I had this problem when I played Battlefield 2 5 years ago. But at that time I could still blame my hardware which wasn’t the top range or ideal specs a gamer would look at.
5 years later, I’m playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and I’m still facing this problem, if only worse. I’m running an i5 Core Processor, 4GB RAM and a Nvidia 275GTX graphics card, and things still look the same as before when I was using that old un-modified HP desktop.
I’m sprinting forward, holding on to the Left+Shift key as I move, yet I feel like I’m running through water. There’s so much resistance in my path slowing me down and finally when I let go of the ‘sprint’ key I actually slide about 5 steps back.
Through the scope I see an enemy and promptly fire a few shots at where my red dot is centered, but apparently my opponent doesn’t take any hits at all as the ‘X’ on the crosshair that indicates a hit doesn’t appear. Then all of sudden I’m shot in the head and I’m dead, leaving me cursing and swearing once again.
I’m talking about the god-damn problem known as lag.
I would understand if I’m playing on a US server since the vast distance separating our two countries means that data takes a longer time to travel to the other side. What I don’t comprehend is how on earth I’m lagging on a Singapore Fragnetics server when my ping is 100 and below? I’m playing on a local server and yet I don’t see the difference with the experience I get with a server in France or Germany. In fact, I can actually play better on their servers.
It’s a bloody joke, to say the least. We’re such a small country yet our broadband speeds aren’t up to the kind of standards one would expect of a developed country aspiring to be hub in many aspects. I need not say more about Japan’s 100mbps connection, and if I’m not wrong Taiwan and some cities in China are wired up with pretty fast speeds too.
Prior to writing this article, I gave up playing on the beta for the upcoming game Medal of Honour. The lag was so horrendous I could go on a death streak of more than five without registering a kill, even though at times I had the enemy lined up down my sights. Without any Asia servers running yet, I gave the game one last chance by joining a Sydney server. No difference from the New York one and it was all quits.
The picture at the top of this article accurately sums up my frustration of having to put up with yet another un-playable online game. If my keyboard were made of paper, it would have been crushed up by now.
And I thought we were connected in the Asia-Pacific region.
Starhub Maxonline has been my only broadband ISP since I hooked up seven years ago. There’s only one computer in the house, hence the family’s always been on the cheapest plan – if I’m not wrong it’s 2mbps now. I’ve been reading the forums and have yet to come to a concrete conclusion as to which is the best ISP in Singapore – mixed reviews on all three services aplenty. Sometimes I wonder if there’s any form of collusion going on regarding the broadband service.
Now that there’s a Home Hubbing Pack Promotion by Starhub which offers a 16mbps connection as part of the package, I’m thinking whether this upgrade would actually improve my gaming experience. Hey, it’s 8 times faster than my current connection ( obviously we will never hit that ).
Or would the shared bandwith problem in my condominium block result in nothing more than a mere increase written on the bill?
To upgrade or not? Is there nothing our ISPs can do to improve? Share your views in the comments box below.
Nikolaus Weihnachtsfeier
June 21, 2010
I cannot believe that this can be true
nicenshit
June 29, 2010
Yeah you are Right! Like you i have a new Laptop I core 5,4gb ram, 512MB graphic card,I bought the Bad Company 2 through steam, MY starhub is 8MB upgraded to 16mB, I joined any server including Fragnetic for singaporeans and MY and still my ping is Between 260-380, which really pisses off me. I called up they said depending on the server and need the IP add to check which I cant how to find out from the server! Really pisses off me!
Yijuj
July 5, 2010
“Lag: If You Thought Yours Was Bad, It Took Jesus 3 Days to Respawn”
I have a feeling it’s the local ISPs firewalls and whatnot slowing down our connections. I suffer from constant lag and the frequent disconnection at the worst possible moment on Singtel’s so-called 10Mbps plan. If you want to take the trouble to do so, try port forwarding. I did it for a fighting game to play online against friends, and the lag disappeared. Then again, it was a 2D game, but it’s a fighting game and synchronisation is important when determining a hit-or-miss.