TF2 servers appear to have high latency?

Question

I'm playing Team Fortress 2 right now, and I'm trying to find a server that has a good ping (~50ms), but I can't find any (even with local servers).

This appears to be a problem with TF2, because my brother seems to be playing on a local server perfectly fine. It doesn't seem to be my computer either, I can browse the Internet fine and my computer is a new gaming PC with 8GB of RAM and an Intel Core i5 processor.

How do I fix this problem?

• I have done net_graph, and all the components are fine.
• Running a speed test, I get 18 ms ping, 16.41 mbps download speed, and 0.47 mbps upload speed.

Answer 1

By "local server", do you mean a server near you or a server hosted on your computer? I'm assuming that you mean the former because this question wouldn't make much sense with the latter.

Other people have had issues with TF2-exclusive high ping because of the Steam beta. Opting out can solve that.

You can also run a traceroute on one of the game servers that you're connecting to if you want to find out where there's a delay.

If you're on wireless internet, switching to a wired connection may improve your latency.

Answer 2

You can only find servers with with around 50ms if you have perfect routing conditions where the servers already exist. Which in most cases is difficult.

In this scenario players use a gaming vpn or a ping booster to improve their ping performance and fix their routing to the game host server.

You can try Kill Ping (http://www.killping.com) or any other similar app to get best results.

Answer 3

16mbps of internet is really not very good at all, and 50ms of ping is the best I ever got at those internet speeds. You also mentioned that your brother lives with you - it is likely he, and the rest of your family - are also using up the internet, too. Your options are limited, but here is what you can do:

• Turn off internet background services that may be using up internet. For example, updating softwares, steam beta, streaming tv, or mobile devices that are using the 'net (background processes). Turn off any other devices that don't need internet, for example, your refrigerator, thermostat, toaster, and wifi-enabled shower-head.

• Consider playing at a time when no one is using the internet in your home.

• Consider playing at times that are not peak internet hours (for example, 5-9pm are peak internet hours for your ISP, after people come home from work), because during peak hours speeds slow for everyone with that ISP
• Upgrade your internet
• Make sure you are using a wired connection and not wireless will bump your speeds
• Get the best out of your computer hardware and GPU that you can, for example closing unnecessary programs/processes, or making sure your computer is well-cooled. Lag in-game can also be created by the computer itself, it's not purely internet-related, so making sure your computer is at peak performance can help you get more FPS and make the game feel smoother and less frustrating.

• Learn to take advantage of your lag by learning intricacies of the game, like hit-boxes. As far as I know there aren't any guides written on exploiting lag per say, but I can say from experience that you can learn to live with it and use it to your advantage a wee little bit. It is frustrating to play like this, but when it is the only option you have, might as well make lemonade with your lemons.

• Double check that you don't have strangers on your internet. Probably not, but it's always worth a look to double check the neighbors aren't using up your bandwidth. Related: Comcast (US ISP) by default will use the Comcast router to your broadcast wifi as a service to others, ultimately slowing your internet; check you don't have anything like that going on. Some ISPs will also secretly throttle-down the speed of your internet when you reach a certain internet usage level (this secret number may be well below your quota!).

• Restart your modem and router and see if that helps your speed. (It does for mine, they slow down like Windows Rot)