Ping Question

Hey, loving the PW so far, it's amazing. My ping however has shot up since I started playing. I'm in England, when I started playing my ping was around 70, now it averages at 220. What really baffles me is that the wireless laptop connection still has a ping of 70, when the connected PC is 220. The laptop isn't so great for games and takes forever to load things. Anyone have any idea as to what I can do?

I've checked for viruses, defragged, and removed all spyware.

Techless One here....

Sorry; sim problems here for several months, plus the random disconnects at 15 min or so. As a new Player, I am guessing all your downloads are freshly installed, so I am at a loss as to the problems. Maybe some of the Techoies will see this soon and be of help.

And welcome to Aenea!

On the slower device, check for unnecessary background processes.  

CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up your Task Manager, choose the Processes tab (I'm still on XP, so follow whatever procedure on your OS to get the Task Manager).  Sort the User Name column so that those entries under your personal User Name are all bunched at the top.  Examine what you have there.  One can End Process on anything under your User Name that isn't essential (and go to your MSCONFIG Startup to shut it down permanently if you want).  Use caution to not End Process on anything you aren't sure what it is.  And DO NOT End Process on anything that isn't a process under your User Name (like labeled System).

Myself, I'm always having to turn off such stuff as Google Update and Real Player's Recording Manager, since I haven't been able to stop them from starting via their program settings or by msconfig.

Then check your MSCONFIG Startup [START/Run msconfig, then Startup and Services tabs] for nonessential processes to shut down.  Again, do this carefully.  It may take some web research to identify all the entries, but there's usually a garbage load of stuff that doesn't need to be always started and running.

And finally, disable your anti-virus while running the game.  Some antivirus antispyware programs are really invasive and hog the processor.

Let us know if it helps to disable background processes and your antivirus.  If it doesn't do a lot, there are other places to look.  You might need to examine your video card, its amount of video RAM, and its driver to make sure all is efficient there.  There was a period when NVidia drivers weren't very compatible with NWN, but they seem to be fixed now.

Then there's a site called Tweak Guides, that has been mentioned elsewhere in this forum, about how to tweak your system, video settings, and the game settings, to optimize frame rates and make things run smoother.  Unfortunately, they don't have one specifically for NWN1, but a lot of useful info can be had from their guide for NWN2, which gives links for their general system and graphics tweaks guides.

And welcome, glad you're enjoying this wonderful world!

Didn't realise programs running could effect your ping. Everything in task manager is good though, I keep track of programs running. The game isn't choppy at all, though sometimes I do get a delay for actions, which when facing a horde of goblins is not ideal. Disabled anti-virus for a moment to check, ping is still the same. I don't get ping problems with other games I play, do a lot of WC3. Where is the server located? If it's in America or something that might explain the ping, though how I started with a 70 would be odd.

Yes; server is in South-Western portion of USA.

I was giving general guidelines for addressing lag, which I assumed was the reason you were concerned about your ping?

The networks from your ISP through the lines to the Arizona site are certainly variable, and unfortunately 's ISP is often messing with us.

So I just optimize my system and hope for good internet weather, lol.  

I'm UK based, average a ping of 270 on most nights. Game runs fine with very little lag for me. When it does go down to around 100 I see no major improvements. The only thing that might take a little longer sometimes (fractions of a second) are opening my inventory or a merchant/shop. For the most part the game runs very stable, and I found that for my machine at least I load into an area about a second faster then those stateside (based on reaction times/ventrillo comments)...

Don't worry about it unless you find the lag monster... ... ... ...

^ I'll echoe what Rusty said (except for the country given, not UK-based, but still European here ). I think having a ping of ~200 is to be expected for any European playing on a US-based server/PW. At least, that is my experience...for the most part though, it doesn't really play a part in any lag - so unless the lag monster surfaces from it's demonic hideout you shouldn't worry about it.

A mere 220 isn't going to stop me from exploring this place! Though I have met a few lag monster babies. Possible an update or two on my side. Just found it strange that I started with 70 and the laptop, which will run with choppy-ness, still has a 70. Thanks for the help everyone! If anyone wants to adventure with me sometime, my main is called Silver. Only a low level right now.