How Much Does Ping Matter?

SkymanderXSkymanderX Green Marine - The Few, The Proud, The Green. Join Date: 2011-07-29 Member: 113006Members
in NS2 General Discussion
<div class="IPBDescription">How much does the ping lag change the game?</div><!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro--><u><!--sizeo:5--><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>PING LAG</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--></u><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->

<!--fonto:Tahoma--><span style="font-family:Tahoma"><!--/fonto--> So how much does Ping lag change your game-play is the question. I was playing on an inversion server (i'm in OH USA) and i was doing pretty well killing skulks and even better killing Marines with a ping of about 20. But i played a little earlier today on an eu server and had a ping of about 180-200. I noticed though that i appeared to suck. I was getting at least twice as many deaths as kills. Now granted to could just me being "in the zone" that one time and not playing well today but i was wondering if anyone else experienced such vast changes in their skill while experiencing high ping. Just a though, i'd love to see what other people have to say.<!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc-->
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Comments

  • ZurikiZuriki Join Date: 2010-11-20 Member: 75105Members
    It makes a huge difference, you're talking shooting at a target that might not even be there kind of difference. There are plenty of times as a skulk I have "dodged" fire by running round a wall only to then be shown my ragdoll in a different place to where I "saw" I was.
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  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    Yeah, it makes a big difference. I tend to notice it the most with melee attacks like the skulk bite and fade swipe. I think the current large interpolation time makes it even worse.
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  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    It can be pretty big. The issue is that when you play with high ping, you essentially have to relearn your shooting skills again (i.e. how much to lead your shots, predicting where a player would move, etc). Its possible to overcome some the issue if you play on high ping servers a lot, but you will still be at a disadvantage against lower ping opponents.
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  • DeadzoneDeadzone Join Date: 2003-07-03 Member: 17911Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited November 2011
    Ahhhh, the good old days of playing Unreal Tournament at 200 ping on dialup!

    Yes, it definitely makes a difference. Considering 1000 ping is a one second delay between you and the server, some serious frustration can occur.

    Generally speaking in games, I notice minor things around 100ms (not clearing a jump or caught on a corner), and start calling BS at several incidents (I totally shot HIM first; I was already around the corner and he still killed me; etc) when it gets 150-200.

    Personally I always try to stick to servers under 100 ping, as I can "choose" to not let the occasional incidents bother me. I consider 150+ unplayable.
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  • BJHBnade_spammerBJHBnade_spammer Join Date: 2005-02-25 Member: 42431Members
    edited November 2011
    ping /latency has some to do with lag and a game running slow or being choppy but you also have to take in to consideration connection quality meaning things like packet loss or maby how well the computer can keep up with the network activity. all of those are factors in if a game is laggy /choppy and you are not as accurate or if you think you are not hitting things as well
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  • CrispyCrispy Jaded GD Join Date: 2004-08-22 Member: 30793Members, Constellation
    Huge difference. Always look to be playing on a server with less than 50ms to you if possible.
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  • YuukiYuuki Join Date: 2010-11-20 Member: 75079Members
    Speaking about ping, it would be a nice feature to have a ping indicator that work in game.
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  • QuovatisQuovatis Team Inversion Join Date: 2010-01-26 Member: 70321Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    edited November 2011
    I do fine up to the 130ms range. Anything over that and the lag is very noticeable.

    I still don't understand how some european players get better ping to the US East coast than I do in the US. The EU must have a better internet infrastructure or something.
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  • fanaticfanatic This post has been edited. Join Date: 2003-07-23 Member: 18377Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    High ping can be a big issue. It's slightly less pronounced in NS2 (because of the low performance and high default "interp" rates in the game at moment) than in say Counter-Strike (where teams will refuse to play with more than 40 ping), but it definitely makes it harder to play. The bigger the ping difference between the players, the bigger the advantage/disadvantage. If you play on high ping a lot though, you gradually get used to the different timings and delays and the disadvantage gets smaller.
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  • SkymanderXSkymanderX Green Marine - The Few, The Proud, The Green. Join Date: 2011-07-29 Member: 113006Members
    i See. Its good to know that on higher pinged servers its not TOTALLY me. Guess i'll just have to lead my shots when i get a higher ping.
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  • DeadzoneDeadzone Join Date: 2003-07-03 Member: 17911Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1883462:date=Nov 3 2011, 10:05 AM:name=BJHBnade_spammer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BJHBnade_spammer @ Nov 3 2011, 10:05 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1883462"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->ping /latency has some to do with lag and a game running slow or being choppy<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Nope. Unless you mean the server "correcting" itself every now and then and people teleporting, latency has nothing to do with your framerate or the speed your computer can chug the game out.
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  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    edited November 2011
    <!--quoteo(post=1883574:date=Nov 4 2011, 12:08 AM:name=Quovatis)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Quovatis @ Nov 4 2011, 12:08 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1883574"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I do fine up to the 130ms range. Anything over that and the lag is very noticeable.

    I still don't understand how some european players get better ping to the US East coast than I do in the US. The EU must have a better internet infrastructure or something.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    The ping on the scoreboard is definitly bugged. Sometimes it tells me that I have 70 ping to Austrailia.
    Pings in the server list seems more accurate.
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  • KoruyoKoruyo AUT Join Date: 2009-06-06 Member: 67724Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    net_stats and scoreboard pings are also very different... on a us server, it can be from 150-450ms depending where i look :P
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  • BJHBnade_spammerBJHBnade_spammer Join Date: 2005-02-25 Member: 42431Members
    yea definantly needs to be fixed ive seen it where it goes up above 300ms and wont go back down even though it is actually less than 200ms
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  • ZeikkoZeikko Join Date: 2007-12-16 Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
    <!--quoteo(post=1883681:date=Nov 4 2011, 03:53 PM:name=BJHBnade_spammer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BJHBnade_spammer @ Nov 4 2011, 03:53 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1883681"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->yea definantly needs to be fixed ive seen it where it goes up above 300ms and wont go back down even though it is actually less than 200ms<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    You make it sound like an urgent game breaking bug even though is just couple of numbers in your screen that has no effect to the gameplay.
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  • DghelneshiDghelneshi Aims to surpass Fana in post edits. Join Date: 2011-11-01 Member: 130634Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited November 2011
    Actually, as far as I understand NS2 networking, performance/FPS does have an effect on your ping. Technically the ping itself won't necessarily change but the effect is the same as if you had a higher ping.

    If the server has performance issues and sends you only 20 ticks per second, you have an added ping of up to 1/20 of a second to your normal ping. So if you had 50ms normally, your ping would randomly go from anywhere between 50ms and 100ms because when your data reaches the server (after 50ms), he still has to compute the update, taking him 1/20th of a second per update. You can actually see that if you watch the server list in the menu. Empty servers will have a pretty stable ping while full servers usually have the ping go up and down.

    Afaik, it works the same way the other way around, so if you can't get more than 15fps you also can't send more than 15 updates (movement, firing, etc.) per second to the server.

    This is what makes the game even laggier than it should be. Server performance needs to go up, so we can have more than 30 ticks per second on any occasion.
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  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    <!--quoteo(post=1883622:date=Nov 3 2011, 08:26 PM:name=Koruyo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Koruyo @ Nov 3 2011, 08:26 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1883622"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->net_stats and scoreboard pings are also very different... on a us server, it can be from 150-450ms depending where i look :P<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I believe the difference between the two is:
    Scoreboard: Ping from server -> client
    Net_stats: Ping from server -> client -> server

    The second method is the way ping is generally calculated, so I like to think of it as my 'true' ping (i.e. if you wanted to compare it to a source game, the net_stats ping is the one you want).
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  • SkieSkie Skulk Progenitor Join Date: 2003-10-18 Member: 21766Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow
    Shooting isn't the biggest problem for me. All forms of melee and tightly timed actions, such as knowing when your weapon is reloaded, work differently.

    Your weapon isn't reloaded when you think it is, biting marines is quite difficult, marines shoot you behind corners and skulks kill you from several meters away.
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  • YuukiYuuki Join Date: 2010-11-20 Member: 75079Members
    As I understand it the scoreboard ping is computed for each player by the server and sent to all players. I guess it's actually
    not the ping that is displayed but a mean value over a rather large time (you can see when you join a server it goes down slowly)
    so you can't see the jitter.

    Things seems to go wrong sometimes, I can have <50ms on american server while the trip time across the atlantic only is bigger than that.
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