ping and how to decrease it:

[LittleHorn]

If you look in F1 during an internet game it will show your ping. Similarly it will also show your ping in F6 (which always seems to be higher than your F1 ping) and also higher than the ping in the server list.....

i was just wondering - exactly - what these differences mean and why they are there. Also are there any tips on lowring your ping, especially if running a server.

This includes as much detail as you can possibly give on cheat protection etc.

so, my requests:

1. Can someone explain the ping / true ping and differences in the 3 pings to me in full please.

2. How can i lower my ping?

3. what cheat protection (and other packages ie zeroping v100, v210 etc) lag the server the most??? please explain your answer and if you could list which functions of which protection makes the worst lag (ie client scans on first entry to the server because...). I want to know which cheat protection is most effective, but also listed so that there are:

(1). least laggy - upsides and downsides
(2). bit laggy - upsides and downsides.
(3). moderately laggy and annoying - upsides and downsides
(.). .....
(.). .....
(.). .....
(N). dont go near this cheat protection!!! - downsides.


I think we should all contribute to this post and if there is enough information i will consider writing a tutorial for this site.

please help

[PizzaMan]

This is taken from http://www.unrealadmin.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-22.html

Here is a rude formula to show the relation of DOS Ping, F1 Ping and F6 ping. It is not overly accurate, but you will hopefully see that there is a relation between them.

f1 ping = dos ping + (1000/fps + 0,5*1000/tickrate)*0,5

f6 ping = dos ping + 1000/tickrate + 0,5*1000/fps

Tickrate is the tickrate of the server, and fps is the framerate of your client. Remember that the framerate on clients can be limited by using netspeed. Netspeed 5500 gives ~85fps max.

[ServerDude]

Some ways to reduce the "lag" or "latency" you are experiencing is to hard code your NIC to 100/Full instead of the default setting of Auto/Auto. But remember you can only do this if you are on a switch. Switches redirect incoming and outgoing packets at 100/Full to each port so you get maximum bandwidth. Managed switches like Cisco Catalyst's give you the ability to configure each port independently. Thus allowing you to enable or disable ports as needed. Hubs take that 100/Full and divide it by the number of ports that are in use. The end result is packet collisions and reduced bandwidth.

So if you are on a switch that is capable and running at 100/Full then you should bump your NIC up to the same.

Auto/Auto does not guarantee 100/Full. It will try but has the tendency to be less than that and will usually happen during gameplay.