Chopp

[vinylrake]

OK, so I see all the info how to fix DSL modems/firewalls to ALLOW access to the mariusnet server, but is there a way to improve the connection speed? Normal internet access is fine over DSL, and I can connect to mariusnet and join games but when playing myth (in-game) on mariusnet , the game is WAY (can't even click to select units because of delay) slower and more slide-show prone than playing on mariusnet with a 56k modem.

suggestions? ideas? HELP!!

[lank]

that sounds pretty weird. when i suffer internet lag the game is still running smoothly (the framerate counter when i hit the delete key still goes at a normal rate) and i can move the camera, select units and issue orders as normal, just they don't move until the packets catch up and things play out in fast forward - usually watching as my units die horribly - until the game catches up (if it hasn't been lagged so long that i go out of synch).

is that the story for you? it just seems odd because you say you can't even click to select units, when, during lag bursts, you should. that sounds like the computer chugging (which i've also experienced, and i know it's definitely un-fun), and the only culprit then would be other processes running on the computer, or myth trying to run on virtual memory rather than physical...

[Orlando the Axe]

sounds like cpu lag, press del to see your frame rate.

[vinylrake]

that sounds pretty weird. when i suffer internet lag the game is still running smoothly (the framerate counter when i hit the delete key still goes at a normal rate) and i can move the camera, select units and issue orders as normal, just they don't move until the packets catch up and things play out in fast forward - usually watching as my units die horribly - until the game catches up (if it hasn't been lagged so long that i go out of synch).

is that the story for you? it just seems odd because you say you can't even click to select units, when, during lag bursts, you should. that sounds like the computer chugging (which i've also experienced, and i know it's definitely un-fun), and the only culprit then would be other processes running on the computer, or myth trying to run on virtual memory rather than physical...

It's more that units start moving and then when I want to change their direction or tell them to stop or select them to target an enemy I can't get Myth to realize I am clicking to select units and by the time a click does register, the units have moved so they are no longer there to select.

I'll check the settings and framerate tonight when I am back on the machine but I haven't changed anything since before hooking up the DSL and it was fine then. If it's the CPU or memory than somehow the DSL is doing something really weird because there was nothing else running other than Myth or an abandoned browser window at the time - which is nothing out of the ordinary. I often have multiple apps open while playing myth - as long as I am not _doing_ anything in the apps I've never had this problem before.

thanks for the suggestions.

[lank]

that sounds like the computer may be chugging as it catches up. happens to me sometimes too, as a result of lag...

[vinylrake]

that sounds like the computer may be chugging as it catches up. happens to me sometimes too, as a result of lag...

I don't know _what_ the hell is going on. I swear nothing has been done to my machine since activating/installing the DSL modem over the weekend and now my CPU _is_ getting swamped. When I play network Myth II over IP (just myself no outside connection) with the DSL modem turned on and connection active myth is just too choppy to play. When I power off the modem it gets a _little_ better but all the units still stutter when they walk - which would be cool if the units were all robot breakdancers, but they aren't so it isn't.

The process monitor shows the Finder using on average 60-80% of the CPU even when NOTHING else is running, and it spikes up to over 100%?!?!

Guess I need to do some online searching to figure out what the hell the finder is doing, as there aren't any other process showing up in the process monitor list that use more than 4-5% at their peak (other than Myth II which when it's running looks to be using 15-25% - no doubt all it can get given the Finder's CPU hogging).

If anyone has had experience with tamingn a resource-crazed Finder I am open to suggestions.

[Khadrelt]

Have you tried creating a new user with NO 3rd-party system stuff installed? If you have a clean user you can test it to see if the CPU is still getting hogged. Then you'll know if it's the Finder itself or if it's something else (like a 3rd-party system daemon or something).

[ozone]

if its possible to take a screen shot of your prefs in myth and post here it could be helpful....maybe.

[vinylrake]

Have you tried creating a new user with NO 3rd-party system stuff installed? If you have a clean user you can test it to see if the CPU is still getting hogged. Then you'll know if it's the Finder itself or if it's something else (like a 3rd-party system daemon or something).

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll try it tonight.

if its possible to take a screen shot of your prefs in myth and post here it could be helpful....maybe.

I can do that. When I saw it was Myth not the DSL I tried changing a couple of things (changed from OpenGL to SoftwareMode and back again, changed the max frame rate (it had been 30)) the only other CPU related thing I could see was the check box that lets the graphics degrade so the game will play faster (I forget what it's called) - which was checked - which seemed reasonable so I left it checked.

[vinylrake]

Have you tried creating a new user with NO 3rd-party system stuff installed? If you have a clean user you can test it to see if the CPU is still getting hogged. Then you'll know if it's the Finder itself or if it's something else (like a 3rd-party system daemon or something).

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll try it tonight.

w00t! That did it! A new vanilla user account and my units are once again moving in all their 256 color bitmapped smoothness.... ah all is right with the world again.

now when I check the processes and the finder is doing nothing it actually shows the finder is using 0% CPU instead of 80%+!

many thanks Khadrelt! and to everyone else who suggested things to try.

[Khadrelt]

Now I'd be interested in knowing just what it was that was hogging your CPU in your old account, in case someone else ever has the same problem. Any idea?

[vinylrake]

Now I'd be interested in knowing just what it was that was hogging your CPU in your old account, in case someone else ever has the same problem. Any idea?

No idea - I ran the process monitor and didn't see _anything_ out of the ordinary - according to it - it was the FINDER that was sucking the oxygen(cpu cycles) out of the 'room'. I have a feeling it was something I never use like the Apache Web Server or MySQL or something I might have turned on or tried to turn on at some point and never got around to configuring or debugging - BUT I have no idea why all of a sudden I would start having the problem. Probably completely unrelated to the DSL 'install' but weird timing.

Speaking of weird timing my work windows XP machine today became totally unusable due to fairly similar looking problem(s) - e.g. either explorere.exe or the virus software I've been using without incident for the past 5+ years was hogging all the available CPU cycles so in the Windows Task Manager the CPU Usage was consistently showing 100%.

A little app called 'Process Tamer' seems to be resolving my runaway XP system processes just peachily in a dynamic sort of way.