Hello everyone,
After much discussion relating to lag, the EE team at Aeria and X-Legend have decided to make an official post explaining types of lag in detail as well as what we're currently working on to address the situation.
Problem #1
Screen freezes or frame rate reduction when you are running around in a crowded area.
Why:
1. Your computer needs to render more models on the map(characters, monsters, etc.)
and your computer needs to render more textures on the models.
2. Your computer needs time to load and process more information about other characters such as weapons, costumes, mounts, skills being used, location, direction, etc.
What can be done?
1. Upgrade your graphics card, processor, or RAM.
2. Lower the display settings.
Other thoughts:
This is not a server-side problem, as the server only sends out character information that the servers are able to handle. Once they send out the data, the rest of the job is all on the networking (both on your side and on IDC side) and your computer's rendering speed.
Problem #2
Monster fighting lag / Chat lag.
For example: Use a skill and it reacts 2 seconds later, or lag on chatting.
Why:
1. Very bad networking latency happened between your computer and the server.
Example: You send out the command to the server, but the server gets this information maybe one second later, then returns to your computer that this command is accepted another second later. Your computer will then render this action 2 secs later.
2. The server load is too high- the server channel receives your information and queues it in the memory, and delays when sending back the accept confirmation.
3. If you use a world call, then it might also lag because the assigned server (most likely the database server) is too busy.
What can be done?
1. Upgrade your Internet speed.
2. Upgrade the game servers.
3. Move to a channel that has fewer players.
Other thoughts:
Avoid just automatically clicking channel 1, instead try to play in less used channels such as 3 or 5.
Problem #3
Lag on accepting or returning a mission, or on chatting with an NPC.
Why:
1. The database hard drive is overloaded with read and write requests, causing a delay in responses.
What can be done?
Players cannot do anything about this, as it is really server lag.
Problem #4
Lag on changing zone, or lag on login/logout.
Why:
1. Unstable networking. There are some disconnect and reconnect actions happening when you are changing zones, or logging in/out. If there are some networking problems between you and Aeria's datacenter, there is a chance that you will be disconnected.
2. Database is too busy with writing or reloading your information from and to the hard disks. But it should get smoothed out after a few tries because your character information should get cached in the database memory.
What can be done?
1. Check the networking.
2. Update the database.
Aeria's Next Steps
- Delete redeemed mail
(System mail that contained items/gold that have already been retrieved by the player but not deleted)
- Delete accounts that have been inactive for 6+ months
(Users will be warned via e-mail and given 2 weeks to respond prior to deletion)
- Hardware Upgrades
(Such as today; more may follow)
- Minor efficiency updates
(These have already been ongoing to improve the server's performance, and will continue.)
These steps will help improve the lag situation and we expect most of these solutions to be implemented.