Dynamis Lag Survey

[peacemaker]

For those who has been to Dynamis, most have probably noticed that the biggest enemy is not the monsters, but the ridiculous lag. Until Square can fix that problem, I'm just curious about a few things.

1. Connection Speed - I'm on 8M ADSL domestic connection in Japan, and the lag is still insane. It becomes hard to type when ppl start to gather at the entrance area, then after actually going in, things start to skip, PC corpses dissapears and reappears, macros take forever to execute, etc. Is it any better on a faster connection? Anyone playing on Hikari Fiber or T3?

2. PS2 vs. PC - for those who play both PS2 version and PC version, are there any differences in speed? I've tested on 2 PS2's, one is first gen, and the other is the white GT4 one, while the new one is slightly faster probably because the drive is new and is not as fragmented, the difference is minimal.

3. Dynamis area - I've been to 3 out of 4 areas, and Dynamis Jeuno is by far the laggiest, I wonder if it has anything to do with the server being over-populated and most people gathering in the Jeuno area.

[Masaharu]

When you say lag, do you mean video lag or network lag? If it's video lag, I'm not sure there's much you can do on a PS2. In the PC version, there's a /localsetting command that lets you adjust how many players the game will show on screen at a time. Decreasing the number might help, or you could always upgrade the PC I guess...


If it's network lag, then that's Square's problem. The game seems to cap network connection speeds at 2.5 Kbps (run through the AH in Lower Jeuno during peak hours - your "R" will cap out at 2500) so a faster connection won't help with that.

[peacemaker]

I didn't check the R/O when playing, it was hard enough seeing anything with frames skipping, it would appear that video lag is definitely a huge part of it, and network lag might have some contributions as well. A fiber optics ISP gave me a brochure claiming that FFXI is faster on fiber than on ADSL, but that is apparently not the case.

There is no question Dynamis is pushing the PS2 to the limits, but that is a problem that Square needs to fix somehow on their end, a lot of players in there use PS2.

[DJplaeskool]

During my trip, I found that the lag wasn't too bad at all...

The only problem I noticed was that it took a couple seconds to load proximal targets, but there was little to no graphical stuttering. More bearable than say, LowJeuno in front of the AH...

[Awntawn]

i've noticed that my PS2 will load a much smaller radius when there are more people; often I had trouble finding the front lines after chasing down a mob that charged into the back... heh :p It's like a giant fog cloud of lag.

My WS... I hit my macro and hope that my WS shoots out sometime before the monster dies. I usually don't see my own WS cuz I'm covered by 20000 other bodies, so I rely on TP return more than anything else to see how well i did.

[Malachite]

I find it to still be playable, as long as you can stutter through a bit of lag. Of course, you have to use a few things like turning weather & names off to help but overall i've never really found it unbearable(PC version). As a bard, I have more trouble wading through 50 people to get from point A to point B for different songs, rather than dealing with the lag.

When I go to D-Jeuno my PT(5 BLM 1 BRD) works as a detachment from the rest of the alliance and pick off statues, and I can say that when you're away from the huge mass of people dynamis is much more bearable.

As for peacemaker's 3 points..

1) i'm only on a low end DSL line.
2) PC version, lots of RAM but average everything else.
3) Dynamis areas are clones of the cities, so they have no relation to Jeuno lag. I think D-Jeuno lag is more noticable because everyone is compacted into 1 spot, as the area is a lot smaller.

extra: My S/R is normally like 100/1300 in Dynamis.

[peacemaker]

Perhaps that was the thing, our Jeuno formation was all BLMs were front line to take out the statues, but often that happens with all the melees fighting right next to us to take out the gobs. When I need to use a spell thats not macro-ed, it literally takes a minute to scroll down the spell menu, usually by which point the spell is no longer needed. At times, the lag was so bad, the character just couldn't move at all and things were twirling around in dreamy drop-frame slow motion ~

Syara, have you defragmented your PS2 drive? I may need to do it, but I haven't checked if BB Navigator even has that option.

I wouldn't be able to change to PC version until Virtual PC for G5 comes out, but I don't think that's going to be that smooth either and I don't see why PS2 players should need to "upgrade" at all since the game was initially released for the PS2.

[Jonnyram]

Originally posted by peacemaker
Syara, have you defragmented your PS2 drive? I may need to do it, but I haven't checked if BB Navigator even has that option.

It's Linux-based so it isn't fragmented

[peacemaker]

Originally posted by Jonnyram

It's Linux-based so it isn't fragmented

So there is basically nothing that can be done...

[Apoc]

re:

I heard ffxi was based for 56k user mostly, so cable and higher connections will only help a little bit, probably the best thing for it is an upgraded comp or one of the new model PS2s

[Kirara]

ffxi's buffer is overly stupidly built
aka
the fix is to use the chat filter

[Highmage]

try turning sound off too