Windows 7 - High ping in game, low ping in cmd

Hey,

Firstly, I'm not sure if this belongs in the network or the gaming section but I decided to post this here. So, my problems is that when I play Left 4 Dead, I have something like +100ms ping to servers that others have just fine ping in. I also did a traceroute to a certain server and it gave me a ping of 65ms but when I join it in game, it will be something like +100ms. What's wrong?

Hi there!

Id say your issue is the location of the game server, for example, If your in australia and you connect to a US server, your ping is going to be 100+, but on the other hand if you connect to an Aussie server, your ping will be quite low, generally bellow 30.

All it is telling you is how fast information is getting to the Game server your playing on

Your in-game ping will usually be higher than a simple trace/ping from a console or browser. Keep in mind when in-game there is extra latency due to the server actually processing all of the information from all players, and then passing that update on to your machine. Outside of the game, all it has to do is return a few packets, not quite the same.

I'm from Finland I have +100ms ping to European servers that reside in countries as France and Germany.

Yeah, I'm aware of this fact. The thing is that I used to have a much lower ping. I had something like 65ms in console (normal) and in game about 80ms. Nowadays I have +100ms for some reason.

More users playing on the server than usual? That might be another reason.

Not really, normal 8 slot versus game.

A Ping is affected by EVERYTHING what's between your computer and the target, as well as by your TCP/IP settings. So if your stream is routed through server with a high volume throughput or your MTU is set wrong, you suffer.
I just wonder if the higher in-game ping is caused by the strain that the game itself puts on your computer.
It's just a theory. but if you Alt-tab out of the game, you could verify if the timing still differs.

To check if your MTU is set correctly it's a little awkward.
Valid packet sizes lie between 576 and 1500
Is the MTU too small, you're transmissions mainly consist of headers and not enough data to be effective.
Is the MTU too big the packets will be fragmented and take even longer to transmit
Even tho it's possible to set any number within range I seem to remember that it is recommended to keep the packet size a multiple of 16.
Ping itself adds 28 bites to the packet (20 bytes IP header and 8 Bytes IMCP header) so those 28 need to be subtracted first to get a working number.
In short MTU = x*16 + 28

The Test command would be like this:

Ping <server ip> -f -l <desired MTU -28>
so if you start at say 560 and work your way up until you found the smallest transfer time
ping 72.14.204.104 -f -l 560

Once you have your number open regedit and go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces
there you have to go to your Adapter ID where you right click in the right window and create a new DWORD.
Name it MTU and give it your found number (don't forget to add 28 in the example it's 1350 decimal


If you find at one point it's not the right number anymore, either go through it again or just delete that key and rely on windows to do the right thing.

Again the standard warning : Don't mess with the registry if you're not sure what you're doing..at least generate a system restore point!

-DG

In case of a high ping on left for dead you have to change the server in the edit settings dedicated server or local

you have those options and that will change the ping there is no way to fix this issue through your devices it is just thiere servers sometimes there flat out terrible but it also depends on your net work if your running reg dsl well yeah your going to get a lag i am on cable speeds and everyonece ina while you'll get a lag

Im pretty sure it is thiere servers and not your isp and yeah you are playing team against team and you have a 5970 you should be great if it was a lower cardi would see it messing with you with all the things going on but you got the top dog so it has to be thiere servers