time nudge (TN) values causing slow movement & “fake packet loss” -solved

I’ve been dealing with a strange sync/latency–like issue in Battlefield 6 that looks like a network problem at first glance, but seems to be tied to framerate and time nudge (TN) behavior.

Symptoms

In affected matches I see:

My soldier “moonwalking” or sliding on the ground
Very sluggish movement and delayed actions (feels like high ping or packet loss)
Time nudge (TN) values spiking abnormally high

However:

My internet connection is stable
Other online games do not show similar issues
Other Battlefield titles on the same system and network are fine
2. Initial troubleshooting (hardware, system, and network)

I first assumed it was a hardware or network problem and tried:

BIOS / CPU settings
Adjusted BIOS performance/power options
Tweaked CPU core / thread settings in the OS
Thermals & cooling
Recently ambient temperature dropped → symptoms eased a bit
Upgraded cooling → temps went down further, issue got milder but did not disappear
Server & population observations
On modes with fewer players, or on community servers full of bots, I basically do not see the issue
On busy/official servers with more real players, the problem shows up much more often
This initially made me suspect a server-side or load-related issue.
Network checks
Tested different cables, router settings, and direct connection
Ran latency/packet loss tests
Verified that other online games run fine
Result: Network looks normal, so I started to doubt this is a pure connection issue.
3. Important clue: framerate-related bugs in other games

This reminded me of an old bug in Destiny 2 (the Forge MOD swap bug), where simply changing the framerate could trigger weird behavior such as weapon MODs being swapped in unintended ways.

That made me wonder if Battlefield 6 might have some kind of framerate vs server tick / sync mismatch that affects time nudge.

So I started testing different FPS caps.

Workaround: cap framerate to 60 FPS

What finally worked:

Go into the in-game video/graphics settings
Set the maximum framerate cap to 60 FPS (instead of uncapped / 144 / 165, etc.)

After capping at 60 FPS:

TN values dropped to a much more reasonable range
Currently my TN no longer spikes wildly and usually stays below ~280
The “moonwalking” and slow-motion movement are largely gone
The game is now in a playable state in normal populated matches

For me, this is a reliable workaround:
as soon as I lock the game at 60 FPS, the TN spikes and “fake lag” drastically improve.

Hypothesis (for DICE/EA / devs)

Based on what I’ve seen, my personal guess is:

There is some kind of mismatch between client framerate and server sync/tick that causes the time nudge calculation to go crazy at higher FPS
When framerate is uncapped or very high, time nudge (TN) can spike and produce:
Moonwalking / sliding
Sluggish movement
A feeling similar to packet loss or very high latency

Why I suspect this is a code/driver-level issue rather than my hardware:

The same PC and network do not show this behavior in other Battlefield titles.
Lower temps and better cooling only partially relieve the problem; they don’t fix it.
A simple FPS cap to 60 inside the game fixes it consistently for me.

That makes it look like a Battlefield 6–specific interaction between the engine, time nudge, and possibly certain GPU drivers or high-FPS situations.

Suggestions for players with similar issues

If you are seeing:

Player “sliding” or moonwalking
Severe sluggishness or delayed actions
High or unstable TN values
But your network and other games look fine

Try this:

Open Settings → Graphics/Video
Set Max FPS / Framerate cap = 60
Restart the game and join a busy server
Watch your TN values and see if movement becomes smoother

Optionally you can also:

Check your CPU/GPU temperatures
Make sure you’re not in an extreme power-saving mode
Keep BIOS and GPU drivers reasonably up to date

But the main quick test is: lock the game to 60 FPS and see if TN stabilizes.

Request to EA / DICE

For now, capping at 60 FPS is only a workaround, not a real fix.

I’d really appreciate if the dev team could investigate:

How time nudge behaves at high framerates
Whether there is a sync issue between client FPS and server tick rate
Any driver or engine interactions that might cause TN to spike under certain GPU/CPU conditions

Other Battlefield titles on the same machine do not exhibit this behavior, so it feels like a Battlefield 6–specific bug or regression.

Until there is an official fix, I’ll keep playing with the FPS locked at 60, but I hope this report and workaround help other players, and maybe give the team a starting point for reproducing and fixing the issue.