Ranked Server Performance Issues

[Makaveli]

Hey adminless,

since the server crash some weeks ago the performance of the ranked server is extremely bad for me. Im still connecting via Smartphone and LTE, which could be a good reason to have a bad performance than others but:

1) The ranked server was much better before the crash, at least for me. There was still a difference between ranked and regular unfreeze!
2) The gameplay on the regular unfreeze servers is flawless and smooth after the crash. It equals my ping of 25-30ms. I can feel a difference on some bigger maps when the server is full, but the perfomance is still better than on ranked (only 5v5!)
3) On ranked it feels like having a ping of 75-100ms while I have also a ping of 25-30ms. During the game there is a lot of variation. What I mean by variation is: On my screen I have the enemy on the crosshair but it is not a hit, sometimes it is a hit...during the same game sometimes my crosshair is beside the enemy and it is a hit...so aiming gets difficult
4) I have heard other players also claiming about it, but it sounds like it is not that much worse for them

The following statistics give you an idea about the difference:

Accuracy Rocket Launcher:
30% vs 15%

Accuracy Railgun:
44% vs. 31%

Lightning Gun:
25% vs. 17%
You can argue that rockets are used to spam during tournament, thats true, but how about the other weapons?
You can argue that it is is more difficult to hit strong enemies, thats true, but the difference is still too high!

Please could you check what the differences are between the regular unfreeze settings and the ranked settings?

[adminless]

the ranked server/s has been updated (not now but since your last complain months ago) with superior network settings for better play that obviously are not gonna work with a phone connection. with all due respect, phone connections are ok for public rooms and casual games (hence the more compatible settings on the pubs) but you just can not pretend that I lag/limit everyone else to support phone connections for competitive games. so long story short, phone connections are not supported at competitive games, use at your own risk. the minimum connection supported at the competitive games is landline xdsl, let's say 1000/100 kbps.

[Makaveli]

thats a good argument but why does it work on regular unfreeze? I should have the same issues there, right?

[adminless]

I think I have just answered you that since some months ago after serious testing the network settings at the ranked servers were updated in comparison to the public servers to provide superior network performance more adequate to regular/normal (nothing "fancy" or over the top like dedicated dwdm btw just regular mbit xdsl) connections nowadays while the public ones are limited to legacy settings more compatible with bulk tier connections and locations. matter of facts now that I think about it and I think that now it's more clear what your issue really is I believe even previously the settings at the ranked server were slightly better than the public ones something that I had probably overlooked as irrelevant but probably now I see that most likely that was already the issue. yes, the public servers are set to allow for such bulk tier connections (i.e. metered edge) while the competitive ones will require at least landline mbit xdsl (again nothing fancy) and as I'm telling you, no, I'm gonna limit some competitive servers to legacy metered phone settings just to provide compatibility for such connections as that undermines as well the connectivity/experience of the rest of the clients. to be frank with you, you just can not show up here to pretend/demand competitive connectivity/performance with a metered phone connection.

[Makaveli]

I guess you take me wrong. I don't want to change you anything because of me as long as all others don't have any issues. The intention was to understand what it could be and if there is any chance to change something on your or my side... Now we have a good explanation why there is a difference. Hopefully in Q4 I will.get a fiber connection with 1Gbit which will fix this for me

Thanks for taking the time to understand the difference!

[adminless]

with that said if you want some tips to at least optimize and potentially (not guarantee) improve your connection at least start by getting a dedicated modem instead of your phone like this one here directly from provider for guarantee compatibility for example or if you prefer something else more generic you can probably try looking for something like this here for example. that's a small (I guess, I mean, that's not even one month of service cost of the connection you're talking about now) investment that I'm sure it will go a long way in at least making the best out of your connectivity in the long run. matter of fact, now that I see that those are mostly on sale coinciding with all the travel season I might even grab one of those myself for testing and as fail-safe connection to be safe. additionally if you grab one of those you can just plug them right to the wall (through a regular usb charger adapter) on the most external/clean plug available in your place for best possible coverage. that as well should be another important optimization/improvement over the typical situation where you have your desktop fixed some rooms/walls deep inside your basement.

[Makaveli]

thanks for your proposal adminless, very polite from you to picking these examples!
I don´t think that my phone is the "limiting factor"...by the way Im using a second phone with a data-connection where I dont get calls in as nobody has the number of this SIM-Card. I think it is the fact that it is an LTE Connection. I will wait for my fiber connection and will spent the money for a good router like the AVM WLAN-Router FRITZ!Box 5590 Fiber.

[adminless]

I actually ended up ordering one such KuWFI UF928 myself after checking those out as probably the best compromise deal out there at the time of writing to test this out and to keep around as back up connection in case the cable goes down so when I receive it (hopefully next week) I'll let you know how that worked after test it. I believe LTE should be enough for that as LTE is supposed to support most live video conference regular scenarios which in all cases will have far higher demands than any Quake III Arena setup so my best guess is most likely a coverage issue on the specific spot where you're connecting. may be on that spot you get a weak signal that clamp the connection just to edge (3g) instead of LTE (4g) which then could lag instead (3g is the tested target spot of the publics which is know to lag beyond that) or simply the connection roams over a wide array of channels/frequencies continuously which could cause the degraded performance. I'd suggest you at least to ensure that indeed the 4g/lte or whatever connection icon do really show up on your phone while playing (and that it sticks) and to try other spots to see if you have better coverage as well as try another usb cables. additionally to make sure I'd also recommend trying at least the provided legacy package as-is to rule out something else (ioq3v6-unfreeze-client-v23.5.zip and then run io3v6-legacy.exe in your case).

[adminless]

btw I just received this today. the embedded wifi option is absolute garbage, the very worst in class comparable to legacy dial-up, absurd by any human networking standards. totally unplayable only usable for light web browsing/applications (i.e. messaging) and even so strictly limited to the same room connectivity (on other room it times out/disconnects frequently). however the modem itself (i.e. the usb connection) it's pretty decent, similar (on average) to landline xdsl (which is never gonna be perfect either). for regular browsing it's far from "perfect" but still it gets the job done and it's overall playable (on any of the servers). definitively a improvement over the phone that has poor coverage on this spot till the extreme it sometimes even loses signal altogether. the card format is just regular micro sim and the chip appears to be some Asrmicro. on the upside, it was totally compatible out of the box (which is never guarantee with generic/third party products), zero issues (sms/push auto configuration I guess), and as bonus it even worked as well as fall back connection on the usb port of my router for solid connectivity so overall good stuff to lay around, money well invested.

in case someone wonders for reference you can have these speedtests here I took with the device to test it:

• WiFi Mode
  • dusseldorf: https://www.speedtest.net/result/15059723827
  • berlin: https://www.speedtest.net/result/15059691166
• USB/ETH Mode
  • dusseldorf: https://www.speedtest.net/result/15059955637
  • berlin: https://speedtest.net/result/15059983014

so basically it appears that it provides around 4-2 mbps down and 2-1 mbps up through wifi and 20-10 mbps down and 10-5 mbps up when connected directly though usb both test indoors which (the later) is even more than what my phone provides on the streets with that provider/zone combination. additionally it also has basic support to chose the connectivity standard and basic connection information which is another nice bonus (that I haven't fully tried/explored yet) over the phone where that kind of information is typically obscure and that it competently opens up a new whole world of opportunities. as said, at that price I think it's definitively more than worth the try in any aspect (performance, convenience, features etc).