It came from nowhere.

Some time yesterday.

THE WORST LAG EVER

Literally. I could walk from one side of old sanctuary to the other, then magically beam back to where I started. Anyone who saw Phoenix at the Sunday Tournament would appreciate just how bad it is. And on our end the game is nigh on unplayable for us right now. I have eliminated PC problems, Router Problems, I'm pretty sure that it's not the efU server. Hell, can't even connect to Gamespy properly. But it's not just slowing down, it's like the messages being sent between our computers and the server and being skewed. There are times when Phoenix's character has been knocked down and has stood up and started attacking again completely by itself. Or walking after we've stopped providing input. Any suggestions?

I've had that happen a few times.

Most recently during a Troll and Hook Horror quest.

The troll incident lasted for many many minutes, creating a situation where you could neither log into the server (vanished from gamespy and became unresponsive to direct connections) but remained online and unable to log players out of the game either unless it force dropped someone's connection.

Quite frustrating sometimes.

I think Phoenix's terrible lag is her connection.

I was completely fine during the tournament, as were most others.

A few things to check:

1. When the problem occurs, see if there are any programs running in the background that are using up lots of resources. Depending on how your computer is set up, the cause could be anything from your antivirus program to a scheduled software update.

2. Is your computer the only one connected to the internet, or are there others in your house? If so, see if the problem persists after they've been disconnected. Perhaps one of your roommates just discovered file sharing for the first time. That could definitely cause those types of symptoms.

3. You might have malware on your system. If you are technically inclined, I recommend you get and use a program called HijackThis to check. There are some very helpful forums online where you can find help on how to use it.

If I were you, I would run some kind of speed test from the system to make sure that you are getting 100% use out of your bandwidth. If none of that helps, contact your ISP and raise Hell.

PlayerCharacter A few things to check:

1. When the problem occurs, see if there are any programs running in the background that are using up lots of resources. Depending on how your computer is set up, the cause could be anything from your antivirus program to a scheduled software update.

2. Is your computer the only one connected to the internet, or are there others in your house? If so, see if the problem persists after they've been disconnected. Perhaps one of your roommates just discovered file sharing for the first time. That could definitely cause those types of symptoms.

By process of elimination, it isn't a problem of an individual PC. There are 2 PCs on the Network, mine Desktop and Phoenix's Laptop. Both are suffering in exactly the same way. It isn't our router either, I tried with an old usb modem and had exactly the same reaction. Which means the problems lies from our Phone Cable onwards.

The most curious thing is that I am only getting this problem with certain things. I can't get a ping below 400 on Counterstrike anymore but thats been like that for about 4 months and I'm not overtly bothered. This NWN lag has only surfaced in the last 3 days. Also, after finding a serial number for my Bandwidth Meter (Damned if I'm paying for it) I am getting average DU speeds. I've just pulled up a Youtube page and I got a comfortable 1.2MB instantly. Yet when I run NWN, with nothing else using the connection, I average out at about 0.7kb per second and peak at about 1.3-1.4kb. And it's ONLY on NWN.

What the shit is going on?

The only thing that I could think of that would affect games and not web downloads on two computers would be something on the ISP side.

Call tech support and try to get your call escalated as quickly as you can. Also ask them if they have any policies about restricting bandwidth for online games or file sharing. If they do, their hardware could be mistaking your games for peer to peer software. Stranger things have happened...