Sunday, 08 November 2009

• @#$&! Avoiding Lag in Games for Vista (Plus Tips for Everyone Else)

  It happens every day. Every hour. Probably even right now. Someone, somewhere, is using Vista, playing CounterStrike or some other FPS, and BAM! Lag spike and instant death due to being a sitting, static duck. How can we stop this?

  
  

  
  

  That's you if you don't stop using up all your bandwidth with downloading stuff while you play games. Or if you have Vista and are using wireless and you're the victim of a head shot during a lag spike.

  The problem for most people stems from being connected by wireless. Vista has a default setting that scans for wireless networks every 30-60 seconds. (Note: My experience with Windows 7 so far makes me think that this isn't the same. Hallelujah!) While this is great at keeping you connected, it's also great at making you jump around the screen and for causing laggy play. There are some ways to fix this yourself, but a lot of them involve going down a list of instructions until something works. What about something easy, since we're lazy over here?
  

  About a year ago, I came across a little program called Vista Anti-Lag made for just that purpose. From what I understand, it overrides the 30-60 second scan so your computer only scans when there's a problem with the signal. As an added bonus, it gives you a little more information on your wireless signal, like the exact percentage of your signal strength. Anyway, it's free, is developed by a German group, and works like a charm. When the program is running, I have absolutely no lagging issues and it's a lifesaver, literally. (For those that are interested in grabbing the program and are German-impaired, click Zum Download von Vista Anti Lag, followed by Jetzt herunterladen under the exe file.)

  What about for everyone else with lag problems that aren't using Vista? I can't diagnose anything for you, but here are some basic things to keep in mind:
  

  • Stop your torrents.
  • While we're at it, stop downloading things through your browser. Or through AIM. Or however else you may be.
  • Don't think you can play on a server that's across the ocean with no lag. Distance increases your ping.
  • Close memory intensive programs. If your system isn't all that fast, running Photoshop or Word in the background while playing your game is probably going cause problems. Also, don't leave any Flash games open in your browser window (time to click off Farmville, guys).
    

  What are some of your tips for reducing lag in games?

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