Kicked for high ping - without having a high ping

Anim · #1 12-22-2009, 10:36 AM

So i'm having a bit of an issue playing this game now, it doesnt happen all the time but when it does it's frustrating.

I'll be happily playing a game, shooting stuff up and dying lots. At the bottom i'll get a connection issue warning but the game still plays just fine, still blowing stuff up and getting blown up, 10-15 seconds later i get kicked for having a 1500+ ping.

I played whilst chatting to people on ventrilo, they can hear me just fine with no interruptions, it still happened. I played again whilst running a ping to a website continuously, constant ping between 20 - 30 to the website. Out of nowhere the game kicks me for having a high ping but the ping record shows nothing over 30.

Is there something i need to unblock on a firewall or is there some known issue here?

-MH-CaptainVogez · #2 12-22-2009, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anim

i get kicked for having a 1500+ ping.

Curious - do you have a screenshot?
Because as far as I knew the maximum displayed ping is 999...

Bukem · #3 12-22-2009, 10:47 AM

When you get kicked it tells you the actual number, I've had a ping in the thousands a few times.

Anim · #4 12-22-2009, 10:53 AM

http://i47.tinypic.com/2a6plhl.jpg

Large ish picture so just a link, still has the ping running.

Stormich · #5 12-22-2009, 10:59 AM

Are you using wireless? Wireless has been know to cause huge ping spikes.

-MH-CaptainVogez · #6 12-22-2009, 11:21 AM

ah okay sorry Bukem - cheers for the correction

Torrent programs often spike your connection as well.

By the way, you do realise that said 517, not 1517? lol. or are we supposed to be looking at the log on the right? Because I can't get it high-enough resolution to read

Anim · #7 12-22-2009, 12:22 PM

Thats strange, didnt tell hosting to resize it.

Anyway that 517 is one of the lowest ive had it. No torret programs running, not wireless, the point is that altitude thinks i have a high ping when in fact the connection is just fine. The ping on the right varies between 24 and 27 and at the exact same time i have a "ping" in the hundreds in altitude.

Watching the ventrilo ping too, doesnt stray above 30.

Flyngbanana · #8 12-22-2009, 01:08 PM

Just play on the no max ping servers if you have occasional spikes

Anim · #9 12-22-2009, 01:19 PM

seems every server i join is max ping 300, but the thing thats annoying me is that my connection ISNT spiking, starting to think its some ridiculous netcode

lamster · #10 12-22-2009, 10:36 PM

What you're seeing is probably the result of packet loss:

Try this before you start playing:
1) Start -> Run -> cmd
2) ping -t google.com

After getting booted from the server, switch back to the command window and see if there are some "ping request timed out" messages. If so, your entire internet connection is periodically dropping all packets; otherwise it's probably just your connection to that game server. The netcode is fairly tolerant of packet loss, but significant loss will severely impact gameplay, and it will cause you to get booted from latency-capped servers (lost packets count as 999 ms pings).

There are many causes of packet loss including a saturated connection (e.g. torrent downloaders on your computer or others sharing your connection utilizing all available upstream or downstream bandwidth), wireless connections (either due to a poor connection or spotty wireless software, the latter is surprisingly common), or poor service from your internet provider.

Anim · #11 12-23-2009, 05:35 PM

unfortunately i already checked all that :\

Had a constant ping running to a very reliable website whilst playing, ping was fine with no packet loss whilst being booted from the game, very easily observed due to dual screen.

Only person the house at the time, no software other than ventrilo accessing the internet, tried without vent running too, same results.

Not using a wireless connection, theres solid fibre/metal all the way to the server im playing on.

When actually in the game, the game runs perfectly fine, ping says usually between 30 and 50 and still says that whilst i have the "connection issue" red text at the bottom. Im still playing with that text there no problems then suddenly dropped.

ISP is fine too, unless theres some really strange netcode that flags the game as some kind of spamming issue but then lots would be having this problem.

As fun as this game is, i just dont feel like playing it now as i play for 30 seconds to 2 minutes and then get booted from every server im on

lamster · #12 12-23-2009, 05:57 PM

Yeah that's very strange. Please submit a bug report (launch Altitude, F1 to open console, reportBug, note that this is regarding a forum post in your description, submit) so I can look for anomalies in your logs.

bmaker · #13 12-23-2009, 06:21 PM

You might want to try my servers:
[bmaker] Official FFA Maps 24/7
[bmaker] Official FFA Maps 24/7 +BOUNCY

A friend of mine had a similar issue due to a bad WLAN connection, so I set maxPing=1000.

Anim · #14 12-23-2009, 09:54 PM

Not wireless, for like the nth time

So i've put in a bug report, not entirely sure what it did but it also decided i should restart due to some sound issues. Unrelated issue but hey, so i guess it sends you some logs from the game over the past x plays?

Anim · #15 12-29-2009, 12:08 AM

This is still happening, its really just down to network traffic from this game. Surely a bit of insight from a dev would help about now, something i can change on either my router or call my isp and have them fix on their service.

lamster · #16 12-29-2009, 12:10 AM

The game traffic is all over UDP. You could call your ISP and ask them why you're experiencing bursts of packet loss. It doesn't sound like a router problem but you could try wiring your computer directly to the modem to eliminate the possibility.

Element · #17 12-29-2009, 04:22 AM

i thought the highest ping was 999???

Anim · #18 12-29-2009, 11:20 AM

no, only on the scoreboard / server browser. When actually being kicked it quite happily goes in to 4 figures.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lamster

The game traffic is all over UDP. You could call your ISP and ask them why you're experiencing bursts of packet loss. It doesn't sound like a router problem but you could try wiring your computer directly to the modem to eliminate the possibility.

Shall give them a call i guess, unfortunately my PC is directly attached to the modem already, tis a netgear router/modem.

acidd_uk · #19 03-04-2010, 08:55 PM

I am experiencing exactly the same problem. I thought it was a fault at my ISP but my connection is seems very stable tonight and getting exactly the same problem - game plays fine then suddenly kicked for high ping.

I also have a netgear router - a DG834 V2, running the latest firmware from Netgear (V3.01.38 UK).

I have had to disable network autotuning in the windows network stack because the router doesn't support it. I am now wondering again if this is the cause, or related.

Original bug report was here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=1173783

I'll post a bug report in game...

acidd_uk · #20 03-05-2010, 07:24 PM

Ok, this is driving me mental, I can play for 30 seconds on any server (that has a ping limit), but then I get kicked for high ping. Is there any sort of connection test I/we can do to try to diagnose this problem? All other games I play (CS:S, TF2, BF2, TA:Spring, Dawn of War 2) behave just fine, so while I hate to point the finger at Altitude, it seems to be the only game to have this issue for me.

Also, I have noticed that I have the same issue as the OP, that often I will get a red 'connection problem' message at the bottom of the screen while playing, usually shortly before I am kicked. However, the game continues to run fine when this is up - I can happily dogfight with ppl and there are no noticeable lag effects. I don't know what triggers the connection problems message, but it can persist for 10s of seconds with game game seeming to be just fine.

lamster · #21 03-05-2010, 07:48 PM

I'm looking into this again now. Normally I would expect severe packet loss (10%+, enough to get you kicked) to severely impact gameplay; large stutters when the game world suddenly snaps into synch after a string of dropped packets should be common (and very annoying). If you're not experiencing any jerkiness/synchronization issues I'm tempted to think your router is selectively filtering latency-testing packets... I'll look into it.

acidd_uk · #22 03-05-2010, 08:40 PM

Thanks dude!

A doughnut · #23 03-06-2010, 12:08 AM

ummmmm is there something funky with ur internet provider?????

and where do u live? if u live in some remote village in Uganda-that might not give u the greatest ping either.

acidd_uk · #24 03-06-2010, 12:54 AM

My ISP is idnet, a UK provider who are very good. I am on their top tier package and haven't had any problems with it with any other games. As I say, my ping to west Europe servers is 30-35, east coast us servers 120ish. It's stable until all of a sudden I get kicked.

I have managed to find a server with a ping limit of 900, and I am able to play on that without getting kicked - it looks like the game still thinks my ping is spiking though (in bottom left it shows ping as occasionally 999ms maybe once every minute or so) but that doesn't seem to affect the game - it's still as smooth as when the ping shows 30-35. No-one complains that I lag/warp/stutter etc.

I would have thought if I was getting regular UDP packet loss, then it would show up in other games, e.g. CS:S netgraph and so on. But no effects like this occur for any other game...

Ajuk999 · #25 03-06-2010, 01:35 AM

acidd, I searched what could cause ping problems, so take a look at this article I found, maybe it can help you.

What Causes a High Ping?

Also just a few flat out facts that could make your ping high or jump.

-Not Enough Ram on Your Computer
-Bad Internet Connection
-Background Applications that use the internet (startup items)
-Viruses
-Network Down
-People on your network overloading the internet

If none of the above is your problem, then please take an internet test to see your connection speed and so forth, maybe some of the Broadband Tests and Tools can provide help. I hope this helps.

acidd_uk · #26 03-06-2010, 01:55 AM

Thanks Ajuk. The weird thing as I say is that no other games show any signs of packet loss, lag or ping instability. That's why I suspect it's something specific to Altitude's netcode or the way the server or client uses/forms/sends the UDP packets used to determine ping.

I'm not saying it's a bug in Altitude per se, as it obviously works fine for the vast majority. However, in the same way, all otehr games work fine for me, so it's likely a weird interaction between Altitude and my router. Unfortunately, I can't really see a way for me to fix this without some more info about Altitude's netcode, and what both the client and server are sending and receiving (or not in this case). I don't think it's going to be GPL'd any time soon, so I am at the mercy of the developers on this one :-)

Ajuk999 · #27 03-06-2010, 02:40 AM

I know the developers are looking into this acidd, but did you try reinstalling Altitude? I think you should grab Another Copy Of Altitude And make the installation on to your Desktop. Try installing Altitude on to your desktop, I don't know if you have done that already, but it is worth a try.

Like So:
Computer/Users/UserName/Desktop/Altitude

Also if you use a Macintosh Computer, it might help disconnecting all connections to computers. Go to: Applications-->System Preferences--->Sharing. We will be doing the work in here. Make sure your window looks like this, notice I have Internet Sharing off, go ahead and turn internet sharing off also.

If this doesn't help, then go ahead and go to System Preferences--->Security, go the the tab that is titled "Firewall" and turn firewall off. Like So.

Then launch Altitude, The New Copy, and see if there is anything different. If you don't use a Mac then use the next step.

If you use a Windows Operating System, go ahead and turn off the Firewall

If the previous step didn't work, then go ahead and go to the "Wireless Network Connection Properties" and go to the tab "Advanced" from there you should see an option that reads: Allow other network users to connect through this computers Internet connection. It will look something like this

Go ahead and Uncheck that option. Now launch altitude with the new changes, and see if their is a difference.

Another tip accid, make sure your Video Cards and Graphic Cards are all up to date, you can Upgrade Your Video Card, Or Graphic Card. I don't think that the Graphic Card should be a problem, but for sure an Outdated or inefficient Video Card would cause serious problems. I recall visiting a friends house and I couldn't show them Altitude because their Video Card was bad. So make sure that is all intact.

If you follow all of the steps I wrote, and you still have the same problem(s) then I am clueless as to what the problems is. I hope that helped.

The only other thing I would suggest doing is joining a Skirmish or Training Mission, pushing tab, and take a screenshot, so we can see if specifically if it is an internet problem.

Ignus · #28 03-07-2010, 12:19 PM

I have the same problem as well. It's NOT my ISP. I live in Poland and pinging almost every European server (by console "ping") gives me < 100 ms (google.com - 42 ms).

I have almost a clean installation of Win 7 Pro x86 now. I've closed every single non system process and still lo luck. Nothing is downloading, nothing uses the network...

All other steam games are running fine over the network with pings below 100.

Changing servers didn't work, still kicked for high ping.
Funny thing is that I don't see any laggy gameplay, it works fluently.

Devs, please look into it, it's unplayable for me as it is now.

acidd_uk · #29 03-07-2010, 07:30 PM

For reference I'm on Win 7 - the 64-bit version.

acidd_uk · #30 03-24-2010, 07:08 PM

@lamster: Re. today's patch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ4NAZPi2js

elxir · #31 03-24-2010, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -MH-CaptainVogez

Curious - do you have a screenshot?
Because as far as I knew the maximum displayed ping is 999...

I've been kicked for having pings over 1200 before.

acidd_uk · #32 03-24-2010, 07:36 PM

He is talking about ping displayed in bottom left when in-game, not the ping stated in the kicked message.