Why is my MW2 online experience so intermittent?
Why is my MW2 online experience so intermittent?
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Discussion

paolow

Original Poster:

3,261 posts

287 months

Thursday 8th April 2010
quotequote all
Its a great game and I love playing it online but the experience is hideously variable.

I am blaming A) my internet or B) my computer

with A) I am on BE unlimited with a regular 8.75 down and .75 up with a ping of 24 m/s
Pingtest reports 0% packetloss with a ping of 13ms and jitter of 1ms
Whatever I do I cannot improve this.
I have a landline to provide this but its only for internet use and I do not posess a landline phone. The socket is filtered however.

With B) I am using a PC with an AMD 64 3000 chip and a gig of ram. Its also got an Nvidia geforce 6200 card and running XP. I bought it a couple of years ago second hand.

My problem is that often when I play its like running a 1.2 Clio in the Clio Cup. I am often killed before I even know what is going on. Dont get me wrong, I am not God online but equally I am not that crap! Most recently while firing strafing (and nothing seemingly happening as usual) a second later I saw bullet fire 'following' me to where I had stopped. I realised these were MY bullets I had just fired and this was why my quarry was able to leave, completely unharmed with probably no idea I had unloaded a magazine into his back.

I really want to enjoy this game but am at the verge of just binning it because of this frustration. Is there anything I can do before I do?

Stu R

21,638 posts

244 months

Thursday 8th April 2010
quotequote all
Network stuff is fine, tbh I'd put it down to your computer. Could be wrong but I think you're pretty much at about the 'minimum requirements' in terms of hardware, not sure about the 6200, what sort of framerate are you getting?

Have you got much going on in the background in terms of processes, programs running etc?

WeirdNeville

6,049 posts

244 months

Thursday 8th April 2010
quotequote all
I'd say your harware is marginal at best- RAM is cheap and always handy, why not grab another 2Gb module to go in there, and another second hand GFX card for a budget upgrade?
Orrrrr - if it works out cheaper, how about a PS3? At least then you know that everone is on the same hardware.

Finally, MW2's peer to peer 'server' system is far from ideal. Any other player in your game with a crap connection can spoil your fun, and on consoles at least this manifests itself as you describe - 'rubber banding' as you try to run around, grenades you've just thrown appearing to have been thrown from behind you etc.
Decide if it's worth the financial investment to play the game properly, or enjoy it as is and accept that you'll have the odd game ruined by lagging.

FeatherZ

2,422 posts

225 months

Thursday 8th April 2010
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Just bought a used 4870 for 68 pounds, rams cheap then you will be able to play in high settings in full glory.

redtwin

7,518 posts

211 months

Friday 9th April 2010
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I get similar issues playing on a PS3 so I wouldn't be so quick to upgrade your PC. I would guess my problems are down to my internet connection (O2 broadband, no idea how to find out the speeds), but it is pretty hit or miss whether I get a good lag free game.

okgo

42,127 posts

227 months

Friday 9th April 2010
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Your pc is just about suitable for counter strike let alone mw2.

Neil H

15,418 posts

280 months

Friday 9th April 2010
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akaRob said:
Don't know if the PC version suffers similar problems, but online on the xbox is pretty poor

You can instantly tell when your the host of a game because people drop dead immediately, in comparison to the second delay for everyone else. I'd hate to play this game in any serious competition.
I'm lucky in that I get picked as the host a lot as my connection is pretty good (I'm with BE as well) and the difference can be considerable. However, it does depend on the host connection, as I do find I can get a good game as a client as well.

When I was PC gaming, framerate could make a massive difference, I'm not sure how relevant it is with MW2 though. What I like about the 360 is everyone is using the same hardware.

okgo

42,127 posts

227 months

Friday 9th April 2010
quotequote all
Frame rate could make a massive difference?

Frame rate is after ping probably the most important aspect of pc gaming. And his FPS will be very low with that crap card.

Neil H

15,418 posts

280 months

Friday 9th April 2010
quotequote all
So I was right then. Except that doesn't explain the situation he describes, which sounds more like a connection problem.

Anyway, paolow, just take the money you'd have to spend on upgrading the gfx card and get an Xbox 360/ PS3, it's a far more enjoyable way to play.

Silverbullet767

11,271 posts

235 months

Friday 9th April 2010
quotequote all
akaRob said:
Neil H said:
So I was right then. Except that doesn't explain the situation he describes, which sounds more like a connection problem.

Anyway, paolow, just take the money you'd have to spend on upgrading the gfx card and get an Xbox 360/ PS3, it's a far more enjoyable way to play.
I agree, I stopped PC gaming because I was spending a fortune on new cards every year to be ahead of the game - no pun intended.

Not much cheaper though, now I have buy a new xbox every year, but atleast they are only £120 now. Il be on my 5th soon, I think my current one is about to give in frown
For every faulty one, theres loads of working ones, [tempting fate] I have 3 xbox 360's and (touch wood) none of them have given up yet[/tempting fate], 1 is a launch console at nearly 5 years old. The other 3 years old and one at a year old.

WeirdNeville

6,049 posts

244 months

Friday 9th April 2010
quotequote all
Ahhhh, but having 3, your use is spread out!
I've had 3, one after another though. I bought a Forza 3 Super Elite on the day of release and it RROD'd after 5 mins! I never even unwrapped the forza disc.
My experience of Xbox ownership is that you should expect them to break, then you won't be upset when they do. Their failure rate is something like double the PS3, it's ridiculously high.

krisdelta

4,670 posts

230 months

Friday 9th April 2010
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I know certainly on the Xbox and PS3 you often have to set up firewall rules on your router to give an "Open" NAT Type in the game - I had some real issues before I set this up, since then - excepting the odd cheater I have a pretty good online experience on a 4mbs Sky BB line.

spud989

2,999 posts

209 months

Friday 9th April 2010
quotequote all
Your hardware is guff. The AMD 3000 is easily 4 years old now, the graphics possibly even older. They weren't designed for a demanding, modern game. Simple as!

Scraggles

7,619 posts

253 months

Saturday 10th April 2010
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got an amd 3000, but an 8800 gts card, geforce 6200 is so low that surprised it actually works smile

okgo

42,127 posts

227 months

Saturday 10th April 2010
quotequote all
Scraggles said:
got an amd 3000, but an 8800 gts card, geforce 6200 is so low that surprised it actually works smile
That bottleneck must be fun.

FeatherZ

2,422 posts

225 months

Saturday 10th April 2010
quotequote all
Iv bought for my budget gaming pc so far, 500 gb sata HD, lite on dvd rw drive, casecom case with 3 fans, 850w psu, 4870 (ebay used 68 pounds)...

To buy.. 550BE (will hopefully unlock to a quad core), Asus m4a79xtd evo motherboard and 4 gb of ddr3 1600 memory.

So far spent like 250 to spend.... another 250 ish, gaming pc that will run any game for 500 great, will also upgrade to dx11 card soon as prices drop or they upgrade the 577o to 258bit.

(went a bit ott on psu for crossfire in future may even add another 4870 until dx11 is being used more extensively / hoping a new 5770 is on cards would defo buy 2 256 bit 5770's)

Edited by FeatherZ on Saturday 10th April 10:43

Nat_H

977 posts

247 months

Saturday 10th April 2010
quotequote all
I have the same issue; if I play in the morning (and against PH'ers) I can normally do pretty good, as my bullets actually kill people.

As soon as the afternoon comes, I actually suck, unloading whole clips of the M4 into someone, for them to turn around and kill me. Its the same with my barret fmj, with SP - 3 or 4 good hits to kill, which is somewhat annoying.

I just put it down to the host being in America, and the associated lag.

paolow

Original Poster:

3,261 posts

287 months

Saturday 10th April 2010
quotequote all
Thanks for all the replies guys - its kind of you all to do so.

I tried playing MW2 just last night and got bored very quickly before binning it and playing COD4 instead.
My PC, at whose door I, and most of you guys, are laying the blame is clearly in dire need of upgrading.
By fortuitous happenstance its my birthday in 10 days and I have decided to resolve this problem using family and what few friends I have to make this a less painful experience.

With my current spec I have two options.

A) Scrub the drive and give the whole lot to my Dad who could use another PC.
B) Buy a new Gcard (9800GT or similar as discussed) + good branded PSU as a stop gap until I can follow it up with the rest of the meat. Is my current setup just too slow to bother keeping?

As an aside, I have just realised that I have a Lian-Li aluminium case with a factory perspex window in that I no longer use. While writing this I have realised that I will never use it again, though it does look good. Free to a good home? Let me know - pickup can be from Eastbourne or Jct 3-4 of M25 area.

smile


Scraggles

7,619 posts

253 months

Sunday 11th April 2010
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okgo said:
Scraggles said:
got an amd 3000, but an 8800 gts card, geforce 6200 is so low that surprised it actually works smile
That bottleneck must be fun.
just checked, the amd 3000 is in the loft smile

this one is amd 64 x2 6000+ 3 ghz
4 gb ddr ram

8800 gts 512 geforce smile