Mystery of the Lag solved maybe...

[SuRfY]

I have posted in one of the thread where people are experiencing lag issues. In the post, i mentioned that the lag issues is recently and it had never happened before (when i levelled all 3 characters to level 21). After analyzing, I strongly believed it has to do with one of the updates. Few explanations I can think of:

They downgraded their server (which cannot sustain the current numberr of players)
There is a sudden injection of large number of new players (which the servers overload)
They shifted their servers elsewhere or underground (a bit far fetched)

But after backtracking through all the updates thread and putting on my thinking cap, I have come to a conclusion that is logical to me. The problem lies in the elixirs timer counting down even when the players are logged off. If there are hundred thousands players with free elixirs counting down at the same time even if they are logged off, it will put more weight in the servers. Tombs are the areas with the most lag because most players use their elixirs in there to level up and probably lots would have logged off from there with their elixirs still running. Not discounting the possibility of that.

A developer could look into this.

PS: I am quite into troubleshooting so that is my perspective.

[Vystirch]

The elixirs don't last long enough to cause such long sustained problems.....

[Rare]

I have posted in one of the thread where people are experiencing lag issues. In the post, i mentioned that the lag issues is recently and it had never happened before (when i levelled all 3 characters to level 21). After analyzing, I strongly believed it has to do with one of the updates. Few explanations I can think of:

They downgraded their server (which cannot sustain the current numberr of players)
There is a sudden injection of large number of new players (which the servers overload)
They shifted their servers elsewhere or underground (a bit far fetched)

But after backtracking through all the updates thread and putting on my thinking cap, I have come to a conclusion that is logical to me. The problem lies in the elixirs timer counting down even when the players are logged off. If there are hundred thousands players with free elixirs counting down at the same time even if they are logged off, it will put more weight in the servers. Tombs are the areas with the most lag because most players use their elixirs in there to level up and probably lots would have logged off from there with their elixirs still running. Not discounting the possibility of that.

A developer could look into this.

PS: I am quite into troubleshooting so that is my perspective.

I seriously doubt EVERY timer is continuously counting down. That would be pretty careless if you had to have a thread counting everything.

Instead... probably saves your time when you log off and when you log back on compares to the current system time.

[SuRfY]

The elixirs don't last long enough to cause such long sustained problems.....

I see it as "Every second, a baby is born and every second, someone dies" based on the world.

I seriously doubt EVERY timer is continuously counting down. That would be pretty careless if you had to have a thread counting everything.

Instead... probably saves your time when you log off and when you log back on compares to the current system time.

Doubt but it's still a possibility.

[Samhayne]

Hey Surfy,

I'm sorry to hear that you are having latency troubles. To address your concern, no the countdown of elixir timers doesn't have (or is negligible) impact on server performance.

The recent server maintenance for Arcane Legends was to actually improve capabilities.

Have you been able to try playing on a different internet connection and compare?

If you have a PC on your local network, try doing a tracert to account.spacetimestudios.com and look for hops in your network traffic that is timing out. If you're not sure what a tracert is, check this article out: http://www.mediacollege.com/internet...raceroute.html You can also find out more about troubleshooting connectivity issues by searching on the web.

Your first try should really be to try a different connection. If you play on a tablet or phone can you try a different wifi completely? Sometimes here at work we'll go use a nearby free wifi just to see how things are from a different connection.

[Genuinous]

since the latest update my ping is a lot better. Used to be about 250-350, but not it's 130-200. So I'm really happy with it

[McBain]

If you have a PC on your local network, try doing a tracert to account.spacetimestudios.com and look for hops in your network traffic that is timing out.

Therein lies the problem it would seem, at least for me. Repeated trace or ping tests to that specific domain (account.spacetimestudios.com) time out before reaching the destination. Tracert hit the same wall every time around line 18, and then times out the rest of the way, and ping never connects.

Everything is fine running the same tests to just spacetimestudios.com however. To that domain, tracert shows only 14 lines, no time outs, and all times under 100ms, and the ping test averages 88ms.

So, it would appear that a breakdown in connectivity to the game server is what's causing these problems for some of us. My ping always appears to fine in-game though. In the midst of a lagging episode, I'll check it, and it always shows green values. I also don't experience this lag in any other STS games, only AL, and it only started happening right around the recent server maintenance. I'm thinking that can't be a coincidence. I haven't had a chance to try playing on another internet connection. My neighbors all selfishly have their wifi password protected (the nerve of some people! ). Maybe I'll go find a McDonalds or Starbucks or something and see if anything's different.

[Samhayne]

Sounds like you want to bring up the issue with your ISP or network administrator and see if they can route your traffic around that hop that is timing out.

Spacetimestudios.com and our websites (like www.pocketlegends.com or www.arcanelegendsgame.com) is hosted on a completely different server and location, so that's not a valid test for game issues.

[McBain]

Gotcha. That's what I figured, but I tested spacetimestudios.com as secondary test mainly to check that my internet connection is otherwise fine, not for necessarily diagnosing game problems. At any rate, I think we've found the problem.

[chitgoks]

I have posted in one of the thread where people are experiencing lag issues. In the post, i mentioned that the lag issues is recently and it had never happened before (when i levelled all 3 characters to level 21). After analyzing, I strongly believed it has to do with one of the updates. Few explanations I can think of:

They downgraded their server (which cannot sustain the current numberr of players)
There is a sudden injection of large number of new players (which the servers overload)
They shifted their servers elsewhere or underground (a bit far fetched)

But after backtracking through all the updates thread and putting on my thinking cap, I have come to a conclusion that is logical to me. The problem lies in the elixirs timer counting down even when the players are logged off. If there are hundred thousands players with free elixirs counting down at the same time even if they are logged off, it will put more weight in the servers. Tombs are the areas with the most lag because most players use their elixirs in there to level up and probably lots would have logged off from there with their elixirs still running. Not discounting the possibility of that.

A developer could look into this.

PS: I am quite into troubleshooting so that is my perspective.

naah, the developers can always log the time the user logged off the server. when the user logs back in, it calculates the time remaining on the elixir and updates the new value.

it would certainly overload the servers if the timer keeps running even if players are logged off and this is not a good approach

[SuRfY]

Hey Surfy,

I'm sorry to hear that you are having latency troubles. To address your concern, no the countdown of elixir timers doesn't have (or is negligible) impact on server performance.

The recent server maintenance for Arcane Legends was to actually improve capabilities.

Have you been able to try playing on a different internet connection and compare?

If you have a PC on your local network, try doing a tracert to account.spacetimestudios.com and look for hops in your network traffic that is timing out. If you're not sure what a tracert is, check this article out: http://www.mediacollege.com/internet...raceroute.html You can also find out more about troubleshooting connectivity issues by searching on the web.

Your first try should really be to try a different connection. If you play on a tablet or phone can you try a different wifi completely? Sometimes here at work we'll go use a nearby free wifi just to see how things are from a different connection.

Hi Sam,

Thanks for answering to the thread and clearing up. Regards to the trancert which u gave me the link, i am attaching a screenshot here. Not sure what it means. Maybe you can help to see and interpret the readings.



I typed trancert www.spacetimestudios.com on my command prompt.

[McBain]

Type "account.spacetimestudios.com" (without the quotes) at the command prompt instead. That'll test your connection to the game's server, which is probably where the problem is.

[yuriramos]

Maybe now that the game is so popular, more players are online and servers get more traffic.
Maybe

[Pulkeren]

lag depends in your internet connection period!! or sometimes when you play it on desktop it dpends on your computer performance!! too

[SuRfY]

Type "account.spacetimestudios.com" (without the quotes) at the command prompt instead. That'll test your connection to the game's server, which is probably where the problem is.

Screenshot as follows:

[digitalbot]

has been getting laggy i completely agree, (mostly weekends)
anyways, try turning off your router for 20mins and turn back on, this will give you a new IP
'cause at times, ports get blocked somehow
theres a website for chexking which ports are blocked too but i forget, pretty sure speedtest.net has it
-later buddys

[Samhayne]

Screenshot as follows:

Hey Surfy,

We're not really the ones to troubleshoot your connection. You probably want to bring the issue up with your ISP. After the 8th hop, ping times go up significantly. The dropouts on hop 16 and up don't look that great either.

[AtariX]

I have actually tried 4 different wifis and everytime the same result as Surfy. After the 7th/8th hop the ping goes up as hell. Therefor I stopped to play on my PC and went back to my mobile phone on 3G. This seems to be not only an issue for me. Still Sam, I don't think it's a coincidence, that after a recent update I am not the only one with the lag/ping issue. Yet, I don't really know a valid solution, that would fit all users, as said, for me it's the 3G network (but that doesn't solve my pvp ping).

[GoodSyntax]

3G/4G generally has a more consistent ping rate than wi-fi. Wi-fi can have a lot of flutter, so you could see huge ping spikes.

If I had to guess, it looks like your ISP is the problem. The jump from mid-20 ms pings to >200 is large, so your ISP is probably using their own network or contracted with second tier backbone providers...or their routing tables are a sloppy mess.

The problem does not seem to lie with your local node, but rather the switchover from local to regional nodes.

My ISP (Cable) usually serves each hop at around 15-25 ms. Occasionally, during peak times (4PM - 7PM) my hop times jump to 40-70 ms, but are still reasonably good.

Try doing a tracert to google.com and see if the hop times are similar. If they are still >200 ms after the jump from local to regional nodes, I would either call the ISP or find a new one.

[SuRfY]

3G/4G generally has a more consistent ping rate than wi-fi. Wi-fi can have a lot of flutter, so you could see huge ping spikes.

If I had to guess, it looks like your ISP is the problem. The jump from mid-20 ms pings to >200 is large, so your ISP is probably using their own network or contracted with second tier backbone providers...or their routing tables are a sloppy mess.

The problem does not seem to lie with your local node, but rather the switchover from local to regional nodes.

My ISP (Cable) usually serves each hop at around 15-25 ms. Occasionally, during peak times (4PM - 7PM) my hop times jump to 40-70 ms, but are still reasonably good.

Try doing a tracert to google.com and see if the hop times are similar. If they are still >200 ms after the jump from local to regional nodes, I would either call the ISP or find a new one.

Screenshot here after tracert to google.com: