Very laggy multiplayer - help please

[redsteven]

For the record, when I say "lag," I mean network lag, bad ping, etc.... I don't mean low framerate. But anyway...

My ping jumps all over the place when I'm in multiplayer in halo 2. I don't have any other Microsoft "LIVE" games, but I don't have problems with any other game, whether it's Quake 4, World of Warcraft, or Halo 1 (not xbox version)

When i open up the scoreboard in halo 2, the ping meter shows, red, then yellow, then red, then green, then red, then green, then yellow... you get the idea.
It makes it unplayable, because my character bounces around all over the place.

I looked up the port forwarding for Windows LIVE and the ports on my router should be fine. And Windows firewall should be letting Halo 2 traffic through automatically.

Also, sometimes when I go to the "lobby", the list of games doesn't load. If I exit the multiplayer menu and then go back a second or third time, it usually works.

I wish I could give more detailed information, but I just don't know what could be causing the problem. There aren't many players online yet over the past few days, but I'm pretty sure I played on two different dedicated servers (on two different days) and had the same problem.

:(

[X3RO SHIF7]

do you have highspeed internet?
if you have dial up - theres your problem
if you have highspeed, then not sure, try waiting for a patch?

[Syuusuke]

You should make sure nothing else is stealing your bandwidth, (downloading while playing is a no-no)

[Con]

It's probably some one program using your bandwidth, like Syuu suggested. I've got high speed internet, but I've noticed the same issues in Halo 1 sometimes--the warpy ping, the blank server list. CAD up your task manager before you play and end everything you don't need. If that doesn't fix it, try HijackThis.

[Patrickssj6]

Turn Limewire off...




...any trojan anything affecting your upload rate?

[Alpha_522]

Are you using wireless? I use belkin wireless usb network adapter and I lag until I installed and used Vista Anti-Lag program. It works great for me. I have comcast high speed internet*

[redsteven]

I'm using cable, and I've checked the network activity on every computer in my house, and when everybody else is using less than 1 kilobyte and I have nothing but Halo running, I still lag.

It's not a trojan or virus or anything; I'm running halo 2 in bootcamp on my imac, so I did a clean install of Vista and then installed Halo. I haven't used windows to go online at all except through halo.
Bootcamp shoudn't cause an issue with lag.

I AM wirelessly connected though... what's the "vista anti-lag program" ur talking about?
(wireless connection never gave me a problem in any of my other games though : \ )

Edit: Well, I went to http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?gprid=12429 in an effort to contact microsoft directly via email. Well, it's not going real well. The charges are VERY confusing. They say no-charge support is free for UNLIMITED REQUESTS, but it's "$35.00 US per request after all no-charge support is used." I don't really understand how I can use up the UNLIMITED amount of help requests...
Anyway, they want the product id number for halo 2, but the link for "How to find your product identification number?" is broken -_-
And then they wanted payment info so forget that. Guess I'll just have to try calling tomorrow.

Anyway, thanks for your help, and keep the suggestions coming.

[megaxp]

low connection

[redsteven]

low connection

uh.... what?

[redsteven]

Well... I keep looking on the internet for more solution but can't find anything useful. I'm thinking the problem MIGHT come from poor signal reception in my wireless network.

But.... I'm thinking the poor signal reception might actually be SOFTWARE related. When I start up my iMac in OS X, and do a bandwidth meter test on at "tech.msn.com/speedtest.aspx", I get these results: 2169.1 Kbps, 1421.6 Kbps, 1956.8 Kbps. Those average out to approximately 1850 Kbps.
OS X also shows my wireless connection as 4 out of 4 bars, and I've never before had problems with lag due to a wireless connection.

When started up in Vista, my wireless reception fluctuates between 2/5 bars (fair) and 3/5 bars (good). The bandwidth test gave me the ofllowing results:2355.7 Kbps, 1582 Kbps, and 1283 Kbps, and 1361.8 Kbps, which averages about 1650 Kbps.

The bandwidth difference between Windows and OS X is not significant, but since I'm a little concerned about the signal reception.

I tried multiplayer again today, and I don't think the lag was as bad as it USUALLY is, but I still get lots of spikes that last a few seconds each. If I had to estimate I'd say I get at LEAST 5 of those spikes per minute.

If I have time tomorow, I'll take the computer downstairs and connect it directly to the router or modem.

[VanHelsing]

Make sure your router/firmware is on the list of approved LIVE routers.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/connecttolive/xbox360/homenetworking/equipment.htm

The behaviour that you're describing sounds very much like you're behind a router that LIVE does not like. A quick way to test this is to connect your computer directly to the modem, and see if you get different behaviour.

[redsteven]

Thanks, but I figured it out.
The culprit? Vista's crappy handling of my wireless router's signal. When running OS X on my iMac my signal reception is usually better than when running Vista... I don't know why... maybe it has to do with the Vista drivers Apple provides for its Airport Cards...

I also have a Macbook Pro, and that gets GREAT reception. For some reason it almost always gets better reception that the iMac even when they're right next to each other... maybe it's because of the metal case or something.

I tried using the vista anti-lag program. It didn't help. I also tried connecting my iMac directly to the router - it worked fine. It was also okay when I brought it downstairs near the router and let it connect wirelessly. So the wireless signal was the problem.

So here's what I did.... I just used the wireless signal from the macbook pro; I enabled internet sharing on the MBP, and connected it to the iMac (which I had running Vista) via an ethernet cable. I was basically using the MBP as a bridge.

It works great, and I think I deserve one hell of a cookie for coming up with that solution :D.

Thanks all for your help and suggestions though.