Ping:
-----------------------------------------
Your ping is your connection speed to the server. Simple enough right? In this case though a higher number isn't faster but in fact slower.
Your ping speed is determined by the amount of time it takes a "packet" of data to reach a server. Your ping is measured in milliseconds* and can be found several places in battlefield. Such as the server browser and in the game itself on the scoreboard (tab key brings the scoreboard up)
*Millisecond = one thousandth of a second
-----------------------------------------
So the faster your connection to the server the more accurate the information on player positions etc. are. If you have a high ping (over 100ms) you will start to become out of sync with everyone else. This is called latency. So you may see someone in one spot but they are slightly ahead of where they appear to you. So if you take a shot and it hits but no kill you probably just experienced a form of lag. You are lagging behind what is actually going on! So you see someone and you shoot but they aren't really there. This is most noticeable for players when they duck behind a wall and shouldn't be killed but then they die. This is because you actually were killed before you made it around the wall but it just took time for the information to catch up to you. This becomes worse the higher your ping is. At 100ms it isn't overly noticeable but if you're a sniper and trying to lead a running target you will most likely miss even if you're aiming in the right spot.
The best way to get a good ping is find game servers close to you. If you're in North America and trying to play on a UK server don't expect to get the best pings. Most servers will boot you if you have a 200+ ping. This is because if your ping is bad enough it can actually cause lag for other players as well. So be smart and considerate and stick to servers that you have a good ping on.
-----------------------------------------
Now lag isn't just caused by bad pings. Lag has become a generic tag for many problems in multiplayer games. You can break lag into three main categories:
Bad ping - Latency cause by a slow connection to the game server.
Server Lag - You may notice on server that has a good ping you may stutter or not feel in sync. This can be caused by poor hardware performance by the server and it can't keep up with the player load or other players with high pings are also on the server causing latency problems.
System Lag - This is your computer, which is causing the problem. This can be caused by many factors. The most common is not enough RAM, but not enough video card memory or a CPU that is not up to the job can cause lag. So your receiving data from the game server just fine but it is not being processed on your end for whatever reason fast enough. This can cause hiccups, stuttering and a slew of other problems.
-----------------------------------------
Solutions:
First of all broadband connection is essential to cutting down on lag.
---
Second make sure your hardware is up to the task:
A gigabyte of ram will cut your stutters and hiccups down. 1.5 gigs is probably the best when comparing price and lag. The more RAM though the better the performance. This can also greatly cut down on verifying client data times.
Video card memory: It's recommended you have at least 256 Mb of video card memory.
Processor power can be a factor but not as much as the others. A decent processor with over 2.0 GHz will run battlefield just fine (multiplayer just fine, single player requires more CPU power for the AI). This is if you don't have any other applications running in the background.
---
If your system stalls or freezes up you can have problems with other things such as ad-ware, viruses, etc.
---
Close programs that are using your bandwidth e.g. MSN messenger. Also, i do not reccomend downloading whilst playing, for example: Xfire often downloads updates etc.
---
Follow the optimization guides on these forums such as this or this.
---
Lastly pick the servers you play on wisely. Good pings and a server, which can handle a full load of players. Also if you see players with above normal pings not being kicked you may wish to find somewhere else to play.
-----------------------------------------
Source = Secrets of Battlefield & BF2s Forums
-----------------------------------------
If anyone else has any tips for reducing lag/latency/ping that have not been mentioned already in this topic or others please post them below
-----------------------------------------
Your ping is your connection speed to the server. Simple enough right? In this case though a higher number isn't faster but in fact slower.
Your ping speed is determined by the amount of time it takes a "packet" of data to reach a server. Your ping is measured in milliseconds* and can be found several places in battlefield. Such as the server browser and in the game itself on the scoreboard (tab key brings the scoreboard up)
*Millisecond = one thousandth of a second
-----------------------------------------
So the faster your connection to the server the more accurate the information on player positions etc. are. If you have a high ping (over 100ms) you will start to become out of sync with everyone else. This is called latency. So you may see someone in one spot but they are slightly ahead of where they appear to you. So if you take a shot and it hits but no kill you probably just experienced a form of lag. You are lagging behind what is actually going on! So you see someone and you shoot but they aren't really there. This is most noticeable for players when they duck behind a wall and shouldn't be killed but then they die. This is because you actually were killed before you made it around the wall but it just took time for the information to catch up to you. This becomes worse the higher your ping is. At 100ms it isn't overly noticeable but if you're a sniper and trying to lead a running target you will most likely miss even if you're aiming in the right spot.
The best way to get a good ping is find game servers close to you. If you're in North America and trying to play on a UK server don't expect to get the best pings. Most servers will boot you if you have a 200+ ping. This is because if your ping is bad enough it can actually cause lag for other players as well. So be smart and considerate and stick to servers that you have a good ping on.
-----------------------------------------
Now lag isn't just caused by bad pings. Lag has become a generic tag for many problems in multiplayer games. You can break lag into three main categories:
Bad ping - Latency cause by a slow connection to the game server.
Server Lag - You may notice on server that has a good ping you may stutter or not feel in sync. This can be caused by poor hardware performance by the server and it can't keep up with the player load or other players with high pings are also on the server causing latency problems.
System Lag - This is your computer, which is causing the problem. This can be caused by many factors. The most common is not enough RAM, but not enough video card memory or a CPU that is not up to the job can cause lag. So your receiving data from the game server just fine but it is not being processed on your end for whatever reason fast enough. This can cause hiccups, stuttering and a slew of other problems.
-----------------------------------------
Solutions:
First of all broadband connection is essential to cutting down on lag.
---
Second make sure your hardware is up to the task:
A gigabyte of ram will cut your stutters and hiccups down. 1.5 gigs is probably the best when comparing price and lag. The more RAM though the better the performance. This can also greatly cut down on verifying client data times.
Video card memory: It's recommended you have at least 256 Mb of video card memory.
Processor power can be a factor but not as much as the others. A decent processor with over 2.0 GHz will run battlefield just fine (multiplayer just fine, single player requires more CPU power for the AI). This is if you don't have any other applications running in the background.
---
If your system stalls or freezes up you can have problems with other things such as ad-ware, viruses, etc.
---
Close programs that are using your bandwidth e.g. MSN messenger. Also, i do not reccomend downloading whilst playing, for example: Xfire often downloads updates etc.
---
Follow the optimization guides on these forums such as this or this.
---
Lastly pick the servers you play on wisely. Good pings and a server, which can handle a full load of players. Also if you see players with above normal pings not being kicked you may wish to find somewhere else to play.
-----------------------------------------
Source = Secrets of Battlefield & BF2s Forums
-----------------------------------------
If anyone else has any tips for reducing lag/latency/ping that have not been mentioned already in this topic or others please post them below
Last edited by liquidat0r (2006-06-05 14:15:40)