Hi all!

So good news for GPG. Feeling so frustrated with Supcom2 yesterday we switched to Company of Heroes which I did not buy through Steam but have a shortcut linked into Steam for... guess what?

Same issue. So now I'm on to blaming Valve and their new UI. Glad it isn't GPG.

Later all.

In my situation the problem existed before Steam updated to the new UI.

Any update on this topic?

For me this is a great disappointment. I have the game since release and was not able to play a single online game.

Like this it is a worthless piece of software to me.

We have not obtained the motherboard that you were attempting to isolate.

Banthor, can you confirm that you have never seen a similar behavior in a skirmish game with AI present? The problem you describe seems to be irrespective of map chosen if I understand correctly, so just a high density of AIs would be sufficient to test.

If this is truly a multiplayer only problem, then it would seem plausible that the problem could lie in your Network Interface Card. Is it safe to assume yours is onboard?

I have seen reports of some onboard NICs consuming monstrous CPU cycles under certain conditions, and in that case, it would be competing directly with our game functioning properly.

Three suggestions to try, based on the above assumptions.

#1 Update the driver for your NIC.
#2 If you have access to an installable NIC, disable the onboard, and use one that will effectively offload pressure on your CPU cycles. Doesn't need to be permanent, just for testing, perhaps you can borrow from a friend? This will just let us know if the NIC theory is valid.
# 3 If you don't have access to an installable NIC, or if test #2 is positive, see if there are any settings specific to it in your BIOS that you can adjust to reduce pressure on your CPU.

# 4 Report back here good or bad, and with any updates so others can benefit from your findings.

- Servo

Hello,

Yes, I can confirm, that I never had the problem with AI in Skirmish.

To be 100% I tested this again:
I setup a game on Setons Clutch with only me and 7xAI and the game ran totally smooth in Skirmish and also in Multiplayer. The SIM speed was constantly at 10, but in both cases my one of my two CPU cores was at 100%.

Network Card:
Yes, I am using an onboard 1Gbit-NIC working attached to a 100Mbit network. Specifically the NIC has a Realtek Chip RTL8168. I assume that this chip is available on millions of different motherboards and it has been working just fine with 8 players on SupCom1.

#1 The drivers are already up to date. I tried the motherboard specific drivers and also the generic ones from Realtek.

#2 I will try to get my hands on a different network controller and let you know if it works out.

#3 Accept for on/off I could not see any setting for the NIC in the BIOS. But there are quite some settings in the driver under windows. But all of them appear to be set to sensible values.

#4 Of course I will let everyone know what is happening.

Thank you for your patience and professionalism Banthor, I know this is a longstanding problem for you, which must be very frustrating, but your posts are always very thorough and helpful in trying to isolate the cause.

- Servo

I just tried again, with my realtek lan drivers updated (it solved some problems in others games), it's still lagging in supcom 2.

When I'm zoomed in, it's okay, when I zoom out, it's laggy. But it's globally more fluid with these new drivers than before.

I can't test on another LAN card now..

In replays/skirmish, sometimes it's smooth, sometimes it's laggy (same symptoms : zoomed ok, laggy when zoomed out)

I've tried with low settings, same behaviour.

Is it possible that the LOD system can cause this ?

At this point, anything is possible, it does infact seem that Ze_Pilot and Banthor are experiencing different issues.

Banthor's is quite specific to game performance in multiplayer-only, whereas Ze_Pilot is more specific to game performance at different distances in both single- and multi-player scenarios. One points to a connection problem, whereas the other points to a rendering problem.

The only way that a NIC could potentially cause problems with Ze_Pilot's system during replays is if the network card were being utilized by another system and jamming CPU cycles as a result. If you want to test this Ze_Pilot, switch Steam to "Offline Mode", unplug your network cable from the back of the computer, and then play one of your problematic replays or skirmishes to see if the problem persists. Your NIC should have absolutely nothing to do when unplugged, so even hidden malware would not be able to burden the CPU under those conditions.

- Servo

Ok, little necro ..

I've got that issue again with the crysis 2 demo, it was solved with the latest realtek lan drivers (from february).

I actually have started playing SUPCOM2 again, and I decided to give this fix a go. I haven't played a "real" multiplayer game, but I did a quick test with my friend and updating the Realtek network drivers seems to have fixed the problem entirely. I can play at maximum graphics settings with none of the intense multiplayer only stuttering I received before.

I updated my drivers through the Windows 7 device manager.