Having issues with the game? This may help.

[Bacon Overlord®]

I thought I'd post about it here since, apparently, there are some people that are very vocal that have issues with the game.

I haven't had a single issue with it though. I hate to be "that guy" but it's important to note up front that some people (more than you think) aren't having any issues with the game at all. The goal here is to get you to the same point.

The first thing you need to check is your system configuration to make sure you meet/exceed ALL of the RECOMMENDED specs required to run the game. Not the minium requirements... that's just to get the game running. The recommended specs are that ones you want to exceed in order to not have any issues. An option for this would be http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/

Are Incursions/Major Arkfalls laggy for everyone?

No.

The game engine works hard to counter any lag by dropping polygon counts anywhere it can up to the performance level of your system. If that means dropping out the models of players in a particularly (100+) crowded incursion, then that's what it does. Does it drop out the monster models? No. Does the game freeze and then unfreeze? No. I have yet to encounter anything like that where it could be considered any kind of congestion for the packets.

So what does this mean?

If you're experiencing lag or some of the issues you read about in here, chances are they are client-side. I've talked to way too many people that have never had any issues or have had a specific issue that they resolved.

If you're curious what you can do to resolve some of your issues, you could start with your graphic card manufacturer's website for updates for your video card. (ATI.COM, NVIDIA.COM, AMD.COM) If that doesn't work, you might consider checking to see if there is a bios update to your motherboard and/or CPU. You can figure that out by going to the manufacturer's website (whomever's name is on the case) and looking at the specs for your computer. Typically you'll find a place on their website to download drivers for your default system.

Having failed those, I'd check to see if you're experiencing overheating in your computer case. A simple program to check that would be CPUID HWmonitor.

Other issues can stem from drivers from joysticks to using a keyboard that requires Human Interface Drivers (HID) that never work well with MMOs, much less shooters and basically never work well with joysticks (yes, I'm looking at you, Logitech). All the way to having background processes running... If you're playing the game through Steam, there are settings to make sure you're not downloading programs in the background also. If you're NOT playing on Steam, but have Steam open, it will download updates and perform its routines as if you're not in a game. So that's something you need to pay attention to. Also, your virus protection can cause lots of problems in online games when you have any kind of live-update going on, real-time file checking and/or virus scans going on.

Lastly: The "server" for the game isn't just one server. It's lots of servers. So if you get on a server you feel is "laggy", log out and log back in after a few minutes or ask your friends if they are having lag. If they aren't, join their phase. That will move you to their server.

Hope that helps.

[GrizBe]

Yet Defiance is the only MMO I've played that I've had major lag issue with...

Just because your not having issue's does not mean that other people shouldn't be, or that the problems are not server side.

I've a PC beyond minimum spec and a broadband connection, so by your reasoning, I should be having zero problems... Yet I've encountered the 'disapering players' in arkfalls and incursions, lag stalls soloing missions... ladder glitching and firing me into the sky and accross the landscape and then random freezing where everyone else stands still and no hits register.

All the 'problems' you've listed, just aren't issues for me. My virus cheker hasn't been running scans... not been d/ling in the background etc etc... yet I still get lag from Defiance...

Ergo, it is defiantely server sided problems.

[Killbunny]

Originally posted by Bacon Overlord:

The game engine works hard to counter any lag by dropping polygon counts anywhere it can up to the performance level of your system. If that means dropping out the models of players in a particularly (100+) crowded incursion, then that's what it does. Does it drop out the monster models? No. Does the game freeze and then unfreeze? No. I have yet to encounter anything like that where it could be considered any kind of congestion for the packets.

Cannot get behind any of this. I have seen where the game has removed enemy model because of the game lag itself. Nothing to do with my rig, my rig easily destroys the "recommended specs" and my internet connetion is much more than enough to handle this game.

All the issues I have experised in the game are 100% server side and I think you will find it is the same for most people.

[Bacon Overlord®]

Originally posted by GrizBe:

Yet Defiance is the only MMO I've played that I've had major lag issue with...

Just because your not having issue's does not mean that other people shouldn't be, or that the problems are not server side.

I've a PC beyond minimum spec and a broadband connection, so by your reasoning, I should be having zero problems... Yet I've encountered the 'disapering players' in arkfalls and incursions, lag stalls soloing missions... ladder glitching and firing me into the sky and accross the landscape and then random freezing where everyone else stands still and no hits register.

All the 'problems' you've listed, just aren't issues for me. My virus cheker hasn't been running scans... not been d/ling in the background etc etc... yet I still get lag from Defiance...

Ergo, it is defiantely server sided problems.

Most people don't have issues... Ergo it's not the server.

The point of this thread was to try to figure out some of the issues for the few folks that are having them.

I'd do a check on your files to make sure they aren't corrupted. The issues you've mentioned sound like more of a problem with the engine not getting data so you might also check your internet to make sure you're not losing packets between your ISP and the server (doing a ping with 1K packets works well for this also).

The next time you feel you're "lagging" in the game, try asking your friends/clan mates if they are also having issues. If they aren't (most won't be) try switching to their instance/phase. If the lag clears up, it's that server. If it doesn't, it's probably you.

[-{Geo}- Cegorach]

First you must divide Lag and Performance.
- Lag is internet connection side problem, Ping, Latency, atc...
- Performance problem is PC-Client side problem, also minor FPS drops can be caused cos of internet problems too.
So, first you must understand you have lag or performance problem, game have sometimes problems with Wireless and with Wifi, sometimes if server isn't restarted too long it have some problems too, also don't forget that between your PC and game Server is not just one connection, providers are using different ways for connecting to servers and problem can be caused somewhere in the middle of this connection. If problem is in performance then read what OP wrights, also don't forget sometimes restart game client, it's Open World and as most of many OW games some stuck files can cause Performance drops too, also drivers and Windows can too, every thing can works fine, but just one insignificant file or program conflict can cause the BSOD, Error and Performance problem too. (for example Steam Overlay can be quite big problem for many game performance, in one game it can have no problems, but in second one can cause FPS issues).
Game is good optimized for System Requirements that are announced on Steam, so most of performance problems are PC side and not client or server in most situations, but Lag as I say can be PC side, Provider (internet connection), Middle side connection and server side connection problem too. Just programs like Skype, Raidcall, Browsers, Antivirus programs can be huge Performance and/or Lag causing problem.

EDIT : sometimes happened to me too, when on same mirror me and my friend playing together and in a second one of us lost connection to server when second one have no problems and no Lag or/and FPS drops. It means that somewhere in the middle of connection PC<->Server files are lost, so connection of that PC to Server is lost too, but Server is Up cos one is playing without problems there and second one dropped from Server, but didn't lost internet connection as it. After that Game client and Server are still trying to connect to each other cos you are not dropped immediately, but if after a period (as I see it's 2 minutes here) they still can't connect to each other you are dropped from server with "Try again" button on the screen.
Also game not long ago goes F2P and I feel that they didn't expect so many players together, it happened to many games before Defiance too, also Developers are working on fixing that and I'm sure soon (in near future patches) it will be fixed.

[Bacon Overlord®]

Originally posted by Killbunny:

Originally posted by Bacon Overlord:

The game engine works hard to counter any lag by dropping polygon counts anywhere it can up to the performance level of your system. If that means dropping out the models of players in a particularly (100+) crowded incursion, then that's what it does. Does it drop out the monster models? No. Does the game freeze and then unfreeze? No. I have yet to encounter anything like that where it could be considered any kind of congestion for the packets.

Cannot get behind any of this. I have seen where the game has removed enemy model because of the game lag itself. Nothing to do with my rig, my rig easily destroys the "recommended specs" and my internet connetion is much more than enough to handle this game.

All the issues I have experised in the game are 100% server side and I think you will find it is the same for most people.

The game has never removed enemy models for me or anyone else I've talked to actually. That's got to be a very small cross-section issue. If anyone else has experienced these problems, maybe we can get some specs from their systems and find out what the common denominator is... it could be graphics card incompabitibilities, etc.

For example, I'm running on a i7-3960X (6-core) at 3.3 Ghz to 4.2 Ghz with dual GTX 660s (very old video cards) and over 100 Mb/sec transfer rates. I'm pretty much right around the typical system for a FPS gamer except maybe the internet which is probably a bit more than average.

But I have the most recent drivers for my video cards and flash bios update within the last year on my board.

The problem with saying it's 100% server side is that most of the people I've spoken to don't have any issues at all beyond minor glitches. No true "lag" as you're describing. So... it can't be the server if only specific people are experiencing issues.

[Bacon Overlord®]

Originally posted by -{Geo}- Cegorach:

First you must divide Lag and Performance.
- Lag is internet connection side problem, Ping, Latency, atc...
- Performance problem is PC-Client side problem, also minor FPS drops can be caused cos of internet problems too.
So, first you must understand you have lag or performance problem, game have sometimes problems with Wireless and with Wifi, sometimes if server isn't restarted too long it have some problems too, also don't forget that between your PC and game Server is not just one connection, providers are using different ways for connecting to servers and problem can be caused somewhere in the middle of this connection. If problem is in performance then read what OP wrights, also don't forget sometimes restart game client, it's Open World and as most of many OW games some stuck files can cause Performance drops too, also drivers and Windows can too, every thing can works fine, but just one insignificant file or program conflict can cause the BSOD, Error and Performance problem too. (for example Steam Overlay can be quite big problem for many game performance, in one game it can have no problems, but in second one can cause FPS issues).
Game is good optimized for System Requirements that are announced on Steam, so most of performance problems are PC side and not client or server in most situations, but Lag as I say can be PC side, Provider (internet connection), Middle side connection and server side connection problem too.

Thanks for taking the time to type all that out.

[Disgusting Deviant (DD)]

Lag isn't problem in my situation, BSOD is. I can't get further than that escape pod part.
1st crash- when sitting in escape pod
2nd crash- when escape pod landed
My computer isn't the newest: Ati radeon HD 2600 XT and 2 cores.
My fps while playing this- 30 fps max

[[XGS]DonkyBoY]

I had a rather frustrating problem with ingame lag, It did seem to be the server with the enemys freezing not even being animated all players would appear to be doing the same and then every one would die all at the same time. This would happen in crowded areas such as raid boss fights.

after a few days of this and others saying they was not seeing any lag or lag as bad as I was seeing I asked the Steam client to verify my game files.
This resulted in the entire game being redownloaded and when launching it had to reinstall the Glyph launcher which in turn grabed another 926MB of patch data.

Once this had finished my lag had vanished and the game once again ran smooth with minimal noticeable lag spikes. (impossible to have no lag for me when I play from South Australia its along ways aways from the server in North America).

Im not saying that this is the answer for every one and im not expecting you all to go and redownload the entire game.

I did perform network latency / packet loss tests before thinking it was me, I do keep my PC in good order and make sure i dont have downloads running when I play games that require internet conection. If you have done these things and cant seem to find an answer maybe it is the game files being damaged or not upto date some how.

as has already stated in this thread its hard to belive it is 100% the server as there are others in my little group that are playing at the same time as me that get what appears to be nasty server side lag and may or maynot get DC'd when the game is running just fine for me at the same time or vise versa = Its not the server how can it be if it was the server it would be bad for every one all at the same time, I do see some lag that is the server its not that offten and normally around the time there is a server restart.

[SterlingStar]

Originally posted by DonkyBoY:

...SNIP ...
I asked the Steam client to verify my game files.
This resulted in the entire game being redownloaded and when launching it had to reinstall the Glyph launcher which in turn grabed another 926MB of patch data.

Verifying cache resulted in same thing here. Complete reinstall :( I hope this fixes the lag issue as my rig more than is capable of handling defiance and I have broadband.

I have tested my connection speed while ingame and its fine, I just have the dissapearing players/mobs and timeouts from server kinda frequently. This is my last step I thinks before I call it a dead game to me.

[Snib]

Laggy servers are a known issue acknowledged by the devs. Don't get trolled.

[Bacon Overlord®]

Originally posted by Snib:

Laggy servers are a known issue acknowledged by the devs. Don't get trolled.

Nice try.. I think we can spot a troll though.

Do you take change for your toll?

[[XGS]DonkyBoY]

Testing your connection speed is one thing but its not realy going to tell you much.

Testing the latency and packet loss of the network would give a better indication as to the state of the network path you follow to get to the server.

You can use windows resource monitor to find the IP of the server you are connected to and use something such as WinMTR (its free to DL and use a google search will find it easy enough) this will provide much more acurate insight into the state of the network path you follow to get to the Trion worlds server.

some of my NZ freinds are finding that they are have large amounts of packet loss through the vocus networks at certain times of the day this has nothing to do with Trion or thier servers or your connection / router / pc hardware and was only revealed in proper testing.

using just ping or just tracert is not sufficent but the 2 combined make provide so much more information.

I have used this and left it running on another monitor while i played so i could see in realtime what was happening.

[Traveller]

so the majority of the patches designed to fix server issues were a red herring and everyone complaining of server issues on trions sight are what making it up?
trion is spending the majority of its resouces trying to fix server issues, as evident by the latest patches are what? trion being stupid?
sure their are issues that some are complaining about are pc side thats a given. but to put all the eggs in that basket, is somethign that obviously trion doesnt agree with otherwise you sould see 0 patches trying to fix server issues.
I commend you on trying to ensure that the pc side has no issues. but i recommend you visit trions forums and put out the same posts and see

[[XGS]DonkyBoY]

Originally posted by Snib:

Laggy servers are a known issue acknowledged by the devs. Don't get trolled.

while the server do lag from time to time no one has denied this what we are trying to say is there are a lot of users complaingin of hardcore server lag when it is infact not lagging at the same time for every one (if it was the server we would all be laggin at the same time).

There has to be other answers for some of us rather than just plain old blame Trion.

It also depends on others in your group or others close to you if they are downloading and using all thier bandwidth whilst playing and your close enough to them well you are getting thier lag.

and as so many users have no idea about thier pc or how a network works or doesnt work we are here trying to help other to understand how to identify and correct these issues / mistake / oversights wich in turn will benifit us all.

trying to derail the thread with uselss information that has no real benefit or usefull feedback of anykind is complete waste of your time and others reading it.

[Traveller]

Originally posted by Bacon Overlord:

Originally posted by Snib:

Laggy servers are a known issue acknowledged by the devs. Don't get trolled.

Nice try.. I think we can spot a troll though.

Do you take change for your toll?

he doesnt need to. nor should he have to spend time showing you the threads on trions forums devoted this this, many started by trion. do some research on your own!