[xioSlayer]

I'm running an l4d2 dedi on my spare PC. (on home network)

its has:
Windows 7
Core2duo e6750 @ 3.2ghz
4GB RAM
a standard motherboard.
Linksys WRT54GL (loaded with Tomato firmware)
old Terayon modem.

The connection is Cox and measures at around 25mbps down and 2mbps up. I think we're offered more bandwidth than this, but my modem is fairly old and may be hindering top speeds.

The performance is excellent on most regular maps and some custom maps.

however, on a good portion of maps, with a full game (8 players and lots of ai), the average pings will increase substantially. Players who usually have 50-60 ping end up with 90, people with ~70-80 go above 100 ping.

What causes this?

I never see my outbound get anywhere remotely near my max upload. Same for download obviously.

The PC never gets near maxing out according to the logs, the server FPS stays locked at 100.

So could this mean that my modem is holding me back? Some of the time my ping also increases (from ~16ms to ~50ms). But most of the time my ping stays ~17ms while other players' pings rise.

So sometimes just my clients lag, and sometimes I lag relatively with them as well.

Does that mean my modem can't be the problem? since i also sometimes get lag increases on the same network?

I have this router: Linksys WRT54GL
(its brand new but the model itself is fairly old)

Any insight would be great, thanks.

[Ade]

home servers will always mean high ping for others, unless it's (or is connected to) a huge internet exchange point

[xioSlayer]

Ok

I think if i had a centralized location it would work just fine, its mostly the people who are on the opposite side of the country from me who get unplayable pings.

I guess i'll have to rent if I want something better.

EDIT:

Why does my own ping increase sometimes then? on the same LAN? the router isn't near its limit according to the charts (in tomato firmware).

maybe if i could solve that it would help some.

[SomeSortOfDuck]

Someone in your family may be downloading something or watching a stream. That can hinder your connection. Also make sure you're actually getting what you think you're getting. My family moved and our internet was mysteriously downgraded to "Basic" from "Standard".

[xioSlayer]

No, the connection is 100% vacant :[

Thats what i dont get. I'm not hitting any bandwidth limits or resource limits on the server.

but lag still arises sometimes. What would cause that if I'm not maxing out my upload or my server PC?

[SomeSortOfDuck]

Originally Posted by xioSlayer No, the connection is 100% vacant :[ Thats what i dont get. I'm not hitting any bandwidth limits or resource limits on the server. but lag still arises sometimes. What would cause that if I'm not maxing out my upload or my server PC?

Originally Posted by SomeSortOfDuck make sure you're actually getting what you think you're getting. My family moved and our internet was mysteriously downgraded to "Basic" from "Standard".

[instantn00b]

If I were you I would install Linux on that server machine. Windows 7 gives so much overhead and a core2duo is not really the latest and fastest anymore.

That said, I use a powerful dedicated server at the internet exchange, and that sometimes still lags if it has been up to long, or if you spawn too much zombies and SI the ping goes up. It all depends on the mods you have running.

[Mavrick4283]

Originally Posted by instantn00b If I were you I would install Linux on that server machine. Windows 7 gives so much overhead and a core2duo is not really the latest and fastest anymore.

Windows 7 does not have that much overhead i use it for my home test server and none of my clients lag when they connect.

@xioSlayer

If you are using a POS router // cable modem that could be holding you way back. Scene you are using a Linksys WRT54GL i would say put custom firmware on it to get better performance out of it. As for your cable modem you can google the model and get the full specs on it and see if it even support the high speeds you are meant to be getting.

[savagekid]

Try http://speedtest.net and see what your actual download and upload speeds are. Also, when are you experiencing these ping/lag issues? Some ISP throttle speeds during peak hours so that may be a contributing factor. Lastly, check firewalls and router settings as there are some settings where they filter or do "stuff" to traversing data which may be the cause of lag.

[xioSlayer]

Ok thank you guys. I already ran speedtest and those were the numbers i gave you for connection speed, not what I'm supposed to be getting from my ISP (those numbers i'm not actually sure of).

But as a final question, regardless of the clients' lag on my server...

Why is it that even I occasionally lag playing on my server? I am on the same LAN, yet on really intense maps (like the custom map, Helms Deep, tons of AI), at certain points when the entity count rises (according to net_graph 4), my ping can go from ~18ms average all the way up to 70ms...

What could possible cause a latency increase of that magnitude on the LAN?! The router should be able to transfer 10MB/s locally... why in the world would the latency increase then if its not using that bandwidth at all hardly?

Could a networking guru step in and share some thoughts?


If i could figure this out I'm sure that additional lag would be deducted from my clients as well.