Hi, i've been getting very high packet losses and latency variation on some servers in Battlefield 4. On some servers it's fine and latency variation is never >2ms, but on some RecvRate drops from 60hz to 20hz and then the packet losses go up instantly to 80-100%.I tried these things:- turning off firewall- forwarding ports on router- restarting modem/router and PC- changing the DNS- turning on bf4 as administrator- veryifying game files- reinstalling the game- launching from clean boot.I've played some Battlefield 1 and V, and this problem doesn't occur there on any server. I also don't have problems in any other game.There are 3 screenshots with netgraphs from lagging server, non lagging and a speedtest result.

Hi @CantM0ssadAssad You actually do not need at all all that amazing download/upload speed to play the BF game. Too high a net speed is often even antagonistic to obtaining a perfect line quality which you need for good gaming experience. First sign is exactly the constant rise of retransmissions of data packages, which then in next stage will result in package loss when saturation happens on either end.For the BF4 game you only need around max 3-4 Mb/s download and around 750kb/s in upload. Anything faster than that is not even used. As the ISP is often focusing on bragging with their high speeds, the compromise is on the line quality. And that means everything for your gameplay. Bette to turn down the speed a bit while then recovering the ability to consistently having a perfect line quality for your FPS gaming. So having a fast or a super fast line brings you absolutely nothing to your gaming here in this game. Even on the server you list with heavy package loss you have a latency of 160ms to that server.That would normally not be any problem at all, though one could argue it should ideally be lower. Anything below 180ms appear to be the magic border for still working ok for the game and experience. Above 200ms it starts to become noticeable bad. But the extreme package loss is of course a total game stopper!Even just a small level of package loss like just 0.1-0.3% is bad for your gaming experience.To find out where the problem is then please use the TraceRoute tool that EA promotes on the Help screen for connection issues. Here you see the route your data packages needs to travel from your game platform to the BF4 game server. And the response from each node along the travel will be listed in that report. This will tell you then if the issue is on your end, at a certain node along the travel, or if it is at the server hosting destination. Depending on the result of the findings, you know then where to go next for fixing the issue. I got my own line speed reduced by 50Mb/s, and after this I now almost never have any 'you lost connection to the EA server' situations, while before it was like several times during one evening. You only need like 25 Mb/s to watch a live 4k Ultra HD movie on Netflix, so think about what is really the key priority here, as more of something is not always better.@bishtop ,Your observation is actually very classic. And the lag you experience is not caused by you/your own apparently good line connection. The root cause is actually the many other players that are on the server where some obviously have poor line quality and package loss. Your local game platform is quick to send/receive all needed updates to your screen and the game server, but it halts as its still waiting for updates from the server that is pausing to wait for the updates coming in from those high latency/high package loss players also on the server. We have done some tech testing and identified that even just 1-3 of such players (aka latency above 1200ms and 0.2% package loss) on a 64 player server can bring it down to its knees. And everybody else on the server are troubled with the constant lagging and rubberbanding. The servers even crash in the end as result if sustained load from those high latency/high package loss players! Funny also that you observe this especially on a Locker server you mention. Because we have also identified this specific problem for the servers to keep up with high-latency players on board is especially challenged when many players are in close proximity on the map (you may be aware as well about how the visionary field and game mechanics are more detailed and more frequent calculated, when in near space versus far space between soldiers). And it is especially the flares and smoke grenades that appear to be the most demanding for calculating/updating the screens/game mechanics for everybody. Probably because every single particle in those weapon types generates a broad specter of changes for each and every single soldier in the game. We have tested and found especially the Locker and the Metro maps being the maps where this is most extreme and measurable. Sanitation to avoid this is unfortunately that the server admins needs to kick off such players with poor line quality and/or very high latency.Doing this however, makes the game play and experience great for all the 64 players that do come onto the server then and you also avoid all the server crashes that we otherwise observe so many are suffering from. Hope this info was of some help to you.

Hi @bishtop ,When hardware offloading is 'ON' then your CPU will offload the processing of network tasks from the CPU to your NIC !If your NIC is up to it, then it is definitely the way to go, as the CPU is typically the main bottleneck for the interactions with everything you have attached to your PCI bus. (when running a system perf test, while gaming, you should get a good insight into if your CPU is challenged in current setup?). If so, then by offloading, you will typically see great improvements to both the generic tasks completion and also your local network latency caused by your PC!The NIC is specialized to handle the load of processing network tasks better than CPUs, though of course not all NICs are equally good... But if you have a decent PC and its components are of same generation, then I would always by default run with offloading ON.Best of luck with this nerdy stuff. :o)

@bishtop You can also try a fixed DNS, Google fixed DNS, and set a fixed DNS like 1.1.1.1.. This sometimes will smooth connections out a little.Might want to flush DNS also. At the CMD prompt type "ipconfig /flushdns" without quotes, this will clear the DNS, Type "exit" to exit CMD

@sk1lld wrote:@bishtopYou can also try a fixed DNS, Google fixed DNS, and set a fixed DNS like 1.1.1.1.. This sometimes will smooth connections out a little.Might want to flush DNS also. At the CMD prompt type "ipconfig /flushdns" without quotes, this will clear the DNS, Type "exit" to exit CMDGreat direction @sk1lld !Indeed having both a primary and secondary DNS set up will typically always then provide you with the most efficient router no matter the traffic congestion out there no matter the day and time. If your ISP allows it, then always strive to have to two different ones (providers) and not linked to your local DNS. Another helpful feature is to setup your onw local router to always 're-initialize' once every 24 hours. This way you also flush its IP and routing buffer, so its always keep up to date and clean. Many routers also suffer to some degree with handling the buffer overruns when their mapping tables are fully filled up and they need somehow to prioritize which to overwrite or not...Certainly your great Qualcomm Atheros network adapter card that you have @bishtop should have no problem at all to handle all the processing and serve your gaming needs here for both BF4 and also the future BF2042 game. So its all about keeping your driver up to date and get the settings optimized to make it all work best possible for you.

@sk1lld wrote:@bishtopYou set up an static IP in windows, in the nic card settings. I'm not at my computer so can't walk you through it right now. Which is why I recommended you google it.https://www.techradar.com/news/best-dns-serverAndhttps://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/changing-your-dns-settings-on-windows-10/Thanks , i have set it using the netsh interface ip set address command, Appreciated @sk1lld wrote:I use Cloudflair1.1.1.1.1.0.0.1.Thanks il give the Cloudfare a try, they're supposed to have the fastest DNS from what id read. AppreciatedThanks guys

Battlefield 4 Very high packet loss on most servers (RecvRate drops to 20hz)

18 Replies

elderwarriors
New Scout
4 years ago
With speed test results like that you are the envy of many, me included.
You should have no trouble playing BF4, however, the servers you are trying to play on could be the problem. High ping to a server usually means that the server is too far away, to crowded, or is itself too slow. If you have no trouble in anything else you do on your pc then the BF4 servers are the problem.
Try another server and always play on servers with the lowest pings shown.
bishtop
4 years ago
I have the same issue on mainly locker servers even though have a fast connection, many have been experiencing the same thing, weird thing is that not everyone seems to experience it at the same time on the same server
Just noticed that when it gets laggy for me, it does not report packet loss. Weird
bishtop
4 years ago
I have noticed that while on a server that was running at 60hz tick rate the down rate for the server was fairly low and when i had gone to a server running at 30hz it had a down rate at x3 the level of the other, i will need to check another server running at 60hz tick rate to see if it was just that one server with a slower downrate or if indeed it is all running at 60hz.
EDIT - Same server as last time but less players and it seemed better so possibly server not running optimal when full
CyberDyme
4 years ago
Hi @CantM0ssadAssad
You actually do not need at all all that amazing download/upload speed to play the BF game. Too high a net speed is often even antagonistic to obtaining a perfect line quality which you need for good gaming experience. First sign is exactly the constant rise of retransmissions of data packages, which then in next stage will result in package loss when saturation happens on either end.
For the BF4 game you only need around max 3-4 Mb/s download and around 750kb/s in upload. Anything faster than that is not even used. As the ISP is often focusing on bragging with their high speeds, the compromise is on the line quality. And that means everything for your gameplay. Bette to turn down the speed a bit while then recovering the ability to consistently having a perfect line quality for your FPS gaming. So having a fast or a super fast line brings you absolutely nothing to your gaming here in this game.
Even on the server you list with heavy package loss you have a latency of 160ms to that server.
That would normally not be any problem at all, though one could argue it should ideally be lower. Anything below 180ms appear to be the magic border for still working ok for the game and experience. Above 200ms it starts to become noticeable bad.
But the extreme package loss is of course a total game stopper!
Even just a small level of package loss like just 0.1-0.3% is bad for your gaming experience.
To find out where the problem is then please use the TraceRoute tool that EA promotes on the Help screen for connection issues. Here you see the route your data packages needs to travel from your game platform to the BF4 game server. And the response from each node along the travel will be listed in that report. This will tell you then if the issue is on your end, at a certain node along the travel, or if it is at the server hosting destination. Depending on the result of the findings, you know then where to go next for fixing the issue.
I got my own line speed reduced by 50Mb/s, and after this I now almost never have any 'you lost connection to the EA server' situations, while before it was like several times during one evening. You only need like 25 Mb/s to watch a live 4k Ultra HD movie on Netflix, so think about what is really the key priority here, as more of something is not always better.
@bishtop ,
Your observation is actually very classic. And the lag you experience is not caused by you/your own apparently good line connection. The root cause is actually the many other players that are on the server where some obviously have poor line quality and package loss. Your local game platform is quick to send/receive all needed updates to your screen and the game server, but it halts as its still waiting for updates from the server that is pausing to wait for the updates coming in from those high latency/high package loss players also on the server. We have done some tech testing and identified that even just 1-3 of such players (aka latency above 1200ms and 0.2% package loss) on a 64 player server can bring it down to its knees. And everybody else on the server are troubled with the constant lagging and rubberbanding. The servers even crash in the end as result if sustained load from those high latency/high package loss players!
Funny also that you observe this especially on a Locker server you mention. Because we have also identified this specific problem for the servers to keep up with high-latency players on board is especially challenged when many players are in close proximity on the map (you may be aware as well about how the visionary field and game mechanics are more detailed and more frequent calculated, when in near space versus far space between soldiers). And it is especially the flares and smoke grenades that appear to be the most demanding for calculating/updating the screens/game mechanics for everybody. Probably because every single particle in those weapon types generates a broad specter of changes for each and every single soldier in the game. We have tested and found especially the Locker and the Metro maps being the maps where this is most extreme and measurable.
Sanitation to avoid this is unfortunately that the server admins needs to kick off such players with poor line quality and/or very high latency.
Doing this however, makes the game play and experience great for all the 64 players that do come onto the server then and you also avoid all the server crashes that we otherwise observe so many are suffering from. Hope this info was of some help to you.
sk1lld
Legend
4 years ago
Have you tried a tracert from the command prompt to see if its one of the hops to the server?
In the run box type "CMD" without the quotes, right click and run as administrator, at the command prompt type "tracert google.com" without quotes and let it run. If you see no packets lost, it may be the servers you are playing on. When the servers are stressed I have noticed they will start dropping packets depending on how many people are playing and what map "A close map like locker for example" you are playing.
Type exit to exit command prompt.
bishtop
4 years ago
@CyberDyme wrote:
Hi @CantM0ssadAssad
You actually do not need at all all that amazing download/upload speed to play the BF game. Too high a net speed is often even antagonistic to obtaining a perfect line quality which you need for good gaming experience. First sign is exactly the constant rise of retransmissions of data packages, which then in next stage will result in package loss when saturation happens on either end.
For the BF4 game you only need around max 3-4 Mb/s download and around 750kb/s in upload. Anything faster than that is not even used. As the ISP is often focusing on bragging with their high speeds, the compromise is on the line quality. And that means everything for your gameplay. Bette to turn down the speed a bit while then recovering the ability to consistently having a perfect line quality for your FPS gaming. So having a fast or a super fast line brings you absolutely nothing to your gaming here in this game.
Even on the server you list with heavy package loss you have a latency of 160ms to that server.
That would normally not be any problem at all, though one could argue it should ideally be lower. Anything below 180ms appear to be the magic border for still working ok for the game and experience. Above 200ms it starts to become noticeable bad.
But the extreme package loss is of course a total game stopper!
Even just a small level of package loss like just 0.1-0.3% is bad for your gaming experience.
To find out where the problem is then please use the TraceRoute tool that EA promotes on the Help screen for connection issues. Here you see the route your data packages needs to travel from your game platform to the BF4 game server. And the response from each node along the travel will be listed in that report. This will tell you then if the issue is on your end, at a certain node along the travel, or if it is at the server hosting destination. Depending on the result of the findings, you know then where to go next for fixing the issue.
I got my own line speed reduced by 50Mb/s, and after this I now almost never have any 'you lost connection to the EA server' situations, while before it was like several times during one evening. You only need like 25 Mb/s to watch a live 4k Ultra HD movie on Netflix, so think about what is really the key priority here, as more of something is not always better.
@bishtop ,
Your observation is actually very classic. And the lag you experience is not caused by you/your own apparently good line connection. The root cause is actually the many other players that are on the server where some obviously have poor line quality and package loss. Your local game platform is quick to send/receive all needed updates to your screen and the game server, but it halts as its still waiting for updates from the server that is pausing to wait for the updates coming in from those high latency/high package loss players also on the server. We have done some tech testing and identified that even just 1-3 of such players (aka latency above 1200ms and 0.2% package loss) on a 64 player server can bring it down to its knees. And everybody else on the server are troubled with the constant lagging and rubberbanding. The servers even crash in the end as result if sustained load from those high latency/high package loss players!
Funny also that you observe this especially on a Locker server you mention. Because we have also identified this specific problem for the servers to keep up with high-latency players on board is especially challenged when many players are in close proximity on the map (you may be aware as well about how the visionary field and game mechanics are more detailed and more frequent calculated, when in near space versus far space between soldiers). And it is especially the flares and smoke grenades that appear to be the most demanding for calculating/updating the screens/game mechanics for everybody. Probably because every single particle in those weapon types generates a broad specter of changes for each and every single soldier in the game. We have tested and found especially the Locker and the Metro maps being the maps where this is most extreme and measurable.
Sanitation to avoid this is unfortunately that the server admins needs to kick off such players with poor line quality and/or very high latency.
Doing this however, makes the game play and experience great for all the 64 players that do come onto the server then and you also avoid all the server crashes that we otherwise observe so many are suffering from. Hope this info was of some help to you.
@CyberDyme Thank you, i had an idea of it being somewhere along them lines and am glad you've confirmed it. I also remember a few times one of the servers crashing a couple of times.
Had a few games tonight where i had shot players at close range with a shotgun twice with the first shot being when they had not noticed me and yet they still managed to to kill me straight away. No packet loss is shown
@sk1lld wrote:
Have you tried a tracert from the command prompt to see if its one of the hops to the server?
In the run box type "CMD" without the quotes, right click and run as administrator, at the command prompt type "tracert google.com" without quotes and let it run. If you see no packets lost, it may be the servers you are playing on. When the servers are stressed I have noticed they will start dropping packets depending on how many people are playing and what map "A close map like locker for example" you are playing.
Type exit to exit command prompt.

Thank you, here are the results, i dont think it shows anything classed as sensitive regarding my IP :D
Tracing route to google.co.uk [142.250.180.3]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.254
2 2 ms 2 ms 1 ms 172.16.16.208
3 * 6 ms 7 ms 31.55.186.177
4 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 31.55.186.176
5 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms core4-hu0-11-0-3.faraday.ukcore.bt.net [213.121.192.70]
6 8 ms 7 ms 8 ms peer3-et7-0-7.redbus.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.94]
7 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms 109.159.253.3
8 9 ms 9 ms 8 ms 72.14.232.76
9 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms 142.251.54.31
10 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms lhr25s32-in-f3.1e100.net [142.250.180.3]
Trace complete.
sk1lld
Legend
4 years ago
Trace looks good. Possibly a server problem then.
bishtop
4 years ago
@sk1lld wrote:
Trace looks good. Possibly a server problem then.
Thank you for your help, What i will end up doing is recording the network connection info in battlefield to see if theirs any sudden deviations in any of the stats.
Another question which you might know about is, i have the following settings disabled for my network adapter, flow control and all checksums and offloads and transmit and receive are set to highest, could it be possible that my NIC could be either be the issue due to either overloading itself with data being received and causing occassional corrupt packets or could be passing data from the NIC to my proccessor and causing issues on that side.
Its been years since id read up on Offloading so struggle to remember if Offloading being disabled means its the NIC or Cpu that processes it all
CyberDyme
4 years ago
Hi @bishtop ,
When hardware offloading is 'ON' then your CPU will offload the processing of network tasks from the CPU to your NIC !
If your NIC is up to it, then it is definitely the way to go, as the CPU is typically the main bottleneck for the interactions with everything you have attached to your PCI bus. (when running a system perf test, while gaming, you should get a good insight into if your CPU is challenged in current setup?). If so, then by offloading, you will typically see great improvements to both the generic tasks completion and also your local network latency caused by your PC!
The NIC is specialized to handle the load of processing network tasks better than CPUs, though of course not all NICs are equally good... But if you have a decent PC and its components are of same generation, then I would always by default run with offloading ON.
Best of luck with this nerdy stuff. :o)
bishtop
4 years ago
Thank you, appreciated. My NIC : Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller. While i have been playing today i have noticed a few people saying that others are lagging and even though visually their bullets had hit their target they still did not die. Also it seems to make some sense that when i play on the same server when its less busier it does seem smoother.
Thanks man