Multiplayer connection issues

[t_hedlund]

A few years ago I tried MP, and the experience was choppy at best, I was blaming our internet connection, late last year we updated our connection. Since then, I have been regularly testing my connection, we regularly see download speed of 700 Mbps (lowest within the last week was 589), upload is around 24.4Mbps, and the latency is around 22ms. 

So I finally tried MP again this weekend, and totally different experience, I had a blast, did a little informal formation flying, dropped some bombs and shot down some helos..... it was a great time.  I was looking forward to connecting to the same server again, but this time it was completely different. After selecting the server, it was easily 5 minutes before it would connect and even after that time it was several minutes before I was to the point that I could select an aircraft. During this whole deal I have been monitoring my frame rates and normally it runs 80-100, but during the connection process it is usually very low 0-20. 

Any idea as to what is causing this? Is there anything that I can change to reduce the delay? 

It should also be noted that I have tried several times to get SRS to work and during this process and anytime I try to connect to a server it hangs up much worst. 

Any help would be appreciated as I would like to do more MP flying. 

[QuiGon]

4 hours ago, t_hedlund said:

A few years ago I tried MP, and the experience was choppy at best, I was blaming our internet connection, late last year we updated our connection. Since then, I have been regularly testing my connection, we regularly see download speed of 700 Mbps (lowest within the last week was 589), upload is around 24.4Mbps, and the latency is around 22ms. 

So I finally tried MP again this weekend, and totally different experience, I had a blast, did a little informal formation flying, dropped some bombs and shot down some helos..... it was a great time.  I was looking forward to connecting to the same server again, but this time it was completely different. After selecting the server, it was easily 5 minutes before it would connect and even after that time it was several minutes before I was to the point that I could select an aircraft. During this whole deal I have been monitoring my frame rates and normally it runs 80-100, but during the connection process it is usually very low 0-20. 

Any idea as to what is causing this? Is there anything that I can change to reduce the delay? 

It should also be noted that I have tried several times to get SRS to work and during this process and anytime I try to connect to a server it hangs up much worst. 

Any help would be appreciated as I would like to do more MP flying. 

That doesn't sound like connection issues, but like performance issues with your PC. What does your hardware look like?
Was the server where you had the issues the same server you visited before without issues? Some servers run very heavy missions with a lot of units and objects that require pretty good PCs to keep up with.
Also, what was the player count like?

Edited September 29, 2022 by QuiGon

[t_hedlund]

QuiGon, thank you for the reply.

I guess that I might be living in denial that it was my PC, but that it makes sense. In order to hit the 80-100 fps, I have to turn all the settings to low.

Here are the pcs spec.

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6600K CPU @ 3.50GHz   3.50 GHz
Installed RAM    32.0 GB
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
GBU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070

Yes, it was the same server, (4YA_CAU_PVE2_V2.21) , now that you mention it it does have several objects. 

The player count was around 15-20 on the 1st night, but next time it was down to 12 when I tried to enter it. Of those 12 players, I think that most of them were in the Sufa F-16 and AH-64, so maybe those are high demand objects. Last night I wasn't paying attention the player count, but I know that the server ping was down about 50. 
 

[QuiGon]

5 hours ago, t_hedlund said:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6600K CPU @ 3.50GHz   3.50 GHz
Installed RAM    32.0 GB
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
GBU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070

Both your CPU and GPU are not really sufficent for DCS anymore. In regards to CPU, keep in mind that DCS still doesn't really make use of multicore and still requires at least one high clocked (4+ GHz) CPU core for optimal performance.

[Maverick87Shaka]

Frame rate during loading is something that you don't have to worry about.
Loading time for multiplayer, especially for a server that is not fresh rebooted, or where a "complex" mission is running, can be a problem, but normally not related to a performance issues on client computer.
If you want try to improve your loading time and general experience, you can just upgrade your OS disk and where you've DCS installed to a fast SSD, an m2 nvme drive ( if you don't already have and your mainboard support it )
Since DCS release and years, even if one of our server keep running the same exact mission file ( just adding slot for new modules ), we've noticed a more longer loading time, most of the time spent in the "NET SIM POST START".

I believe it's something related to the "initial synchronization", like placing the clouds in the right place taking into account the weather preset and time elapsed since mission start. Nut I don't have any evidence to this, it's just my "feeling" based on my multiplayer experience, where I play really often the same servers, but always seeing different loading time.

For the overall performance after join, so the pure framerate, the number of active units and groups on the server are usually the most important things. On some multiplayer server the mission that is running can easily exceed a number of this unit that your client can handle, and so you start see some performance degradation.

Currently there is also an annoying bug that left some "garbage" on server side, that can easily cause degradation of server performance, maybe you just get into server in a bad condition.

I'm sure in the future situation will improve as DCS is in continuous development and ED is getting more and more effort in multiplayer experience, but it's something that can't happens in a matter of days.
 

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Maverick87Shaka

[t_hedlund]

I was actually looking into replacing my monitor and going to trackIR this year, but I'm going to hold off and replace the GPU, then the CPU/MB. 

Thanks for that information Maverick87Shaka, I have wanted to go with a SSD, I guess no better time like the present. 

My MB is MSI Z170A GAMING M3 ATX LGA1151, and I didn't see anywhere that it supports m2 nvme drive, this is one that I was considering Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive, think that will work? 

I'm completely out of touch on what is any good for a GPU and CPU/MB, any recommendations? I would probably be limited to around $500 for the GPU. 

 

Thanks again!