Re: BF3 lag?

Hello,

Chose to avoid? I didn't chose to avoid anything. I didn't put the full DxDiag log, because it surpassed the characters limit... And I only noticed now that some vital info was indeed cutted thanks to that.

My system:
- Asrock z68 Pro3 Gen3
- Intel i5 25000k 3.30GHz
- AMD Sapphire 6870
- 4GB DDR3 CL9 1600MHz

- Seagate 1TB 7200RPM, cache 64MB 

Thanks for your support

I'm a little bit confused by the problem as you are not very specific. From looking at the video; would I be correct in thinking that you are actually not moving when crouching beside that wall, but the camera keeps going from side to side or is it something else that I might be missing?

Sorry to have to ask this but I just want to be clear on the exact problem.

Thanks.

~Rick.

You don't have to be sorry 🙂

Ok I'll try to explain what's happening.

If you look at the video, at the exact moment I'm aiming at the wall and move one step sideways, my character kinda moves some extra centimeters sideways after that step (look through the weapon's scope and I think you'll notice it). What I notice in general is that there is some kind of delay or lag.

Other examples:
- Sometimes I see an enemy and he is reloading (an  AEK or an AN-94, for example) and shooting at the same time!

- An enemy just appeared in front of me and he has already shot enough to kill me, I couldn't even see him straight and he had already killed me... 

I think you could describe this as a delay or lag (i think). But I don't understand why is this happening. I had my internet connection tested in speedtest and pingtest, and my DL is 10Mbps, I have no packet loss and I only have 1 ms jitter... Besides I choose servers that have 40-70 ms (ping). Lowering the Video quality to Med and Low did not solve the problem.

I know the video quality is bad (thanks to Dropbox), so I uploaded it to Youtube (watch in 1080p please): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78L6UDIYLZU 

Ok I understand now, thank you for the detailed explanation 🙂.

For the examples you have given such as reloading enemy shooting and what appears to seem like being shot around a corner are something I have encountered myself. Generally with these you have to take into account not only your ping and the ping of the server, but also the ping of the person you encounter in these instances.

There are two other questions/possible troubleshooting steps we can try with this. First off what type of keyboard are you using and are you using any software with this keyboard (for example Razer uses Synapse etc)?

The second relates to an option in the settings while playing Battlefield. Under the "Gameplay" tab there is a bar marked "Network smoothing factor". Has this been adjusted at any point? Is this bar set all the way to the left or to the right? (I hope that last bit makes sense)

Thanks.

~Rick

I know I have to take that into account (I'm used to FPS games), but comparing with other FPS (I switched from BFBC2 to BF3 in one day) this is a far bigger thing... Also, I check the killer's ping whenever I can (whenever it shows up on the scoreboard) and most of the time it isn't that different from mine, which is usually within 50-65 (when in-game). 

I think it is a problem of mine, as you can see the video, even when I'm aiming at a wall this delay/lag (whatever it is) happens... It's really frustrating!

I'm using my good old Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard 3000 and I never installed any specific driver (I just plugged it in and that's it).

The Network Smoothing Factor is all the way to the right. I don't remember changing it but I'm not entirely sure.


Thanks for your support!

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.