does lag have anything to do on how good your computer is?

[Again?]

well dose it?


cuz recently ive been lagging reallly hard and wondering if i need to upgrade my computer

[Jeff S.]

if you didnt at first but now you are, your computer is fine hardware-wise, but you might have software issues, such as malware/spyware/viruses thats causing the slowdown.

If youre lagging it could be a number of things, post the specs of your computer so we know what youre dealing with.

[Joe521]

Lag isn't usually something caused by your computer, it's usually caused by your internet or the server, lag is more like a skipping motion. Your computer would be getting slower if the game itself seemed to get slower, not really skip, aka, lower frames per second.

[Again?]

o ty for the info (no laughing at me >.>) but where do i go to find my specs so i can just copy and paste them

[Jeff S.]

Originally Posted by Joe521

Lag isn't usually something caused by your computer, it's usually caused by your internet or the server, lag is more like a skipping motion. Your computer would be getting slower if the game itself seemed to get slower, not really skip, aka, lower frames per second.

Depends, Ive played games that got 30-45 fps and skipped on my old computer(due to RAM issues), I assumed he had already verified his connection and was wondering what the next step would be...in addition...many applications running in the background processes of windows will SEVERELY slow you down, no matter how fast your connection is...Windows Vista, stock, normally has 70-80 processes running in the background at all times, many of which can be disabled.

For Hardware Diagnostics
Go to Start -> Accessories -> Run and type in "dxdiag" when the box comes up click on "Save All Information" and save it to the desktop...I dont know if you can post ALL of the file in here, but if you can, do it, if not, put it in a zip file and upload it somewhere (such as mediafire)

For Internet Diagnostics
Close all applications you normally wouldnt run while playing and visit http://speedtest.net/ and post back the results.

I suggest doing both if you have the time

[Wheeljack]

Additionally to dxdiag you could also check the system information from within Steam. Go to Help -> System Information in this case. The downside is, this is not as easy to read and some vital information is missing (it says "Radeon HD 5800 Series" for me, which could mean either 5830, 5850 or 5870). Processor name is missing, too.
If you post this info, I would recommend omitting the installed software part.

As the others stated as well, I wouldn't say lag is caused by a weak computer. Especially not, if the framerates are good during single player... how does the game perform in SP-mode anyway?

[mystrdat]

Lag is what you call network trasfer delays due to ping, speed, routing issues or else. Another situation, however incorrectly named, would be the "fps lag", which is directly meant as low hardware performance. Network lag has very rarely anything to with the system performance itself - you could generally say no. If you are concerned about lag, use tools like PingPlotter or similar to check the connection stability and ping with the target server you want to play on.

edit: Note that the reasons for your lag might also include simply bad hosts. Magicka is very hungry with 4 players, I recall someone mentioning over 100 kB/s host upload required in places, which is something most DSL lines today do not offer.

Originally Posted by Jeff S.

...many applications running in the background processes of windows will SEVERELY slow you down, no matter how fast your connection is...

The default Win processes don't really slow you down "severely in caps" and they don't really affect the net speed in a way that would justify such an explanation.

[Jeff S.]

Originally Posted by mystrdat

The default Win processes don't really slow you down "severely in caps" and they don't really affect the net speed in a way that would justify such an explanation.

disabling 40+ processes stock rose my FPS from 20-45, not sure if thats a SEVERE drop...but it is severe to me...lol, made the game from barely playable to enjoyable.

Not going against what you said though, just listed my personal experience, I guess it also depends on your hardware...slower computers will see a much more drastic change in disabling processes then a faster one.

[NabsterHax]

Originally Posted by Jeff S.

disabling 40+ processes stock rose my FPS from 20-45, not sure if thats a SEVERE drop...but it is severe to me...lol, made the game from barely playable to enjoyable.

Not going against what you said though, just listed my personal experience, I guess it also depends on your hardware...slower computers will see a much more drastic change in disabling processes then a faster one.

Why would you have 40+ useless background programs running?

[Jeff S.]

Originally Posted by NabsterHax

Why would you have 40+ useless background programs running?

Compaq Presario, has(actually HAD) Norton, Roxio, HP, and a bunch of other apps and background processes that all starts when windows starts up...oh the joys of buying an HP product :-/

Theres also other processes that I disabled that wasnt needed, such as readyboost, printer, telephony, sharing processes, network processes, and a bunch of other stuff that ran in the BG eating up RAM when Id never use them.

http://www.speedyvista.com/services.php

Theres a list of processes that comes stock on Vista, if you get a licensed computer (HP, Dell, etc...) you can add another 20-30 processes to that list

[Caslon]

Play the game single player mode, does the play lag