Low Bandwidth...

[rexehuk 16]

Hello all,

I've had this issue for a while! But it is begnning to annoy me. I have a 20Mbit line and get pretty much all of that as I live near the exchange (2.3 or 2.4MB/s Down and about 740K Up).

For some reason when joining a server, my bandwidth drops to low levels (sometimes double digits) resulting in me loading into MP games and downloading the maps at a very slow pace. This can sometimes continue into my entire session giving me plenty of yellow/red chain issues!

Anyone got any ideas why this would be occuring?

System Specs:

Asus P6T

i7 920 d0 @ 3.6Ghz

6GB Ram

Crossfire 4890s

W7 X64

Edited January 29, 2010 by rexehuk

[oxmox 73]

Do you use any firewall or router, maybe there are some issues ?

[rexehuk 16]

ESET Smart Security and a Dlink DIR-655.

[cri74 10]

Could be the servers you play ? Some are good, some are bad :D

[walker 0]

Hi rexehuk

I had something similar With Virgin Broadband. It was down to having an old cable modem. I started when it was 2 megs when it shifted to 20 megs I started having traffic jam problems. I updated my cable modem problem was solved.

Kind Regards walker

[tonygrunt 10]

Could you check if disabling SPI firewall on the DLINK Dir-655 fixes the problem.

I think it's at Advanced>Firewall Settings - Enable SPI.

Check also at Status>Logs if you have any DOS attack msg.

Had a similar problem with my router where ArmA & ArmA II traffic will get classified as DOS attack and my router was dropping packets.

[oxmox 73]

Try to change from a static pc IP to DHCP, try to disable every firewall (for some firewalls you still need to exclude the port/.exe for the game), try to play without forwarding and with. Just test a bit around and maybe you see a different.

[rexehuk 16]

Hmm thanks for the brainstorm guys :D As for the server, im confident it is good. Our GOL server is on the killercreation network which is one of the fastest in the UK bar govermenet and educational institutions!

I currently use DHCP with MAC assignment of a static local address, makes it easier to always get the same traffic priority over other users.

As for the cable modem, it could be an issue but I also hassled virgin for a new one when I went from 2MB to 20MB, now I have a flat black one? Possibly the same as you.

I will have a look at the SPI setting, not sure if I've played with that before.

[Killg0re 0]

Do u suffer lag with other games aswell? Cause it seems like buffers get clutted.

So try to reset your modem.

Reset your WAN/LAN modem.

Do some online speedtests.

try other games.

try a different WAN/LAN modem. see i'fe that makes a difference.

Online speedtests

Multiplayer game testing.

Do u have this problem with just this PC, of with a different pc on your network aswell? Try this, then u know wether it is on the LAN side, or WAN side.

yes with other PC, seems a cable modem/DSL modem problem.

No problems with other PC, check your network settings QoS etcetera

[rexehuk 16]

Do u suffer lag with other games aswell? Cause it seems like buffers get clutted.

So try to reset your modem.

Reset your WAN/LAN modem.

Do some online speedtests.

try other games.

try a different WAN/LAN modem. see i'fe that makes a difference.

Online speedtests

Multiplayer game testing.

Do u have this problem with just this PC, of with a different pc on your network aswell? Try this, then u know wether it is on the LAN side, or WAN side.

yes with other PC, seems a cable modem/DSL modem problem.

No problems with other PC, check your network settings QoS etcetera

Only on Arma. Other games I'm generally top of the server in terms of ping, and the router I have is fairly expensive. I bought it due to previous routers falling over with my amount of traffic, this one hasn't crashed on me once even when putting a trillion or more bytes through it a day.

[oxmox 73]

I had problems with ARMA2 aswell, first the connection was alright with just the common issues sometimes. After that i tried to improve it and did a port forwarding, with this change my problem did start and it did take sometimes up to 5 min to connect to a server.

I did find out that when i dont do any forwarding i could play the game without issues, no waiting for host for several minutes....this is really strange and I didnt find out what is the reason for it and never saw that before for any game, that a port forwarding slows down connection to a game server. Maybe I missed something and there was a mismatch but l could not find a fix.

Well thats my individual issue and I did find the reason hope you will find a solution aswell.

Edited January 31, 2010 by oxmox

[rexehuk 16]

Indeed. Well I'm playing a game now with 41 of us playing a COOP, and my bandwidth was 43 in the menu page while everyone else had 500 and into the thousands... I should have atleast 2.5-4k bandwidth ingame given my connection is v.good and the server is based in London where I live.

Confusing! And annoying. If anyone else has any ideas it would be good. I may try plugging directly into my modem to see if it is a router issue, atleast then I can take measures to improve performance.

---------- Post added at 07:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 PM ----------

On top of this, I am the ONLY one ingame with 500-1500 desync as we speak. Really annoying me!

[rexehuk 16]

Further testing.

I have disabled:

SPI

All QOS - Including Traffic Shaping

I have enabled:

DMZ

Also tried to port forward before enabling DMZ but that causes me to not join games "Connecting Failed".

Any ideas still? :D

[oxmox 73]

Also tried to port forward before enabling DMZ but that causes me to not join games "Connecting Failed".

Strange, that you had similar issues like me with port forwarding...interesting.

[rexehuk 16]

Right. Plugged directly into my modem I'm getting Bandwidth of 750+, looks like the router configuration is the cause which is annoying. All other games work out of the box, perhaps disabling UPNP might work?

[tonygrunt 10]

Do some switching around.

Move your PC to another internet connection where Arma works or bring another PC with working Arma to your connection.

Very far chance, my ISP blocks by default some ports for internet security and you have to disable it through a web control panel.

-----------------------

Posted before seeing your last reply

[rexehuk 16]

You gave me an idea... I am going to change the default port for Arma. Unfortunately I only have a single dedicated line here, so moving to another internet connection is out of the question. The net is fine as proven by plugging directly into the modem, now I just need to tackle the router issue... I love the fact that even after 15 years of computer fixing etc I STILL hate networks. :p

[rexehuk 16]

Changing ports did not work. It appears the router is the definite cause of the problem, anyone have anymore insight into workarounds such as custom routing tables etc?

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

I personally use 1 old pc that I stacked 4 extra net cards in, it connects to my dsl modem while my home network connects to it via crossover cables.

[jasono 0]

May I ask what model your router is? Sorry if I missed it in the thread, didn't see it as I skimmed through.

[rexehuk 16]

Router is a DLINK DIR 655, not exactly a bit of kit that you'd expect to have problems with :(

[jasono 0]

Not familar with DLINK to be honest. I was looking through their control panel emulators for your model.

I saw there were a lot of options setup for each individual device. I was wondering if tried disabling all the extra options so that your connection runs unfiltered etc. It said about hardware firewall etc - have you tried disabling it?

As a last resort I would contact DLINK and see if they can think of why its bringing your bandwidth down. Explain to them that without the router and a direct connection to your modem does not have the issue. Good luck!