TEMPORARY FIX for Multiplayer lag!

For those of you that are having issues with lag, I have some information that I hope will help you!

First of all, I made a small tool to help you out. It's simply a config editor. You can make changes to the config yourself, or you can use this tool to do it for you.

You can download the Config Editor tool here. <-- Updated 11/11/10

Anyway, some settings that may be of importance are:

r_multiGpu

This should only be enabled if you have multiple graphics cards or a graphics card with multiple GPUs. If you don't have multiple GPUs, don't know what this means, or are having issues with your MultiGPU solution, please set this to "0".

r_multithreaded_device

This setting should be enabled for EVERYBODY as the minimum requirements for Black Ops clearly states that you need a multithreaded (multicore) CPU to run the game. However, some people have noticed that by setting this to "0" some of the skipping lag is relieved. Test this out only as a last resort.

r_vsync

VSync prevents screen tearing. If you don't know what that is, just set it to "0" because you probably don't care anyway. Otherwise, VSync usually doesn't have any negative performance issues with today's graphics cards. However, there may be a few performance issues linked to VSync with the current release of Black Ops. Try setting this to "0" for compatibility.

r_blur_allowed

This setting enables Blur shader effects. If you have a strong shader card, this setting may be negligible. Otherwise, just go ahead and set this to "0".

r_distortion

This setting enables Distortion shader effects. If you have a strong shader card, this setting may be negligible. Otherwise, just go ahead and set this to "0".

r_dof_enable

This setting enables Depth of Field shader effects. If you have a strong shader card, this setting may be negligible. Otherwise, just go ahead and set this to "0".

r_glow_allowed

This setting enables Glow (HDR?) shader effects. Normally, this should have a negligible performance impact. HOWEVER, this setting seems to be buggy! Performance improved DRAMATICALLY when I set this option to "0".

rate

Rate is the rate at which the client sends packets to the server. If you set this too low, below 10000 or so, you run the risk of sending insufficient data to the server and lagging out. Set this too high, above 50000 or so, and you run the risk of flooding your connection to the server. This setting should be adjusted according to your connection speed and may take some fine tuning.

cl_maxpackets

This setting controls how many packets the client will hold to ensure packet transmission. If you set this setting to low, below 20 or so, then you run the risk of being disconnected prematurely. If you set this setting too high, above 150 or so, then you run the risk of continually resending redundant data and lowering your ping (or worse, getting choked). This setting is very hard to tune because it depends on so many factors beyond your own connection. Most people have found setting this to 100 is a good compromise for most servers.


Some further technical notes:

It seems that the issues plaguing PC Multiplayer are two fold.

First of all, poor CPU management is causing bottlenecks, especially with what seems to be thread context switching. This causes the system to hang intermentently as data is switched between the cores of your CPU.

Next is poor management of the netcode. The netcode must be shared with the game engine in such a way that when the CPU hangs, no data is being transmitted to or received from the server, causing packets to timeout in both directions and LOADS of redundant data being transferred between all players.

So fixing the lag on your computer should help to alleviate the load for everybody else on the server and give all around better game play.

Also note that the above is just observation and speculation from an experienced programmer. I have, obviously, not seen the source to Black Ops, but because of how the application behaves, these are my most educated guesses.

Try what I mentioned above and let me know if you find anything else that is of importance to the current state of multiplayer performance.

Good Luck and Good Fragging!


UPDATE:

There have been a number of proposed fixes that may or may not help the current multiplayer situation.

This is simply an update to address those proposals. I'll list them according to the problems they are intended to help.

CPU Hangs / Stuttering

The first idea is that this may be linked to sound related issues.

As bennyjreg has pointed out in this thread, changing the sound device that the game is running may alleviate load from the CPU by using your computers audio hardware to render sound instead of the CPU. For some people this fix has completely solved their lag/stuttering issues. I'm assuming those are the people that have hardware audio rendering capabilities.

The next proposal is by rubeybad from page 2 in this thread. His proposal is to alter the priorities of Steam and Black Ops as follows:

Originally Posted by rubeybad

1. Start Black Ops Multiplayer,
2. Оpen your Ctrl+Alt+Delete and get in Task Manager! (Ctrl+Shift+Esc as shortcut)
3. Go to processes tab, then select Steam.exe
4. Go down to Set priority and set to Low.
5. You can do the same to BlackOpsMP.exe but rather set it to High – that bit is up to you!
6. Switch back to game…
7. Profit!

Next up is OwenJ's suggestion of disabling Steam Cloud updating. You can find details on how to do that in his post here.

Network Lag / Hit Registration

According to Jakc. on page 2 of this thread, maxpackets should be used in accordance with a command called snaps.

Originally Posted by Jakc.

Similar to OP's information, these might be of use to (I know maxpackets has been mentioned, but use it in accordance with snaps):

How can I improve my hit registration and general network performance?

cl_maxpackets 100
snaps 30

User Rugaal suggested that snaps works in the following way:

Originally Posted by Rugaal

*SNAPS :: This is possibly the most important setting for getting a good connection.
Snaps setting determines how many updates you recieve from the server. 20 to 30 for
56K connects in quake series 40 for high speed internet im sure the same for cod. (30 is fine).

FPS

Some users (cannot find source at the moment, post if you find!) have suggested that by reinstalling DirectX, you can fix many FPS (some even report sound!) issues with the game.

Here is the latest DirectX Redistribution package as released by Microsoft in June 2010. This will overwrite EVERY DirectX Package on your system (unless the game uses custom files in its local directory) in order to ensure you are using the must up-to-date and bug-free version of DirectX as possible.

Ending Notes:
I'll continue to look for updated fixes and information and update accordingly. If you find some useful information or want to use any of this (or anybody else's!) information in your own posts, then please take a moment and give some credit. People are working hard to provide fixes and at least deserve a notion of recognition.

Good luck again, and keep the information flowing freely!

Update 2:

I updated the ConfigEditor tool to alter Snaps. I just finished playing a few games having bumped up Snaps. There seems to be a significant improvement in hit registration.

Just used it to edit, will go test now.

[dufydf]

Malware.

These fixes will help with framerate on slower computers but it won't fix the lag spikes that a lot of players are experiencing because it's not their computers. This has been stated already.

Also, by changing some of tthese settings, some servers may kick you for not having certain details turned off/on.

[devilsrefugee]

Originally Posted by dufydf

Malware.

proof before you sling accusations pl0x

Are changing these vac proof?

[Falerix]

Oh god.

If this works you are a legend.

I have not been kicked from any servers and should not effect VAC.

There is no malware, but if you truly don't trust it, that's why I offered the option of editing your config files by yourself.

Read the Technical Notes part of my post to learn why helping to fix your video lag will also help with the network latency issues.

By making those changes my experience went from unplayable to happy fragging!

Good luck

[KillJoY14]

Dude its simple ♥♥♥♥ you can change yourself via your config file, why download a 3rd party program from someone who has 1 post and clearly signed up just to post it?

[Tech_]

Thanks for the post

Well the program works, BTW.

Originally Posted by KillJoY14

Dude its simple ♥♥♥♥ you can change yourself via your config file, why download a 3rd party program from someone who has 1 post and clearly signed up just to post it?

I did sign up just to post this, because I've heard a lot of complaining about it in game and it was a thorn in my side, too.

Like I said before, you don't have to download the tool. That's why I posted all the information about the config commands

Wait, are we talking lag as in internet lag or FPS lag as in the stutters? Because i don't have any lag..

If you don't have any lag then this post isn't for you

Enjoy the game!

[bruderkraut]

if I change those setting I get stuck at "Fetching Stats"...

Tried read only but doesnt help