Sharp performence drop in MP

[Martin James]

In both G/burg and Waterloo I experience a sharp performance drop in MP. In the latter game, it’s so extreme that it sometimes prevents me playing MP. In a corps scenario, I can have 30-40 FPS in SP, but only 3-5 in MP.

Any ideas? Has anyone else experienced similar problems?

I should say my internet connection is fast (c40-50 meg) and very stable, so I don’t *think* it’s internet related.

Martin (J)

[con20or]

Is this a recent change Martin? You have been MPing for quite a while haven't you?

[Martin James]

Hi Con20or

I only noticed once I started trying to play Waterloo MP. I then went back to G/burg to see if I found the same pattern. I do, but it's not a problem with that game for 2 reasons:

1. The performance drop in MP is usually somewhat less severe

2. G/burg seems overall less demanding than Waterloo, so my system can still cope

I guess that's why I never noticed it before.

Any ideas?

Martin (J)

[con20or]

40FPS in SP for a corps scenario is extremely impressive, probably the highest I have heard of so you must have a super-high spec PC.

Are you certain you are getting 3 FPS in MP? i.e. you can see that FPS value in the debug box in the top left? The reason i ask is to make sure this is not just a laggy game when someone else with a slow connection is online with you. That can make the game very jerky at times in MP. It is possible you are playing with someone new in WL but not in GB who has a poor connection.

[Martin James]

Thanks fort your assistance, con20or.

40FPS in SP for a corps scenario is extremely impressive, probably the highest I have heard of so you must have a super-high spec PC

.
This was in a bespoke scenario created on one of Garnier's maps by MTG. I would guess it would be significantly less on one of the stock maps with buildings etc. But the important thing is that both SP and MP figs I'm quoting are using the same officer, in the same position, in the same scenario - to eliminate any other variances. My PC is not high spec anymore, regrettably

Are you certain you are getting 3 FPS in MP? i.e. you can see that FPS value in the debug box in the top left? The reason i ask is to make sure this is not just a laggy game when someone else with a slow connection is online with you. That can make the game very jerky at times in MP. It is possible you are playing with someone new in WL but not in GB who has a poor connection.

Yes, that's the value in the top left debug box. It does vary during a game, but mostly is 3-4 in all my MP games. Have now tried 4 MP games btw, and the drop has happened each time. In a couple of the games I have also lost particular functions - eg the courier pane stopped working properly, or the destination arrows point every-which-way. Could that be somehow related?


Really got me scratching my head...........

[con20or]

I honestly don't know, it sounds very strange. One of the main performance issues was traced down to people running Webroot AntiVirus when playing the game, but that should affect SP equally with MP which doesn't happen in your case. unless through some game-management software you have your AV only set to run when online. A few more questions to help track it down:

- Do you use Webroot?

- When you are MPing, are the other players seeing anything strange?

- Finally, do you have any mods enabled? The courier pane and destination arrows acting odd has not been reported with the vanilla game. If so, maybe you could run a quick test MP game with all mods off.

[Martin James]

- Do you use Webroot?

No, I use AVG

- When you are MPing, are the other players seeing anything strange?

Occasionally they see floating trees, but not on the stock maps, as far as I'm aware. Apart from that, nothing.

- Finally, do you have any mods enabled? The courier pane and destination arrows acting odd has not been reported with the vanilla game. If so, maybe you could run a quick test MP game with all mods off.

I've run tests with both the stock game, and also using the KS mods. I get the same pattern of drop in MP in both cases, and in all size of battles. I even see it in MP games consisting of just one player (ie. me).

Martin (J)

[Saddletank]

If I can chip in here with some rather obvious remarks - this does look like an internet communications problem rather than a game problem. If the game runs okay in SP and not in MP then the internet activity has to be the reason.

I can think of:

Anti-Virus

Firewall

Programs either auto-updating or scanning or checking in the background

Router

ISP

Any other activity on your IP address (other users in your home)

Malware

[KG_Soldier]

I think his troops are just slow to respond to his shoddy leadership.

:woohoo:

[Martin James]

I think his troops are just slow to respond to his shoddy leadership.

:woohoo:

Dang! This man knows me