Lag, Black Silhouettes, and Text Delays

ThePonzzz · September 2015

I'm sure there is a thread somewhere, but I'm curious if we're going to see a hotfix for any of the issues. The intense lag on login and with overall performance seems to be a lot worse now. Prior to this update, my latency in PvE was always around 60 to 90. Now it's 120 to 390. I've not even bothered with Cyrodiil yet. Also, when I log in, everyone is a black silhouette. This lasts for only about a minute right now. Most times it's pretty quick to change to the actual descriptions of others, but at night it seems to stick for awhile. And lastly, the text is delayed on writs and quest advancement. Once I crafted an item, I saw nearly immediately how many I've completed. Now it doesn't show up for sometimes over 90 seconds. And getting a new quest seems to be MUCH slower now. Usually takes about 30 seconds before it even appears on my screen. Grabbing a writ, I can nearly run from the board to the crafting station before I even see anything.

This isn't my system.

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5820K CPU @ 3.30GHz (12 CPUs), ~3.3GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
GPU: AMD Radeon R9 290x TurboDuo

Akavir_Sentinel · September 2015

The system specs have nothing to do with it. You could have 100 CPU's and a billion gigs of RAM, but ESO only utilizes one CPU and 4 GB of RAM.

UrQuan · September 2015

The black silhouettes are a new feature - previously when logging in you simply wouldn't see some players until the textures loaded for them. Now you see the silhouettes right away without having to wait for the textures to load. It's juat a minor change so that you won't be surprised by someone being RIGHT FREAKING THERE all of a sudden.

The lag and text delay on quests is an issue though... And I don't doubt that the increased lag is causing the silhouettes to stay longer than they should.

ThatNeonZebraAgain · September 2015

@UrQuan is correct, the black silhouettes are a new feature, but I prefer the old way. Doesn't really matter though as it only lasts a second or two.

Evergnar · September 2015

The shadow people cometh.....

ThePonzzz · September 2015

Akavir_Sentinel wrote: »

The system specs have nothing to do with it. You could have 100 CPU's and a billion gigs of RAM, but ESO only utilizes one CPU and 4 GB of RAM.

I realize that, I was highlighting the fact that I'm not running a slow system.

UrQuan wrote: »

The black silhouettes are a new feature - previously when logging in you simply wouldn't see some players until the textures loaded for them. Now you see the silhouettes right away without having to wait for the textures to load. It's juat a minor change so that you won't be surprised by someone being RIGHT FREAKING THERE all of a sudden.

The lag and text delay on quests is an issue though... And I don't doubt that the increased lag is causing the silhouettes to stay longer than they should.

The silhouettes are definitely lasting longer than not seeing anything. I usually saw things pretty instantly on login, especially when using a wayshrine.

The text being so delayed is definitely new though. I'm also not seeing decon materials right away either (though I'm hearing the sounds).

ThatNeonZebraAgain wrote: »

@UrQuan is correct, the black silhouettes are a new feature, but I prefer the old way. Doesn't really matter though as it only lasts a second or two.

It's not one or two seconds though it's 60 to 90 seconds on my end. I was able to run from the wayshrine in Mournhold to the bank without anything being shown properly.

Evergnar wrote: »

The shadow people cometh.....

Mojmir · September 2015

i noticed in some part of IC, when you come out of a door you get hit with "silenced" and theres a weird bluish dome over your character, or am i just having flash backs to my teenage years?

Akavir_Sentinel · September 2015

Mojmir wrote: »

i noticed in some part of IC, when you come out of a door you get hit with "silenced" and theres a weird bluish dome over your character, or am i just having flash backs to my teenage years?

This is intended. It's a sanctuary area. You cannot attack anyone, and you also cannot be attacked.

Mojmir · September 2015

Akavir_Sentinel wrote: »

Mojmir wrote: »

i noticed in some part of IC, when you come out of a door you get hit with "silenced" and theres a weird bluish dome over your character, or am i just having flash backs to my teenage years?

This is intended. It's a sanctuary area. You cannot attack anyone, and you also cannot be attacked.

so they did listen to something on pts, lol

UrQuan · September 2015

ThePonzzz wrote: »

Akavir_Sentinel wrote: »

The system specs have nothing to do with it. You could have 100 CPU's and a billion gigs of RAM, but ESO only utilizes one CPU and 4 GB of RAM.

I realize that, I was highlighting the fact that I'm not running a slow system.

UrQuan wrote: »

The black silhouettes are a new feature - previously when logging in you simply wouldn't see some players until the textures loaded for them. Now you see the silhouettes right away without having to wait for the textures to load. It's juat a minor change so that you won't be surprised by someone being RIGHT FREAKING THERE all of a sudden.

The lag and text delay on quests is an issue though... And I don't doubt that the increased lag is causing the silhouettes to stay longer than they should.

The silhouettes are definitely lasting longer than not seeing anything. I usually saw things pretty instantly on login, especially when using a wayshrine.

That's to do with the lag you're seeing. I've always found the more I'm lagging, the longer it takes for characters to appear. When you can actually see the silhouettes of the characters that haven't loaded yet, it's much easier to notice when it's taking longer than it should.

ThePonzzz wrote: »

The text being so delayed is definitely new though. I'm also not seeing decon materials right away either (though I'm hearing the sounds).

Yeah, that's odd. I'd guess that's also related to the lag you're seeing, but who knows...

Elsonso · September 2015

ThePonzzz wrote: »

The silhouettes are definitely lasting longer than not seeing anything. I usually saw things pretty instantly on login, especially when using a wayshrine.

You have to be careful when making statements like that because your observation is completely different and that will change how you interpret the passage of time relative to before.

For example, I stop in Elden Root every day via wayshrine. Every day, I know these same NPCs are standing between me and the exit. Every day, they are not there immediately and I swing wide to the left to avoid running into them. Most days they appear in seconds, other days I never see them because they are invisible on my way out of the tree and are invisible on my way back to the wayshrine. Still, I know they are there and I know that I will collide with them, even though I cannot see them.

With 2.1, they appear immediately as a black image. Sometimes they resolve before I pass by them. Sometimes, they are black when I come back to the wayshrine. As near as I can tell, the only thing that has really changed is that now I can see them.

What I find alarming, and the reason that I mention this, is that there are other places where I was unaware that there were NPCs because they were always invisible while I was there. Now I see them and I notice that they are the black stand-ins and I notice that it takes time for them to fill in. Before, I never knew they were there and never paid any attention to whether they appeared later or not. Now it appears that it takes a long time for them to appear, but that is because I can see them now.

I will not say that there is no lag or delay caused by server loading, etc, but I will say that unless you've been standing there timing them, both before and after the Update, your perception of time may be tainted.

UrQuan · September 2015

lordrichter wrote: »

What I find alarming, and the reason that I mention this, is that there are other places where I was unaware that there were NPCs because they were always invisible while I was there. Now I see them and I notice that they are the black stand-ins and I notice that it takes time for them to fill in. Before, I never knew they were there and never paid any attention to whether they appeared later or not. Now it appears that it takes a long time for them to appear, but that is because I can see them now.

Are you sure they're NPCs? The silhouettes are for players too, so it could be that you never knew they were there before simply because they weren't there before.

Or they could be ghosts! Spooky ghosts! Oh crap! You never saw them before because they're freaking ghosts!!!!

Elsonso · September 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

What I find alarming, and the reason that I mention this, is that there are other places where I was unaware that there were NPCs because they were always invisible while I was there. Now I see them and I notice that they are the black stand-ins and I notice that it takes time for them to fill in. Before, I never knew they were there and never paid any attention to whether they appeared later or not. Now it appears that it takes a long time for them to appear, but that is because I can see them now.

Are you sure they're NPCs? The silhouettes are for players too, so it could be that you never knew they were there before simply because they weren't there before.

Or they could be ghosts! Spooky ghosts! Oh crap! You never saw them before because they're freaking ghosts!!!!

They are NPCs because they are NPCs.

I mean, it is not that I have never seen them, but all of a sudden there seem to be more of them. I didn't see them every time so I tended to forget they were even there. Yes, some of them do move, and for the ones that I am not familiar with, that can also account for it. But those four in Elden Root, I noticed them even when they were not visible.

As for the ghosts, yes. I am constantly seeing very real looking ghosts. Everywhere. Every city. I know they are ghosts because I can run right through them. It is disconcerting because they run right through me like I am not even there. Some of the ghosts are black now. It is like they are all mocking me.

ThePonzzz · September 2015

I appreciate the advice, @lordrichter, but I can assure you I'm very aware of my surroundings when I play. I keep /latency open at all times, as well as /fps. I monitor these things ever since going into Cyrodiil. I've never seen red latency in PvE, and now I see it pretty often. Something is definitely different.

Elsonso · September 2015

ThePonzzz wrote: »

I appreciate the advice, @lordrichter, but I can assure you I'm very aware of my surroundings when I play. I keep /latency open at all times, as well as /fps. I monitor these things ever since going into Cyrodiil. I've never seen red latency in PvE, and now I see it pretty often. Something is definitely different.

After 1 day, I think it is far too soon to be saying that. I am certain that server load is higher than normal right now.

Starshadw · September 2015

lordrichter wrote: »

With 2.1, they appear immediately as a black image. Sometimes they resolve before I pass by them. Sometimes, they are black when I come back to the wayshrine. As near as I can tell, the only thing that has really changed is that now I can see them.

Bizarrely, while PCs are appearing as the black silhouettes for me, NPCs are NOT. They are still invisible until they finally load in.

Elsonso · September 2015

Sigh.

You may be right. I may be still (not) seeing invisible NPCs. If you look at an NPC and there is a player between you and the NPC, the game will display the NPC name, not the character name. So what I may be seeing in Elden Root are invisible NPCs with black player silhouettes mixed in, but the game presents the NPC information when I look at the characters. The black silhouettes are all identical, as near as I can tell, so everyone would look the same.

I am going to have to play with this because I was certain that I was seeing black silhouette NPCs.

vaagventje17eb17_ESO · September 2015

Akavir_Sentinel wrote: »

The system specs have nothing to do with it. You could have 100 CPU's and a billion gigs of RAM, but ESO only utilizes one CPU and 4 GB of RAM.

mate, its not 64 bit the game, eso utilizes 2g max

Asmael · September 2015

Didn't check how well the dark silhouettes work yet (I did see a few), but if it indeed works properly, that's a more than welcome changed.

I literally went into a keep, seeing 5 guys, I thought "oh well, I can get to the breach", only to die to 20+ people, invisible for the most part, hammering me to death.

30 seconds after said hammering, "actual" people popped up and were all visible...

So, yeah, cool feature

SantieClaws · September 2015

Those silhouettes are the stuff of my nightmares. Seriously.

They are creeping me out something awful. Used to have bad dreams as a kid about opening my curtains and seeing shadows like that and stuff looking in at me. Don't like them at all. Would prefer if they just looked less creepy - even like being grey or beige or something would be a bit better. Less like evil shadows coming to get me.

Elsonso · September 2015

vaagventje17eb17_ESO wrote: »

Akavir_Sentinel wrote: »

The system specs have nothing to do with it. You could have 100 CPU's and a billion gigs of RAM, but ESO only utilizes one CPU and 4 GB of RAM.

mate, its not 64 bit the game, eso utilizes 2g max

As a 32bit game, it can access up to 4GB on hardware that will support that. However, it only uses between 2GB and 3GB.

vaagventje17eb17_ESO · September 2015

lordrichter wrote: »

vaagventje17eb17_ESO wrote: »

Akavir_Sentinel wrote: »

The system specs have nothing to do with it. You could have 100 CPU's and a billion gigs of RAM, but ESO only utilizes one CPU and 4 GB of RAM.

mate, its not 64 bit the game, eso utilizes 2g max

As a 32bit game, it can access up to 4GB on hardware that will support that. However, it only uses between 2GB and 3GB.

show me a picture of taskmanager giving eso more then 2 gb memory? i never see it happen and i got 8gb

Preyfar · September 2015

https://youtu.be/cMHyzI2_EVE?t=20
(Skip to about 20 seconds in)

Here's a video of some of the combat lag I've been getting. My latency barely ever peaks above 80, sometimes hitting 100. Not too bad. Here' I'm pretty much just Wrecking Blowing this Scorpion boss in Upper Crag. After a few WBs the attacks start to glitch/lag out (you see me begin to cast the animation, then just stop... and the damage lands shortly after). I'm not animation cancelling in these instances.

The damage DOES seem to go through FTC, but the effect/stun does not reliably proc when it should. It lands 1-2 seconds after, and appears to double-hit when I land my next Wrecklng Blow. The lag here isn't extreme, but when the server is actually lagging or in light/moderate PVP settings this jumps from 1-2 seconds to 5-10 seconds. Imagine hitting somebody with a Wrecking Blow, they take the damage, but suddenly get stunned 5+ seconds later. For one, this makes it look like I'm exploiting because there's a delayed stun, and two, it makes my attacks unreliable.

The damage lands, but the stun or CC and damage effects seem to be delayed.

It's really hard to explain, and the video doesn't quite show how bad it feels in actual combat, but everything feels "mushy" and unresponsive. No other part of the game lags for me except for combat animations/damage.