Delay in Commands in Multiplayer

**Romulus_A** · March 30, 2010, 04:49 PM

Whenever I play multiplayer I for some reason have the nagging problem that whenever I give my troops orders it will take about 5-6 seconds and then recognize it. This makes it basically impossible for me to play online, or at the very least enjoy it. And it's not my frame rate lagging or anything, that's fine, there's just a delay in my commands, which made me think it was my internet but last I checked that was fine.

I don't have this problem in single player, so that's basically what I'm limited too. Any advice on how to remedy this would be appreciated.

**Unteroffizier Rizz** · March 30, 2010, 05:37 PM

What type of connection do you have, what provider?? I'm pretty sure it's your connection. I have the same issue in online play, it's a big reason I don't play alot of multiplayer. My connection isn't the creme of the crop and I get the same little delay.

**irishron** · March 30, 2010, 05:40 PM

It's all connection. This belongs in the multiplayer forum.

**♔DeusVult!♔** · March 30, 2010, 05:49 PM

I have the same problem. Every command I give is delayed 5-10 sec, which makes it nearly impossible to do basic things like avoid charging a forming infantry square. I am not sure what to put this down to, because I never really had this problem playing Empire.

**Romulus_A** · March 30, 2010, 07:07 PM

I have a wireless connection with AT&T, but my download speed when I was downloading the game, the speed was 700kb/s while that off my friends was only 100kb/s and yet he doesn't report having any problems with delay in multiplayer.

**dmcheatw** · March 30, 2010, 07:25 PM

what u are experiencing is called lag. it could be due to internet connections or due to overloaded machines.

**daniu** · March 31, 2010, 01:13 AM

Originally Posted by dmcheatw

what u are experiencing is called lag. it could be due to internet connections or due to overloaded machines.

Yes, but it's still an implementation issue.
Commands should be buffered locally and recognized whether they were already sent or not; the way it is now, if you don't actually wait until the command is acknowledged, it may get lost.
It's worst when using keyboard shortcuts, with the "run" command being almost useless sometimes - very annoying.

**bushranger** · March 31, 2010, 01:28 AM

When you cant react to a cav charge it hurts most,but do you get it when you play some one in your own country because it only happens to me playing people on the other side of the world.

**dmcheatw** · March 31, 2010, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by daniu

Yes, but it's still an implementation issue.
Commands should be buffered locally and recognized whether they were already sent or not; the way it is now, if you don't actually wait until the command is acknowledged, it may get lost.
It's worst when using keyboard shortcuts, with the "run" command being almost useless sometimes - very annoying.

agreed

**♔DeusVult!♔** · April 01, 2010, 05:28 PM

Ahah, I just found out today that at the end of Feb, my cable company downgraded my cable service from 8GB to 1GB, so I think that might be my problem.

**Keiichi** · April 01, 2010, 08:30 PM

Are you hosting your own games, or are you generally joining others? And what download region do you have selected for Steam? I've got fairly slow internet (just recently was upgraded to a whopping 400 kb/s download rate!) yet the games I host tend to go pretty smoothly.

**Romulus_A** · April 03, 2010, 01:38 PM

I'm in the U.S. Dallas group or whatever it's refered to as the central U.S. zone. I've hosted a game and had the problem, joined a game and had the problem, I've even played with a friend just down the street from me and had the same problem, so I don't think it's my internet. But that still confuses me as to why if it's my computer, it only happens in my multiplayer matches and not in the normal campaign.

**ccqwert7** · April 03, 2010, 04:07 PM

"Delay" is a very vague term, and in an exaggerated example, someone from Zimbabwe seeing 256kdsl would think it is very fast, while the average American would laugh at those speeds.

Perhaps everyone is experiencing this 'delay', but only you recognise it?

**Romulus_A** · April 03, 2010, 07:08 PM

I would think that might be possible too except for the degree the delay is exaggerated at, and the fact I've seen friends play it on their computer without the problem.

**Soul Firez** · April 04, 2010, 07:14 AM

always people mention download speed what about your upload speed this is just as important and mostly over looked rememeber your order you give to men is UPLOADED across the net to the other players pc and then back again before you actually see the order done .You can have the worlds fastest download speed but with a poor upload speed your going to see problems playing most RTS games online

That being said if possible get a group of people ya play together regular and have everyone get and use Hamachi (easy download small easy to set up ) this will give your pcs a direct link for alot of the info bouncing back and fourth (you still need to run through steam but it helps send the info back and fourth much quicker).This will greatly reduce any lag and delay of orders still not perfect but pretty darn good i play people in america and europe from here in australia and get almsot zero lag or delay

**Romulus_A** · April 05, 2010, 05:58 PM

I'll try that sometime...thanks. And it's not my upload either, I did an internet test, and my upload speed was just as fast as my download.

**madosopia** · April 09, 2011, 03:34 PM

I'm sorry for bumping this thread... but I have the same problem and have had it with both Napoleon and Empire. Lowering the graphic settings won't change anything (have tried piutting them at the lowest possible) so I guess it has to do with the connection. But I have no similar problems with other games and my speeds are usually good when downloading and uploading.

And the delay is quite noticable - usually between 2 and 6 seconds after every single order (even when I organize and deploy my troops before the battle begins).

In the year that have passed, have anyone found any solutions? What can I possibly do to solve the problem?

Once again, sorry for the bump. But found no other threads mentioning it and wasn't sure if it was worth creating a new one. :p

**Scottishtroop** · April 18, 2011, 05:37 PM

i have this problem too

**Karlovacko** · May 15, 2011, 10:03 AM

To me it happens only in very laggy games. It is definitelly a connection problem, if it happens to you everytime.

**grelmer** · May 18, 2011, 04:41 PM

Same here, but the most annoying thing is that every other game i get the message "you were dropped from the game" and it is back to square one.. Does anyone know why i get that message thet often?