10-second latency

[Ricky Shaftoe]

Hi all,

I've been using Second LIfe for years without much trouble, but recently I get 10-second latency whenever I'm logged in for more than a couple minutes.  I can chat fine, without any lag.  If I try to move, however, there's a 10-second delay between keypress and movement.  I get very large ping times.  It doesn't seem to matter which viewer I use, though the official SL viewer sometimes performs a little better than Firestorm or Phoenix.  My router seems okay.  I'll contact my ISP, but the main trouble I'm having is with SL, not with other web services.

I'm using Windows 7 64-bit, 12G RAM, GTX580 videocard.  Videocard lag isn't the issue.  It's an internet-connection issue.

Any suggestions on what I might try to address this?

[Peggy Paperdoll]

The first place to look would be your router.  I know you said it seems okay, but it's hard to make that determination without some specialized software and testing methods.  Routers (and modems) typically run 24/7 and tiny memory leaks will add up over time and cause throughput delays and other issues.  Powercycling (or rebooting) the deives should clear the memory and get you back to the performance your router and modem normally give you.  Just unplug the devices from their electrial source for a few minutes (3 to 5) then plug back in.  Reboot your computer to re-establish your Internet connection and give SL another try.

There are, of course, other problems that could be causing your high latency problems.  Calling your ISP to test your connection from their servers back to your router/modem would tell if the problem is in that section of your connection.....chances are that's going to test out as fine.  The tech person is going to have you power cycle your modem (and router if they supply one....which most ISP's do not).  They'll also suggest you bypass your router and connect directly to your modem.  You can do all that before hand and possibly determine where the problem is without calling the ISP (I don't know about your ISP, but whenever I call mine, it's quite a wait to speak to a live person).  If the problem is not your router or modem and the connection from your ISP's servers test out fine then that leaves only two places for the problem to lay.  LL's servers or something in the Internet (like one or more of their servers or cables having problems.........you'll just have to wait them out for that to be fixed).  To make sure it's not LL's servers, log into a different sim (try Pooley).  It also could be your network interface in your computer itself.

There are, like almost everthing else computers, many different causes for most issues.  You have to do some logical troubleshooting, in logical sequence to narrow the cause down.  One step at a time or you get confused.  Do the most common (and often the easiest) step first.  And that is powercycling your router and modem.

[Rolig Loon]

It sounds silly, but check to be sure that you don't have any data cables sitting on unshielded power cords.  Sometimes just moving cords around in the wrong place can mess up transmission. It's still a good idea to check with your ISP too.  Take a look at Nalates's blog for some other suggestions, specifically about long ping times >>> http://blog.nalates.net/2011/10/26/troubleshoot-your-sl-connection/

[Ricky Shaftoe]

Thanks for your replies. Rolig, thanks in particular for that link.  Heh, as it happens, I just had found it via Google before posting my inquiry.  It has helped me rule out some things.

I have one sorta off-the-wall hypothesis.  Could a change in Windows 7's DPI settings affect Second Life?  I run Windows at 2560x1600 resolution, which makes icons and fonts tiny, so I have enabled the feature allowing you to increase the size of things by 150%.  But that feature interferes with some apps.  E.g., Diablo 3 won't run correctly with it; it borks the D3 mouse cursor.  I don't see how it would interfere with an internet connection, but I'm experimenting by running SL without the DPI increase.  SL ran fine when I logged in without it.  Probably a coincidence, but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone says "ah ha, that's it!"

When I have the internet problem, it's as if all my bandwidth gets sucked up by SL.  I can chat in SL, but if I try to do any web browsing outside SL at the same time, I get no response.  It's very odd.

Any further comments or advice would be welcome.  

[Rolig Loon]

Off the top of my head, I can't see why changing your screen resolution should affect things, but if your troubles started when you did that, it suggests a place to start looking.  Grasping at straws, I suggest possibly updating your graphics card drivers as a reasonable step.

Bandwidth is a tricky topic.  The Maximum Bandwidth setting in Preferences is nothing more than a limit switch that gives your viewer permission to use up to the bandwidth you have set, if it is available.  More than that, Maximum Bandwidth is only controlling the amount of bandwidth that the viewer can use for basic functions like rendering textures, calculating positions, handling communications, etc.  It does not address the additional bandwidth that you need for things like streaming media and Voice.  As a result, setting your Maximum Bandwidth too high can give your viewer permission to use all available bandwidth for basic functions, leaving nothing for other needs.  Of course, setting it too low cuts into the bandidth that you need for those basic functions.  The optimum is about 75% of your measured download bandwidth (see http://www.speedtest.net/ ).  In any case, SL's servers handle data at no more than about 3000KBps, as I recall.

[Ricky Shaftoe]

Thanks for your further reply, Rolig.  I'll keep experimenting.  But first I think I'll follow Peggy's suggestions.

Peggy, I somehow didn't notice your reply when I first responded.  Thank you for your suggestions.  I will try powercycling the router, as you suggest.  If that doesn't fix things, then a call to the ISP, as you suggest.  

Thanks again, everyone.

[Nalates Urriah]

Run through these steps to determine if it is a connection problem: Troubleshoot Your #SL Connection.

If you have more than one network connection port on the computer, try changing to the other network card. Network cards do go bad. Plus if there is not surge protector on the network connections a spike can cause them to fail or partially fail.

[Ricky Shaftoe]

Thanks for your replies.  I recycled my router; no effect.  I've tried most (all) of the suggestions at the link you provided (thanks for that).  Here are some results and comments.

1.  Tracert is helpful.  If I'm not logged into an SL viewer, I get 115 ms ping, and the route traces fine.  Once I log in for a bit, though, my internet connection virtually shuts down.  At first, I see "* request timed out" in the second and third lines of tracert, and on same later ones too.  After waiting a little longer, I'll make only one successful connection: the first one, to my router.  When this happens, my internet is virtually shut down, except for IMs and laggy chat in SL.  I can't web-browse or anything.  Usually I get logged off SL too, after half hour or so.

2. This happens ONLY with SL.  I can play Star Wars The Old Republic or Diablo 3 for hours with no problem.  It doesn't matter which SL viewer I use.  

3. Could it be that my Firewall settings are somehow being ultra-fussy with SL and only SL?  But I see nothing unusual there; not sure where I'd look, though.  Could it be my antivirus (MS Security Essentials) doesn't like the SL viewers?  Maybe my ISP doesn't like SL?

4. My tracert results seem to suggest that my network port is okay, doesn't it?  (Since I always make the first "jump" from NIC to Router.)  Do the results imply that the issue is a connection between my router and the internet?  An ISP issue?

5. That said, I do wonder about my network ports.  They are built into my motherboard, two of them.  A few months ago I switched my cable from one to the other because Windows was saying my network cable was unplugged.  But lately I get a slowdown or temporary outage once or twice a day.  Maybe I'll buy a PCI network card and try that.

6. According to Task Manager, Firestorm uses 850000K of memory; is that typical?  I have 12G on my system (Win7, 64-bit).

I don't know what to do next.  SL is unplayable for me now, on the eve of my 7th Rez-day to boot! 

  

[Ricky Shaftoe]

Update: I installed SL viewers on a second machine, a laptop that connects wirelessly.  As with this wired PC, the laptop chokes once it runs any SL viewer -- official viewer, Phoenix, or Firestorm.  That seems to rule out a hardware problem with my PC, or a problem with a firewall.  It seems to be that my router or ISP just does not want to give me a good connection to SL.  I've called my ISP about this once, but other than suggesting I upgrade my fiber-optic account, which I've done, they haven't been able to help.

I guess I'll start a ticket with LL.

Any further suggestions?  I'm starting to worry I'll never play SL again.  

[Rolig Loon]

Routers are not all that expensive, as computer components go, so you might want to just replace yours.  I was very surprised two years ago at how much more stable my connection was after I replaced my own router.

[Ricky Shaftoe]

Thanks.  I called back my ISP and persuaded them to send me a new router.  Can't hurt to try.

I also tried logging on an alt to see if the problem is specific to a particular character.  Nope; the alt lagged too.

A friend suggested I try assigning a custom port number.  Didn't help.

I also talked to LL's online chat support.  They suggested clearing my cache, and if that didn't help, then uninstalling all my viewers, then reinstalling the official viewer.  Clearing the cache doesn't help.  

Then I uninstalled all viewers, and then reinstalled only the official viewer.  I do see some improvement, but I've had occasional periods of decent connectivity before, only to have the problem return the next time I log in.  Still, I'm holding out hope this might help.  Will report developments.  Perhaps in the future someone with the same trouble will be spared some time and energy by reading the various fixes I've tried in this thread.

[Ricky Shaftoe]

Never mind: shortly after my last post, the 12- to 13-second latency returned, and after 25 minutes in SL, I disconnected.  

Running out of options.  If the new router doesn't work, I don't know what I'll do.  Will try SL chat again tomorrow.

Would be a shame to quit SL on my 7th rez day.

[Luc Starsider]

Another person recently had huge lag issues with SL. From what I understood, the issues only related to SL as in your case. The solution in that case was to disable a setting in their router - IP Flood Detection - which seems to fix the issues. Theirs was a Cisco router. Perhaps this is something for you to check/try?

- Luc -

[Ricky Shaftoe]

Hey, I'm desperate, so I'll try anything!  And that sounds like a plausible approach.  I have an ActionTec router.  Looking into it now.  Thanks for the suggestion!

[Ricky Shaftoe]

An update: the security log on my router did not indicate any trouble with IP Flood Control.  I did mull over changing some router settings, but I also ordered an upgrade of my FIOS internet download/upload speeds.  From 15/5 to 35/35.

And voila!  That might have fixed things!  Knock on wood.  I've had a day or so of flawless operation, using the SL viewer.  Keeping my fingers crossed!