Actually Tiscali has merged into Telfort with a few other ISPs. I'll check with them if they use packet shaping, but a quick browse across some internet forums seem to suggest that people are actually moving TO Telfort to escape packet shaping from their old providers. Again, I never - ever - had problems with packet shaping playing wow, war or eve. I know what the symptoms look like since some of my UK based guildies did have to contend with their ISP using packet shaping. This, for me, is the main reason for not looking at my ISP for cause of the problem - they've been brilliant for the last few years.
I may try opening the ports you suggested tomorrow. If this fails I'll completely re-download and reinstall lotro, and if there's still problems I'll lower my settings and see if that brings any relief.
I also just got a HUGE mail back from Codies, though a quick scan doesn't turn up much useful - except the conclusion that their evening shift guys must be bored now and then.
Thank you for submitting your recent request to Codemasters Customer Services concerning Lord of the Rings Online.
That message is normal - it just means that you CAN connect to the server.
Warping, disconnections and latency are all symptoms of internet lag.
Lag is influenced by the following factors
- A slow connection to the server
- Congestion at some point on your connection path before reaching the game server
- Server congestion
- The client PC itself
We are limited in what we can do to resolve your problem, as only point 3 is something we have control over and all of our servers are operating as effectively as possible at the current time. The vast majority of players are not experiencing problems which indicates that the issue lies with points 1, 2 or 4, unfortunately.
We can, however, make some recommendations
1.
- Ensure that you have the fastest connection available to you and that you have a good ISP that is close to a major internet backbone. ISP rating guides are quite common on the internet and in Magazines, so refer to these for more information.
- Codemaster’s servers are based in Europe and North America. If you are outside of these areas, you will naturally experience more latency. We do not market our MMO games outside of Europe or North America at the current time, for this reason.
2.
- Contact your ISP to see if your connection is suitable for gaming and if they have an alternative connection point that they can offer, which is less likely to suffer from congestion.
- If you are using a (A)DSL connection, ask your ISP for the contention ratio that they apply (this will be the maximum number of users that share your bandwidth). A typical ratio is 50:1. Anything more than that may result in problems during peak hours
- Playing at times when fewer other users will be using the internet, if possible, will also reduce congestion problems (particularly if using (A)DSL for the reason above)
4.
- You should shutdown all other applications that might use the internet whilst playing the game. This includes any messenger/email software, any voice chat or internet telephone applications, internet browsers, Real Player etc.
- To ensure that your PC is working at peak efficiency, reduce any game graphics and sound options that reduce the frame rate you experience in-game. You should also ensure that your PC has all the latest drivers installed for your hardware.
- Also ensure that you have the latest firmware installed for any routers/modems etc, particularly for wireless devices.
- Make sure if you are using a router or hardware firewall that all of the ports the game uses are opened/forwarded.
- As long as you have a correctly configured firewall in place you should have no need for anti-virus software to be scanning in memory. You can turn this feature off whilst playing and turn it back on again for internet browsing.
- Turn off any music playing software or any other program you have running whilst you are playing the game.
If you need further assistance, please reply to this email and INCLUDE THIS LINE IN YOUR REPLY:-
{|CALLID|}=01988973
Or include the entire text of this email.
Kind regards
Rob
Codemasters Customer Services
