For people claiming they have no lag...

[FredJ]

I played brawl online, I have a very good connection, I have played online games for years (counter-strike, warcraft 3) and had almost no lag at all.

From what I saw in brawl, there's alot of input lag and sometimes spikes. Some of my games were playable, I just had to get used to the lag, but to be honnest I expected it to be alot more smoother.

I saw in some threads, some people claiming they have no lag at all, so what type of connection do you guys have and where do you live? By no lag do you guys mean you have no spike , no freeze but little input lag or do you mean it feels the same as playing in the same room as the other players?

Also I was wondering, for those using a lan adapter, does it help or mostly the problem comes from Nintendo's server being overloaded ?

 

[Chris of STARS]

There is definitely input lag to this game online. Its one thing for the game to run slow or fast because of a good or bad connection...but this game online definitely has input lag and it seems like its purposely there...it's a very noticeable difference from playing offline Brawls.

 

[Nao Hikari]

Yeah, I played a match with a friend who lives just a couple minute drive away from me and we both have good connections. Sadly it not only had input lag and spikes, but it took like 5 minutes just to get the match started x_x i wonder why they would put input lag in on purpose, if it is there on purpose...

 

[Nymphetamine]

I played brawl online, I have a very good connection, I have played online games for years (counter-strike, warcraft 3) and had almost no lag at all.

From what I saw in brawl, there's alot of input lag and sometimes spikes. Some of my games were playable, I just had to get used to the lag, but to be honnest I expected it to be alot more smoother.

I saw in some threads, some people claiming they have no lag at all, so what type of connection do you guys have and where do you live? By no lag do you guys mean you have no spike , no freeze but little input lag or do you mean it feels the same as playing in the same room as the other players?

Also I was wondering, for those using a lan adapter, does it help or mostly the problem comes from Nintendo's server being overloaded ?

I have 0 lag 0 spikes, there is a tiny delay that does effect my game play but its playable
unless your just talking about the delay theres no lag at all

 

[Jimiisama]

I have 0 lag 0 spikes, there is a tiny delay that does effect my game play but its playable
unless your just talking about the delay theres no lag at all

That's the main problem with this system; despite having almost no latency issues, there's still a (possibly intentional) response time between your button inputs and your character's actions. This isn't very good on your halves because it could lead to you actually being worse at the game; imagine if you're playing offline at a tourney or against some friends and your button presses were 300ms off because you were used to the input lag you experience online.

PS: Not to mention, from what I hear, this game is not hosted on any kind of Nintendo servers; the game is hosted on an individual's Wii. So instead of playing a game hosted on a server computer, optimally tuned for hosting online games, you're playing on what is essentially two Gamecubes duct-taped together. Anyone who's played online games before (particularly PC games where you can play on 3rd party servers) has seen what can happen when a server is hosting a game with insufficient hardware.

 

[Vántaj]

That's the main problem with this system; despite having almost no latency issues, there's still a (possibly intentional) response time between your button inputs and your character's actions. This isn't very good on your halves because it could lead to you actually being worse at the game; imagine if you're playing offline at a tourney or against some friends and your button presses were 300ms off because you were used to the input lag you experience online.

PS: Not to mention, from what I hear, this game is not hosted on any kind of Nintendo servers; the game is hosted on an individual's Wii. So instead of playing a game hosted on a server computer, optimally tuned for hosting online games, you're playing on what is essentially two Gamecubes duct-taped together. Anyone who's played online games before (particularly PC games where you can play on 3rd party servers) has seen what can happen when a server is hosting a game with insufficient hardware.

I hope, I REALLY hope Nintendo does something about that. They're going to get lots of money thanks to this game, it deserves at least decent external host services

 

[Dreiko]

I have no lag and i have comcast internet (about 15.000 kbps) and a linksys router.

 

[Necrochild313]

Some games it runs almost as smooth as being in the same room, sometimes the lag is so bad it takes 5-6 minutes to finish a 2 minute match. It really depends on who I'm playing.

 

[~ ARCADE ~]

I've been playing online since 1:00 of the first night it was released.

Sadly... it lags. And pretty hard to.

Sure, you'll find a few matches here and there where you'll see virtually no lag, no delay, no crap, ect... but then you'll find the matches where lag is so bad, that its unplayable.

If your gonna play a friend, make sure the person with the better connection is hosting. Nintendo seems to have set up a really poorly designed peer to peer system, which was exactly what I was wishing wasnt going to happen. Nintendo should have made external servers for each continent where you scroll through names, pick a players name, challenge them, and then you could fight them.

I really hate the way they set it up as far as online goes....

Pray that Nintendo does something about it later.

 

[KazenoZ]

It sometimes lag and sometimes doesn't.
A few days ago I played someone from Europe 2 matches in which I could barely see my actions in before disconnecting, then when I went back online to play him(Right after I got d/ced) again, it was running as smooth as offline play.
I have an Edimax 6208g wireless router.

 

[phoenx97]

I've been having lag issues as well on my 3mbps/768kbps DSL. I haven't tried With Anyone but I had a couple matches with my friend who lives nearby. Games would slow to a chug and be pretty much unplayable at times. other games I play with him have no lag at all

I'm guessing brawls are hosted peer to peer, not dedicated, so nintendo's servers would have nothing to do with the lag between players. So unless i was having an unlucky day or am wrong about nintendo's server involvement (hopefully), the netcode looks like the culprit. Peer to peer with 4 players should really not be a problem with broadband connections unless there's too much data being sent between wii's. Most/all xbox360 online games are hosted p2p and don't have lag issues like this

Hoping I'm wrong though and everything magically gets fixed

 

[GameAngel64]

I have no lag and i have comcast internet (about 15.000 kbps) and a linksys router.

I have about the same as you and I have horrible lag.

 

[FredJ]

Are you guys really sure that the games with friends are hosted peer to peer? I don't know how the wii works exactly but from a PC gamer point of view, when I play counter-strike or warcraft 3 vs my friends and I'm hosting, I have 0 ping and my friend lags a little, not much since it's a 1v1 and my bandwitch can handle it pretty well.

But for Brawl, even when I'm creating a room, I have enough input lag to notice, and if I was really hosting that game without passing by Nintendo's server, I'd have no lag at all. Also considering I play my friend who lives near me 1v1, I don't understand why we lag so much, I mean how much bandwitch the game requires for a 1v1 only? I used to play Resistance Fall of Men on Playstation 3 in rooms with 35+ players and I barely felt any lag at all. I think we might all lag because Nintendo is hosting even thru friend mode and right now, they're overwhelmed by the huge amount of traffic due to the popularity of the game.

So basically, I really doubt we're hosting peer to peer thru friends mode because if it was the case, I'm pretty sure the lag would feel like we're playing in the same room and also the host would have 0 ping.

The only difference between my pc games online and brawl, is for the PC I use a wired connection but for my wii it's in another room so I use the wi-fi instead, so that's why I'm wondering if the lan adapter users feel lag like almost all of us, because if they do, the problem would be mostly on Nintendo's end like I think and I won't spend cash on useless addtionnal devices.

I have a linksys wireless- G 2.4 GHz router and it works perfectly will all my devices (laptop, ps3) so that's why I doubt getting the lan adapter would change anything, but I might be wrong, that's why I'm asking.

 

[Okysho]

If that really is the case, I think that NoA should make a wise investment and buy a few servers... else you'll have two different kinds of smash players... one who works online with the command lag and one who's instantaneous and works better with the person sitting next to them

 

[Jimiisama]

So basically, I really doubt we're hosting peer to peer thru friends mode because if it was the case, I'm pretty sure the lag would feel like we're playing in the same room and also the host would have 0 ping.

Brawl games are in fact peer-to-peer hosted; there are no Nintendo dedicated servers. Remember lag not only has to do with connection but also server hardware; the Wii probably doesn't have sufficient hardware to host a game well. Even if you're hosting and you have 0 ping, there is a programmed input lag when playing online to make up for other players' lag. So basically, no matter what, you'll experience some kind of lag, whether it be due to a bad wireless signal, a bad connection, long distance playing, or controller input.

To the question about whether Nintendo will invest in dedicated servers... Yes and no. Nintendo online is free, and being free, it's going to be crappy. I heard rumors (comfirm?) that Nintendo is establishing new dedicated servers for online gaming; stickers supporting online games on these servers will come with a sticker indicating that the online is not free but is hosted on dedicated servers. I don't know if they'll update Brawl to allow you to pay for these servers as well, but if Nintendo can, then $10 a month for a better Nintendo online experience would be a good deal.

 

[FredJ]

Brawl games are in fact peer-to-peer hosted; there are no Nintendo dedicated servers. Remember lag not only has to do with connection but also server hardware; the Wii probably doesn't have sufficient hardware to host a game well. Even if you're hosting and you have 0 ping, there is a programmed input lag when playing online to make up for other players' lag. So basically, no matter what, you'll experience some kind of lag, whether it be due to a bad wireless signal, a bad connection, long distance playing, or controller input.

To the question about whether Nintendo will invest in dedicated servers... Yes and no. Nintendo online is free, and being free, it's going to be crappy. I heard rumors (comfirm?) that Nintendo is establishing new dedicated servers for online gaming; stickers supporting online games on these servers will come with a sticker indicating that the online is not free but is hosted on dedicated servers. I don't know if they'll update Brawl to allow you to pay for these servers as well, but if Nintendo can, then $10 a month for a better Nintendo online experience would be a good deal.

Oh I didn't know there's a programmed input lag, that makes sense now, thanks for the info.
I guess we're doomed to lag then :/

I noticed just now that there's several colored dots indicating your lag in friends mode, blue being the best connection and red being unplayable, anyone played someone blue? I've only played people having the yellow dot ( it's the middle one), maybe when you have the blue one, the progammed input lag goes away since the connection is smooth so host doesn't have an advantage.