Specific questions about lag and performance

#36300036433 08/30/2006 08:57 Specific questions about lag and performance

- Do the requirements for good performance fluctuate due to server or other connection issues?

I sometimes have absolutely fluent performance and sometimes unbearable bucking -- independent from area or player number in my area, and all at highest settings.
Could it be that, when the performance quality decreases, the server sends more challenging information to the client, and exceeds my PC's capabilities, while in other times, it sends less challenging data and my PC can handle it?

Or, if I can have totally smooth performance at highest settings, any lag not specifically coming from server issues (or extreme player density) is server side or due to connection, and upgrading my PC won't help anything?

- If I'm hearing my hard drive rattling all the time during lag, do I then know that it comes from my PC? Because, sometimes, I get unbearable lag without the hard drive sound, and in other times, have perfect performance with the hard drive making noise as crazy.

#36300038205 09/01/2006 01:34 Re:Specific questions about lag and performance

I've seen the exact same problem. The game seems to run very smoothly, but eventually performance starts to degrade sharply. I suspect there are some memory leaks at work here. Sometimes I can go for over an hour without seeing a performance drop, and other times it happens within minutes after logging in. I've noticed just opening my minimap can reduce my framerate by 5 FPS, but not always, which makes it rather odd.

#36300039052 09/02/2006 01:32 Re:Specific questions about lag and performance

I have a pretty decent system. But to give you an example of how wacky this performance problem can be, tonight I logged in, and after the code effect faded away and I was left standing around at a vacant hardline, I could immediately tell the framerate was chugging. I did a /netstats and saw that I was running at 13 FPS. Looking briefly around, I didn't see anything going on, so I exited the game, went back to desktop, waited a few seconds and then logged right back in to the same location.

This time it seemed smooth. I did /netstats again and my FPS was at 35. It hovered between 25 and 35 for the rest of the evening except towards the end of my session when it dipped down to 20 FPS at a crowded hardline. But, a performance hit at that point is expected.