Enemy Territory gets mysterious lag (with dual-core)


(Sauron|EFG) #41

The send-file trick is to send it to yourself and then post the link, but rapidshare is even better. :wink:

Muzzle-flash, bullet sound, hit sound and smoke-puff are all in sync in the demo when I watch it, even in slow motion.

1st frame that shows muzzle flash also has the smoke-puff from the hit (captured at 25 FPS):
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/562/shot0118btu8.jpg


(kamikazee) #42

Ira: what sound card and sound card drivers are you using, and on which OS?

It would almost seem as if the “hit” sound can only be played after the gun sound, though it is highly unlikely.


(SCDS_reyalP) #43

FWIW, real network lag has various effects on demos, and they will probably NOT reflect what you experienced in game. I’ll take a look at the one you posted.

edit:
it looks normal too me.


(Irra) #44

My OS is Windows Xp pro, SP2 installed. Sound drivers that I use are the most recent ones for my integrated audio (Realtek chip). I just highly doubt that the sound system could be causing such lag.

To you who did check the demo, it probably went as I did doubt. You didn’t see the lag there so that just confirms that it’s all about my computer.


(Nail) #45

have you tried with a default cfg ?


(Irra) #46

If you would have read the first post you would have known that already. Yes, I have tried with a sh*tload of cfg’s and those do not have any effect on this.


(Nail) #47

actually I read the first post, no mention of default cfg in it or any other cfg


(SCDS_reyalP) #48

Realtek is garbage. It wouldn’t be terribly surprising if it had laggy/choppy sound.

To you who did check the demo, it probably went as I did doubt. You didn’t see the lag there so that just confirms that it’s all about my computer.

As I said previously, a demo wouldn’t correctly show network related lag.


(Irra) #49

Oh sorry, Nail. My bad. I really thought that I mentioned about it in my first post. Well, it seems I have said that I have tried a lot of different settings and so. But anyway, it should be rather clear that the first thing I tried when I encountered this problem was to check my config. But as mentioned, changes to cfg do not give any different results. Tried default, my own, and a friend’s cfg who plays in the “top level” (he usually has rather optimized configs so I gave it a try) but no results.

ReyalP, I very highly doubt this has anything to do with my sound chipset. Firstly, there’s been other players complaining about similar problem and the only connecting thing with me and them (with most of them) has been the dual-core processor. So that’s the main thing causing problems. Secondly, my problem is nothing about the sounds… I wouldn’t mind the sounds being a bit laggy but the bullets don’t hit for god’s sake :smiley:

By the way, this Realtek chip has been a good one so far. No complains about it, the sound quality is rather good for an integrated one.


(murka) #50

realtek sound sukks??? i have a int. realtek sound and never had to whyne, no reason to buy a sound card as it wont make sound much better…


(Sauron|EFG) #51

But the fact that he sees the lag when reviewing the demo and we don’t should mean something… right? :slight_smile:

Irra: Could you review the demo and see if the smoke puff and muzzle flash is in sync (i.e. only the hit sound is “laggy”)?
If it is then it really does seem to be the sound chipset/driver.

Integrated audio often relies on doing more in software, so maybe there is a multi-core problem with the driver or it’s conflicting with some other running application that consumes audio resources.


(Irra) #52

Sauron, I took yet another look at the demo as you requested. All that I saw was that the smoke puff and the sound were in sync. So that kind of counts the sound chipset out from the guilty components’ list.


(Sauron|EFG) #53

Which sound, the shot or the hitsound?


(Irra) #54

Which sound, the shot or the hitsound?[/quote]

The shot / the sound which comes when I fire the weapon. Hitsounds come in right time with the actual hit, but the hit comes way too late after firing.


(SCDS_reyalP) #55

AFAIK, they will always be in sync in the demo, because the demo records what actually happened, not what was predicted.

I really wish I could see the someones computer with the problem, because none of the descriptions so far make any sense at all.

edit: To add a bit more detail…
When playing online, the firing sound on your end is predicted. Your client will play it as soon as it thinks it should based on weapon ROF etc. The bullet marks, hitsounds, and any hit effects are generated by the server. All of the server generated effects come from (roughly) the same bit of code so they shouldn’t ever get out of sync with each other.


(Irra) #57

Yes gelatine, this is just like you explained. People just make it sound a lot more complex by adding in a big list of technical stuff :smiley:

As I mentioned, it feels like having very high ping even it actually isn’t and lagometer shows a clean graph all the way.

Hey btw, gelatine, can you please share your computer specs with us? It would be interesting to see if there’s anything similar with your computer even you don’t have dual-core processor. So tell me your cpu, mobo, ram, gfx card, hdd, OS and so. Anything you can come up with you think that could effect this.


(Sauron|EFG) #58

Sorry if I sound thick headed, but are you saying that the muzzle flash, the shot and the smoke puff are all in sync, and it’s only the hit sound that is delayed?

How do you know that? (The smoke puff from the hit being on time indicates that the [predicted] hit is not late, just the hit sound.)

Any chance you could capture some images (with cl_avidemo) and/or sound (with cl_wavefilerecord) to demonstrate what you mean?


(Irra) #59

Oh man, why do I feel that people are making this much more complicated than it actually is… Let me explain this plain and simple.

When in the game with this lag, there’s nothing more than just plain lag. Just like gelatine said, ping isn’t high but it feels like there would be ping of ~250, so late do the bullets come. And with this I mean the time what is between the firing of weapon and the time I see and hear the bullet hitting the wall. In that case, muzzle flash + firing sound is in sync with the firing, and the smoke puff / hitsound is in sync with the sound which comes when the bullet hits the wall / player. BUT, there is a big delay between these two ; it takes a rather long time from firing to the bullet to reach the place it was intended to go. So, simply said, it lags. In a nutshell:

  1. Muzzle flash and the sound from firing are in sync
  2. Smoke puff on the wall + sound from the hit to the wall are in sync
  3. There’s a rather big delay between the firing and the hit to wall / players (lag here)

Then, if I watch the demo it’s a bit different. There’s only one major difference, actually. When I shoot at the wall, the whole package is in sync. so that means:

  1. Muzzle flash and firing sound are in sync
  2. Smoke puff on the wall + sound from the hit to the wall itself are in sync
  3. The lag seems to be gone as there’s no noticeable delay between the firing and the moment the bullet hits the wall.

But when I look the demo, the parts I shoot at the players, it’s different again (like in-game) and that means:

  1. Muzzle flash and firing sound are in sync
  2. Hitsound + the sound which comes when the bullet hits the player are in sync
  3. BUT, the hitsound comes with a big delay after the firing.

Don’t think this in a complicated way. It’s rather simple afterall.


(murka) #60

so in the demo there are two things, shooting at the wall=no lag. shooting at players=lag
thiis iiis veeeery straaaange. cant be sound card, isn’t network lag… hmm yes a very big problem…


(Irra) #62

Ok. Gelatine, if you could tell the exact model of your motherboard it could help. I’m wondering which chipset does your mobo have?