Are you playing through dial-up? Chime in here.

[Algernon's Ghost]

If you play through a dial-up connection, please tell us about your experience with it on The Vast. I'd like to know how many of you we have, and how the game runs for you. How quickly do areas load? How is the lag during combat? Anything else you would like to add...

[SkyLarkinmdow]

On dial-up here, unfortunate but true. My experiences IG are extremely limited, to say the least. I wait outside the vast, up to 15 minutes, and rarely catch a ride on a ping less than 530. Most times, my conversations are limited as my emotes lag far behind natural responses. My characters, *sit quietly and listen* and sometimes I'll just enter ((AFK)) to avoid a direct emote from another player.
Lagging in combat is outrageous, and often my chars, will turn down many oportunities for great fun because I can't keep up; slow loads into areas; crashing, or just plain death for mine or someone else's.
It's slow going for xp and RP, but having too much fun to stay away. I've learned to avoid putting any chars in danger, because of it.

[Dabaro Viloufin]

I would like to add those on dialup be knowledegable of the distance to the server, this play a crucial part in ping/packet transfer as well.


I am on dial up, connecting anywere from 52.0-53.9 Kbps, located in South Central Texas if that helps any. Lag for me only gets bad with the amount of time the server is up, usually when I get lag, so does everybody else, perhaps I'm causing it, perhaps not. What ping shows varies, it all depends on how many servers I'm pinging at once, having the Vast in my favs. alone, keeps the ping around the 100-200 range. I would advise to not trust ping only when it comes to lag, as I said before in another thread, ping and packet loss are two different transfers.

I will add though that if the server is up for a 'very' long time, say, month 12 of the in game clock, I can no longer connect, around month 10+ it gets difficult to log in. Areas load fast, no problems there. Lag during combat is not too bad unless the entire part is grouped tightly together and attacking the one or two monsters, however to prove a point that it is not so bad, Atra's trek to the Torg, I only lagged in combat once the entire time.

Boy, that turned out alot of text for just a few questions AG asked.

[Vesperas]

Dial-up here!

I connect at a 'half' speed for dial-up due to my area and available numbers, and am located in northwestern Louisiana. Since I'm a very new player (just started last night), I'm not sure if my feedback will be very helpful.

I have so far not experienced any noticeable (or atleast annoying) lag. Tells went into the game almost instantly, one-on-one combat was without lag.

Transitions between areas caused a short pause, but not nearly enough to be annoying. The loading time is very similar to the game's loading times for me in a one-player mode.

[Algernon's Ghost]

From the early days, I've kept placeables (extra trees, crates, other scenery features) to a minimum in combat possible areas. Lots of placeables is a known factor that contributes to lag. Careful placement of them is also needed to avoid pathfinding issues for the NPC AI.

Sky, what is your usual connection speed?

[SkyLarkinmdow]

I agree with Dabaro, in that my lag time certainly increases before server resets...that might be true for all of us...(not sure). My ususal connection speed is somewhere around 56 Kbps, northern Illinois *shrugs*. I'll keep plugging along and offer my thanks to all, for your understanding and patience.

[Algernon's Ghost]

lag time certainly increases before server resets...that might be true for all of us...

It should be true. It is for me, and I get a ping of about 11 through the network.

[Dabaro Viloufin]

Update: With Version 1.68, I have now gotten worse, I think its more of a client issue rather than server. Microstutters are now constant, looks like my PCs are skipping rather than walking, I crashed twice and upon rebooting and trying to reconnect I keep getting the message my CD Key is still in use @ The Vast. I know it can't be a PC issue because I just built this rig, worked fine in 1.67, seems Bioware broke something again. Will need to test more to find out if its a patch issue or connection issue, I hope its the latter.

[Algernon's Ghost]

I noticed when looking close at cloaks, it seems to slow things down. They are pretty detailed, and one more thing to be animated. I couldn't say if that's it, but it could be a factor.

Remember to report any findings from personal testing to BioWare.

[Holgrum]

Had dialup since i started in Feb. Finally Highspeed is available where i live. Never had many problems with lag. I have played HS and DU and to be honest there isnt a huge difference. MY dialup max speed at home was 28.8 BTW.