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If, while playing Call of Duty 4 on Xbox Live, you see me join a game only to leave 5 seconds later, please don't think I'm some kind of game-hopping n00b. I have a good reason for visiting game after game like some kind of nomadic... er, nomad. That reason is lag, which all Aussie online-gamers will be intimately familiar with. Unfortunately Call of Duty 4 is not immune from this problem. When I get a good connection (as represented by green bars) the game is fantastic, with the best players inevitably placing well on the leaderboard. Once the connection drops to yellow- or even worse- red bars, all bets are off. Skill has little to do with anything, and blind firing with a submachine gun on full-auto is the order of the day. It's really very disappointing when you empty a full magazine into the enemy, only to see them stop, prop, and drill you through the forehead with a carefully-aimed shot. 
All this could have been avoided if COD4 players were provided with some kind of connection filter, allowing us to filter out all games below a certain connection level. I believe that HALO has this option, as do 99% of online PC games. As it stands, we Aussies have two options: 1. Hope that a friend is online and playing in an Aussie-dominated game (with a spare spot available to join), or 2. Spend 30 or 40 frustrating minutes searching for games, connecting to them, and then immediately leaving upon discovering that you have a woeful connection. I'm sure that all it would take to end this misery for Aussie gamers is for a small patch to be released providing the connection filter option. In the meantime all we can do is hope and wait...
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Call of Duty 4: Fight the Lag
(image from pregamelobby.com)
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16 comments:
I agree with everything you've said here. Lets hope Microsoft, Activision or Infinity Ward put out some sort of patch to fix this problem. Its so frustrating!
the lag wasnt bad before, but until everyone started gettin the game, the servers got fukd up, lets just hope someone doesnt tink their the best person in de whole fukin world and try to hack this server and entering the wrong code and gettin the whole server lockd down forever like they did the same with tony hawk servers
also its ur Isp, just read it now
I know several Aussies having the same problem, all using different ISPs. The problem is that you can't prevent the COD4 from connecting to high-ping games... there are no filters etc. The first you know about your game being high-ping (bad connection) is when you're thrown into it! (and people start killing you :)
I have the same problem in rural north california, USA. We can't get cable internet, so we are limited to dial-up or a radio/cell phone based internet. I have the latter which gives and average of 650kb/s up and down. I have stopped playing cod4 online because of the frustration i get from lag. I can play games like FEAR Combat on the PC just fine because i can choose a server i want to play in based on Ping. If i keep it under 100, the connection is great. It would be really nice if Microsoft would implement this function for Xbox Live, instead of the slow, ugly, heavy behemoth that matchmaking is.
Hi vaderoni. Sorry to hear you have lag problems as well. I assumed this kind of thing only affected us non-US people. And to think it could all be easily solved by giving the Xbox Live gamer more choice as to which games he/she wants to connect to...
Honestly lag is there even when you have green bars. Even so its by the milisecond, that milisecond will kill you. How many time have you've been aimed and ready to light up someone walking around the corner and they kill you first? They actually walk around and see you before you see them and start shooting. Or when you run into someone exchange fire - COUNT YOUR SHOTS - DIE - and when you watch the kill cam it shows you didnt even fire 1 bullet...?
When I get green bars then I never have a problem with lag in COD4. And I wonder if something has changed since I originally wrote my article, as I always seem to get green bars in COD4 games these days. Maybe the problem has been fixed? Such a fantastic game... actually I'd rate COD4 as the best game on Xbox 360.
Absoulutly! My CoD4 Multiplayer Is always at Red-Yellow Bars rarely i get 3 green bars or 4 bars, but then again i can't belive that i have got a full green bars but then occured a connection error...
I am so sure that something is wrong on the multiplayer game, for i can't play it for very long because i'm kicked, leave or even loose connection!
Yes as you said that you didn't fire even ONE bullet. They has always happened to me. I am trying to become a great sniper but unfortunally can't because if i shoot near his head he moves and miss. Then again you will need stationary enemys so you hve time to get a good head shot.
Tip: Add people who live in the same region as you so when they join a game, join theres to see if you have a clear game.
Use your friends as a way to get to other people in the same region as you.
Thats all i have to say. I hope this gets fixed!!
"Use your friends as a way to get to other people in the same region as you."
...Yes, this is exactly what I do :) Thanks for commenting, and good luck with the sniping!
i have never gooten lag on cod 4 on my 4 months of cod and i play it on the 360 in england.
yes lag blows big hard goat balls, but deal with it folks and compensate. Oh and to the guy with a dial up connection, no offense buddy, but the lag is on your end.
I live in Wellington New Zealand, and the lag is killing the game literly. the est tip i use is:
Once played a game with good lag or you notice people of the same region, i go to feedback and seleck and prefer, thus i am more likely to be placed in a room with him or his friends and keeps friends list donw to double figures not triple..
Keep on gaming and hopefull Microsoft will add a console wide patch to help regioned players.
Ha! I thought that the lag was the problem. I am in Auckland, New Zealand on a so called unlimited speed broadband plan. But I too find if I am playing at a time when I get mainly American or far away connections my signal bar is low and I get owned, you pump clip load of bullets into the enemy and like magic one bullet from them kills you. When you watch the kill cam it doesn't even show you getting a shot off. Where as if most of the people are from either New Zealand or Australia there is no problem green status bar and away you go. By the sounds of it this problem is still not going to fixed for modern warefare 2 as there is still not going to be dedicated servers. I agree a patch so you could view the game connection rates before you sign in would be a great idea, but don't know if we will ever see it happen.
To get around the problem I use two methods
1) try and play in what would be considered peak gaming time in my own country so as to strike more local gamers therefore maximising connection rates.
and
2) If I do have a low connection rate, basically hold off on firing until someone is relativly stationary to allow for the lag hoping that they have not moved in the time it takes my internet connection to catch up.
Good gaming everyone.
Some good tips there- thanks anonymous Kiwi guy!
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