mem too high can result in performance loss too.



well I'm not much of a comp geek, but that's the only way I can even attempt to play planetside.

I was crashing and getting white graphics with that Duffman, system Managed seems good for me.
Try it out.

[misterselfdistruct]

... Jesus, Duffman! Get a new computer!

[Stan-The-Man]

... Jesus, Duffman! Get a new computer!

Hmm, why the hell didn't I just say that..... :roll:

[RagOnAStick]

That GFX Card makes me shudder.
What's your address, I'll send you a better one.

[misterselfdistruct]

I think Duffman's computer is a laptop.

[thesauce]

I was talking to the IT support guy at work and he mentioned that ad aware is wreaking havoc on PC's due to some definition errors and some other bullshit that I can't claim to understand...anyway, I uninstalled ad aware and that seems to have made a world of difference so far. Just fyi in case you guys use this program.

[Xenode]

I keep my PC pretty clean so I only run adaware maybe once every 2 weeks to a month. I havent heard anything about adaware messing things up, but then again, I havent updated and tested it. The only way I could imagine adaware screwing things up is if the def file detects something that isnt adware or spyware and tries to remove it.

I have the free version so I dont have monitoring on. That could be what he is talking about.

[Abraxen]

For what it's worth I've been getting packetloss as well since the last patch. I'm on Verizon DSL.

[Xenode]

I am beginning to think its on SOE's side. The packetloss is hitting everyone. When SOE servers seem to be common factor in everyones packetloss.

[duffman626]

Here's the thread in which TSR-Joel told me it was a prob with AT&T

http://psforums.station.sony.com/ps/board/message?board.id=pstechsupport&message.id=42891&view=by_date_ascending&page=1