Latency tips?

Snivian Moon

How I mine for combo?
Backers' Beta Tester
I have what I consider to be a pretty good and stable connection. I tend to have pretty decent down and up rates (154.6 Mbps down / 11.7 Up according to Google, on average), and whenever I'm playing most games online (say FPS, etc) my ping tends to be below 150.

But I guess my lag must be pretty bad in TFH? I'm not sure, because the game doesn't really let me see my own ping when I'm in lobbies. But this evening I was told to stop playing the game, because my latency was ruining the experience for other players.

I really like playing the game and I don't want to have to stop. Is there anything I can do to improve things? Something I should do to my router, or something similar, to ensure things are running more smoothly?

(Also, sorry if this is the wrong forum, but it didn't feel strictly like a tech bug for the game, since it's likely my hardware)
 
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Oreo

Keepin' It Stylish
Mane6 QA
Feb 2, 2016
270
418
35
D.M.V. FGC
Are you playing on wifi? No matter how good the connection going into your house is, the variance you can get from a wireless connection can cause networking problems in games.
 
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Kastor

Active Member
Mar 14, 2018
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Hey, long time lurker, just signed up to answer this.

Firstly the reason you can't see your own ping is that THF like most fighting games is peer to peer rather than server based like fps games. The lobby servers are only lobbys, they don't actually host matches.

That means that the ping next to another players name is your ping to them. The amount of time your data takes to get to them and viceversa. So if you pick fights with people with low ping you won't be "ruining" anyone's game.

That said people know what they are getting into accepting a match, the ping is listed right there for both players. Whoever told you to stop playing is a salty butt who doesn't know what he's talking about.

For refrence, anything under 250 ping should be playable with proper frame delay. Not at high levels of skill though.

I also commend Oreo for bringing up wireless issues. While it's the least likely issue, it's the easiest one to fix. The sad truth is that the majority of ping is based solely on your location. Without moving or massive government spending attempting to improve it will be spiting in the ocean. That said, if anyone on your street has a better connection to you, switch to their provider.
 

Snivian Moon

How I mine for combo?
Backers' Beta Tester
Many thanks for the information and tips! I've been finding it really surprising that my ping to most players is so bad, but if it's location-to-location dependent, that might be a reasonable explanation.

It seems strange - I've got just about the best connection that's available in my area without question, get great download speeds usually (I pulled down about 45 Gig in under an hour recently from Steam), and can play most other multiplayer games without any problems (usually ping <150, most of the time even <100!) - but since I'm connecting peer to peer, it must be something strange going on between me and a majority of opponents. I rarely see any green connections - Usually the vast majority are red.

I'm curious if I don't have some settings muffed up on my router or something. But at the very least I understand better what's going on. Thanks again!
 
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Kastor

Active Member
Mar 14, 2018
36
41
Hmm okay, well try to find someone in your town who plays the game. Or get a friend intro it. I that situation you're ping should be less than 40.

If that's the case then all is well, everyone you meet online is simply to far away from you.

If that's not the case then I'll have a bunch more trouble shooting for you.

Do remeber that ping had nothing to do with download speed. Buying the best packet from your provider won't help. (Though fiber to the door will help a very small amount)
 

Kastor

Active Member
Mar 14, 2018
36
41
Oh and btw. A ping of 100 to most gamers is not great. That's actually pretty meh. I have a ping of 60 to most servers.
 

Snivian Moon

How I mine for combo?
Backers' Beta Tester
Ah, easier said than done. I don't have any local friends. And even the acquaintances I have wouldn't be playing fighting games, or any games, really.

I would hope that based on my location and the price I pay for internet, that I would have at least a halfway decent ping. But I guess not (Literally everyone I've seen online has had a red status indicator under them for the past two days). Shame.

Guess I'll have to stick to arcade mode. Wish I had known that before backing.
 

Nintyuk

Professor Bright Spark
Backers' Beta Tester
Feb 3, 2016
19
21
Ah, easier said than done. I don't have any local friends. And even the acquaintances I have wouldn't be playing fighting games, or any games, really.

I would hope that based on my location and the price I pay for internet, that I would have at least a halfway decent ping. But I guess not (Literally everyone I've seen online has had a red status indicator under them for the past two days). Shame.

Guess I'll have to stick to arcade mode. Wish I had known that before backing.
I found that internet speed is more important than latency, if your sending and receiving data fast enough on both ends then ping is just a matter of delay.
Edit:
Generally it's your opponents internet speed that holds you back.
Most US peeps have pants internet speed but great latency to each other while my self in the UK have a great Speed but high latency to American opponents.
 

Kastor

Active Member
Mar 14, 2018
36
41
I found that internet speed is more important than latency, if your sending and receiving data fast enough on both ends then ping is just a matter of delay.
Edit:
Generally it's your opponents internet speed that holds you back.
Most US peeps have pants internet speed but great latency to each other while my self in the UK have a great Speed but high latency to American opponents.
There is truth to this. I myself have ~200 ping to American players and they complain more about my parents house's shoddy internet plan than the actually ping delay. Frame Delay makes up for most of the issues you'll have with ping.

Another note, is that if you are used to 100ping in a server based, that's like being used to 200 ping in a peer to peer game. In a server based game your total ping to a given player is his ping to server + your ping to server + a little bit of server delay. In a peer to peer game your ping to player is simply the ping listed so really it's half as bad as it seems. (still not great though)

I do stress that all of this isn't a big issue, the game is reasonably playable even at 300ping. If somebody won't try to play with you just because of your ping then they're probably to much of a elitist to be worth fighting anyway.
 
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