Image lagging every 5 seconds

[Brandy]

Every 5 seconds or so, the game lags which makes it annoying to play. When we first loaded it, it was working fine, but now it is lagging. We've reloaded directX and altered video card settings but nothing has helped. Any ideas?

[KrazyLoCo]

Is this online or offline? Or both? What kind of video rendering mode do you use? What are your computer specifications? What kind of internet connection are you on?

[Brandy]

We use 32 bit, medium level texture... We were running on high texture when we first loaded it and it was fine. When it started to lag I changed it but it made no difference. It's offline and we have a 2ghz processor, 64meg nvidia Geforce mx440 graphics card, 256 ram, 40gig hard drive (half full) running win 2000 pro.

[KrazyLoCo]

Well I have two ideas. Are you running UT off of your CD? Because if you are, that could be the problem. And it may also be disk swapping. Also, did you do anything significant to your system close to when this problem arose? You might want to read this (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=288817) and this (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=293169).

[Brandy]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll try defragging and see how it goes. Sounds like there are a few similar problems with no simple solutions! Cheers.

[JACK SH!T]

I was going to say you might be low on ram, but 256 is more than enough for UT.
what all is running in the back ground? Sounds like something is useing up your CPU cycles.
download End it All (http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/toolbox/enditall/) it will alow you to kill all running apps that start when you boot. Be carefull though...if you don't know what it is, leave it running, windows might need it to run.
You can also go into the start menu/run/msconfig/startup tab, from there, look for the things that load up when to boot your pc. Uncheck the thing that you don't need running all the time. This will speed up you boot time, and allow your machine to run smoother.
good luck, & keep us informed ;)

[Brandy]

I've tried ending as many background programs as possible and although it seemed to lag less often and for a slightly sjorter time, it still does lag.

[LiL_D]

I have the same exact problem, Im not sure as to what is causing it as in single player its fine but online its lagging every few seconds. However I did notice that the IN packets, bytes, and whatever else is on the net stats (F6) jump up then go back to normal. Have you figured what was causing yours to do this?

Also here are my sys specs so we can try to narrow this down.

| AMD XP 2100 @ 2.22 | Epox 8RDA+ | ATI Radeon 9700 Pro | 512 XMS Speed Series Cas 2 PC3200 | WD 80 Gig 7200 | WD 30 Gig 7200 | WD 20 Gig 5400 | SB MP3 Audigy | TDK 48x24x48x | Antec 400w | XP Pro SP1 |

Cat 3.6, and latest Nforce2 drivers

[Necromancer]

reinstall
or remove your unrealtournament.ini file out of c:\UT\systems folder
Overtime things get built up in it and can cause lagg.

Lil d try changing your netspeed to 5000,8000,10,000
I believe you are having packetloss maybe?





Im suprized CL doesnt know who I am yet:D

[jimbob]

ive got the same problem, its like it lags all of the sudden.
i did defrag, reinstalled, closed all programs, my pc has way more than required to play the game BUT IT STILL LAGS. like i get lag spikes it will freez and unfreez in a matter of seconds. maybe it has something to do with road runner? i dont know. but its really making me mad!!!

[Necromancer]

roadrunner does suck
but try netspeed
hit tlide ot tab and type netspeed 8000
try 5000,8000,10000,20000

[WinkyBoy]

Three of my friends where I work just got new Dell laptops w/ XP and they ALL have this exact problem. In a Practice game there are no flaws, but connecting to an internet- OR LAN- game, they get the shakes/lag every few seconds. These are brand-new machines with fresh installs of UT, plus only the 436 patch + bonusPack1 + bonusPack4 installed.


OS: Windows XP Professional U.S. English 5.1 (build 2600 Service Pack 1) installed: 21-Aug-2003
Audio: SigmaTel C-Major Audio
Video Card: Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller (64.0 Mb): 1024 x 768 - True Color (32 bit)
Memory: 512 Mb (522 456 Kb) DIMM_B: 512 Mb(DDR,Synchronous,3.8 ns)
Processor: Pentium M processor 1400MHz 1400MHz Ext.clock: 133 MHz


IF anyone ever comes up with an idea, we'd love to hear it...

[I am Fearless]

Sounds like either a weird software problem or an ISP problem. Check F6 stats for the usual culprits : yoyoing ping (=> makes you warp) and packet loss (make you pause or skip).

[WinkyBoy]

Thanx, Fearless -- We're going to test a few things, but I suspect it's a weird software problem. We'll try putting some other networked games on there, see if they mess up, try shutting down EVERYTHING else, and so on. I also have a question as to whether or not it's because of something Dell did with their hardware, but that's improbable.

[Masatoshi-san]

Well, I don't know.


I will say this: LOWER YOUR GRAPHICS AND OTHER GAME SETTINGS TO SOMETHING MORE PERFORMANCE-READY AND LESS CPU-DEMANDING!!! Then, work your way up.

[WinkyBoy]

The answer lied in knowing the right question to ask! One of my laptop-owning friends tried out an extended practice game (meaning they played it for longer than a few seconds :P ) and found out that it played at an incredibly high speed. So, after searching this forum for "UT is too fast", I got THIS:

What to try when UT is too fast. (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=311841&highlight=speed+problem)

So, at first, the problem seemed like a networking issue, perhaps interference or lag of some sort, when it was actually the opposite! Yaay to this forum :)

[Masatoshi-san]

*Evil grin*

/me wonders what that would be like to put it to an incredibly high or low number on a machine it's not meant for.


But, I'm not doing that. :p