Game stops and "catches up"

Got a bit of a weird technical problem that I can't identify the source of.

At some point during gameplay, everything stops moving, stops acting, etc - I can still cast spells, can still move around.

Chat works fine, I still see anything someone said at the time they said it.

And then after a few seconds, the game "catches up" to everything that occured since the "freeze" (the graphics never stop, the 'idle' animations are still going, just no movement from monsters and other players, only I can act).

So basically, I'm fighting T8 - freeze occurs, ballistic missile is cast during the freeze, after the freeze I see everything happen in a "fast forward" fashion and I'm dead or alive depending on how others reacted to my non-reaction.

This happens anywhere in the game, at random intervals.

I really wonder whats going on and how I can fix this.

The chat works fine during the freeze, so its very odd.

Is this CPU related? As in my processor stops handling everything and then everything goes through at once to catch up?
Is this GPU related? Task Manager and other windows things to analyze CPU usage show no drop in CPU performance or sudden 'maxed out' status, so is it my graphics card?
Is this internet related? I never get logged out during those "episodes", but im not sure if I have a disconnect icon next to my name, ill have to ask if it happens when I can communicate with someone.



Whats going on~~

I was wondering if we had the same ISP. I have Time Warner Cable.

That's definitely ISP related. You probably do have the 'disconnecting' icon next to your name for the duration of the freeze. Basically animations and such are stored client side, so your PC still plays them, but it's not receiving movement or action data from anyone but you (since your input is local). While you can act, you're probably also not sending information to the server properly either so your movements and actions may not take effect. Combos generally will not build, especially apparent on MNK, procs do not trigger or get used up, etc.

From a technical standpoint I can't really say what causes this other than it's a problem with your ISP, possibly with the routing from your PC to SE's servers. I get this sometimes with TWC as well, but usually it's either happening all the time or not at all.

Hmm, I'll have to check, its odd as it never happened before, its a sudden change ]:
Plus the fact that I live so close to the servers (15 minutes by car and I'm in Montréal) if they're still there.
I've had it good for a long time but this is really annoying!

O:

Hope I can resolve the issue soon, T9 is gonna be a nightmare otherwise.
I'll check my side of things before calling my ISP.

It's the same for me. I have been playing since beta with Twc and I have not had this issue before until yesterday and today so far. I know someone who is having the same issue with his att but not as severe. I updated drivers and updated router firmware and still have the same issue my speed test comes up with 32 mbs down and 3.4 mbs up with a 10ms ping. Streaming movies is no problem either. Sorry to hear about your issue especially with t9 coming up.

While I am not using TWC, this issue has cropped up for me with the implementation of patch 2.35. Prior to the patch my connection was flawless except for minor hiccups Tuesdays (which were attributed to sudden increases in server population). I contacted my ISP and so far no issue seems to be on their end. Tracking packet information shows they aren't getting hung up until they are within SE's network.

Given all this, I'm more inclined to believe the problem stems from changes made with 2.35 and not ISP related.

Yea, 2.3 was fine until about 2.35 indeed.

And we'll probably never hear about this from Square-enix
]:

Stuck forever with this issue, not sure I'll endure for much longer....
Also, not on TWC either.

Yea just did some T9 with this issue.

Its unplayable. Never know when its gonna do it next and screw everyone up.

Square-Enix, please look into this. Its unbearable.

It's probably a packet loss issue. It can either be caused by the distance your data has to travel through the world (thanks for putting ALL datacenters in Canada, SE), your own ISP or possibly by interference with your Wi-Fi signal if you're using a wireless connection.

If you use Wi-Fi, try changing the broadcasting channel on your router to one that has less noise. Or switch to a wired connection if you can.

Otherwise you could try using a VPN program like WTFast or Pingzapper to streamline the flow of data to the server, though those require a subscription.

Cabled connection. Updated Firmware.
I live right next to the datacenter.

This only started occurring after they messed around with the problems of patch 2.35.

Also seems I do not ever get a DC icon next to my name when this happens and I have clear Teamspeak communication during these 'episodes'.


Ugh.

This is still ongoing and only affects FFXIV - nothing else, at all

sigh.

There's a sticky thread regarding throttling P2P stuff. The reason no other games receive it is because FFXIV doesn't run like any other game. None of the popular ones, at least. It runs the same way a torrent does

So, it's not Square Enix, and it's not your ISP, it's more of just the way they talk to eachother.

no no no

not only do I live really close to the servers physical location, I have had perfect connection with zero issues until patch 2.35 and that maintenance that they "fixed" something just after patch

Thats when it started, it was fine before that.

I've been seeing this for a few weeks, i am on time warner and play on PS3, but never had a problem till recently, also been able to do a number of other things online with other devices no problem. Seems only to be FF14

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joelvelez93

There's a sticky thread regarding throttling P2P stuff. The reason no other games receive it is because FFXIV doesn't run like any other game. None of the popular ones, at least. It runs the same way a torrent does

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it runs exactly like the other mmos do in the fact it uses UDP for lowest possible latency.
UDP does not support resends of information, which is why teleporting appears to occur when packet loss occurs.

This occurs on just about any mmo or first person shooter where latency matters most.

Been happening to me as well. All other games are running fine, no lag whats so ever. I have a ping of 23ms, download 81.05mbps, and the upload is 4.39mbps. I ran a test to see if i was having any packet loss issues and packet loss was at 0.1%. So I don't think it's my ISP, at least not directly.

Same issue. I have AT&T and they had a tech come out and try to blame my computer. In the end I received a new modem and they left. Still have the pauses. My issue is this...

I tracert my server when things go wonkey and pause, and 7 out of 10 hops? Are timed out. Tech said it was my ethernet cable causing the time outs. I asked how my computer, in texas, is causing time outs in other cities.... yup. he stammered an excuse about my wires and crap.

Needless today, he left and the issue was still there.

I had this issue with WoW back when i first started playing. It took a week or two of constant calling AT&T, to get a tech who knew what was going on. In the end, no idea what he did but he went afk on the phone for 10 to 15 min and WoW never had an issue after. Guess I gotta do the same with FF14.

When the pause happens, I hover over the sending/receiving and i have 0 sending, and over 2k to 5k receiving. It stays at 0 sending for a while, till it "catches" up and goes in fast forward.... then pops to 500 to 2000 sending >.<


Edit: No other game i play has any issues.

This
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...on-in-New-York

and many other threads like it apply to the situation you are experiencing.

Wanted to update, I did get AT&T out again. Explained to the tech it is a gaming issues with the server I play on. He found upload problems during the time I had problems in game. And again they did give me a new modem, this time the newest one out and moved me to my own WiFi channel. I live in an apartment and 5 of us were on the same one. After this, my upload which is usually .80 doubled to 1.95 mbps. Yea, I know that is low but it is the best I can find out here. My download speed stayed the same at 22mbps which is fine, as I am paying for the 18/1.5 plan. (i've just been "dealing" with .8mb up and happy it is where it is supposed to be now)

So far I have had ONE problem in the last 7 hours, it lasted less than 5 seconds. It did the pause, I did the scooby doo and ran in place, 5 seconds later it fast forwarded and I have not had issues since then. My computer is hard wired, I feel weird gaming on WiFi.

The tech gave me his works cell number, said to send him a text at anytime (even 3am...I asked, cuz I am up at odd hours..) this happens so he can run a line check right then and there from where ever he is at. <-- this is why I stick with AT&T. Techs, seem to actually care. Kinda helped this one was a gamer and understood where I was coming from.

So when you call your ISP ask them to look at your upload and see if there are any problems, issues, hiccups or blips, and if they can up it or fix it in anyway possible.

I've been having this same issue since the update. It seems a lot of others have as well. I doubt you'll hear anything from SE on it either. If it isn't fixed soon though there's no way i can resubscribe. It's to the point of unplayable.

and its still not a problem on SE's end. you need to contact your ISP.

I'm having the exact same problem the OP describes, weird lag spikes where everything freezes except me, the chat still works normally, (everything is frozen during 5-20 seconds but the chat log keeps posting what people are saying as if it's not affected by the lag).
For me tho it happens only on one character. I run a dungeon with the character not affected by this and it goes smooth, no lag, nothing. Right after, I log with this one, and every 5 minutes or so, ill get those lagspikes. This character never had any problem when I started her in february. I stopped playing her for a while, then around late august I used a vial of fantasia and started playing her again and the problem is there since then.
It happens in dungeon and the open world
I, too, live close to the servers (montreal) and never had any issue before august, and I don't understand why it's only one character ><

This just started for me this morning. I checked everything on my end and it's fine. So I don't know what's going on. It is new though, haven't had any issues until today.

Been pretty unplayable today, going on 3hrs or so. Insane lag, and lots of 90k.

It just started happening for me this morning, too. Looking at the trace, it seems like another issue with level 3 (not surprising). I don't know that there's much SE can do short of switching data centers, but here's to hoping I'm wrong.

I've been having these issues just today as well, nearly unplayable in any combat situation. Every test I've run looks good, speedtest, pingtest, and ping and tracert to the NA data center, so not sure what the issue is here.

Pretty frustrating. This was my day off and I had some great plans to catch up on some content... Yeah, didn't happen. Just stood around and chatted with my mates in TeamSpeak since I couldn't in good faith do any battles. -.-

I am a TWC customer(sigh) and this has been happening to me as well. It is absolutely not playable like this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mosbius

I am a TWC customer(sigh) and this has been happening to me as well. It is absolutely not playable like this.

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http://forums.timewarnercable.com/t5...p/connectivity
mailto: TWCable.Help@twcable.com
http://twitter.com/#!/twc
http://www.facebook.com/twc

Take your pick... should be able to find someone to help you with your TWC problems. They aren't exactly unaware of the problems... just need to get in touch with their Tier3 guys to work on it. If you can't/don't want to gather trace data and such to provide them, can give them your server IP or at least the FQDN's for the lobby servers so they can investigate things better:

neolobby01.ffxiv.com
neolobby02.ffxiv.com
neolobby03.ffxiv.com
neolobby04.ffxiv.com
neolobby05.ffxiv.com
neolobby06.ffxiv.com

Odd numbers are in Japan, even are in Canada.

Same for me and a lot of other users from Asia lately. Started happening since 2.35 was manageable till yesterday. Not sure what changed and why so many people n many isp affected. I using Singtel fibre. From Singapore

Contacted TWC tier 3 and he went in and opened all the recommended ports and I am still having this issue. Thinking the problem is on SEs end with the most recent patch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mosbius

Contacted TWC tier 3 and he went in and opened all the recommended ports and I am still having this issue. Thinking the problem is on SEs end with the most recent patch.

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This is typically not a port forwarding issue (that is a bandaid fix to skirt around a security issue that is preventing data from being delivered). There is a well documented problem with packet delays/losses in route between us and Ormuco (SE's ISP) that our ISP's need to escelate for investigation/resolution. It's their routing policies (or those of their routing partners) that need tweaking to avoid the congested corridors.

I did a tracert on my server and got a crazy high ping from TWC. Should have known better. I can not stand that this is my only internet provider option.


1034 ms for cpe-72-190-32-1.tx.res.rr.com

oops... just noticed I gave the wrong twitter link for the support channel (though, they have a link to it at the one I gave):

https://twitter.com/TWC_Help

Not a lot of activity there this month (seems to have moved more into their forums/email channels), but here's some posts from August:

Quote:

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We're currently looking into difficulties accessing Microsoft sites. Unfortunately, we do not have additional details presently. ^BP

We are currently investigating an issue with customers watching streams at http://Twitch.tv . We apologize for any inconvenience. ^FG

We are currently investigating an issue with subscribers connecting to PSN. We apologize for any inconvenience. ^FG

We are aware that some areas are experiencing issues with the SEC Network. We are working quickly to resolve this. ^DS

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So yeah.. they've got issues they need to address. Lots of circular routing, overloaded nodes that need to have users split off, email services keep going AWOL. They eventually had to shoot me over to a Hilton Head gateway to get rid of my localized spikes like you saw. I live in Florence... it's like 100 miles from Hilton Head. But, the more consistent 20-30 ms latency is better then the 10-3000+ we were getting on the Florence gateway. And those numbers weren't just tracert numbers, that was from actual ping tests that were run from mulitple residential and business class lines... some were done from their own hardware while logged in to their modems/routers.

It's a mess out there... but if we don't start demanding they clean it up, it may never get done.