Connection Compendium Part 1

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Lithiny

Connection Compendium Part 1

Post#1 » 31 Dec 2010, 02:41

The Connection Compendium

Let me preface this with saying I’m sure there are things outside of what this will cover. I’ll also say that if you have a situation this article does not cover, then more then likely you already know what the problem is. Ie. You live ten thousand miles from a WOW server. I’ll start with the lowest hanging fruit so to speak first.

Disconnection from WOW but not vent.

Step One. Install WOW with no add-ons. This can be accomplished by renaming your WTF and ADDON folders to a different name while WOW is not running. Then reload WOW and see how things go. If you are stable, then slowly add one add-on at a time back to the game until it breaks.

Step Two. WOW is installed with no addons and I still have connection trouble. Now what. Update those drivers. Video card, motherboard (north/south bridge drivers) Windows Update.

Step Three. What connection between you and your ISP. If you are on a wireless network. Try to run a cable to your modem and plug it directly into your computer and run that way for a while. Routers get old, wireless cards get weak.

Step Four. Wired connections. Gigabyte and the realtek onboard Network Interface Cards, are notoriously bad. They work great for 90 percent of the population and cause headaches for 10 percent. Go to newegg and buy a stand alone NIC. Link here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833106121
This is a really good NIC that fits in a regular PCI slot.

Step Five. Try to figure out if there is any pattern to your disconnection issues. One thing that some people may not realize is that you are actually NOT connected as you may think. The WOW servers have no idea if you are actually there until the next network packet arrives. In this respect you are constantly disconnected from the server in between packets. The server doesn’t realize that you are having some kind of connection problem until the next packet doesn’t come in a timely matter. If you are having disconnect problems only when it’s raining, or only when it’s a full moon, or say only on the 15th of the month. These types of things are ISP/Equipment problems. If it’s raining and you can’t stay connected the cable going to the pole outside is trashed. Call the ISP and don’t take no for an answer.

Step Six. Windows network management. Windows is like walmart. They try to stock something for everyone, and rarely have specifically what you need. In this regard windows handles network packets by default in groups of 3-8. So 3-8 packets send and receive before windows sends an acknowledgment that it received the packet correctly. This leads to the WOW servers resending packets because it never received confirmation that everything went ok. There is a way to force windows to acknowledge every packet. For most things there isn’t really a reason to get confirmation on every packet. Except for people that require low latency. I want the servers to know immediately that I tossed my Avenger Shield, and I want my local interface to know immediately that it missed and Ljay got smashed in the face because it missed. I don’t want to find that kind of information out 300ms later, because it’s to late at that point.

Steps to force windows to acknowledge each packet. (Warning and disclaimer, Make sure you backup your information and registry before doing this. This will also create more traffic on your network and more load on your NIC. Thus getting the NIC that has a lot of it’s own offloading capabilities will help you out. A switch is also a VERY good idea if you do this because your computer will be spamming all the ports of your router with constant outgoing acknowledgments whereas a switch is intelligent and knows what information is suppose to go to what port. )

1 - TcpAckFrequency

Create a new shortcut on your desktop and have it point to a program called REGEDIT. Depending on the operating system you are running, you may need to right-click on the icon you created and run the program as an administrator.

REGEDIT has a search function or you can use the standard tree drop down windows provided. Either way navigate to the Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\

There will be multiple NIC interfaces listed in there, find the one you use to connect to the internet, there will be several interfaces listed (they have long names like {7DBA6DCA-FFE8-4002-A28F-4D2B57AE8383}. Click each one, the right one will have lots of settings in it and you will see your machines IP address listed there somewhere.
Right-click in the right hand pane and add a new DWORD value, name it TcpAckFrequency, then right click the entry and click Modify and assign a value of 1.

You can change it back to 2 (default) at a later stage if it affects your other TCP application performance. it tells windows how many TCP packets to wait before sending ACK. if the value is 1, windows will send ACK every time it receives a TCP package.

Then find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Parameters

Right-click in the right hand pane and add a new DWORD value, name it TCPNoDelay, then right click the entry and click Modify and assign a value of 1.

[EDIT] Some people it seems don't have a MSMQ entry in their registry. You will need to add it, to do this the simplest way is to copy/paste the below code into a empty text file, and save it as a .reg file (just call it msmq.reg). Once done right click the file and select MERGE and click yes to the box that follows.





******snip below******


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Parameters]
"TCPNoDelay"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Parameters\OCMsetup]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Parameters\Security]
"SecureDSCommunication"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Parameters\setup]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSMQ\Setup]

******snip above******

Click Ok and close the registry editor, then reboot your PC.

Using these setting, a nice gigabit switch, intel NIC, and 8meg cable internet connection I average 25ms in 25 man raids.

Hardware recommendations for successful raiding.

Ideally you would have a computer, and a modem with a CAT5E cable of the shortest length. If you have multiple computers, I recommend. Modem-Router-Switch-Computers and devices connected to the switch. Most routers are routers with a hub. The benefits of a Switch are explained here.
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/hard ... faq011.htm

If you have specific questions about any of this feel free to get with me. I’ve talked a number of people through stuff over vent. The only thing I ask is if you ask the question be ready to receive the advice. I get it a lot where people ask, “Why is this happening”? When I tell them they say no way in hell it can be my (addons) or (memory)


Wanted to add a screenshot from our raid. I know my UI is hideous.
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Kickaha

Re: Connection Compendium Part 1

Post#2 » 01 Jan 2011, 08:28

A.couple of extras:

1.Leatrix latency fix 1.23 will perform the TcpAck frequency mod automatically if you want to try it.

2.If your wired router is cabable of over 100mb/s data transfer get a cat6 cable.

3.Visit intel site and run a check for your system for chipset/driver updates + realtek lan drivers.

Hansmoleman

Re: Connection Compendium Part 1

Post#3 » 01 Jan 2011, 11:41

Kick I have used that latency thingy for about 2 weeks now and it rocks, was avg about 150-300 now its pretty steady at about 50-75.

as for the cat6 cable my hard wired router can do that, but im not sure about the cable modem supplied by comcast. is there a way to check the modem, or could I just assume that it is, It was brand new.

Lithiny

Re: Connection Compendium Part 1

Post#4 » 01 Jan 2011, 15:32

Cat6 is just a updated spec on the same cable. It uses the same RJ-45 connector, but the twist per inch spec is higher, and the shielding is better.

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