Super high ping on all servers

[wafflecopter9003]

When I'm at the server browser, all the servers say they have 100-300ms ping. When I connect however, I usually have a ping anywhere from 20k-40k ms. It rapidly drops down to the 10k range and then I lose 1ms from my ping every second I am connected. I haven't waited long enough for it to drop down to an acceptable range, but it seems like it would keep going like that indefinitely. Other games like Arma3/League of Legends don't exhibit this behavior. I have my connection type set to "LAN". Any ideas on why this is happening?

[ENO]

When we've seen this in the past it was because of a server client version mismatch.

[allmhuran]

Perhaps related...

 

If I ping my regular server's IP in command shell I get a 20-30ms response.

 

In the server browser in DCS, it says ~350ms.

 

After joining the server, the game UI lists my ping at anywhere between 600 and 1000ms.

 

If I alt tab out to command shell I still see my ping at 20-30ms

 

I just checked and on first joining the server the game sits in a "paused" state with a slightly mis-rendered splash screen displayed for quite a long time. When I did get in I quickly checked my ping in the score screen and it was at 13000 and falling. I have the latest version of DCS installed

Edited July 5, 2013 by allmhuran
more info

[JG14_Smil]

Hello,

 

Odd problem and I hope you get it figured out.

 

When you say "LAN" you are referring to "Options" settings? Anything notable about your network hardware? All Firewalls letting DCS through? If you Go Start/Programs/ED/DCS/Repair or update, nothing changes? I think you need to be specific when providing info as it may be easy to miss something.

 

I hope a network whiz will be along to help out. Good luck.

[allmhuran]

For my situation, here's what info I can give:

 

DCS network connection type is set to LAN.

 

DCS repair does not change the symptoms.

 

Switching to a different ADSL modem/router does not change the symptoms. This is the modem/router I used to use (about six weeks ago) without any issues.

 

If, before I launch DCS, I first start a ping -t to the DCS server I play on, it consistently reports a 25-30ms ping all through DCS startup, multiplayer startup, mission load and gameplay.

 

Confirmed that my client version is the same as other players on the server.

 

I don't see these symptoms in any other online game.

 

Game response seems fine. A radio call requesting startup is responded to immediately (even when the game is reporting my ping at 15 or more seconds).

 

Definitely a DCS software problem. I've been out of the game for a few weeks, but I did not see it on whatever version DCS was up to ~6 weeks ago.

 

Hardware:

I7 4770

20 gig ram

GTX 670

MSI Z87 with Killer e2200 ethernet controller. << seems common with the OP

 

Internet is ADSL 2+ @ ~10 meg.

 

Edit: Changed killer ethernet config to TCP no delay - no change to symptoms.

Edited July 5, 2013 by allmhuran

[allmhuran]

Was flying with a couple of guys a short while ago and I did see them skipping around in the air a lot, so this does seem to have some impact on gameplay despite the quick radio calls etc.

 

Makes mid air refueling impossible.

 

Just to reiterate, my client version is the same as the server version.

[Kuky]

My guess is your ADSL2+ connection has lot of noise. I used to be on ADSL2+ till recently and it was not good, even though the modem sync's to good speed, during busy hours of the day there is lot more traffic and if ISP is cramming way more people on same DSLAM portsto get numbers up and sacrificing QOS... you get lot more noise on the lines.

 

I would also lower in game setting from LAN to 512 (LAN is too high for ADSL2 connections as up/down are not same in ADSLx modulation)

 

Check during very early morning hours to see if you get same thing, generally those hours when hardly anyone is online (sleeping) noise should reduce. If in this case you get better pings in game.. than this is your problem... crappy ISP

[allmhuran]

The connection is fine:

- ping time in other online games is fine.

- ping time to the DCS server in command shell shows 20-30 ms.

- ping time in DCS server browser is 350 ms.

- ping time on joining DCS game is 15000+ ms.

 

It's only DCS multiplayer that shows this behaviour.

 

Dropping from LAN to ADSL 1024 does not change the symptoms.

 

It's definitley something in the DCS software regarding the communication between client and server.

 

Edit: BTW I am with the same ISP, and on the same port, as I was 6 weeks ago. 6 weeks ago my ping times to the AEF server were reported at ~50ms in game. Two things have changed in that time

1) New version (or versions?) of DCS

2) I have a new computer with the e2200 ethernet controller.

 

The super high ping right at the start is, intuitively, a result of the very long "pause" screen while trying to join the server, as if the ping is requested at the start of the pause, and the game finally responds once the pause screen goes away. Pause screen looks like this:

 

Edited July 6, 2013 by allmhuran

[Kuky]

Drop to 256 setting... also you might be on same port with your ISP but that doesn't mean there are no changes to your ISP network, number of people connected to their network etc etc ;)

[allmhuran]

Sorry mate, I just don't think you're reading what I'm writing.

 

If it was a problem with the ADSL, I would see it in command prompt and in other games. It's *only* DCS that does this.

[Kuky]

If it's only DCS can you check if servers for those other games are located in same region/continent as servers you connect to in DCS? Out of curiosity, where are you located?

[ENO]

Stupid question perhaps but you said you got a new ethernet controller... I know it sounds excessive but any thoughts to do a reinstall? I'm no tech guy- but knowing how finnicky the software can be at times to various hardware changes... I'm wondering if the program is "tuned" to work through your old hardware.

 

Other programs might be able to get over this hiccup- but this is definitely not other programs. If I were in your position I'd be looking at a reinstall or at the very least delete the saved games DCS folder and let it be rebuilt. I've always been amazed at how many people solve such a wide variety of problems just be doing the latter.

[allmhuran]

If it's only DCS can you check if servers for those other games are located in same region/continent as servers you connect to in DCS? Out of curiosity, where are you located?

 

I'm in Sydney. The server is the 161 squadron server. As I said, I ping this at 30ms or less in command prompt. This is a DCS software problem of some sort. *ONLY* DCS reports a high ping to this server. And in particular, the ping is fairly obviously spiking to multi-second values due to the problem that occurs during mission load.

 

I appreciate others taking an interest in the thread and am trying not to be rude about this, but any suggestions to the contrary are complete red herrings.

 

Eno: A reinstall of DCS is not out of the question, and I was about at that point myself. But just to be clear: programs don't "tune" themselves in the way you're suggesting :smilewink: What's possible is that there's something wrong with the installation that the repair didn't detect.

 

What's also possible is that DCS is coded in such a way that it does not play nice with some specific hardware or combination of hardware. But again lets be clear: that would be a software problem.

Edited July 6, 2013 by allmhuran

[allmhuran]

In my earlier post I wrote:

 

Killer e2200 ethernet controller. << seems common with the OP

 

When installing the software for this (on the MSI motherboard CD or updated via the net) you get a network tweaker and PC monitor application along with it.

 

The network utility is pretty nice: it lets you manually set general bandwidth priority for different applications. So, for instance, you can set your games to take priority over downloads, or set chrome to take priority over steam (so you can still browse the web while updating steam games).

 

Turning off the application manager via the systray app that comes with this did not change my DCS ping.

 

Killing the application entirely (right click > exit via systray icon) also had no effect.

 

But I just found out what does.

 

If I disable the Qualcomm Aetheros Killer Service (for the OP: start > run > services.msc to find this) my ping in the server browser shows 35ms. Turn it back on and my server browser ping goes back up to 350.

 

Now, as I said, this only occurs with DCS. I have several (about a dozen) other online games installed and none of them interact with this service in this way. So there's definitely something weird about the way DCS does its networking.

 

However, I absolutely expect that disabling this service will also resolve the problem for the OP.

[ENO]

Now, as I said, this only occurs with DCS. I have several (about a dozen) other online games installed and none of them interact with this service in this way. So there's definitely something weird about the way DCS does its networking.

 

And as I said, DCS is definitely not like other programs... so though "tuned" to the hardware wasn't the right way to put it, the suggestion that DCS is not playing nice with the ethernet controller (or programs associated to it) may not be far off the mark.

 

Hopefully it helps resolve the issue completely either way :thumbup:

[allmhuran]

And as I said, DCS is definitely not like other programs

 

Well, clearly. For example, DCS doesn't seem to do networking according to the standards that all the others do.

 

Excuse my frustration, I am a chief software engineer and I have to fix the problems caused by people doing stuff in weird (and usually incorrect) ways several times every day.

[ENO]

Oh I hear ya...

 

c0ff is the "network guy" around here who may be able to better explain why things are the way they are when he's back in- but in his absence hopefully you can get by with the bandaid.

[wafflecopter9003]

In my earlier post I wrote:

 

 

 

When installing the software for this (on the MSI motherboard CD or updated via the net) you get a network tweaker and PC monitor application along with it.

 

The network utility is pretty nice: it lets you manually set general bandwidth priority for different applications. So, for instance, you can set your games to take priority over downloads, or set chrome to take priority over steam (so you can still browse the web while updating steam games).

 

Turning off the application manager via the systray app that comes with this did not change my DCS ping.

 

Killing the application entirely (right click > exit via systray icon) also had no effect.

 

But I just found out what does.

 

If I disable the Qualcomm Aetheros Killer Service (for the OP: start > run > services.msc to find this) my ping in the server browser shows 35ms. Turn it back on and my server browser ping goes back up to 350.

 

Now, as I said, this only occurs with DCS. I have several (about a dozen) other online games installed and none of them interact with this service in this way. So there's definitely something weird about the way DCS does its networking.

 

However, I absolutely expect that disabling this service will also resolve the problem for the OP.

 

That fixed the problem. I had disabled it earlier in msconfig but then I never rebooted :doh:.

[Zomba]

I have this exact problem. New MSI mpower motherboard that has the integrated e2200 Killer ethernet controller. All games are fine, except for DCS. Server browser shows typical pings, but when I enter our 161sqn server in Australia I get pings ranging from 3000 to 15000. I get similar results with other DCS servers I join. Pinging other non-DCS servers at this time just gives me the normal results I expect, so I only get this issue with DCS.

 

Killing "Qualcomm Aetheros Killer Service " in the services.msc and restarting DCS resolves the issue completely and I now get pings just like I had before.

[Kuky]

Coincidence that both you allmhuran and Zomba are located in Australia? I used to have ADSL2+ with Optus and have seen these very high pings on my end also, only my motherboard doesn't have that network controller and I don't have any software/service running for network management... but after I moved to new house that has fibre optic connection and have switched by ISP I don't see these high pings any more... just saying it might also be that your ISP has some sort of filtering for internet traffic... I am not 100% sure but I suspect Optus has some sort of filtering

 

Anyway, at least you can fix this by disabling that service

[Zomba]

I'm with Optus and have been with them at this address for over a year now. I doesn't seem like an Optus issue, although could be wrong. I'm pretty well acquainted with the network behaviour here with them and erratic network latency tends to be consistent across the board when it does happen, not just specific to one game. It looks like allmhuran and I both have the same motherboard with the same onboard NIC. The e2200 is supposed to be a gaming orientated card that will throttle non-gaming traffic and prioritising games. It looks like that service the interfaces with the card to cater to this doesn't run well with DCS despite setting DCS as a priority. No big deal as for now disabling the service fixes the problem.

[Kuky]

Trust me, I work in this telco (but not in DSLAM network), things change in the network... what used to be fine could (and I think has) changed past 1/2 year to a year. I'm not saying its 100% the ISP but from what I have experienced and know from the company it might as well be just it.

[Leto]

I had nearly the same problem with an MSI board and the "Killer" network controller e2200.

 

My pings on servers were good, but as soon as someone joined my server their pings went to 10000 and deacreasing over time to 1000.

 

Killing the services did great and now clients have good pings (15-90) again on my server.

 

Thanks allmhuran and Wafflecopter for finding out and pointing in the right direction.