Fixing Packet loss and Jitter

[plokijuy]

I am a cop on viper2.pimpi.org and there is quite alot of people with jitter and packet loss.

I have to warn them but when they reply "how do i fix it" i cant reply.

The question in how do you fix it, i know how to fix lag but not jitter and packet loss.

Any help will be much appreciated.

[NoWell]

IMHO there is not much you can do against jitter (only the same things against lag) Jitter is more related to the number of hops between your machine and the bzflag server you are playing (and how good the traffic flows between this hops). More hops usually increases jitter.

[WarPig]

i have asked many people this and they tell me that there is basically little that can be done to get rd of packet loss.

[Skeeve]

Quit all other applications.
Quit ALL other applications.
QUIT ALL OTHER APPLICATIONS

That's the only 3 advices I can give and which almost ever helped me.

[Sky King]

Yes, first and foremost, you have to make sure you aren't doing ANYTHING else on the network. That means you have to make sure your computer isn't doing obvious things (like running torrent), but also that it isn't doing less obvious things. For instance, if you have a mail program running, you may have forgotten that it's out there checking the server and downloading e-mails. Windows update is another culprit that is easy to forget about.

Second, often depends on your network type. I find that my 802.11b WiFi router often needs a reboot, and DSL modems are sometimes the same. After a few days or a few weeks, they seem to get a little finicky, and a good swift power cycle always cures my router.

Another culprit affecting WiFi... I had a 2.4 GHz cordless phone at home. I measured my actual WiFi throughput with the phone off hook and on, and was surprised to see how dramatically the phone degraded my WiFi.

Last but not least... I always have 200ms + lag to the rklubi server in Finland because I am in the US. And I have very little lag, more like 50ms, to Lasermania. The lesson is that sometimes "fixing your lag" simply means playing on servers that are closer network-wise and offer more reasonable lags. Sadly, the ability to play any given server is not a "right" that you're entitled to. If your location/network is such that your lag is simply too high on a server, then, unfortunately, that means you can't play on that server. That's just the way it is. I run into players all the time with 800ms lag who say "sorry, I am on dial up in New Guinea, I'll just have to play this way." No, you don't "have to play this way"... There is an alternative, and that is play somewhere else where your lag is better.

BTW, some of you may have seen the article I posted about jitter a few months ago. All too often, when people see jitter that is 20, 30, or 40ms, they get panicky about how bad someone's network is. On the contrary, lost packets, and out of order packets are the real culprit in BZ. Just one or two percent packet loss or packet "out of order" (which is what the "ooo" stands for on the screen) is catastrophic to game play.