Horrendous sticking when playing online

[walsh]

Hi all,

I've encountered an odd problem when trying to play games of SSB64 through Project64k. When I run Project64k regularly, it works like a charm at 60 FPS and has no lag or choppiness whatsoever. Whenever I boot up kaillera everything seems fine as well.

I usually have around 50 ms ping on Galaxy 64 and any other server close to me that I try.

The second I start an online game however, whether joining or hosting, my game immediately becomes regularly choppy and lags anyone else with me playing. I usually get an error message saying that I am "dropping packets". This choppiness is very regular; it freezes about every second without fail.

Does anyone have any idea as to why this could be happening? I assume since the choppiness is very regular that it is not a connection issue, and is probably a video plugin issue. My computer can easily run the game. Here are my specs:

Windows 7 OS
Intel core quad processor 2.7 GHZ
Nvidia 8800 GT graphics card
3 GB of DDR2 RAM

Here are the plugins I am using inside Project64k:

Video: Jabo's Direct 3D8v1.6 (renamed to 3D7 in the actual directory so that it will load into Project64k correctly)

Audio: No Sound

Input: N-Rage`s Direct-Input8 V2 1.83


As an interesting note, I turned on Monitor CPU Usage while running the choppy game and noticed that the game alternated between 80% idle (when not frozen) to 20% idle (when frozen).

As I said before, the choppiness is regular (happens every second almost down to the dot) and universal (It doesn't matter what connection setting I am on, whether it be LAN, Excellent, Good, Bad, or Poor; the choppiness is exactly the same on all the settings).

Thanks for any help offered.

 

[walsh]

Also, I am using version .13 of Project64k.

 

[House]

Are you using a Wi-Fi connection or downloading stuff/sharing yours with other people? If so, that's likely to happen.

 

[asianaussie]

Antiviruses can also slow down the computer considerably. AVG and Norton in particular can cause tremendous slowdown.

If that doesn't work, I would shut everything, even explorer, using task manager just to see if that helps (and put all AV programs on silent).

 

[walsh]

Thanks for the quick replies!

My AV was the first thing I considered. I killed my firewall and McAfee completely and tried running it, still no go.

I share a DS3 connection at the moment across my entire apartment complex. I am about 90% sure this is my problem. However, I find it a bit odd that I "lose" the same amount of packets each time they are sent, as this implies a constant bandwidth clutter. Even at 5 in the morning (when everyone is asleep) I experience the exact same chuggy performance that I was seeing at 9 p.m. last night (peak hours).

If this is my problem, then I can get around it by SSH'ing the kalliera traffic to effectively bypass any bandwidth limitations imposed upon me by both my ISP and my apartment complex.

I get the internet for free from my apartment complex so I really don't have any option of switching away from them for a long time.

If anyone has experience with SSH I would really like some help here as I don't have much experience setting up or obtaining a proxy server.

Any other ideas as to why this might be happening are also welcome.

 

[walsh]

And to answer your other question House, I am completely wired atm. I go straight from my computer into the wall, which I assume hits the apt complex router which then goes straight to their DS3 modem.

Pingtest says I'm not dropping any packets.




Which I believe because I can play games like WoW with very little interruption.

Therefore, if Pingtest is reliably accurate, then the problem does not lie with my connection. It must be my video/cpu/plugin/emulator settings that are causing this choppiness.

So if it isn't my connection, it must be my video settings acting up. For some reason, my CPU gets taxed at regular intervals when I host or join a SSB64 game online. The emulator still repeatedly works perfectly for about one second, then freezes for about one second. I actually thought it was bad communication delay between my 4 cores at first, but I tried setting Project64k to function on the least used of the 4 cores. It is still choppy.

My lag when I actually play is not bad at all, I see reasonable response times to whatever I do, provided the emulator isn't frozen at the time. Put another way, the game works perfectly with minimal lag when it isn't frozen, but is completely unresponsive while it is frozen.

Also, my DS3 provider is US Signal.

 

[walsh]

I just recently came upon some information suggesting that this might be a sound plugin sync issue. I will try some different sound plugins when I wake up.

 

[Xivii]

Use the edit button when there's is something additional you would like to say rather than double posting, walsh. Based on your edit above, I'm sure you're aware.

 

[House]

Try hosting your own kaillera server, then join by inputting your localhost IP address (127.0.0.1) which should give yourself 0 ms at your own server. After that try running a game. See if the game still lagspikes as you mentioned.

http://www.kaillera.com/files/kaillerasrv-0.86-win32.zip

 

[walsh]

Here are the results:

On Hamachi hosted personal server with 0 MS ping and LAN packet settings: 60 FPS and no lagginess whatsoever

On Galaxy 64 with 47 MS ping and LAN packet settings: choppiness as usual.

Edit: Is there a way to forward my kalleira traffic from Galaxy64 to my hamachi server to gain SSH bandwidth when I play this game? I have access to a computer in a remote location on a very good connection that I can set up hamachi on as well.

 

[xx0EleMenT0xx]

Hmm seems like a weird prob

 

[House]

Did you try playing at other servers?

 

[walsh]

Yes, same problem.

 

[StealthyGunnar]

Who do you usually play online? Oddly enough, I'm 74ping when playing on Hyrule, but if I play someone with over 100 ping, they game lags.

Also, just check your settings for your emulator, and if that's not the problem, maybe Galaxy 64 was just having a bad day. :l