Consistent high latency

Contraptions · February 2015

I've recently started having the problem of consistently high latency, something I've never had a problem with. I'm playing on the NA server but am located in SEA. The ping would normally be around 200+, but recently has spiked consistently over 999 even in areas with hardly any players around. This persists even with no addons or firewall active.

I followed the steps posted by ZOS and then ran my own ping test on pingtest.net to Dallas where the servers are supposedly located. The ping test shows a ping of 200, consistent with what I'm used to having. However, the game performance shows otherwise.

I would appreciate any advice on how to fix this, as the lag is making the game unplayable. Thanks a lot.

Smaxx · February 2015

You could try the steps I've described in this post to measure the actual connection being used by the game. Maybe there's some packet loss happening, which might not necessarily apply to ICMP stuff sent when pinging a server.

mavrwb17_ESO · February 2015

Smaxx wrote: »

You could try the steps I've described in this post to measure the actual connection being used by the game. Maybe there's some packet loss happening, which might not necessarily apply to ICMP stuff sent when pinging a server.

I also checked. Shows 250 in resmon, 999+ in-game for the past 10 minutes, consistently.

Sacadon · February 2015

Many of the newfangled cloud file sharing and sync tools out there, especially Microsofts One Drive will step all over your response time and it does this is a very consistent way versus in bursts. I'm practically sitting ontop of the NA data center with minimal hops and a sizable One Drive sync will always add 100 or more to my ping response time. I've not researched how to tweak the perf of this yet, but be advised if you use tools like this. (Dropbox, Sugarsync, Syncplicity etc...)

Some of the opt-in and share data options in applications will do this too. A recent update to AV may have put you back in such a state. Probably want to make sure if you run AV on your gaming rig that it's set to "run over metered connections", meaning it avoids any unnecessary network traffic. Just make sure you still get your virus def updates.

Some addons like Oghma Infinium sync your local ESO data to a web service... So check for even addons, but doubt this is it.

...I was tempted to just say, have you reset you router, removed your addons, then run repair or reinstall.

Sacadon · February 2015

BTW do a tracert on the ip address 206.80.46.186, then be sure and obfuscate the addresses on your end (first 1-3 lines), then post it so we can see where you're losing time.

Here's mine as an example (imgur.com/sNSnqPS). Notice that my delays are with NTT Comm which I suspect ZOS is using for firewall given that they're using OpSource as their cloud hosting provider. But guessing on this.

Contraptions · February 2015

I decided to disable my Dropbox and change my antivirus to manually update, then ran the tracert.

Here are the results:

Not very sure what to make of it, although in game performance has improved slightly after the disabling. Perhaps the Dropbox/ antivirus program had something to do with it.

Sacadon · February 2015

Woooww... Well then, it appears that you are coming from Singapore. And that your connection runs through Tokyo before going under the big pond to San Jose CA before hitting the NA datacenter in Texas(I think). Please confirm that you do live overseas, otherwise these hops are more confusing.

Have you tried EU performance and if so how does it compare to NA? I'm asking because you're asking a lot of any game like this to perform well over such vast distances. I know someone that plays on NA from Chile and the distance is always significant contributor to lag.

BTW, The traceroute tool uses ICMP packets (same as ping) which many network devices de-prioritize. So you have to consider this when using the response times for troubleshooting. However, a rough sanity check would be to confirm if you were getting about 250 ping response rate during this traceroute. Thoughts???

Unfortunately, there may be a limit to how well the game will run against NA if you're over seas.

rabbiddogb14_ESO · February 2015

Same here, have been unusually high latency in game tonight. Sometimes it'll drop down to playable level, but even that is still higher than what I normally see. Right now it's hovering between 180-200 but often jumps up above 500 and a few times up to 999. Playing tonight has been hit and miss so I am gonna sign off for tonight and hope it clears up by tomorrow. Right now it's just too laggy to play.

BTW, I live and play in NA.

Also ran an extended ping against 206.80.46.186 and not only am I getting higher than average ping times (40-70ms) but also getting intermittenmt time outs. Likewise I ran extended pings to three other external sources from around the US and all returned normal ping times and no timeouts. So I at least know it's not on my end.

Contraptions · February 2015

Yup, as hinted in the OP, I do indeed live in SG. And the final result of 247 ms in the tracert is consistent with what i'm used to having. I know it isn't optimal, but it's worked pretty well for me over the past year. Besides, all my contacts are on the NA server so switching to EU wouldn't be very nice lol.

I also ran the ping command to 206.80.46.186 through cmd.exe and the results are an average of 243 ms with 0% packet loss, which again is consistent with the 200+ ping I normally have. Even went into Cyrodiil, the home of lag, and again got a ping of 278 for an hour before mysteriously spiking back to 999+ back in PVE land.

What I don't understand is the why these humongous lag spikes occur at strange and unpredictable times despite there being no explanation for it on my end. I get that distance will increase latency and thus don't question the 200+ ping I get compared to some of my friends in NA who have pings of 50+. I'm really just curious about these spikes. Even players physically in NA itself report these spikes. Not everyone is affected of course, but at least I know I'm not the only one. (nice song, btw)

Is ZOS doing something with the server, maybe some background maintenance in preparation for TU that's causing this lower performance? An official response to this would be nice.

Sacadon · February 2015

Ok so the 250 is what you'd expect, that's good. I just finished playing for about 4 hrs (PvP) and so it was laggy, but typical.

I would definitely open a ticket with customer service and have them call you back and discuss by phone. It may take a bit for them to reach the same conclusion, but once they do, then hopefully they'll take a look at their systems.

SLy_Kyti · February 2015

Never had a problem until after last Monday's maintenance. Perhaps its coincidental, or maybe its Comcast in the Northwest again. I'm near PDX on direct dedicated line ( 50-105 megabits) to computer, moved add-on folder to desktop, still will stutter, lag, become unable to click on doors, all this week which is something I've only experienced before in Cyrodiil, but vet shadowfen? Spellscar? Never.
I have game on sdd, using two 780ti's, turned off firewall, and av, opened ports. Still awful.

Crimsonorion · February 2015

I'm having Lag in Greenshade Vet Area, delay lag. Actions take a couple seconds to happen, never had this

neidzwiedzub17_ESO · February 2015

I have also been having lat spikes upwards of 3k, since monday. It seems to happen about once every 3-5 min on average. My normal lat is around 100ms.

Roechacca · February 2015

Just crashed 3 times . Sick of it .

synnerman · February 2015

I live and play in the EU and I have said on another thread that since our maintenance on Tuesday I have had the same high pings and loads more crashes. This needs to get sorted now.