Topic: The network issues thread (client lag and disconnects)
My name is DEV Karon, and from now on I will be working on improving the network and server infrastructure of Perpetuum. As our game world gets bigger, with more and more people joining every day from the farthest reaches of the planet, it has become an important priority to provide everyone with a high level of service and be able to understand and solve any possible problems that may arise. With a 15 year background in web and client-server development, operation and hosting, not to mention being an avid MMO player, I’m hopefully up to the challenge.
The lag detective
To further enhance the gameplay experience of Perpetuum for everyone, we have decided to launch an investigation into any sustained network problems our users might experience. The results we get out of this will influence a lot of technical and financial decisions of our company, including a possible relocation of our servers and the design of our future network infrastructure.
But before we dive into the details, it’s important to clear up a couple of facts that define our current situation.
The what’s up
1. The absolute majority of our users are fine - they don’t experience unusual lag or an excessive number of disconnected sessions. A little lag or a single disconnect happens from time to time for every internet based service on planet Earth, this is just a fact of life on the 'net.
2. Our servers, network equipment, the data center we are located in and the network service we buy are all world class. Internet connectivity and data centers are like LEGO: the building blocks of hardware (routers, switches and rackmount servers) and service levels (bandwidth, traffic limits and uptime guarantees) are just about the same anywhere in the world, be it London, UK or Budapest, Hungary. Rest assured we only buy from the best on the market.
3. Packet routing problems (suboptimal routing decisions, packet loss and black hole routers) affect every global internet based service (regardless of it being located in London, Budapest or Hong Kong), but are more easily detected when using latency-sensitive applications like realtime gaming.
4. Latency is king, and we know it. The difference (e.g. for a North American user) between our servers being in Budapest or London basically boils down to distance (number of hops) and latency (ping times). Budapest is a little bit further down the pipe (an extra 30-40 ms) which should not be perceived during normal gameplay. Of course with distance traveled and routers used, packet round-trip times gradually increase, so does the tiny chance of error somewhere along the path, but apart from that there is nothing inherently wrong in being hosted here. Budapest is of course much more economical for us while we are growing, so planning any change in this matter needs to be well thought through.
5. The single Hungarian peering point has absolutely nothing to do with how our international users access our services.The BIX peering point in Hungary connecting all the national ISP’s is created and maintained by the providers themselves, and it’s sole purpose is to exchange inland traffic - all the big service providers have their own, separate international connections with backup links.
What we plan to do
All that said we take network problems very seriously, being fully aware of the fact that playing an MMO with real-time combat needs to run smooth for every active user. We are planning to deploy extensive monitoring and analysis technology to understand and solve the specific problems better, and to make future decisions that will improve the level of service to our users. Most of it is going to happen behind the curtains, via automated processes gathering statistics during regular gameplay, but we are also open to receiving your input on this matter. On a case-by-case basis we may even contact you directly and ask for your help checking out a particular issue.
When is this relevant to you
You should reply to this thread if you experience a serious network issue with Perpetuum that is persistent (happening often, e.g. on a daily basis), and still ongoing (not something from last month), like:
- unnecessarily high lag (huge delays and rubberbanding), or
- frequent client disconnects with no relation to the quality of your internet service, or maybe
- some particularly evil combination of the above.
How can you help
In your reply first give us an accurate description of the problem you are having, for example:
“I am experiencing lag and frequent disconnects for 3 days now, one every 20-25 minutes”
In addition to that please share with us the following:
- your username
- your current IP address (use whatismyip.com)
- name of ISP and country
- the bandwidth (e.g. 15 Mbit down / 1 Mbit up) and
- the kind of service you are using (e.g. DSL, Cable, Optical or 3G Mobile)
- the results of a recent speedtest.net run
We also need you to:
- download and install Pingplotter from pingplotter.com and launch two (2) instances of it
- set “# of times to trace” to Unlimited, “Trace interval” at 3 seconds and “Samples to include” to ALL,
- start tracing test1.perpetuum-online.com (at the game server location) and test2.perpetuum-online.com (a fairly fast host at a different ISP for comparison purposes) in the two respective Pingplotter instances,
- please pause all uploads and downloads during the course of this test,
- now start the Perpetuum client and play for at least 30 minutes,
- if you notice any disconnects, write down your local time, and resume playing,
- when you are done playing for 30 minutes, go to File menu -> Save Sample set in both Pingplotter instances,
- attach the two .pp2 files to your reply.
If you prefer to keep your results private, you can send your problem description, ISP information and Pingplotter files to the netsupport@perpetuum-online.com email address.
maybe the extra players have done it not sure.
