Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: help me get a low ping
  • Subject: help me get a low ping
Subject: help me get a low ping
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I have a broadband connection and connect to most halo games in the 100 ping range. Sometimes I do connect in with a 67ping, but that is not the norm. How can I get a better ping value? I live in the northeast and have 1.8ghz amd computer... Thanks.

  • 06.07.2004 7:17 AM PDT
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You will generally get good pings to servers that you're geographically close to. There's not really much that you can do (that I'm aware of) to help your ping times other than just choosing better servers.

That said, you might try scanning your computer for spyware. Sometimes the spyware can eat up a lot of bandwidth as it sends info about your computer over the internet. Some people have reported big performance increases in HaloPC after purging their computers of spyware.

You might start by using adaware by lavasoft. It's pretty good. There's a few others that are good but I can't remember their names right now.

  • 06.07.2004 10:08 AM PDT
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I use Spybot - Search and Destroy for getting rid of adware <------ My two cents.

  • 06.10.2004 11:05 AM PDT
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For Ad-Aware, go to download.com.

  • 06.10.2004 8:42 PM PDT
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I have an outstanding DSL connection, yet I have never pinged 33ms to a Halo Dedicated Server. Most servers of located a data centers around the US. Finding a server near your may or may not give you less latency. The majority of Halo Dedicated Server are located in central Texas (the middle of the US). Some other less popular data centers are located in Chicago, Virginia, and California. However, the data lines and their routers affect your ping. For instance, your connection may pass through 10 or 12 hops before your computer talks to the server (even if the server is in your home town). Each hops induces added latency. You signal will travel different routes to different servers.

In general Halo runs in "cycles" and commicates in increments of about 33ms. For instance, I ping 40-60ms to Dallas servers, however my ping will be no lower than 66ms to those servers. People who ping 70ms to a server will see an in-game ping of 100ms.

You can test your connection to the server by knowing the IP you wish to ping. Go to Windows Start Button > Run > type "cmd".
In Command Prompt type: ping 123.45.67.890 (where 123.45.67.890 is the IP address of the server you wish to ping)
To see your connection pass through all the servers between you and the Halo server type: tracert 123.45.67.890

  • 06.10.2004 10:01 PM PDT
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Those are great commands I will try them to research my ping. I will get my inside the game ping from the F1 command, then I will swap out and get the cmd ping. They should be close if not the same right? The only difference would be the game software running.

Today I got a 65 ping in Halo, and generally connect around 100 or 130. I think adjusting my settings from a visual effects perspective should have no effect or does it?

  • 06.11.2004 6:28 AM PDT
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Adjusting your video settings won't really affect your ping, but it will affect the perceived lag that you see while you're playing. Between things happening on the server, all that info being transmitted to your computer, and then your computer drawing the action on the screen, adjusting your video settings will reduce the lag/slowdown on that last step (drawing the game on your monitor).

Also, make sure the connection speed in your Network Settings (in Halo) are correct. If you're on low-grade cable, don't tell the game you're on a T1. If the game knows how fast your connection actually is, then it can make better decisions about which information to leave out when it's talking to the server. So it will reduce your lag if you are honest about your connection speed. Many people think that if they tell it they have a really fast connection, it will help. But it only makes it worse.

  • 06.11.2004 9:49 AM PDT
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Well then if I am on cable broadband and indicate I am on dialup - will the server send me as little info as possible, which will in fact speed up my game?

  • 06.11.2004 11:27 AM PDT