Old_Spice_
Platinum
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2012
- Messages
- 756
- Reaction score
- 661
Hi guys,
There are endless threads to the complaining of lag. It is indeed quite annoying and creates a load of useless threads in the forums, so I decided to create this one, once and for all, to settle down the questions about lag. I decided to put this into a Q and A form, to answer the most common questions.
Hope this helps!
-Spice
Q: What is Minecraft Lag?
A: Lag is refereed to as a phenomena that occurs in multiplayer, sometimes single player, where us players have delays, connection issues, and gameplay issues that can sometimes go unnoticeable, or can cause crashes. What goes on, in a nutshell, is that when your computer receives information, it can receive it too quickly or too slowly, causing an overflow or a lack of information. Think of it as a drainage pipe into a treatment plant. Too much overflow, and the plant will have to shut down to fix the issue, a process we know as lagging out. Too little flow causes a lack, so the plant has to gather up more water before sending it to be treated, similar to when things are a little slow or there are delays in movements or chat.
Q: How do I know if I am experiencing lag?
A: There are several symptoms of lag. It happens to everyone, including me. My internet SUCKS, so I have to live with lag all the time. It can be so bad at times, a person with leather armor + stone sword can get me when I have iron armor + diamond sword.
!! Below is a list of the most common symptoms of lag:
-A 1-5 second delay with chat (Typing something into chat and see it flow through or get a response 1-5 seconds later)
-Choppy movements by other players, with chances that you are attacking them, but no damage is received
-The server just freezes, without any movements by other players. You may see some sprinting particles at their feet.
-You get connection issues with the server, such as "Connection Reset", or "End of Stream", or "Can't Resolve Hostname".
-You are able to break blocks on places you can't. A common lag test for me is that I would break a block, discounting leaves, such as grass, gravel, wood, or redstone lamps. If they don't replace themselves soon, I can assume I am lagging out.
-Randomly loosing hearts when you are sure nobody is attacking you.
Q: People all around me are moving very fast! Are they hacking?
A: Chances are that if you have lag issues, you just could simply be lagging. It is common for the server to freeze, before it catches up very quickly to live-time. You could be chasing someone when, all of a sudden, they stop in mid-air, or on the ground. You may try attacking them, but they are not taking damage, before, all of a sudden, they vanish and appear 5-10 blocks in front of you. It's just the system clearing up and trying to feed you information.
Q: How can I fight someone when I'm lagging?
A: When you lag, fighting someone can be a big challenge. They freeze up, and you try to attack them, before the game gets caught up and you loose 5 1/2 hearts faster than you can say "What the--?". How I cope with it is that I don't go for anybody that has a bigger advantage than I do or the same advantage that I do. Sometimes, I don't even go for people with a lower advantage. Only try to kill people you know you can, despite lag. I would normally go for somebody that has little to no armor, or a wooden sword or lower if I have the advantage. You decide if you want to attack, but this is my reccomendation.
Q: I'm trying to attack someone, but they are taking only a little bit of damage! Are they hacking?
A: Likely not, unless they are not lagging. If another player is lagging, you will see the symptoms above from third person. They will be somewhere, perhaps might have sprint particles, and might look like they are trying to attack air. They think that they are somewhere else, perhaps attacking someone or breaking leaves, when in reality, they are just stuck there as if they were glued. When attacking these people, it's a bit odd. You might be able to give damage, but ever so often. Usually, they take about 1 out of every 5 hits you give them for a normal lagger. Eventually, you might be able to get them, or they could just disconnect altogether. If you start loosing hearts when you are sure no one is attacking around you, you could be lagging out as well.
Q: Ok, I know what lag is now. How do I prevent it?
A: There are two main factors that control how much lag someone gets: Their computer, and their signal strength in the internet. If you are lagging, you probably have one of the two things, or even both. I lag because I have a poor internet connection, likely because I have a great view of Pikes Peak. If you live in a rural area like me, such as in the mountains, on a ranch, small town (like, REALLY small), or your bandwidth has been used up, you might have a slow internet, which can cause lag. If you want to fix this, talk to your internet provider and ask about your bandwidth or upgrades, etc. If you have a bad computer, it causes lag as well. If you have an old computer, such as a Big Mac laptop , you probably can't run Minecraft well and, thus, you need a new computer. Old or bad processors, such as Intel processors, are not good for running Minecraft. I run on Intel i5. Despite what people say, I can get a good 60 frames with it. Either get a new computer, or upgrade your drive/processor. Don't ask me how to do it, I don't know how to.
Q: Internet and my computer doesn't help. Is there anything else you can suggest to me?
A: There are two more things I would suggest to fix lag: One of them is to install Optifine, a mod that improves FPS and lag. It is a fantastic mod, allowed by MCSG, and I can't survive without it. I even got a fancy cape by donating. Try to install Optifine and tweak with your MC settings, such as lowering render distances, change graphics from fancy to fast, or slide the performance bar to "Max FPS". This will greatly improve performance and will help you get better performance. My other suggestion is that you close all unnecessary programs. If you have Photoshop, Chrome, Powerpoint, Skype, iTunes, and Mail open, you are really working your computer, and it has to focus on those applications, not just Minecraft. Try closing all unnecessary applications and relaunch Minecraft.
Q: Nothing else works. Could it be the servers?
A: Yes. The servers can also cause lag. A simple bukkit server with 50+ plugins will lag A LOT to the players. Thus, it is the server's fault you can be lagging. With plugins and loads of people joining, it is a workload on the server. Give it some time, or just keep trying, and eventually, it will accept you and you will be able to join. It will finish it's logging and it's calculations and focus on connections and players. Just be patient.
Got any more Q's and A's I should add to the list? Tell me!
Think that some of my info needs tweaking? Tell me?
Feedback would be nice, I spent a good hour working on this.
Hoped it helped you guys!
-Old_Spice_
There are endless threads to the complaining of lag. It is indeed quite annoying and creates a load of useless threads in the forums, so I decided to create this one, once and for all, to settle down the questions about lag. I decided to put this into a Q and A form, to answer the most common questions.
Hope this helps!
-Spice
Q: What is Minecraft Lag?
A: Lag is refereed to as a phenomena that occurs in multiplayer, sometimes single player, where us players have delays, connection issues, and gameplay issues that can sometimes go unnoticeable, or can cause crashes. What goes on, in a nutshell, is that when your computer receives information, it can receive it too quickly or too slowly, causing an overflow or a lack of information. Think of it as a drainage pipe into a treatment plant. Too much overflow, and the plant will have to shut down to fix the issue, a process we know as lagging out. Too little flow causes a lack, so the plant has to gather up more water before sending it to be treated, similar to when things are a little slow or there are delays in movements or chat.
Q: How do I know if I am experiencing lag?
A: There are several symptoms of lag. It happens to everyone, including me. My internet SUCKS, so I have to live with lag all the time. It can be so bad at times, a person with leather armor + stone sword can get me when I have iron armor + diamond sword.
!! Below is a list of the most common symptoms of lag:-A 1-5 second delay with chat (Typing something into chat and see it flow through or get a response 1-5 seconds later)
-Choppy movements by other players, with chances that you are attacking them, but no damage is received
-The server just freezes, without any movements by other players. You may see some sprinting particles at their feet.
-You get connection issues with the server, such as "Connection Reset", or "End of Stream", or "Can't Resolve Hostname".
-You are able to break blocks on places you can't. A common lag test for me is that I would break a block, discounting leaves, such as grass, gravel, wood, or redstone lamps. If they don't replace themselves soon, I can assume I am lagging out.
-Randomly loosing hearts when you are sure nobody is attacking you.
Q: People all around me are moving very fast! Are they hacking?
A: Chances are that if you have lag issues, you just could simply be lagging. It is common for the server to freeze, before it catches up very quickly to live-time. You could be chasing someone when, all of a sudden, they stop in mid-air, or on the ground. You may try attacking them, but they are not taking damage, before, all of a sudden, they vanish and appear 5-10 blocks in front of you. It's just the system clearing up and trying to feed you information.
Q: How can I fight someone when I'm lagging?
A: When you lag, fighting someone can be a big challenge. They freeze up, and you try to attack them, before the game gets caught up and you loose 5 1/2 hearts faster than you can say "What the--?". How I cope with it is that I don't go for anybody that has a bigger advantage than I do or the same advantage that I do. Sometimes, I don't even go for people with a lower advantage. Only try to kill people you know you can, despite lag. I would normally go for somebody that has little to no armor, or a wooden sword or lower if I have the advantage. You decide if you want to attack, but this is my reccomendation.
Q: I'm trying to attack someone, but they are taking only a little bit of damage! Are they hacking?
A: Likely not, unless they are not lagging. If another player is lagging, you will see the symptoms above from third person. They will be somewhere, perhaps might have sprint particles, and might look like they are trying to attack air. They think that they are somewhere else, perhaps attacking someone or breaking leaves, when in reality, they are just stuck there as if they were glued. When attacking these people, it's a bit odd. You might be able to give damage, but ever so often. Usually, they take about 1 out of every 5 hits you give them for a normal lagger. Eventually, you might be able to get them, or they could just disconnect altogether. If you start loosing hearts when you are sure no one is attacking around you, you could be lagging out as well.
Q: Ok, I know what lag is now. How do I prevent it?
A: There are two main factors that control how much lag someone gets: Their computer, and their signal strength in the internet. If you are lagging, you probably have one of the two things, or even both. I lag because I have a poor internet connection, likely because I have a great view of Pikes Peak
. If you live in a rural area like me, such as in the mountains, on a ranch, small town (like, REALLY small), or your bandwidth has been used up, you might have a slow internet, which can cause lag. If you want to fix this, talk to your internet provider and ask about your bandwidth or upgrades, etc. If you have a bad computer, it causes lag as well. If you have an old computer, such as a Big Mac laptop , you probably can't run Minecraft well and, thus, you need a new computer. Old or bad processors, such as Intel processors, are not good for running Minecraft. I run on Intel i5. Despite what people say, I can get a good 60 frames with it. Either get a new computer, or upgrade your drive/processor. Don't ask me how to do it, I don't know how to.Q: Internet and my computer doesn't help. Is there anything else you can suggest to me?
A: There are two more things I would suggest to fix lag: One of them is to install Optifine, a mod that improves FPS and lag. It is a fantastic mod, allowed by MCSG, and I can't survive without it. I even got a fancy cape by donating
. Try to install Optifine and tweak with your MC settings, such as lowering render distances, change graphics from fancy to fast, or slide the performance bar to "Max FPS". This will greatly improve performance and will help you get better performance. My other suggestion is that you close all unnecessary programs. If you have Photoshop, Chrome, Powerpoint, Skype, iTunes, and Mail open, you are really working your computer, and it has to focus on those applications, not just Minecraft. Try closing all unnecessary applications and relaunch Minecraft.Q: Nothing else works. Could it be the servers?
A: Yes. The servers can also cause lag. A simple bukkit server with 50+ plugins will lag A LOT to the players. Thus, it is the server's fault you can be lagging. With plugins and loads of people joining, it is a workload on the server. Give it some time, or just keep trying, and eventually, it will accept you and you will be able to join. It will finish it's logging and it's calculations and focus on connections and players. Just be patient.
Got any more Q's and A's I should add to the list? Tell me!
Think that some of my info needs tweaking? Tell me?
Feedback would be nice, I spent a good hour working on this
.Hoped it helped you guys!
-Old_Spice_
