Lag spikes every few minutes. (5000+ ping, game pretty much freezes) Please help.

[OddballEasyEight]

I put this in the customer support forums as well, but I'll put it here too in case any kind soul can help me figure this out since it's effectivelly stopping me from playing the game right now (several seconds of freeze during battles means I die in almost every battle that I don't overlevel by several levels).

 

Since 2.9 I've been getting regular lag spikes when playing the game.

At first I thought it was just confined to strongholds since I pretty much spent all my time there decorating, but I've noticed it happens all the time on all planets as well.

 

It's really crippling to me since I record my gameplay and these spikes are really messing things up.

 

Basically what happens is that my ping goes from 50-100 directly up to 5000+ and everything on the game pretty much freezes except my character that can still move around but not use any abilities (and the character can only move a certain distance before running into an invisible wall).

A second or two later the ping goes back to normal and everything that happened during my time-out happens at once.

[Kantaso]

I am having the same problem since the last 2.9 patch, there was a long topic about it but we didnt get any answer from the devs after they asked for the files that showed the problem. Yesterday 3 times I got the red point and then the cross and I was DC, then the game sits there half way loading until you turn it off and restart again.

[PinkSora]

Sounds like some settings might be screwy after the patching, while I am no tech expert in the slightest you could try flushing your DNS to see if that works as a basic first step.

 

To do it hit your windows key+R together and type CMD into the window that appears, now you get a black window with white text. In this window enter the following commands to clear your DNS cache:

 

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

ipconfig /flushdns

 

I have no idea if it helps but it might

[OddballEasyEight]

Sounds like some settings might be screwy after the patching, while I am no tech expert in the slightest you could try flushing your DNS to see if that works as a basic first step.

 

To do it hit your windows key+R together and type CMD into the window that appears, now you get a black window with white text. In this window enter the following commands to clear your DNS cache:

 

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

ipconfig /flushdns

 

I have no idea if it helps but it might

 

I tried this just now. I'll let you know how it pans out.

[OddballEasyEight]

Well that didn't work

 

Couldn't even get through Voss' spaceport before I got the first lag spike and froze...

[PinkSora]

If you wanna try a more drastic method I can usually get around stuff like this with a safe mode boot, if you have windows 7 restart your PC and hit the F8 key before it boots and select "Safe mode with networking" and start Star Wars as administrator.

 

If it works in safe mode some program is interefering with SWTOR

[Malastare]

First: A few questions about your environment:

 

1) Do you use wireless networking between your PC and your ISP?

2) What networking technology are you using? (Cable, DSL, FiOS, Satellite, pigeon)

3) Do you use a local router? How many other devices are attached?

 

Next: Some justification:

 

It seems that 2.8 and 2.9 slightly changed how the game handles various network issues. In particular, the game has become more sensitive to dropped packets. Just one or two dropped packets seems to generate the equivalent of a network lag spike (strictly speaking, its not network lag, but session recovery delay). Dropping more packets, or dropping packets while already recovering, will likely cause a disconnect, with a good chance of getting the "infinite load screen".

 

I've seen this behavior on a few occasions, however for me it is not chronic. I triggered it once with a router restart and watched it happen another time as a couple poorly behaved APs fought over wireless channels nearby.

 

Finally: Some ways of running diagnostics:

 

Use Resource Monitor: (Run: perfmon.exe /res)

 

Run SWTOR. In Resource Monitor, switch to the 'Network' tab. Look in the 'Network Activity' panel for rows with the swtor.exe image. There should be just one which is receiving the bulk of the traffic. Note that IP address.

 

Find your local gateway: (Run cmd.exe)

 

From cmd.exe, run "ipconfig". In the tables listed, find the row labeled "Default Gateway". Note that IP address, too.

 

Use PingPlotter (www.pingplotter.com)

 

Download, install and run PingPlotter. You'll want to watch both the IP address of the SWTOR server and the IP address of your local gateway. Then, play SWTOR. When you notice a couple lag spikes, Alt-Tab back to PingPlotter and see if it records anything interesting. You should be particularly interested in any abnormal results with the plot to your local gateway. If the gateway plot is fine, but the SWTOR server plot is not, then you know the issue is likely in the path between your gateway and the SWTOR datacenter.

[OddballEasyEight]

First: A few questions about your environment:

 

1) Do you use wireless networking between your PC and your ISP?

2) What networking technology are you using? (Cable, DSL, FiOS, Satellite, pigeon)

3) Do you use a local router? How many other devices are attached?

 

Next: Some justification:

 

It seems that 2.8 and 2.9 slightly changed how the game handles various network issues. In particular, the game has become more sensitive to dropped packets. Just one or two dropped packets seems to generate the equivalent of a network lag spike (strictly speaking, its not network lag, but session recovery delay). Dropping more packets, or dropping packets while already recovering, will likely cause a disconnect, with a good chance of getting the "infinite load screen".

 

I've seen this behavior on a few occasions, however for me it is not chronic. I triggered it once with a router restart and watched it happen another time as a couple poorly behaved APs fought over wireless channels nearby.

 

Finally: Some ways of running diagnostics:

 

Use Resource Monitor: (Run: perfmon.exe /res)

 

Run SWTOR. In Resource Monitor, switch to the 'Network' tab. Look in the 'Network Activity' panel for rows with the swtor.exe image. There should be just one which is receiving the bulk of the traffic. Note that IP address.

 

Find your local gateway: (Run cmd.exe)

 

From cmd.exe, run "ipconfig". In the tables listed, find the row labeled "Default Gateway". Note that IP address, too.

 

Use PingPlotter (www.pingplotter.com)

 

Download, install and run PingPlotter. You'll want to watch both the IP address of the SWTOR server and the IP address of your local gateway. Then, play SWTOR. When you notice a couple lag spikes, Alt-Tab back to PingPlotter and see if it records anything interesting. You should be particularly interested in any abnormal results with the plot to your local gateway. If the gateway plot is fine, but the SWTOR server plot is not, then you know the issue is likely in the path between your gateway and the SWTOR datacenter.

 

1) nope, direct cable

2) cable

3) Only one router and connected to that I have a Wi-Fi (for the two laptops in the house, one of which is used daily) and a direct connection to the TV (to play movies from the PC), oh and of course the direct cable to my PC from the router.

 

I'll try the rest now (although running ipconfig doesn't seem to work for me. I'm on a win 7 64 bit system)

[OddballEasyEight]

Since I'm completely out of my depth with this kind of stuff, I'll just put the picture from PingPlotter here:

 

http://i58.tinypic.com/2j0mlv4.jpg

 

As you can see, I got three 100% packet losses here.

Don't know what that means.

 

And here is another pic from after I had an in-game lag spike:

 

http://i62.tinypic.com/21ngkkj.jpg

 

And this is when I had a slightly longer lag spike (the kind that usually kills me in battles):

 

http://i58.tinypic.com/343g277.png

Edited September 2, 2014 by OddballEasyEight

[Malastare]

Since I'm completely out of my depth with this kind of stuff, I'll just put the picture from PingPlotter here:

 

http://i58.tinypic.com/2j0mlv4.jpg

 

As you can see, I got three 100% packet losses here.

Don't know what that means.

 

It's actually perfectly normal when you do tracepath displays like that. There are loads of routers on the internet that simply don't respond to (or forge) the tracking packets PingPlotter is using. So, its good to run it once when you know everything is working so you can map out which hops refuse to play along.

 

In this case, you know which three to ignore in the future. And that becomes useful for this:

 

And here is another pic from after I had an in-game lag spike:

 

http://i62.tinypic.com/21ngkkj.jpg

 

This shows a new source of packet loss at the first hop past your router. In nearly all situations, that first responder is your ISP gateway. The conclusion here is that some packets have gotten lost between your router and your ISP. This is further confirmed by your second screenshot, where the packet loss lasted long enough that it was being reported for every hop. In that case, you usually want to blame the first hop that starts reporting packet loss.

 

I will refrain from diagnosing your problem over the Internet. I'd need more time and equipment to do that, but what I can say is that you've got sufficient evidence to request an investigation by your ISP. PingPlotter is claiming that packets are being lost between your router and the gateway. There are a number of possible causes:

 

 

1. A bad cable modem. They do have a lifetime. When they start to go, the first signs are packet loss and random resets.
   
2. A problem with your local cable connection. I just had this fixed two months ago. Small amounts of damage or wear on the line can create enough electronic noise that packets get garbled beyond repair. Occasionally, it will make your modem reset or jump to a higher power signal to compensate. Those changes can cause packet loss beyond the normal garbling.
   
3. A problem with your router. This is unlikely, but a bad RJ-45 (ethernet jack) can cause intermittent packet loss. Try resetting your router and inspecting the jack just to rule it out. I doubt this is actually your problem, but your ISP will likely want you to check anyway.
   
4. A problem with the ISPs local hardware. Sometimes local switching boxes take damage or get wet. I even had another utility company accidentally knick the cable from our local switching box. The ISP was actually happy that I pointed out the packet loss because their service crew had written it off as superficial damage only.
   

 

In any case, I'd say your next step is to contact your ISP and mention the results of PingPlotter saying that you're seeing packet loss between your router and the gateway. So long as they're not hopelessly inept, they'll know what to do next... which usually involves dispatching a tech to your home to do line quality analysis.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Malastare

[smithre]

Oddball - You are not alone. I've had the same issue since the release of 2.9, and even filed two support tickets (both immediately closed telling me to go to the forums) and posted in the CS forum. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=759139

 

There are severe issues with Harbinger and they are not being acknowledged, unfortunately.

Edited September 2, 2014 by smithre

[Malastare]

Oddball - You are not alone. I've had the same issue since the release of 2.9, and even filed two support tickets (both immediately closed telling me to go to the forums) and posted in the CS forum. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=759139

 

There are severe issues with Harbinger and they are not being acknowledged, unfortunately.

 

Please note: If the problem was with the server, everyone on the server would see problems. I have yet to hear reports of everyone having lag spikes.

 

Rather, as I said before: 2.8 and 2.9 have slightly changed the behavior of SWTOR across unreliable networks. It used to be able to mostly handle a couple dropped packets. Currently, a couple dropped packets will cause you to slip into what feels like a session recovery state: essentially the game pauses while it re-syncs game state. If you have more packet loss during that period, you have a good chance of simply disconnecting.

 

There have been loads of people reporting this, and as yet, none of the reports can be confirmed as server issues. I've seen a dozen or so people complaining about these lag spikes on Ebon Hawk while I'm playing there. They claim that "literally everyone" has them, but they are misusing both "literally" and "everyone". During the time they reported lag spikes, I was running smooth with a latency of 12ms. That basically proves it is not a server problem.

 

In all cases I've seen or heard described, the cause can be best explained by local or ISP packet loss. I haven't seen any evidence to indicate the problem lies with the servers or the datacenter.

[OddballEasyEight]

It's actually perfectly normal when you do tracepath displays like that. There are loads of routers on the internet that simply don't respond to (or forge) the tracking packets PingPlotter is using. So, its good to run it once when you know everything is working so you can map out which hops refuse to play along.

 

In this case, you know which three to ignore in the future. And that becomes useful for this:

 

 

 

This shows a new source of packet loss at the first hop past your router. In nearly all situations, that first responder is your ISP gateway. The conclusion here is that some packets have gotten lost between your router and your ISP. This is further confirmed by your second screenshot, where the packet loss lasted long enough that it was being reported for every hop. In that case, you usually want to blame the first hop that starts reporting packet loss.

 

I will refrain from diagnosing your problem over the Internet. I'd need more time and equipment to do that, but what I can say is that you've got sufficient evidence to request an investigation by your ISP. PingPlotter is claiming that packets are being lost between your router and the gateway. There are a number of possible causes:

 

 

1. A bad cable modem. They do have a lifetime. When they start to go, the first signs are packet loss and random resets.
   
2. A problem with your local cable connection. I just had this fixed two months ago. Small amounts of damage or wear on the line can create enough electronic noise that packets get garbled beyond repair. Occasionally, it will make your modem reset or jump to a higher power signal to compensate. Those changes can cause packet loss beyond the normal garbling.
   
3. A problem with your router. This is unlikely, but a bad RJ-45 (ethernet jack) can cause intermittent packet loss. Try resetting your router and inspecting the jack just to rule it out. I doubt this is actually your problem, but your ISP will likely want you to check anyway.
   
4. A problem with the ISPs local hardware. Sometimes local switching boxes take damage or get wet. I even had another utility company accidentally knick the cable from our local switching box. The ISP was actually happy that I pointed out the packet loss because their service crew had written it off as superficial damage only.
   

 

In any case, I'd say your next step is to contact your ISP and mention the results of PingPlotter saying that you're seeing packet loss between your router and the gateway. So long as they're not hopelessly inept, they'll know what to do next... which usually involves dispatching a tech to your home to do line quality analysis.

 

Thanx for the advice man!

 

I'll be contacting my ISP soon with this information.

[Nightfalll]

ITS NOT YOUR ISP........MK?

 

 

The Harbinger is crashing hardcore...Lag spikes, the whole nine.

 

 

This guy is making you jump thru hoops for nothing....SWTOR's engine is famous for being pure garbage. But now its even worse. Getting worse all the time.

 

Tonite on Harbinger, no one could move more then 50 feet. Couldn't que up for warzones or fp's. Don't believe them when they get on this thread and say ITS NOT OUR ENGINE> IT YOUR PROVIDER>...........

Edited September 3, 2014 by Nightfalll

[RoadyRagey]

Someone needs to fix Harbinger now kthanks.

 

Impossible playing any part of the game right now, Funny thing is you dont even get a *Lagspike* ... You have a lovely connection the game says, But yet youre frozen in spot .....Getting a little tedious now...

[ghoul_drool]

Was playing with my friend (two computers, one house, same internet connection) and he got booted and placed in a queue for Harbinger while I was able to keep logged. Weird things are afoot.

[Malastare]

Tonite on Harbinger, no one could move more then 50 feet. Couldn't que up for warzones or fp's. Don't believe them when they get on this thread and say ITS NOT OUR ENGINE> IT YOUR PROVIDER>...........

While it does seem like Harbinger started having problems very recently (as noted by the fact that very large numbers of people reported them), the OPs issues are still strongly linked to his ISP.

 

No matter how unstable Harbinger might be, I don't know of any method where software on a server in a remote datacenter can cause packet loss on a local network segment. That was the point of the PingPlotter analysis. Instead of just guessing or flailing on the ground crying "ITS THE ENGINE! ITS THE ENGINE!", we used actual diagnostic tools to look for a problem.

 

Yeah, Harbinger probably needs a reset. But that is a recent issue, and the OPs problems predate that. Even if they don't: The OP should still contact his ISP about the packet loss he's seeing on his first hop.

[OwenBrooks]

Just popped into General as harbinger is Down

 

have to agree with Malastare this http://i58.tinypic.com/343g277.png is showing loss carrying forward across his link and requires investigating

[Ryenke]

Finally: Some ways of running diagnostics:

 

Use Resource Monitor: (Run: perfmon.exe /res)

 

Run SWTOR. In Resource Monitor, switch to the 'Network' tab. Look in the 'Network Activity' panel for rows with the swtor.exe image. There should be just one which is receiving the bulk of the traffic. Note that IP address.

 

Find your local gateway: (Run cmd.exe)

 

From cmd.exe, run "ipconfig". In the tables listed, find the row labeled "Default Gateway". Note that IP address, too.

 

Use PingPlotter (www.pingplotter.com)

 

Download, install and run PingPlotter. You'll want to watch both the IP address of the SWTOR server and the IP address of your local gateway. Then, play SWTOR. When you notice a couple lag spikes, Alt-Tab back to PingPlotter and see if it records anything interesting. You should be particularly interested in any abnormal results with the plot to your local gateway. If the gateway plot is fine, but the SWTOR server plot is not, then you know the issue is likely in the path between your gateway and the SWTOR datacenter.

 

I'm not the OP, but THANK YOU sir.

 

Every Sunday morning this happens to me. My only recourse has been unplugging my modem, waiting about an hour and then things seem fine. I've had no way to diagnose what is wrong, and calling my ISP on Sunday morning gets me a we can have someone look at it Monday, when of course I don't have any problem. Now you have given me the tools to hopefully communicate what is going on to my ISP.

 

Obviously, with no one else on my server having the issue, and it being every Sunday, I have always suspected it was an ISP/local problem.

 

This was very good information and I just wanted to share my appreciation for your assistance.

[Chim-Lou]

I'm having the same problem. Yesterday it took like forever to log in, I was placed in a queue and then I kept getting lag spikes of up to 150k, freezing everything for 5 minutes and more, and in 2 cases the game just stopped after I got a frozen loading screen (no error messages though).

 

After 1 hour it suddenly stopped and all worked fine.

[OddballEasyEight]

To all of you whining about the Harbinger, and telling Malastare that he's wrong, I only have one thing to say:

 

I PLAY ON THE PROGENITOR.

 

There, now that that's out of the way, we may proceed.

[smithre]

Please note: If the problem was with the server, everyone on the server would see problems. I have yet to hear reports of everyone having lag spikes.

 

...

 

I don't doubt that Oddball's problems may be due to his ISP connection, based on the data he shown. What I am seeing is another matter. Pingplotter is a great tool, which made it so much easier to prove my issue is due to a network related issue at Bioware. Thanks for providing the link to it, Malastare.

 

http://i.imgur.com/tNlXZ7G.png

 

Take a look at 159.153.68.46. It's the first hop into Bioware's network (the IP range is owned by Bioware Austin, LLC). And it's causing packet loss. I captured that while seeing a spike (first time I tried logging in this morning).

 

I'll continue to monitor this to determine if it is random, or the symptom.

Edited September 3, 2014 by smithre

[Kantaso]

I am in Jedi Covenant and I am having the same problem, before the last patch I never ever had problems, now every night I get DC at least 2 or 3 times in 1 hour, I call this one on Bioware, they must have introduced something on this patch that it is causing all these problems.

[Malastare]

Obviously, with no one else on my server having the issue, and it being every Sunday, I have always suspected it was an ISP/local problem.

 

I've had some odd behavior like this, too. Again, I can't diagnose over a Forum, but there are some things to consider:

 

 

1. ISPs do often run semi-scheduled tasks that could interrupt service. Most of them don't do it during the day, though. A modem issue might complicate things. I helped a friend with a similar problem (loss of connection on random Sundays at 2pm). The end cause was isolated to an old modem that was failing to do the weekly update that was supposed to happen at 2am. The modem randomly failed and would try again in 12 hours.
   
2. Some modern routers can exhibit odd cyclical failures like this, too. My current router sometimes has a problem with renewing dynamic IPs. The result (before I found a fix) was that every 72 hours I would drop all packets for about 10 seconds. This meant that for a couple weeks, I'd get a disconnect in SWTOR at about the exact same time, every three days.
   
3. People are also cyclical. In an old apartment of mine, I would get bad packet loss over a wireless signal every Sunday. The problems were sporadic and usually limited to about 30 minutes. After a little investigation, I realized that the upstairs neighbors didn't sleep in on Sundays, and my connection problems happened at the same time they were using their microwave to make breakfast (water for tea? microwave waffles?). The solution was moving the router to a slightly different location.
   

 

Certainly its a good idea to check with your ISP. If nothing else, it will rule them out, and as long as you aren't overly inconvenienced by the appointment time, there is something to be said about forcing your ISP to occasionally check the line quality for your service.

 

This was very good information and I just wanted to share my appreciation for your assistance.

 

You're very welcome.

[Kantaso]

Malastare I know you are trying to help, but understand this before patch NO PROBLEM, after patch A LOT OF PROBLEMS. Do you understand the words that come out of my mouth? (Sorry I can avoid using it, lol), before the last patch no problem, all the problems started after the last patch.