Battlefield 3 - Horrible Lag

[jed]

Just picked up the BF3 Premium for $25 on Black Friday thinking it was a sweet deal. The game itself is baller but I can barely play online. I have found one server that runs pretty smooth, but I joined in the next night and it was horrifying. My ping often shows 20-50 range which is great...

I am joining U.S. servers which is where I live. It's almost unplayable most of the time. I would be open to the possibility that it's the fault of my rig and video performance, but I am running all settings on the lowest possible and I know my rig is stronger than that.

It is choppy as hell and sometimes I get lag spikes/freezes in the game up to 10 seconds. Does this happen to anyone else? I read that Origin and EA have been having some serious server issues and their lag problems are terrible as it is. However I can't imagine a problem this serious with such a popular online game.

I hate for this problem to go unfixed as the game is great but I can't really play it with this lag. If anyone's got some typical "multiplayer lag fix" solutions or knows anything specific for BF3 I'm all ears.

I've tried:
Rebooting
Closing all background programs
Game is patched
Both in and out of country servers
Low in-game population servers
Servers with low max pop (24 players max instead of 64 etc)
Different maps

All with no noticeable difference. Thanks to anyone able to make my $25 into something useful!

 

[MT Alex]

Sorry, with a ping like that it's definitely your 4850. I don't know of anyone in the BF3 clubhouse successfully playing with anything less than a 5770 (which is at least 20% faster) at 1680x1050. Playing BF3 is like running a benchmark on your computer, it will brutalize it. That is why most people who were stoked for Bf3's release upgraded specifically for it.

That being said, how does the single player campaign play? It is much less taxing' though.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

What Alex said. Even though its not nearly as bad as Crysis was in terms of unplayability, it is one of the more system taxing games out there. It puts a massive load on every part of the system. That HD4850 is holding you back!

People really need to learn the difference between lag vs FPS choppiness. Lag is caused by networking, and FPS choppiness or any other way of saying it is caused by low FPS which is do the insufficient hardware for the specific task at hand, and well that HD4850 is not good enough for BF3.

Also another issue, your running a 32 bit OS when you have 4GB of ram(your system is only uses 3.25GB right now). You need to upgrade to WIndows 7 or 8 64 bit so your system can access all 4GB of that ram, because BF3 will use that much.

 

[Frick]

What Alex said. Even though its not nearly as bad as Crysis was in terms of unplayability, it is one of the more system taxing games out there. It puts a massive load on every part of the system. That HD4850 is holding you back!

You could play Crysis with anything. On lower settings it wasn't demanding at all.

With that said I played BF3 on medium settings (1280x1024) with my current system and a HD 5750. Lower your res, get an old 1280x1024 monitor or a new GPU.

 

[1nf3rn0x]

It should not be that bad. With a single GTS 250 with an E7400 @ 4.2GHZ on all LOW at 1680x1050 I can get in the 40-50fps which is very playable, especially in the Frostbite 2 engine. Two cards I get in the 60-70's. Three cards I crank it up to high and can get 50-60fps.

Drop the res down, turn down all settings, install a 64 bit OS and try GameBooster. Should give you 5-6fps more. That's all I can say. Heck even my laptop plays BF3 fine.

 

[jed]

Thanks for all the replies. I would honestly agree with the 4850 issue but I have joined one server with about 20 players so far and it ran smooth as butter. Also, I had dropped the resolution down to 1280x1024 in a laggy game before and it ran just as terribly. I am honestly convinced it is not my GPU. I can run Crysis at all mids and highs. That means I should at LEAST be able to run this game at all lows and 1280 instead of 1920... Don't you think?

I ordered 8 GB of ram vs my 4 GB and will be installing Win 7 in a couple weeks to see if that helps. I know my RAM is definitely a weak spot along with that 4850.

I will play the SP campaign to see what it runs like later today. I was so eager to play MP I just jumped right into it after the first train level to get used to the playstyle.

The reason I think it's lag over FPS choppiness is because I will be running and 5 seconds later I will show up in the same spot I was in 5 seconds ago. I can shoot someone in the back 15 times and 3 seconds later I show up dead on the ground and they are spitting on my corpse... This happens OFTEN, and a lot more than it should. I agree the other types of choppiness do seem like slow response from my system, like when I go into ironsight/scope view in a gun it can be slow or choppy.

I'll look for an upgrade for my GPU as well... We all know that costs an arm and a leg though

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Yes this game really can use more than 4GB RAM as well though at your resolution it will not be so drastic. FYI you can get, for example, a GTX 480 for like $175 now and at 1920x1200 I can run BF3 on Ultra (except Shadows) and 4x MSAA and not drop below 35 fps (though CPU matters in this game too and I notice my new 3570K does better than my i7 870 did-even with the latter at stock vs 4Ghz on the 870).

 

[Black Haru]

Thanks for all the replies. I would honestly agree with the 4850 issue but I have joined one server with about 20 players so far and it ran smooth as butter. Also, I had dropped the resolution down to 1280x1024 in a laggy game before and it ran just as terribly. I am honestly convinced it is not my GPU. I can run Crysis at all mids and highs. That means I should at LEAST be able to run this game at all lows and 1280 instead of 1920... Don't you think?

I ordered 8 GB of ram vs my 4 GB and will be installing Win 7 in a couple weeks to see if that helps. I know my RAM is definitely a weak spot along with that 4850.

I will play the SP campaign to see what it runs like later today. I was so eager to play MP I just jumped right into it after the first train level to get used to the playstyle.

The reason I think it's lag over FPS choppiness is because I will be running and 5 seconds later I will show up in the same spot I was in 5 seconds ago. I can shoot someone in the back 15 times and 3 seconds later I show up dead on the ground and they are spitting on my corpse... This happens OFTEN, and a lot more than it should. I agree the other types of choppiness do seem like slow response from my system, like when I go into ironsight/scope view in a gun it can be slow or choppy.

I'll look for an upgrade for my GPU as well... We all know that costs an arm and a leg though

Yes this game really can use more than 4GB RAM as well though at your resolution it will not be so drastic. FYI you can get, for example, a GTX 480 for like $175 now and at 1920x1200 I can run BF3 on Ultra (except Shadows) and 4x MSAA and not drop below 35 fps (though CPU matters in this game too and I notice my new 3570K does better than my i7 870 did-even with the latter at stock vs 4Ghz on the 870).

or even look into a 660, for around the same price range.

give us some info on your ISP, connection speeds, connection type (your not on wireless right?)...

it could very well be a mix of hardware lag and network lag.

 

[brandonwh64]

I play on a 5770 with all settings on medium and no AA/AF/HBAO/POST getting good frames BUT the larger maps such as B2K/AK will tank them in a HEART BEAT! You will def need a better GPU and 8GB of ram.

 

[jed]

Black - Yes unfortunately I'm on wireless for now. The only room in the house with the net cable is my roommates and the cords don't exactly work out too well under the doors and whatnot. However the router is literally 3 feet from my computer, with a wall in between.

Speed test shows 18 MS ping, 20.5 MB download, 2.05 upload.

Looking at GPU's at the moment...

560...

Cheapest 660 I could find...

I have ran ATI my whole life but I am sick and tired of their terrible driver update system. I am open to nVidia.

Should I start a new thread for the GPU debate?

 

[brandonwh64]

Black - Yes unfortunately I'm on wireless for now. The only room in the house with the net cable is my roommates and the cords don't exactly work out too well under the doors and whatnot. However the router is literally 3 feet from my computer, with a wall in between.

Speed test shows 18 MS ping, 20.5 MB download, 2.05 upload.

Looking at GPU's at the moment...

560...

Cheapest 660 I could find...

I have ran ATI my whole life but I am sick and tired of their terrible driver update system. I am open to nVidia.

Should I start a new thread for the GPU debate?

660 hands down in your situation. That's a good price as well

 

[jed]

Ouch, I see that not even the 5000 series HD's made it in the 10%, let alone the 4000 series. How well does the 660 OC, are you aware at all?

 

[brandonwh64]

Ouch, I see that not even the 5000 series HD's made it in the 10%, let alone the 4000 series. How well does the 660 OC, are you aware at all?

From what I have seen they do quite well.

Here is the OC page for the MSI 660

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_660_Twin_Frozr_III/30.html

 

[Crap Daddy]

The 660 at that price is sweet plus you'll get a great AAA game (AC III). I just saw you're on Vista 32 bit. A good idea would be to upgrade your OS. Win 8 is $40 until January 2013.

 

[HammerON]

When was the last time you updated your AMD drivers?

 

[jed]

I am getting Win 7 Pro from my dad in a couple weeks. I just updated my AMD suite last night however it gave me a "failed" for the driver update. So the driver is several months out of date. That's why I'm getting tired of ATI's BS driver update system. I have to go through this crap every time I want a simple driver update.

 

[jed]

* Corrected by Mx

 

[MxPhenom 216]

All you need to do for driver updates is uninstall the catalyst control center from control panel, then restart and download the newest drivers and install them.

We've also got the 7850 for $200 + 3 decent games, which seems just as beastly as the 660. Driver updates aren't make or break, I just want the best card that'll last another few years, under $225.

7850 is 15% slower then the 660 according to the graph above. Get the 660.

 

[jed]

All you need to do for driver updates is uninstall the catalyst control center from control panel, then restart and download the newest drivers and install them.



7850 is 15% slower then the 660 according to the graph above. Get the 660.

Double-derp on that one... Thanks for the obvious info on both of those points. I've never tried the driver updates that way, I'll give that a shot.

Driver and Catalyst suite uninstalled and driver is back to version 8.0. Seeing if 8.9x will install now.

It only updated to 8.1 something from 7/4/2012... I'll reboot and see if it made any difference. Also ran Malware, Antivirus and checked for Windows Updates.

 

[stuartb04]

bf3 runs fine on my system on high settings.

get the odd stutter here and there.nothing major.

i also had the 4850 before .bf3 was a no go.
stuttered on all settings.

thanks to the upgrade advice from the guys on this forum
i can enjoy bf3 the way it should.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Double-derp on that one... Thanks for the obvious info on both of those points. I've never tried the driver updates that way, I'll give that a shot.

Driver and Catalyst suite uninstalled and driver is back to version 8.0. Seeing if 8.9x will install now.

It only updated to 8.1 something from 7/4/2012... I'll reboot and see if it made any difference. Also ran Malware, Antivirus and checked for Windows Updates.

Uninstall what ever AMD Catalyst driver you have right now in Control Panel > Add Remove Programs

Reboot.

And Install these.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/legacy/Pages/legacy-radeonaiw-vista32.aspx

 

[HammerON]

Double-derp on that one... Thanks for the obvious info on both of those points. I've never tried the driver updates that way, I'll give that a shot.

Driver and Catalyst suite uninstalled and driver is back to version 8.0. Seeing if 8.9x will install now.

It only updated to 8.1 something from 7/4/2012... I'll reboot and see if it made any difference. Also ran Malware, Antivirus and checked for Windows Updates.

Go to AMD's website and download latest drivers for your GPU:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/legacy/Pages/legacy-radeonaiw-vista32.aspx
Can't hurt to give it a shot...

Edit: Damn Phenom was quicker than me What he said....

 

[Jstn7477]

Double-derp on that one... Thanks for the obvious info on both of those points. I've never tried the driver updates that way, I'll give that a shot.

Driver and Catalyst suite uninstalled and driver is back to version 8.0. Seeing if 8.9x will install now.

It only updated to 8.1 something from 7/4/2012... I'll reboot and see if it made any difference. Also ran Malware, Antivirus and checked for Windows Updates.

They stopped making HD2000-HD4000 drivers after Catalyst 12.6 Legacy.

 

[jed]

That's what I DL'd and installed fellas. The 12.6. Justin must be right in saying they made no more drivers after that release. I think that's definitely a sign of a needed GPU upgrade, lol...

I just loaded up a game of BF3 on a mid-pop server with green ping and it ran pretty well. There was lag both network and hardware. Rubberbanding (network) and choppiness (hardware) but not near as bad as it has been. This seems random so I'll keep testing.

All settings were LOW and on 1280 resolution.

 

[HammerON]

Yep - you need more RAM (and Win 7 64-bit) as well as a new GPU...