BF3 lag?

echorium does this happen all of the time or is this a recent development?  What are the pings of the servers that you expeience this on? And do you experience this on the single player campaign?

It has been like this since I bought the game in mid July. I have been searching for solutions and I finally found Answer HQ hoping I would solve this, or at least know why this is happening.

When I search and join the servers in the Battlelog they usually report pings from 40-70, although when I'm in-game my ping varies from 50-65.


EDIT: I can give you the servers' names I usually play in (I don't know how to get their IPs)

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@Echorium wrote:

It has been like this since I bought the game in mid July. I have been searching for solutions and I finally found Answer HQ hoping I would solve this, or at least know why this is happening.

When I search and join the servers in the Battlelog they usually report pings from 40-70, although when I'm in-game my ping varies from 50-65.


EDIT: I can give you the servers' names I usually play in (I don't know how to get their IPs)

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Can you play the campaign for about 10 minutes and see if your problem also happens in the campaign.  That will assist us in determining if it is an online multiplayer problem or if it is a problem with your local machine.

While playing the Campaign I have no problem, aiming is super smooth, there's no delay.

Thanks for testing the single player out, and sorry for the delay. I did a good bit of research on this issue since yesterday so hopefully we can come up with something to sort out this input lag.

Remember that network smoothing bar I referred to yesterday? If you move the slider to the left it will improve latency, as an example on my PC I have it set about 3/4 to the right rather than all the way right, and I did find on mine it was smoother even though I am not encountering the same problem. You may need to adjust this a number of times in order to get the best setting for you, but be warned by changing this you could potentially see some graphical glitches.

Another option I saw was in regards to limiting the FPS but from what I could tell this was dependent on the type of monitor you are using. Are you using a 60hz monitor or a 120hz monitor? Also, If you have it enabled could you turn off V-sync through the in-game settings.

~Rick

Thank you for trying to help me!

My monitor is an ASUS ML238H 23" and the resolution I'm using is 1920x1080 @60Hz.

Vertical Sync was already off. It was one of the things I turned off when I first started playing BF3.

I have lowered the network smoothing bar  and it seems to be a little bit better. I have only played a couple of minutes to test it, so I can't say for sure that it solved my problem. I will play more in a few hours and then I'll give you a solid response.

Well I adjusted the network smoothing bar several times and tried each time (even tried in different servers), but it never solved the problem. At first it seemed that it was better, but maybe it was some placebo effect.

Thanks for coming back to me. Sorry to hear that did not help.

At any point in your time playing BF3, have you ever created a user.cfg file? In case you are unsure; this is a file that allows you to utilize the command console to help improve performance without having to type each command in while in-game.

~Rick

No, I never did.

No worries, it is pretty straight forward. First off open notepad to start a new text file. Enter the following details into the document:

Render.DrawFps 1

RenderDevice.TripleBufferingEnable 0
RenderDevice.ForceRenderAheadLimit 0

WorldRender.SpotLightShadowmapResolution 256
WorldRender.SpotlightShadowmapEnable 0

GameTime.MaxVariableFps 61

Once you have this pasted in click file - save as, go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Battlefield 3 and save the file as user.cfg in this location. After it has saved it should show up as a cfg file under the "file type"(if it does not let me know because it will not work as intended if it shows as a txt file). First thing this will do is enable a framerate meter(this is a good way to know if the config file has taken effect). Next it will disable triple buffering, disable shadows and limit the FPS to 61. This file is used instead of typing each individual command into the in-game console.

Let me know how you get on with this.

~Rick

Sorry it took so long.

I did that and the FPS's are shown on the top right corner of the screen. 

I have to add that recently the game sometimes freezes for a sec or two (it's not constantly but it's pretty annoying).

Also I'm checking my temperatures with HWMonitor while playing (max temperatures reached):
- CPU: 54ºC
-  GPU: 70ºC
- HDD: 39ºC
- MB: 49ºC

From what I know (correct me if I'm wrong) they don't seem to be that high; lately the temperatures outside have reached 30ºC or more and I don't have air conditioner at home XD.

EDIT: There is something I forgot to tell you. When I play longer games (those that have like 1500 tickets or more) and I have been playing for like an hour or so, the delays start getting worse and sometimes it reaches a point where I get kicked out from the server. The "kicking out" process happens in a weird manner: the game window acts as if I have minimized it (apperaing a black screen followed by the shrinking of the BF3 window to the top left corner) and then it maximizes again, minimizes again and maximizes yet again just showing up a black screen and then, finally, it closes itself and in Battlelog says that I have been kicked out from the server. I check my ping regularly (average: every 5 minutes) and the ping is like 50-70. It just happened now again and the last time I checked my ping (before getting "kicked") it was 48.  
I don't actually believe I'm really being kicked out, since: there were free slots; the moment just before I was kicked I didn't write anything offensive (I didn't even use the chat during the game) or used anything prohibitted by the rules of the server... 

bump

So did creating this file make any difference to the delay?Just asking as you did not fully confirm if it did or not.

Those temps seem fine, the GPU is getting a bit hot but that is still within acceptable levels so I'm not sure if that is a factor. Does the temperature increase after the hour or so that you mentioned?

What you have described in the edit does suggest a possible network issue (not necessarily with ping, but potentially some packet loss along the connection). Out of curiosity have you asked your ISP to check into your connection? If there is a problem with the line or anything like that it could very well cause these disconnects.

~Rick.

Hello again!

No, it didn't ☹️

HWMonitor doesn't build a chart that would let me conclude if the temperature increases with time. It only displays the minimum and maximum temperature reached and the current temperature. I'm going to use SpeedFan from now on and maybe we'll be able to draw some conclusions.

No I didn't ask them, since I've tested my network connection several times on www.pingtest.net and the results always showed 0% packet loss. I just rechecked again 2 times and it still says I have no packet loss. I can always call them and have them check it themselves.

UPDATE 1: I called my ISP and asked them to test my network for packet loss. They told me I have no packet loss after testing it multiple times.

UPDATE 2: I didn't even need to play for 1 hour for it to start having a crazy amount of delays and freezes. Here's the SpeedFan chart of my CPU (green) and GPU (red), the big drop (between straight lines) that you see on the chart, was when I got a massive freeze and got "kicked out" from the server: http://i42.tinypic.com/2h4xpq0.jpg

UPDATE 3: I don't know if this has anything to do with the issues I reported here, but after 5 to 10 minutes of joining a server this happened: "Game disconnected: you were kicked by PunkBuster. Stated reason: PunkBuster kicked player 'Echorium' (for 0 minutes) ... RESTRICTION: Invalid Memory Image [130511]". I was able to join again and played without interruption, but the delays and freezes kept happening.

Bump

In relation to the punkbuster error, this normally appears when something is modifying data in the games memory, like tweaking programs or overlays for VoIP services. Below is the general fix for this problem:

1. Open Origin and Right Click on the Battlefield 3 and Choose "Repair Install"
2. Once repaired, go to this location: \Origin Games\Battlefield 3\__Installer\punkbuster\redist
3. Reinstall PB services
4. Reinstall PB with PBsetup.exe http://www.evenbalance.com/?page=pbsetup.php

I think the repair could also make a difference to the lag/stuttering you have been encountering. If it does not, I would also like to suggest to try running the game after performing a clean boot of your system. The instructions for this are found in this article:https://help.ea.com/article/how-to-clean-boot-your-pc

This will rule out the possibility of something on your system being the cause of this issue.

~Rick.

Repaired the installation then reinstalled PB services and PB; Origin said there were no missing/corrupted files. Played for 15 minutes and the delay/freezes kept happening.

Did the clean boot and played for an hour. The delays and freezes kept happening. 

It's really frustrating playing like this...

Bump

Just to clear it up has the Punkbuster error stopped?

Also can you clarify that we are still referring to the exact same issue as per the video at the start. I only ask because you have added the term "freezing" and want to make sure nothing else is happening.

I do know that part of this delay comes from the way the multiplayer system works. It use a hybrid system that uses information from both the client side and server side fo the game, that's why you will see some of the stuff you mentioned earlier (reloading/shooting eneny etc) but some of the steps I have suggested have helped others that encountered this slight delay in the past. There may be some other steps we can try.

By any chance have you overclocked any aspects of your system?

~Rick.

Yes the Punkbuster was a one time error so far.

Yes, that video captures the delays. The freezes also occur since the beginning but they don't happen as often. In fact, the delay is always present while the freezes may happen sometimes during the game (it's rare for it not to happen at least once per game). When I started this thread I forgot to mention the freezes, but I reported them somewhere in this thread earlier.

Yes, some delay is to be expected, but the thing that seems off is that comparing with previous FPS games that I played in the last 10 years (CS Source, BF 2142, Halo Combat Evolved, Urban Terror, BF Heroes, FEAR, Team Fortress 2, L4D, L4D2, Borderlands 1 and 2, BFBC2...) this never happened. As I said previously, I jumped right from BF Bad Company 2 to BF3 (just had to wait for Origin to download BF3) and I noticed this awful delay. The even more surprising thing, to me, is that BFBC2 as less servers than BF3 (as it is expected) and with worse ping and the delay I noticed there was the "normal" delay everyone would expect (there is always some delay except in LAN parties).

Also I tend to play in different servers and different maps (to complete assignments).

No, I have thought about OCing, but never done it.


Thanks again for your support!

UPDATE: I was currently using the 13.4 Catalyst and thought that maybe rollback to 13.1 could solve my problem. However it did not solve my problem, the delays kept happening.

Bump

Sorry for the delay. No need to worry about bumping the thread. I get a notification when you reply so I will come back to you, it just can take some time as I am looking through every possible option when it comes to this problem.

So I got have gotten a few of my colleagues to have a look at this as well, just to get some input on the issue and I have a few more suggestions to try out.

We need to make sure that your system is fully up to date, have you downloaded all of the latest windows updates? Going back to one of my earlier posts regarding the user.cfg file, could you change the framerate on this to 59.95 and from the in-game menu turn vsync on (I know that it is not normally a good idea to have it on but I would like you to test it).

I also gave some network troubleshooting to try just in case. Can you make sure that your modem/router has been updated with the latest firmware/software? When you are playing I'd like you to run a UOtrace and post the results here. This article will explain how to do it: https://help.ea.com/article/how-to-uo-trace

Thanks.

~Rick.

Okay, thanks for telling me 🙂

Yes my Windows 7 has the latest important updates; I don't always install the optional ones, unless I have something to gain from them.

I never updated my router firmware, since it's a router that the ISP gave me and they are the ones that do the firmware updates automatically. That's how it works in my country.

Here you have the UOTrace results: http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/2506/bsrd.png 

Update: Trying that new change in the user.cfg and turning Vsync on didn't stop the problem. 

Bump

Sorry for the delay echorium, I was not around for the last few days. I have to say I am pretty stumped, so I went looking through Battlelog to see if there were any other possible suggestions. I found this thread: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/forum/threadview/2832654625422234341/1/

It seems pretty helpful, and the player that posted this even recommends the order to try these steps. I would say you can ignore step 10 as you have done this very recently.

Hope this helps.

~Rick