A couple of things.
This forum is for players to help players, the Dev's don't necessarily read it.
Secondly, I primarily play on two servers, one very high population and one realtively low. I've not had any bad lag in the AE in either, which would sugest to me that maybe it's on your end. Try the "Common solutions" thread in this forum to see if anything helps. Not much I can suggest about the spamming in Atlas other than try another zone.
Lastly, isn't there a Studio B that suppresses all powers in the AE?
I'm almost 100% sure the lag is caused by your system.
I have no lag on either of my game PCs, the lower end one being a P4 HT with a nVidia 7600 GT 256Mb card.
On that PC I've set the effect limiters in option to inhibit other players' eye candy from being overly reflected in my own window, and tweaked the video card settings according to one of the fine graphics guides available here on the CoH Boards.
Also, running anything else at the same time CoH is active will definitely affect your gameplay experience on some machines.
Have as much RAM as your system or OS can handle. Cheapest upgrade you can do which can affect gameplay.
Make sure P2P, streaming (video, radio, music lists) are off. Optimize your OS by turning off unneeded services (Google up a guide for your OS - be careful to read everything if unfamiliar with this) and limit applications being loaded at boot time which are used infrequently (Quicktime, Adobe Speed Launcher, etc.).
Seriously... I still have CoH laoded on an AthlonXP with an ATI 9800 Pro PCI card (on lowest graphic settings), and it's not as bad as you describe it here.
If all else is up to snuff in the system you use to play, I'd take a look at the network gear. See if anyone is leeching off your connection, for example, or test the bandwidth to make sure you're getting what you're paying for.
█ Players Guide to the Cities
[ QUOTE ]
GET RID OF THE DAMN LAG
[/ QUOTE ]
GET A REAL COMPUTER
and the aforementioned lag will go away.
Don't count your weasels before they pop dink!
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
GET RID OF THE DAMN LAG
[/ QUOTE ]
GET A REAL COMPUTER
and the aforementioned lag will go away.
[/ QUOTE ]
...you mean a PIII based system with 64MB ram and a 11000baud rate isn't considered a 'Monster' PC anymore?!
(sorry, couldn't resist 
)
((should have left when I said I was))
But the forums aren't the same wifout ya, Mid.
[ QUOTE ]
Lastly, isn't there a Studio B that suppresses all powers in the AE?
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, almost, but the truth is there's still stuff going on outside, and you can hear it. It is therefore being processed as well. Given that it's likely the OP's computer is a little out of date in some way, that processing is still part of the problem, and we all remember how some systems and sound = lag city.
Now, HighEvolutionary...
[ QUOTE ]
Anyone above lvl 10 standing around for more than 5 mins, should be booted to a PI hazzard Zone stripped of powers an just plain beat down...
[/ QUOTE ]
Glad you don't design game play, friend. That's just... messed up.
[ QUOTE ]
...the game is getting to where it's not even fun rto play because of all the lag an spamming going on around atlas any more.
[/ QUOTE ]
Why are you still in Atlas then? Get out of there quick! Go to, oh, I dunno, Galaxy City? Although AE isn't in Galaxy, but you can at least get leveled enough to make it to Kings Row in short order, I'm sure... You do have a choice.
And for the record, no, the game is still as fun as ever, at least here... but then I have a good machine that doesn't lag. I can certainly commiserate with ya, I've had a Lagfest 7000 computer too. Co* is not like any other game out there. I **TEST** machines with Co* to ensure they're worthy. If they don't run Co* for 20 minutes, they suck. That is how awful Co* is to run on a computer: It's my best standard to kill a computer with.
[ QUOTE ]
An it dosn't matter how many X packs you put out, If you don't Raise the server cap an get rid of the lag...
[/ QUOTE ]
Right, the packs don't matter. But you do seem to care, so... o.0
Also raising the server cap would *increase* lag... and why do you care how many people are on Freedom or Virtue (I'm assuming this is the whole 'cap' issue...) when there are so many others to congregate on. Given you're a level 10 or less, then it's an easy jump to just save the fashion of your character, log out, log in, create it again, and re-level it in 20 minutes or so. I see no issue here, save the whole "all my friends are on (choose server) and I can't get there!" problem. Friends will move. Just ask. If they don't... they're not very good friends then. I've built plenty of other characters to be able to play on various servers with others. That's called having fun, in my book.
[ QUOTE ]
...your game is going to Die because people will not put up with it
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, others have died, and not because of these issues. If it was going to die because of these particular issues, it would have done so shortly after I6.
Ok, that was kinda fun. Reminds me of old times. Also reminds me of why I stepped out for a little while... good stuff, good stuff indeed. 
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
[ QUOTE ]
Co* is not like any other game out there. I **TEST** machines with Co* to ensure they're worthy. If they don't run Co* for 20 minutes, they suck. That is how awful Co* is to run on a computer: It's my best standard to kill a computer with.
[/ QUOTE ]
lol, I do to. Houtex.
I had this one amd system that would run every other game just fine, even crysis, but 20 minutes into CoH, i found out the cases cooling wasn't up to snuff and the cpu multiplier would drop in half to cool itself down.
There is a LOT of stuff going on in CoH, and its not just the graphics. Because of this I keep VERY clean and tidy pc's . This is worth it though as i never have issues with them either.
Combat Kangaroos, Justice Server. First 50's
Jirra Roo Plant/Storm/Stone/Musculature Controller
Combat Kangaroo Rifle/Energy/Mace/Spiritual Blaster
Kung Fu Kangaroo Martial Arts/Reflexes/Body/Spiritual Scrapper
Tribal Arc Shield/Elec/Mu/Spiritual Tanker
[ QUOTE ]
Not sure if this is where this belongs but oh well such is life, This is for the devs, GET RID OF THE DAMN LAG in game, An make AE a no Power Zone, with people standing around running powers, it's a royal pain in the back side to even move in there at times, same as with Atlas park, Anyone above lvl 10 standing around for more than 5 mins, should be booted to a PI hazzard Zone stripped of powers an just plain beat down, the game is getting to where it's not even fun rto play because of all the lag an spamming going on around atlas any more.An it dosn't matter how many X packs you put out, If you don't Raise the server cap an get rid of the lag your game is going to Die because people will not put up with it
[/ QUOTE ]
1) The Lag is no doubt your fault to some degree, what kind of system you running?
2) Raising the level cap may be good for some games, but, not CoX. It would break too much stuff. This games built around alts or haven't you noticed the 36 slot per server?
IMO we need more slots I'm pretty much full on two accounts 
Hum let me look an see if anything is gone bad here in the Game of DOOM.
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name OWNER-8DF588BA5
System Manufacturer BIOSTAR Group
System Model N61PB-M2S
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 95 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~1808 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 6/16/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name OWNER-8DF588BA5\Owner
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 1.84 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 4.84 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
0xC0000000-0xEFFFFFFF PCI bus OK
0xF4000000-0xFE02FFFF PCI bus OK
0xFEC80000-0xFECBFFFF PCI bus OK
0xFEFF0000-0xFEFF03FF High precision event timer OK
0xFEFF0000-0xFEFF03FF System board OK
0xFE02F000-0xFE02FFFF Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
0xFE02E000-0xFE02E0FF Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller OK
0xFE024000-0xFE027FFF Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio OK
0xFE02D000-0xFE02DFFF NVIDIA Network Bus Enumerator OK
0xFE02C000-0xFE02CFFF NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller OK
0xFE02B000-0xFE02BFFF NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller OK
0xF8000000-0xFBFFFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK
0xF8000000-0xFBFFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS OK
0xE0000000-0xEFFFFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK
0xE0000000-0xEFFFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS OK
0xFA000000-0xFAFFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS OK
0xFDD00000-0xFDDFFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK
0xFDC00000-0xFDCFFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK
0xFDB00000-0xFDBFFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK
0xFDA00000-0xFDAFFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK
0xF0000000-0xF3FFFFFF Motherboard resources OK
0xBFEF0000-0xBFEFFFFF System board OK
0xFFFF0000-0xFFFFFFFF System board OK
0x0000-0x9FFFF System board OK
0xFEC00000-0xFEC00FFF System board OK
0xFEE00000-0xFEEFFFFF System board OK
0xFEFFF000-0xFEFFFFFF System board OK
0xFFF80000-0xFFF80FFF System board OK
0xFFF90000-0xFFFBFFFF System board OK
0xFFFED000-0xFFFEFFFF System board OK
0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI bus OK
0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge OK
0xA0000-0xBFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS OK
0xF0000-0xFFFFF System board OK
0x100000-0xBFEEFFFF System board OK
looks fine to me:-), An the wireless is for 2 other comps upstaires , so yea it's the Game of Doom I tell you :-)
[ QUOTE ]
looks fine to me:-), An the wireless is for 2 other comps upstaires , so yea it's the Game of Doom I tell you :-)
[/ QUOTE ] Except that information leads me to believe that your system specs are a bit lower than most of ours..
The hardware itself may not be broken, but it wont perform as well.
I noticed a significant increase in the entire game when I got a motherboard that could actually handle the data transfer rate.
its a fatal1ty.
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
I wonder if anyone has ever tried disabling dual-core support on single core systems. Since it's on by default, can you disable it with Renderthread -0?
Anyway. Single core processor @ 1.8 GHz
1 Gig of RAM
8400GS graphics
I wouldn't expect too much from this system and certainly not if you're running higher than 1280x1024 resolution. Try turning down some settings like Particle Count (5000) and turn Suppress Player Effects on.
Other than that, consider purchasing more RAM for your system. 2 Gig (2x1GB) comes in at just over $20. If you're up to spending a bit more cash, also consider a better graphics card (if possible).
-Wolf sends
Oh, and btw, here's Doom, the actual game:
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/doom/doom3/
This is the game of City of Heroes. Just in case there was anyone confused by that.
No, even with that information, things do not look 'fine', at least in relation to Co* playing. A lower speed single core AMD, 1G memory, 8400GS... Yeah, it'll suck. Sorry. The game's moved on quite a bit since that was an uberbox. You could play on Pinnacle and still have lag. Believe me. I do know. I have a box like that.
And... that's not to say there's not some issue with your ISP's route to the servers that's also introducing issues.
Sounds more like you need to upgrade stuff and perform investigative work. Because the truth is... if it were a problem of global proportions, do you think these boards would be as quiet as they are, or the game as populated as it still is?
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
Let's see:
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 95 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~1808 Mhz <---- SLOW CPU
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB <---- Low amount of on board memory for this particular game (and ANY new MMOs made after)
0xF8000000-0xFBFFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS <-- Old video card (Not all that old, but still given the on-board motherboard memory of 1GB)
So, honestly, the lag you're seeing is most likely due to your (now) low end system specs. Sticking another GB of physical memory in that box would increase the performace of CoX dramatically on that system though.
The System has 3 gig of Ram not 1
so not sure why it's showing that mess, oh well not as bad as all of that , but thank god AE will be shut down during double xp weekend woots
If you have 3 Gig of physical RAM installed and your system is only reporting 1 Gig, that is a definite problem that needs looking into.
If, on the other hand, you have 1 Gig of physical RAM installed and 2 Gig of virtual RAM (as reported in your system specs); totalling 3 Gig, then yes. You should seriously consider adding more physical RAM.
The virtual memory is actually a small part of your hard drive. Reading from it and writing to it is exceedingly slow compared to reading from and writing to physical memory and a common result is lag.
-Wolf sends
re: 3 vs 1 memory issue...
Bolding the parts that are relevant:
[ QUOTE ]
Hum let me look an see if anything is gone bad here in the Game of DOOM.
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name OWNER-8DF588BA5
System Manufacturer BIOSTAR Group
System Model N61PB-M2S
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 95 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~1808 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 6/16/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name OWNER-8DF588BA5\Owner
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 1.84 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 4.84 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
...
looks fine to me:-), An the wireless is for 2 other comps upstaires , so yea it's the Game of Doom I tell you :-)
[/ QUOTE ]
Ok, I'll admit, I kind of read this thing wrong too, but seriously, it DOESN'T look fine. The total versus available physical is just plain messed up... your virtual versus your pagefile is not corresponding... there is a lot going sideways here.
Where the heck did you get this anyway? What program? Whatever it is, it's whack, and I can't trust it now.
Get thee a DXDiag log and post it, k?
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
To me, the first part of that looks like the output from Microsofts System Info tool that is in Accessories > System Tools.
But yeah, that memory info looks totally whacked out.
Either a dxdiag or CoH Helper output would be much preferred.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
[ QUOTE ]
The System has 3 gig of Ram not 1
so not sure why it's showing that mess, oh well not as bad as all of that , but thank god AE will be shut down during double xp weekend woots
[/ QUOTE ]
Honestly, with your system I don't think it matters whether it has 1, 3, or OVER NINE THOUSAND GB of RAM. Your CPU and GPU are what's really hamstringing you. Well, that and your arrogant insistence that your computer is good enough to play this game.
Not sure if this is where this belongs but oh well such is life, This is for the devs, GET RID OF THE DAMN LAG in game, An make AE a no Power Zone, with people standing around running powers, it's a royal pain in the back side to even move in there at times, same as with Atlas park, Anyone above lvl 10 standing around for more than 5 mins, should be booted to a PI hazzard Zone stripped of powers an just plain beat down, the game is getting to where it's not even fun rto play because of all the lag an spamming going on around atlas any more.An it dosn't matter how many X packs you put out, If you don't Raise the server cap an get rid of the lag your game is going to Die because people will not put up with it