this is just a general query about the optimum speeds to play live games. im in the uk and have a 512k, i can play outrun 2 fine but certain games of street fighter seem to just lag and lag and lag and…you get the picture.
i would have thought 2d games would be faster then 3d games and to make things worse last week i had no lag what so ever on street fighter, but for the last two days i have.
by friday i should have a 1mb service so hopefully things will improve
so please tell me what speed your internet connection is and what games tend to have more lag than others
ps i know that when i play uk gamers there is less lag. :pleased: :pleased:
I got cable 2mb and I still get lag even against locals. Some days I get perfect connections, other days it lags like hell. I tried linking my X-Box directly to my modem and it’s still laggy. I don’t get it…
First off, you need to understand a bit more how a cable modem works. The speed you guys are quoting is just your download speed, your upload speed is probably quite slower since that’s how cable modems are, often great DL but shitty ul. You use both for gaming. Also, Cable modems are susceptible to network saturation also, which means that let’s say a greater portion of your area wants to get online just as you log on live, and many of them are downloading let’s say the entire Kyushu set from Eidran. Now because they are using bandwidth, that degrades your performance, because the network is saturated. Unfortunately Cable isnt THAT great for gaming, however the other options are very costly, prohibitively so.
Thank you very much for the comprehensive explanation. I tried asking on the SFAC forum but no one answered there… I understand how it works better now. I already tried looking into better connections, saw some great deals for gaming but they’re not available in the aera I live in yet.
Yeah sure thing. One way to better performance is to not play during Peak usage hours, generally evening is gonna be pretty bad since people will get off work, go home, and surf the net. Late night though is generally better. Midday also should be better, but it all depends.
It don’t matter how fast your connection is, if the other guy your playing is on AOL, a virus spamming e-mail and is downloading porn. (Extreme example)
Also, graphics have absolutely nothing to do with how complex a game’s network code is. Street Fighter, while 2D is far more demending on a connection then say, Burnout 3 (which is bad-fuckin-ass btw), one of the best looking games out there.
I won’t go into the details but the point is, graphics complexity has nothing to do with nextwork complexity.
Also, a small amount of lag can be acceptible in other games while in SF it isn’t. A 1/4 second delay in SF could mean death. In a driving game it’d mean your turn might come out slightly off but your car isn’t going to explode (well, maybe Burnout3’s a bad example heh)…
How can you check to see how fast/slow your connection is?
The only thing I know about my modem/internet service is that its cable.
When I download stuff, the speed is typically around 30 to 50k/second, (I don’t know shit about computers, as you can see). Upload speed, no fucking clue.
Depends who you play against. You can get playable connections with some e.coast players. There arent many nice connections to be had with w.coast players. You do have pretty much the whole of Europe to play against tho.
Btw anybody with Blueyonder, you already have or soon will have a free upgrade. Mines here already, from 3 1/2 to 4 mb :bgrin:
