As the title suggests, our guild members and myself are experiencing heavy lag on star forge with ability activation. If someone could put the server hamster back on the wheel, it's be appreciated.

Please download Pingplotter.com and follow these steps to see if it’s the server or the connection / pathway to the server causing the issues

 

To find out the server IP (it changes everytime you log in now) you need start swtor and then go back to your Windows desktop.

Now run command prompt in Administrator mode

(Depending on which Windows you have, there are different ways to run it in Administrator mode, so do a quick Google search on how too for your windows version)

 

Type this command into the command shell after you have opened it.

Netstat -n -p tcp -b | more

 

(I usually have the netstat command saved in a txt file for notepad and just copy and paste it into the command prompt)

 

It will show you the 2 swtor connections to the server IP

 

It usually has an ip like this - 159.153.65.233 or 159.153.65.232

But because it changes each time you login it will be different.. Ie it could be - 159.153.65.220

This is why you have to run this each time if you want to get an accurate read on the server ping.

 

Once you have that ip, open pingplotter. You can then enter the swtor server ip you are connected to and it will run a live trace route, showing all the connection hops along the way.

You'll be able to see live statistics and information on what is happening.

I'll run that if it tanks again, it lasted for about 15 minutes and then went back to normal. We were in a group of 21 and it was like 3-4 second lag from button press to action. But others in the guild on other planets as well as on fleet had the same issues so pretty sure it was server side. I guess the hamster had to get some water before getting back on the wheel. If it happens again in the next 48 hours, I'll post the results from the ping test, thanks for that info.

I'm having the same issue. My latency is usually <20ms.

 

 

6 113 ms 108 ms 109 ms ge-11-1-7.er2.lga5.us.above.net [206.82.104.102]

7 117 ms 116 ms 122 ms ae13.cs1.lga5.us.zip.zayo.com [64.125.27.44]

8 * * * Request timed out.

9 170 ms 114 ms 115 ms ae1.er2.iad10.us.zip.zayo.com [64.125.25.165]

10 115 ms 115 ms 115 ms 64.125.199.190.t00673-02.above.net [64.125.199.190]

11 119 ms 115 ms 116 ms 159.153.92.98

12 116 ms 117 ms 110 ms 159.153.92.86

13 115 ms 115 ms 114 ms 159.153.65.224

Sounds like packet loss.

Running the plotter now just to figure it out, I see two hops and nothing really glaring, is there an option to generate a report?

just do tracert ipaddress at the comand line;

Tracing route to 159.153.65.224 over a maximum of 30 hops

 

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms Fios_Quantum_Gateway.fios-router.home [192.168.1.1]

2 3 ms 2 ms 1 ms 159.153.65.224

 

Tracing route to 162.159.133.232 over a maximum of 30 hops

 

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms Fios_Quantum_Gateway.fios-router.home [192.168.1.1]

2 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 162.159.133.232

 

Trace complete.

i have some serious packet loss going on here https://imgur.com/a/7sQ0EDa

Yup, there's nothing more fun then clicking on part of your rotation and then sitting back waiting for it to happen. I had much 'fun' with that in a flashpoint recently.

But overall, it appears to be a network issue, not a game issue (this time). 🙂

Here's the kicker...

 

I'm having the same issue, BUT, the input will go off fine if you click the icon. It's this way with everything, even opening the map from the minimap by clicking. Really screwing up gameplay when you have to stop using inputs to switch to clicking to stay active in a fight -- and good luck with interrupts...

 

This soooo needs to be fixed, it is killing the fun of the game entirely.

Here's the kicker...

 

I'm having the same issue, BUT, the input will go off fine if you click the icon. It's this way with everything, even opening the map from the minimap by clicking. Really screwing up gameplay when you have to stop using inputs to switch to clicking to stay active in a fight -- and good luck with interrupts...

 

This soooo needs to be fixed, it is killing the fun of the game entirely.

 

That doesn’t sound like it’s the “actual” game, but more the network connecting you. I can confirm I’m not having this issue and I naturally play with 220ms ping due to distance.

I ran into this exact same issue the other day. I'd been playing for an hour or so and then it got painfully laggy in combat. I'm running on a barely month old gaming laptop, and I bought a new router around the same time. I had issues for a night and then everything was fine. Ooof but that night was rough. I eventually just gave up for the evening and watched Netflix, lol.

I'll run that if it tanks again, it lasted for about 15 minutes and then went back to normal. We were in a group of 21 and it was like 3-4 second lag from button press to action. But others in the guild on other planets as well as on fleet had the same issues so pretty sure it was server side. I guess the hamster had to get some water before getting back on the wheel. If it happens again in the next 48 hours, I'll post the results from the ping test, thanks for that info.

 

The fact that there are 21 of you in the group, could also be part of it, when larger numbers of players are in the same area, it has an effect on everything. It's one of the reasons OWPvP doesn't work very well.

Edited August 10, 2020 by DarkTergon

Same issue, High end PC, fast network (300d 30u), constant lag. Only game I lag in, no other problems in any other online game Just SW:ToR. Already found the bitraider solution and tried that to no avail. Installed outside of the steam client as well. Feels. Bad.

Can you guys please run ping plotter while you are having issues and report back. Maybe we can discover what’s affecting you.

 

Download Pingplotter at http://www.pingplotter.com

Install it so you can look at the hops to the server

To find out the server IP (it changes everytime you log in now) you need start swtor and then go back to your Windows desktop.

Now run command prompt in Administrator mode

(Depending on which Windows you have, there are different ways to run it in Administrator mode, so do a quick Google search on how too for your windows version)

 

Type this command into the command shell after you have opened it.

Netstat -n -p tcp -b | more

 

(I usually have the netstat command saved in a txt file for notepad and just copy and paste it into the command prompt)

 

It will show you the 2 swtor connections to the server IP

 

It usually has an ip like this - 159.153.65.233 or 159.153.65.232

But because it changes each time you login it will be different.. Ie it could be - 159.153.65.220

This is why you have to run this each time if you want to get an accurate read on the server ping.

 

Once you have that ip, open pingplotter. You can then enter the swtor server ip you are connected to and it will run a live trace route, showing all the connection hops along the way.

You'll be able to see live statistics and information on what is happening.

Working on it, will get back to you shortly.

Trixxie - it looks like that it seems to be packet loss. Fortunately (and unfortunately) my issues were lasting about 5 days, but yesterday I had a semi-normal experience. I still have a ton of... catch up in pvp? But the two times I did lag yesterday was more than bearable.

 

https://imgur.com/a/Rvf1qhd

 

Next time it happens I'll have the trace program up and I'll record a video of the stuttering (it's like watching a slideshow).

 

Specs for the PC are a Ryzen 2700x

16 gig ddr4

RTX 2080

SW:ToR resides on an SSD.

 

Thank you for your time!

Trixxie - it looks like that it seems to be packet loss. Fortunately (and unfortunately) my issues were lasting about 5 days, but yesterday I had a semi-normal experience. I still have a ton of... catch up in pvp? But the two times I did lag yesterday was more than bearable.

 

https://imgur.com/a/Rvf1qhd

 

Next time it happens I'll have the trace program up and I'll record a video of the stuttering (it's like watching a slideshow).

 

Specs for the PC are a Ryzen 2700x

16 gig ddr4

RTX 2080

SW:ToR resides on an SSD.

 

Thank you for your time!

 

You need to go into PingPlotter settings and add a maximum column, like you have for the min and average column. This will record where your spikes are happening.

 

But looking at the graphs at the bottom and the side, it’s not the packet loss causing you the issues. It looks like you start getting spikes around hop4 (you can see that presented by the gray line going out to the right. It looks like it spikes out to around 120ms), and it looks likes it’s probably translating all the way through to the servers. But without the max column I can’t be sure if that’s the only problem hop.

 

The pack loss you are seeing is common on some hops because of how they are set up. If the packet loss was affecting you, it would go all the way to the server or back to you and not be isolated at the hops. There is a tiny bit of pack loss at hop3 that you should keep eye on. But those other really big ones are internet backbone ones that happen for everyone.

The biggest give away is the bottom graph. Each one of those “mountains” on your graph is actual lag between you and the server. You really want that bottom line to be a flat line the whole way.

 

Here is an example of mine done on my iPad to the server. You can see that there is packloss at that one hop. But when you look at the bottom graph, it is a flat line. And yes, I know my lag is high, I play in Australia. But you can see once it travels across the pacific and hits the LA to East coast backbone, it settles into a stable ping. Which is what you want to see.

https://imgur.com/gallery/FiBtqzj

 

Looking at your chart, I would say your stable ping should be between 70-80ms. You shouldn’t see much more movement than that. Those mountain rangers in you bottom graph, most likely represent traffic and ping problems between you and the server. Most probably at hop4 where it looks like your ISP is connecting to the Zayo backbone.

Edited August 11, 2020 by TrixxieTriss

But overall, it appears to be a network issue, not a game issue (this time). 🙂

Swtor is interesting. Its network, both software and hardware, is the worse among the mmos I played, none of which are located in my region. Its download is throttled and we get new complains on that every day on Steam. (hardware) The ping goes up and spikes happen more often when more players are fighting around you (software).

 

The norm on this forum is to blame the complainer's network or computer, but I'd say the game's optimisation and network configuration/provider also play an important role to many of the complains.

Swtor is interesting. Its network, both software and hardware, is the worse among the mmos I played, none of which are located in my region. Its download is throttled and we get new complains on that every day on Steam. (hardware) The ping goes up and spikes happen more often when more players are fighting around you (software).

 

The norm on this forum is to blame the complainer's network or computer, but I'd say the game's optimisation and network configuration/provider also play an important role to many of the complains.

 

So explain why some of us don’t have network issue and when we get those complaining to do the testing I suggest, 9/10 times it’s not the servers, but something between the player and the servers.

The norm on this forum is to blame the complainer's network or computer, but I'd say the game's optimisation and network configuration/provider also play an important role to many of the complains.

 

Exactly, I heard one person say about the lag "don't blame McDonalds for the potholes in the road on your drive there", but I think there can be some blame on them if the "McDonalds" is purposely and cheaply placed in the worst hub for most people's location and ISP to get to them.

Exactly, I heard one person say about the lag "don't blame McDonalds for the potholes in the road on your drive there", but I think there can be some blame on them if the "McDonalds" is purposely and cheaply placed in the worst hub for most people's location and ISP to get to them.

 

lol, no, it's still not the big M's fault, if the roads are bad. They do the best with what they've got, if you are having trouble getting to them, it's up to you, especially if there are tons of people getting there easily enough.

So explain why some of us don’t have network issue and when we get those complaining to do the testing I suggest, 9/10 times it’s not the servers, but something between the player and the servers.

Time of testing is a pretty important factor. Hours or even days can pass from the issue is posted to people go test it. If the server/network is no longer under stress, or if the issue has been quietly solved, of course everything is smooth.

 

As OP noted, the lag is reported by multiple players in-game but only lasted a short while, at least for him. The forum also see a few other reports. If it is not server issue, as you say, then it is a common issue on a network that is pretty close to the server.

 

Imagine the servers being accessible from a train station. The station have two lanes, one red and one blue. The red going rails may be better maintained and have newer trains. The blue may be less reliable. If you ride on the red every day you'd think it's a great experience. Not so with blue.

 

Of course, you can still insist it's fine on your side and it's my local connection. But I can also say I've no problem with other online games, international video calls, multi GB downloads, etc. Since covid I have even stress tested (and busted) local and foreign servers of different companies as part of my job from my top of the line, pc to fiber modem home connection. So please let me insist the problem seems to be closer to swtor - or the provider they use - than my home.

 

Don't forget. Swtor's network is throttled even before your game is ready for play. The min install time reported on Steam is stable, despite the lack of any official confirmation.

 

lol, no, it's still not the big M's fault, if the roads are bad. They do the best with what they've got, if you are having trouble getting to them, it's up to you, especially if there are tons of people getting there easily enough.

Perhaps the physical McDonald is stuck with that porthole-on-the-door. Networking in a top tier data center is generally more flexible with multiple providers. Perhaps BW is just unwilling to look at network issue, like how they hid for as long as they can for many issues from starter planet gold spam to the recent character transfer bug.

 

Or look at how they handled the 2017 server merge complains - we decided to move the server away from you players, without telling you, and we knew you would get higher ping, but it is a network issue not a game performance issue. Our tests show all green.

 

Right. Now I don't know whether it's BW who copy the zealot guardians or the fans who take clue from BW.

Edited August 12, 2020 by ElleSheepy

Time of testing is a pretty important factor. Hours or even days can pass from the issue is posted to people go test it. If the server/network is no longer under stress, or if the issue has been quietly solved, of course everything is smooth.

 

As OP noted, the lag is reported by multiple players in-game but only lasted a short while, at least for him. The forum also see a few other reports. If it is not server issue, as you say, then it is a common issue on a network that is pretty close to the server.

 

Imagine the servers being accessible from a train station. The station have two lanes, one red and one blue. The red going rails may be better maintained and have newer trains. The blue may be less reliable. If you ride on the red every day you'd think it's a great experience. Not so with blue.

 

Of course, you can still insist it's fine on your side and it's my local connection. But I can also say I've no problem with other online games, international video calls, multi GB downloads, etc. Since covid I have even stress tested (and busted) local and foreign servers of different companies as part of my job from my top of the line, pc to fiber modem home connection. So please let me insist the problem seems to be closer to swtor - or the provider they use - than my home.

 

Don't forget. Swtor's network is throttled even before your game is ready for play. The min install time reported on Steam is stable, despite the lack of any official confirmation.

 

 

Perhaps the physical McDonald is stuck with that porthole-on-the-door. Networking in a top tier data center is generally more flexible with multiple providers. Perhaps BW is just unwilling to look at network issue, like how they hid for as long as they can for many issues from starter planet gold spam to the recent character transfer bug.

 

Or look at how they handled the 2017 server merge complains - we decided to move the server away from you players, without telling you, and we knew you would get higher ping, but it is a network issue not a game performance issue. Our tests show all green.

 

Right. Now I don't know whether it's BW who copy the zealot guardians or the fans who take clue from BW.

 

I don’t need an analogy to understand. I’ve got a better understanding of what’s happening than most. I’ve spent 10’s of hours of my time helping people diagnose their problems over the years, I’m also a technician.