Steps that I have taken to improve my latency:


Run traceroutes

Can use programs like Wireshark, Pingplotter, 3dtraceroute, or the Command prompt

Optimize network

Used programs like DrTcp

Or manually change MTU, Enable or disable QoS

Change NIC settings: checksum offload disable, change duplex settings, large send offload disable, disable power management.

Open ports. 3724 tcp, 1119 tcp, 3724 udp, 6112 tcp, 6881-6999 tcp and ports to DNS usually 53 udp I think. .

Check that ports are open with PFPortChecker

Update firmware/drivers

Motherboard

Nic

Sound/Video

OS

Modem

Router

Edit Registry

TcpAckFrequency (this lowered my in-game latency dramatically on both xp and vista, seemed to improve character response time to mouse/keyboard inputs but did nothing for other latency related issues and didnt alter my Quartz latency timer at all)

TcpNoDelay

Change hardware

Took router out (connect directly to modem)

Different router

Different modem

Different NIC

Other steps taken

Checked for VIruses

Delete WTF, WDB, interface folders

Clean up and defrag hard drive

Reinstall operating system, or install a different operating system

Reinstall game

Side-by-side ISP test (both cable and dsl)

Contacted both ISPs

I've posted about this before, and have spent hours searching for help. I've been experiencing a form of lag for months now, I believe it first started around the release of wotlk.

I put the word lag in quotes because I dont really know what to call it, it certainly isnt fps related, since my fps is normally very good 50+ except for 25 man raids and dalaran. It's probably latency related. I typically get about 100ms with the tcpackfrequency registry edit, without the edit I get around ~250ms.

This lag, or whatever it is, is destroying my enjoyment of my rogue particularly. There is a slight rubber band effect to fast moving players (not nearly as bad as it was before a recent patch targeted the rubber banding). Of course I also get the sliding sapped or stunned target, sometimes they can slide for the entire duration of a stun and even zig zag around, they dont always slide in a straight line. The worst effect that I get, and most notable is the peculiar effect that distract has on a target. Often I can distract a target thats somewhat close to me and they will literally blink 10 yards or so away. Another feature of this lag worth mentioning is that it can be almost impossible to find the hitbox of a moving target. If for some reason I am chasing an unsnared target, like a vehicle, I will have to stand several yards in front of it and attack the air in order to hit the vehicle or player.

In addition to this there is a general feel of sluggishness that I feel I shouldnt be experiencing. I have run traceroutes, 3d traceroutes, updated the drivers/firmware of all my hardware, deleted wtf/wdb/cache, fooled around with nearly ever concievable video setting, tried 2 different high speed isps, checked for virus, cleaned up the hardrive, and of course as mentioned before tried those registry tweaks which still do seem to help even though others have said they do nothing for vista.

This is some info on the system I am running, I'll be happy to post any and all info that anyone would need to help me resolve this.

Intel Core2 Duo E6750 (2.66 / 2.67)
4 gb ram
vista preium 64 sp 1
geforce 9800 gtx -- driver v.185.85
bellsouth verizon dsl
realtek pci-e gigabit ethernet nic
motorola 2100 modem
linksys wrt54g (network is hardwired, not wireless)

Thanks for any help anyone can offer

bump

please


System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 5/19/2009, 20:23:07
Machine name: CORY-PC
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.090302-1506)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: INTEL
System Model: DG31PR
BIOS: BIOS Date: 01/23/08 15:53:32 Ver: 08.00.10
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4092MB RAM
Page File: 2111MB used, 1925MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0612&SUBSYS_0A7619F1&REV_A2
Display Memory: 2288 MB
Dedicated Memory: 497 MB
Shared Memory: 1790 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Monitor: ViewSonic VA903 Series
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver Version: 8.15.0011.8585 (English)
DDI Version: 10
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 4/30/2009 22:02:00, 9443840 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4552-11CF-C85B-7D2A02C2C535}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0612
SubSys ID: 0x0A7619F1
Revision ID: 0x00A2
Revision ID: 0x00A2
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C

DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Speakers (SB Audigy)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0007&SUBSYS_100A1102&REV_00
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: P17.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.2001 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 2/5/2007 17:49:20, 1529856 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: CREATIVE
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

Description: Digital Audio Interface (SB Audigy)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0007&SUBSYS_100A1102&REV_00
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: P17.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.2001 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 2/5/2007 17:49:20, 1529856 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: CREATIVE
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Description: Microphone (SB Audigy)
Default Sound Capture: Yes
Default Voice Capture: Yes
Driver Name: P17.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.2001 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 2/5/2007 17:49:20, 1529856 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

Description: S/PDIF-In (SB Audigy)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: P17.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.2001 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 2/5/2007 17:49:20, 1529856 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

Description: Line-In (SB Audigy)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: P17.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.2001 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 2/5/2007 17:49:20, 1529856 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

-------------------
DirectInput Devices
-------------------
Device Name: Mouse
Attached: 1
Controller ID: n/a
Vendor/Product ID: n/a
FF Driver: n/a

Device Name: Keyboard
Attached: 1
Controller ID: n/a
Vendor/Product ID: n/a
FF Driver: n/a

Poll w/ Interrupt: No

-----------
USB Devices
-----------
+ USB Root Hub
| Vendor/Product ID: 0x8086, 0x27CB
| Matching Device ID: usb\root_hub
| Service: usbhub

----------------
Gameport Devices
----------------

------------
PS/2 Devices
------------
+ PS/2 Keyboard
| Matching Device ID: *pnp0303
| Upper Filters: L8042Kbd
| Service: i8042prt
|
+ Terminal Server Keyboard Driver
| Matching Device ID: root\rdp_kbd
| Upper Filters: kbdclass
| Service: TermDD
|
+ Logitech HID-compliant MX320 Laser Mouse
| Vendor/Product ID: 0x046D, 0xC043
| Matching Device ID: hid\vid_046d&pid_c043
| Upper Filters: LMouFilt
| Lower Filters: LHidFilt
| Service: mouhid
|
+ Terminal Server Mouse Driver
| Matching Device ID: root\rdp_mou
| Upper Filters: mouclass
| Service: TermDD

------------------------
Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives
------------------------
Drive: C:
Free Space: 147.3 GB
Total Space: 238.5 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: WDC WD2500AAKS-00B3A0 ATA Device

Drive: D:
Model: HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H55N ATA Device
Driver: c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 6.00.6001.18000 (English), , 0 bytes

--------------
System Devices
--------------
Name: Intel(R) G33/G31/P35/P31 Express Chipset PCI Express Root Port - 29C1
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29C1&SUBSYS_00008086&REV_10\3&11583659&0&08
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) G33/G31/P35/P31 Express Chipset Processor to I/O Controller - 29C0
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29C0&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_10\3&11583659&0&00
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 27DF
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27DF&SUBSYS_27DF8086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&F9
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller - 27DA
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27DA&SUBSYS_D6088086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&FB
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Root Port - 27D2
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27D2&SUBSYS_27D28086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&E1
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Root Port - 27D0
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27D0&SUBSYS_27D08086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&E0
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 27CC
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27CC&SUBSYS_27CC8086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&EF
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27CB
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27CB&SUBSYS_27CB8086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&EB
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27CA
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27CA&SUBSYS_27CA8086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&EA
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27C9
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C9&SUBSYS_27C98086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&E9
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27C8
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C8&SUBSYS_27C88086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&E8
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller - 27C0
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C0&SUBSYS_27C08086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&FA
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Controller - 27B8
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27B8&SUBSYS_544E8086&REV_01\3&11583659&0&F8
Driver: n/a

Name: Intel(R) 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E
Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_244E&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_E1\3&11583659&0&F0
Driver: n/a

Name: SB Audigy
Device ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0007&SUBSYS_100A1102&REV_00\4&CF81C54&0&28F0
Driver: n/a

Name: Realtek RTL8168B/8111B Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0)
Device ID: PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8168&SUBSYS_D6088086&REV_01\00EC816800
Driver: n/a

Name: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+
Device ID: PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0612&SUBSYS_0A7619F1&REV_A2\4&91BBBF8&0&0008
Driver: n/a

Bump again

I actually dont have anywhere to take my computer where I am at. A friend recently did come and visit though and logged in thru my network, he didnt notice or mention anything peculiar, but who knows. If you are looking towards my router or modem is there any other test I can conduct?

Like I said I've run a few traceroutes and they look pretty good to blackdragonflight as far as I can tell, there are a few occasional spikes in the last 2 hops before I reach you guys but everything out of my network and up the east coast looks good and those spikes arent all that frequent.

Since posting this I have completely reformatted my hd and installed xp sp2, updated all drivers, and then reinstalled wow, just to test xp over vista. The issue still persists.

Bump and traceroute. This traceroute is pretty normal, I've tried it at different times of the day and let the 3d traceroute run for awhile and it basically shows the same thing, pretty consistently. What I dont understand is why my in game latency is displaying 200-300 (feels like it too).


Tracing route to 206.17.111.6 over a maximum of 30 hops


1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 28 ms 28 ms 28 ms 68.152.180.4
3 28 ms 27 ms 28 ms 68.152.250.213
4 33 ms 37 ms 33 ms ixc01jax-ge-1-0-7.bellsouth.net [205.152.70.146]
5 34 ms 34 ms 34 ms ixc00mia.bellsouth.net [65.83.237.11]
6 34 ms 35 ms 34 ms axr01msy-so-7-3-0.bellsouth.net [65.83.237.18]
7 33 ms 33 ms 34 ms pxr00apx-ge-1-3-0.bellsouth.net [65.83.236.160]
8 34 ms 33 ms 33 ms 65.83.238.178
9 76 ms 75 ms 74 ms cr2.ormfl.ip.att.net [12.122.143.134]
10 75 ms 74 ms 75 ms cr1.attga.ip.att.net [12.122.5.142]
11 73 ms 74 ms 74 ms cr2.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.122.1.174]
12 75 ms 75 ms 74 ms cr2.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.3.37]
13 74 ms 74 ms 75 ms cr1.cb1ma.ip.att.net [12.122.31.126]
14 74 ms 74 ms 75 ms gar5.cb1ma.ip.att.net [12.122.145.29]
15 75 ms 77 ms 75 ms 12-122-254-14.attens.net [12.122.254.14]
16 75 ms 75 ms 76 ms mdf001c7613r0003-gig-10-1.bos1.attens.net [12.130.0.170]
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.

Same problem were all geting im afraid :/

help me too please !

Yes I did that last night actually; no improvement of in game displayed latency, feel, or traceroute.

Thanks for the quick response. I have actually tried this before as well, I've used 100 full, 10 full and 10 half. Some other things I've tried:

-Checsum offload and large send disabled
-I've also tried with QoS enabled and disabled for port 3724
-Tried lowering MTU slightly

The only thing that has had any effect at all is the tcpackfrequency regedit, which lowers the displayed in game latency, however quartz still displays a much higher latency and the game doesnt really feel any better at all.

Probably, I'll check into that. Although, I do want to just remind you that I've tried my connection with 2 seperate isps. The one I have now with that modem is dsl, the other is comcast cable, so obviously a different modem. I switched to comcast to resolve the issue, then switched back when I realized the issue was still there.

I've ordered a 2wire modem/router combo. I'll update this in a few days after it arrives.

Ok so I've tried a million different things at this point. Ram test, HD test, turned of HD indexing, partitioned for a smaller amount of hd space (what i think is short stroking), Dropped MTU to 300, 1400, 1472 and 1492. I've also double checked all my drivers from the bios on up (did find one for the onboard sound which seemed to heal a sound crackling issue) and after all of that I reran a traceroute but this time used a different one. I used Ping plotter which was a free download and it revealed something I hadnt seen before.

88% packetloss average on hop 14 after 50 pings shown in the picture.

http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa272/lecchus/?action=view&current=ping.jpg

So this is probably my problem isnt it? If it is will my isp address it? I mentioned in a previous post in this thread that I had tried 2 different isps, verizon and comcast and had lag with both of them, they both routed me thru this same hop didnt they?

Bump and update to my last post. As I learn more about tracing with ping plotter I found that nothing but the destination hop matters, since ICMP gets the destination unreachable message there is really no way to check.

I've tried changing the settings in ping plotter to use tcp and forwarded port 3724 at which point I did get thru to the blizzard server, but it showed like 50%+ packet loss and then continually added unresponsive hops between the last 2. I dont think that this was accurate; instead I suppose it just means that the ping plotter test cannot be configured to actually work with blizzards servers.

Is that correct?

My latency has been all over the place this weekend, from 70ms to 6kms, it fluctuates quickly and checking my browser during spikes isnt indicating anything to me, I can browse to any website in normal time.

One other aspect of my lag that I failed to mention before was the "hitching" every 20-30 seconds the game will freeze for 1 second (sometimes, rarely as long as 5 seconds). During this freeze my fps remains normal, sometimes my ingame latency spikes, sometimes it doesnt.

Another Update.

I spoke to an in game GM on bdf server yesterday I asked him to read this thread, which he did. He then told me that I had tried everything and that there was nothing else he could do for me. I had hoped he would be able to check my connection to the server or something like that. Especially since during the course of our conversation latency was fluctuating between 200ms and 6kms.

Immediately after talking to the GM I entered ulda 25. My latency was spikey and horrible, I wasnt able to perform any actions with my character or even send whispers. I crashed. I logged back in and crashed once more. I logged in once more and noticed that my ping seemed stable, 94ms, and it held the entire night. I've never had such stable latency in the 4 years I've played this game, its always fluctuated by at least as wide as 100ms (is this jitter?). Anyways it remained stable for the entire night and seems stable so far today.

I hadnt changed any settings at this point so I dont know why this has occured.

**note** 94ms is with the tcpackfrequency registry edit, its 200ms without.

**update** recieving 130ish ms now, nearly 300ms without tcpackfrequency and feeling the latency. I live in north florida, connecting to bdf in Mass. I believe. 300ms as a rogue in pvp is just a joke, I should be getting half this latency without any registry edit. Help.