[luzz]

Sometimes, players experience slowness when playing Reign Online. In nearly all cases, this is client side lag, not server-side lag. As such, I am posting this guide on how to optimize your resources for a much better gaming (and overall online) experience.

I shall organize this the best that I can. Please note that some of these recommendations can render your computer inoperable if done incorrectly. Use caution if you are not sure what you are doing.

This guide is written for Windows XP, though the same concepts apply to Vista.

There are two reasons why you might be experiencing slowness client-side: your connection, and your computer.

Your Computer
Your computer needs to have enough resources in order for the game to run smoothly - that means you need to have enough memory, CPU power, and video card resources available for the game.

1. Close all other running programs that you are not using. They eat memory and CPU resources.

2. View Task Manager by right-clicking the time, and selecting Task Manager . View the Performance tab. Your CPU Usage should not be at 100% consistantly. If it is, there are issues with your computer. The PF Usage chart should, ideally, be less than the physical amount of memory you have installed on your computer.

3. Your computer might have viruses eating up your memory, CPU resources, or bandwidth. I recommend REMOVING Norton security programs and McAfee security programs. These security suites cause a lot more trouble than they solve, and they are EXTREMELY resource intensive. I recommend AVG Free Antivirus, which can be downloaded here: http://free.grisoft.com/ If you practice safe computer usage, I do not even recommend having AVG running in the background at startup. Be sure to do a virus definition update before running a scan of your computer.

4. Your computer might be running spyware. Chances are. it is. Spyware will eat your memory, CPU resources, and bandwidth (emphasis on bandwidth). I HIGHLY recommend MalwareBytes. Download it from http://malwarebytes.org/. I also recommend downloading and running Spybot http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/. I do not recommend running Spybot at Windows bootup as a service. Be sure to run a spyware definition update before running a scan.

5. Optimize your services. Do not load any unnecessary services at bootup. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services. Set bootup for unnecessary services from Automatic to Manual. BE CAREFUL! If you do not know what a service does, DO NOT TOUCH IT. Done right, this will give you more free memory.

6. Check your startup applications! Remove any programs from starting up automatically if you do not need them too. Start Menu -> Run -> msconfig, press <Enter>. View the Start-up tab. Any program that does not need to start with Windows should be removed! Common start up locations include the common startup folder ( default is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup), user startup folder (default is C:\Documents and Settings\$YOURCOMPUTERUSERNAME\Start Menu\Programs\Startup), and registry keys (use regedit to navigate to these locations to remove entries):

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]

7. Driver issues may cause video to be slow. I recommend checking your video card vendor's website for up-to-date video drivers. After installing an updated video card driver, I recommend re-installating the latest version of Microsoft's DirectX (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Browse.aspx?displaylang=en&categoryid=2)



Your Connection
The game connects to the the server through the Internet. The internet is quite unpredictable, so you need to troubleshoot every step of the way from your home, to your Internet Service Provider, to ensure that everything is okay.

1. Your connection might be temporarily having an issue. I recommend restarting your connection. If you use a DSL or Cable modem, restart the modem. If you are on dial-up, redial and see if you can get a faster speed and more stable connection.

2. If you are sharing your internet connection, it is possible that someone else in your house may be downloading or uploading a large file. This will slow down your game! The only solution to this is to have other people download or upload when you are not playing.

3. If you are using a wireless router, it is possible that someone might be using your Internet connection with you knowing it. It is also possible that you may have a lot of wireless interference, causing slow wireless speeds. We do not recommend using wireless connections to play, as you may experience these issues or dropped connections.

4. You may be living in a building or a house where the internet connection is shared among all tenants. There is no solution to this. Get your own connection.

5. Spyware or viruses can saturate your connection. View the Virus and Spyware section of Your Computer above.

6. Your Internet service provide might be having issues. You can do a ping test to see what your latency to the server is. Start Menu -> Run -> cmd , press <Enter>. Type in 'ping -t server.reignonline.net' to see what the latency is between you and the game srever. If you are experiencing dropped packets, your game will be slow, or you may not be able to connect at all.

7. Your Internet service provider might have issues with their upstream provider(s). If you are experiencing a bad connection to the game server, go to Start Menu -> Run -> cmd , press <Enter> then type in 'tracert server.reignonline.net'. Send us the trace so we can help you identify the problem.

8. Your speed might be capped. Some Internet Service Provicers will limit your speed if you have downloaded too much. Test your speed here: http://speakeasy.net/speedtest/



It is very rare that the server or the datacenter where the server is located is having issues that would cause lag. If you are experiencing slowness, PLEASE try the suggestions listed above, as this will alleviate nearly all problems. In the past 10 weeks, I personally have experienced nearly no lag at all, despite the 1373 miles (2209 km) between me and the server.

The game server is currently connected to dual shared gigabit uplinks to the Internet. The server itself is extremely under-utilized as far as resources go. Lag is NOT an issue for us.

If you have any questions, or wish to share tips with other players, feel free to post in this thread.


Have fun. Full speed ahead.
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