Next patch: Just fix the lag, Lds, servers, pathing, and out of sync problems

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Originally posted by Aspriel
Ripley67, thank you. I was going to start saying something similar but not quite as accurate and well said. :)

I have a cable connection, 512DDR, GeForce Ti 4600, 1.8gig AMD CPU, and 277(Or however close this figure is to my bus speed.)
and Sound Blaster Audigy. As well as running Windows XP Professional. My computer is Uber.

You want to know something funny? I only get one kind of lag in all of the game. That is when coming up to a highly crowded location with alot of people or a place where people zone in and out of alot.

There are arguments here that are valid and such, I'm not saying any of you are BSing anybody. Only that alot of you blaim the wrong things for different situations.

Yes, server Synch, zone loading(Where you try to zone and it says couldn't connect with server.)


Gotta go will contineu alter

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I know you are going to continue your post. But, are you saying that players need to have an "uber" system like yours to not experience most of the problems in this thread? I would hope that if a computer meets the minimum requirements for AO, and the player turns all the settings to minimum, then the game should not have the problems mentioned in this thread.

I have most of the problems in this thread. However, I'm running on a 500mhz system, Windows98Se, 256 ram, and a geforce2mx 400, 64 mb vid card. If the game is only playable enough to be enjoyable with an "uber" computer, then Funcom should step up to the plate and change the minimum requirements to whatever allows an enjoyable game. Is it our computers? Is it that Funcom's requirements are too low and we expect more from lower-end systems?

I see a flaw in this thought process as the game was running great, on my computer, through the 14.5 patch. It was only when 14.6 was patched, that I started to experience all of these problems, which seem to be getting worse by the patch. Or, is it getting worse by the amount of content on the playfields? Or, was it bad patching/code? Or, what is it? (Not to mention many others will higher-end systems that are experiencing the same types of problems)

Overall, I can only state what's happening to me and ask others to contribute what is happening to them. My hope would be for Funcom to stay in-tune with this thread and try to find common themes for the critical issues that plague the game at this time. This is good constructive feedback for Funcom, even if it has a lot of complaining in it. They should learn from it and address the issues in it. I'm sick and tired of the "it's your computer's fault" excuse. It may be true for some of the issues for some of the players. But for everyone who is having the same problems? I'm not buying that.

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Originally posted by Chopit

They should learn from it and address the issues in it. I'm sick and tired of the "it's your computer's fault" excuse. It may be true for some of the issues for some of the players. But for everyone who is having the same problems? I'm not buying that.

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I agree with you that many have a tendence to blame the computer while this thread clearly tells us that it doesnt matter. I have an average computer 1.6GHz 512 DDR GF 4200 SB Live card. Standard issue stuff. Before this computer i played AO with 566 MHz 256 SDR GF1 Crappy No-Name Soundcard.

To experience good gameplay with my old computer i had to play 800x600 with slight alteration of some graphic details and with my new card i run it relatively smoothly at 1024x768, all graphic maxed out. But honestly, the only thing that feels better is that i doesnt lag so horrid in cities like Old Athen/Tir etc but apart that i feel no difference. The fps in Tir is like 10-30 depending on where u stand cp to my old computer its about 3-10.

The game doesnt change if your fps goes from 20 to 70, what makes the game go bad is your internet connection mostly. Thats the critical part and FC havent designed a decent net code for this. In my opinion they havent realized understood our complaints since we as customers are very vague in describing the problem since ppl dont understand the cause of their problem.

So before jump at FC throat, step back and really consider the cause of your distress. Could it be that the real cause of the problem with pet path is sync problem, so instead that FC shall invest time with pet path they should invest time with net coding.

However, I have a serious feeling that there is many "loop" holes in their graphic engine which is aggravated by poor net code. I can see many wierd stuff in the engine which i would call post-rendering-flaw. Which in simple terms means: Poor engine with bug fix that fix symptoms but not the real cause of the problem , since this would imply total reconstruction of the engine.

Just a thought.

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Originally posted by Chopit


I see a flaw in this thought process as the game was running great, on my computer, through the 14.5 patch. It was only when 14.6 was patched, that I started to experience all of these problems, which seem to be getting worse by the patch.

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This has been my experience too. Nothing has changed on my system since I started playing under 14.4 or so. Yet from 14.5 to 14.6 and up there has been a fairly large decline in game preformance. Its FC that has been changing things like mad, not the general player base. I keep seeing things like optimize your system, etc, etc. Yes, it is good to optimize and tweak things to near perfection, but the problems started when FC started patching every two days, not when the player base started swapping around graphics cards and not defragmenting every other day.

So, I'll keep joining in on the rant for FC to fix the ld, lag, lost server, etc, because that seems to be where the problem lies, until they can tell me otherwise. And I don't think that will happen anytime soon, judging by their total and utter silence of late about absolutely everything.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Aspriel
I have a cable connection, 512DDR, GeForce Ti 4600, 1.8gig AMD CPU, and 277(Or however close this figure is to my bus speed.)
and Sound Blaster Audigy. As well as running Windows XP Professional. My computer is Uber.

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Note that the video card and (I think) the processor and sound card weren't even out when the game was launched a year and a half ago.

ill bump for that. i think nw brought quit a bit of lag.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Chopit


I know you are going to continue your post. But, are you saying that players need to have an "uber" system like yours to not experience most of the problems in this thread? I would hope that if a computer meets the minimum requirements for AO, and the player turns all the settings to minimum, then the game should not have the problems mentioned in this thread.

I have most of the problems in this thread. However, I'm running on a 500mhz system, Windows98Se, 256 ram, and a geforce2mx 400, 64 mb vid card. If the game is only playable enough to be enjoyable with an "uber" computer, then Funcom should step up to the plate and change the minimum requirements to whatever allows an enjoyable game. Is it our computers? Is it that Funcom's requirements are too low and we expect more from lower-end systems?

I see a flaw in this thought process as the game was running great, on my computer, through the 14.5 patch. It was only when 14.6 was patched, that I started to experience all of these problems, which seem to be getting worse by the patch. Or, is it getting worse by the amount of content on the playfields? Or, was it bad patching/code? Or, what is it? (Not to mention many others will higher-end systems that are experiencing the same types of problems)

Overall, I can only state what's happening to me and ask others to contribute what is happening to them. My hope would be for Funcom to stay in-tune with this thread and try to find common themes for the critical issues that plague the game at this time. This is good constructive feedback for Funcom, even if it has a lot of complaining in it. They should learn from it and address the issues in it. I'm sick and tired of the "it's your computer's fault" excuse. It may be true for some of the issues for some of the players. But for everyone who is having the same problems? I'm not buying that.

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Ok to finish what I had started. Ok after I stated that I don't believe any of you would be BSing.

No I do not believe you need an uber computer to run AO. But here's a comparison for you for minimum requirements to run the game. Look at Windows NT. These figures off of http://www.smartcomputing.com/editor...%2F37l06%2Easp

Processor: 486-class processor running at 25MHz (megahertz) or faster
RAM (random-access memory):12MB (megabytes)
Video: VGA (Video Graphics Array)
Hard Drive Space: 124MB

If a computer meets these requirements the program runs without crashing the computer. The catch here though is that it is so very slow. :)
The program functions at this because it meets the requirements for it to run at all.

This number is the Minimum:

The least possible quantity or degree.
The lowest degree or amount reached or recorded; the lower limit of variation.

As can be assessed minimum means the lowest possible resources needed to run the game. It isn't stated as the optimal amount of resources to run the game at it's best. The minimum is a standard by which programs are measured so that consumers can figure out wether they can use the program or not. Being able to use it doesn't guarantee excellent quality in actually running it. (Though personally I think for games it should also list recomended along with optimal statistics to run it as well.)

I 4-5 months ago had a very poor computer. Had no more than 256 memory, a 1.1 processor (Not so bad here.), horrible video card and sound card and what not. Even then It wasn't so bad. AO amazingly can be run pretty well off of that. Of course certain video settings in the game were lowered and all.
With that computer I remember certain factors that many of you complain about even now being present then. But after I upgraded to my "uber" system many of those problems went away. With lag and server issues there are fundamentals that are always the same and easily identifiable. Rubber-banding, items disappearing when being traded, being unable to move from a spot, not being able to executing any actions such as sitting and what not are server issues as many of you can definitely understand.

With the problem that people present on there being to many items in the game with different graphical features, I agree here as well. With all the variant items that there are when coming into a zone full of people that have items visible it does slow down loading. I don't know if it's graphical or network speed... I'm leaning towards network speed and the load it causes because I have a GeForce Ti 4600 as I stated above, and that handles some powerful games at full graphics settings fine so I imagine my video isn't having trouble at all.

Now to engage the topic of the 14.5 patch. I whole heartedly agree on this matter. In fact I can't agree any more than that. :) The last couple patches have degenerated the stability of AO. I have three other friends who play AO with me. While watching over there shoulders somtimes I've witnessed several of the old problems again. They dont' destroy the game but create so much frustration that it's almost as close. I'm playing to have fun not to turn around a corner and find myself turning around the corner again! Just before the last couple patches things were excellent. I was really believing FC had there ***** together for once... But wait! All sorts of old generation problems started occurring. Rubber-banding, server synch, and unable to connect with the server to zone into a different area are all problems that I remember in the past that suddenly are rearing there ugly heads again. So yes I agree the last patches have caused some serious problems deserving of a critical eye and a long thought out way to remedy them because if not now for good they will come back again I'm sure.

Any thing out of place in my line of thought? Disagreements or agreements? Did I not answer any of your misgivings about my earlier article? Let me know so I can clarify. :)

What you typed makes a lot of sense, Aspriel. I believe we are in agreement and in-line with the problems discussed in this thread. Thank you for the time in replying! I appreciate it!

- Chopit

I have played this game for over a year on a P3 700 mhz 256 ram computer. Until 14.6 I had only minor problems. Something was broken with that patch, and they cannot find the problem. They may be working on it, but feedback from the company on this issue has been a serious disgrace. The 'fixes' they have put in place are an obvious joke. I have never in my time playing AO, ever rubberbanded. Never had to restart inside a mission because of being locked inside room with black doorways. That is of course, until 14.6 came along. 14.6 introduced massive lag problems in areas like trade and nlc. Locking up for minutes at a time. The fixes for these problems introduced rubberbanding and black doors in missions. I don't want to rip the programmers because they have given me a game I truly love. But I think it is time to bring in some fresh blood to fix these serious problems. And they have to untie the hands of people like CZ, so that at least we can get some REGULAR feedback on monumental problems like this. I mean on a weekly basis at the very least.