What does it affect?
In dynamic online games, ping is practically the main indicator. Ping directly determines whether the game will slow down or not. Network lags due to high ping reduce the game speed itself. Your characters may begin to freeze, their reactions will slow down, and problems may also arise with displaying the behavior of other players. If your characters appear and disappear, other characters move jerkily, this means that the problem is definitely related to a high ping rate.
How to find out if you have speed problems
Once you know your score, you can immediately understand whether your computer has ping problems:
- a ping of less than 40 m/sec indicates high game performance and the absence of possible problems;
- the average normal indicator is considered to be a ping between 40 – 110 m/sec;
- a ping of 110 – 210 m/sec is bad for online games, but quite suitable for regular Internet use;
- an indicator of more than 300 m/sec is not enough to perform a simple search on the Internet.
Once the ping is established, you can try to reduce its value.
How to check the ping of an Internet connection
There are 2 main methods to measure ping:
- using the command line;
- using third-party services and portals.
The first option is preferable, since it does not require searching and visiting third-party resources and allows you to conduct the test exclusively on your own. The disadvantage of this approach is the fact that not all users are comfortable using the command line, but using a browser and finding the desired site will not cause difficulties. But to make it easier to choose the optimal service, you should take a closer look at the following options:
- our website;
- Internet meter from Yandex;
- net
- 2ip.ru;
- speedtest.net.
There are other measurement services, but the portals listed above are the most well-known and in demand among users. However, this list is not a rating, and the systems mentioned can be called equivalent. Moreover, the principle of using these programs is extremely similar, and the quality of the obtained indicators should not differ, regardless of the selected portal.
Via the command line on your computer
We have already mentioned the advantages of checking Internet availability (ping check) via the command line. Those people who decide to use this approach will have to:
- call the line by simultaneously pressing the Win and R keys on your computer;
- Enter the short combination cmd into the field that opens and press the Ok button;
- wait for a new window to open, where you need to enter 2 words: ping site address (site address is copied from the address bar or entered as ip);
- click Enter on the keyboard;
- wait for measurement;
- study the information received.
The result of the operation will be obtaining the most complete information about the response time. Users will immediately become aware of 4 indicators:
- number of lost packets;
- minimum transfer time;
- maximum transfer speed;
- averages.
The last indicated parameter is especially important for a quality connection, since it allows you to find out the average value that you should focus on.
How to reduce ping in games
Below we will present the most proven and affordable ways to reduce ping in games on a computer and Android. There are different ways to reduce ping in Windows 10 online games. Most often, special commands are used that are designed for a specific game. They are typed into the game console or registered in the profile. The commands themselves can be found on the Internet; if there are several of them, check the effectiveness of the commands one by one until you get the desired result.
Working with a connection
Data exchange delays can be influenced by various factors, both problems on the side of the provider itself and the computer. The first and easiest way to eliminate high ping is to check your Internet connection. In such cases, there are several ways to solve the problem:
- changing the connection method;
- replacement of the provider itself;
- changing the tariff plan to a more productive one.
Such methods are effective when the main problem is the Internet connection. However, often the cause of a high ping rate can be completely different factors.
Driver update
Sometimes updating the network card driver helps solve the problem. Outdated computer software leads to incorrect operation of the entire system, so on the manufacturer’s website or on another resource you just need to download it and restart the computer, after which you can re-check the ping indicator.
Disk Defragmenter
Not many people know how to improve ping in games thanks to defragmentation. If, after checking your Internet connection and troubleshooting, the ping remains at the same level, we recommend defragmenting the disk. A large amount of garbage, viruses and other reasons lead to an increase in ping. Defragmentation is carried out in the following way:
- Go to “Computer”.
- Right-click on the busiest disk and select “Properties”.
- Go to “Tools” and in the “Disk Defragmentation” window, click “Run”.
- In the next window, at the top of the “Current Status” inscription, select the desired disk and click “Disk Defragmentation” again.
- Follow the instructions and wait for the process to complete.
If after this the ping decreases, we recommend setting up the frequency of automatic defragmentation.
Virus check
An antivirus that downloads database updates during the game can show a high value. In such cases, it is better to either turn on the computer in advance to check, or stop the update while playing. While scanning for viruses, the antivirus can also increase the ping rate. Especially often, a virus can be hidden under the guise of system processes, so we advise you to turn on the device in advance to scan your computer for malware.
Disabling other programs
This method is considered quite effective if other applications are running in parallel with the game. In this case, exclude the launch of other programs that can exhibit high network activity. Especially it concerns:
- Torrent clients, with their love of constantly downloading movies.
- Steam gamers who need to remember that updates are downloaded while playing (to disable them in the Preferences menu, uncheck “Allow downloads while playing”).
- Users of Adobe products and Flash Player.
You should also not forget about the VPN, because it redirects the user’s signal to an intermediate server, which actually increases the ping.
The network activity of processes can be viewed in the “Performance” – “Resource Monitoring” tab in the “task manager”.
Changing program priority
This method can partially improve the indicator, especially in combination with other options. Placing a higher priority on the game process itself will allow you to allocate more resources to it. Perform this action every time after loading the game.
For this:
- collapse the game;
- open “Task Manager” using “CTRL+ALT+DEL”;
- go to the “Processes” or “Details” tab (depending on the version of Windows);
- Click on the required process and set the priority to “High”.
- Oddly enough, in rare cases it helps to set the priority to “Low”, so try it in different ways.
Network Channel Expansion
To expand the network channel, it is better to contact your provider. The above methods help reduce the ping rate, so expanding the network actually makes no sense.
Changing TCP/IP settings
Many experts believe that changing registry settings is considered a useless exercise to reduce the indicator. The online game uses UDP, and the registry runs on top of IP, and TCP settings will not solve the problem at all.
Changing MSMQ Settings
The MSMQ parameter is used in Windows for working with the Internet, in particular the implementation of message queue, which can also help to reduce the indicator:
- Run “regedit” in the program execution window.
- Through the folders, go to the “MSMQ” section and open “Parameters”.
- Create a "DWORD Value (32 bits)".
- Name it "TCPNoDelay" and open it. Change the value to one (the number system must be hexadecimal). Click OK.
fixpinger
A well-known program for optimizing and improving the quality of the game. Known among gamers “Counter Strike”, “Half Life” and others. The program works without an interface. You just need to install it in the game folder and activate it using the command line. When you press the F1 key, the indicator decreases.
Leatrix Latency Fix
A free program that, by correcting registry entries, leads to a decrease in ping. The essence of the program is that it blocks some Windows options and limits the amount of information received from servers. The "Leatrix Latency Fix" utility was highly appreciated by gamers of the games "Warcraft" and "Dota".
Select the nearest server
To reduce ping, change the server and choose the closest one geographically.
How to find out your ping
What is it: important points
To begin with, so that everyone understands everything correctly, I will give my definition of ping (simple and concise
