Technical Help: Network Lag

[Caster13]

Hi guys, I could use some help.
 
I recently bought and put together a new computer. It's got an Intel i-660, 4 GB of RAM, and an EVGA Geforce 250 with a 1 GB of memory. Perhaps the biggest difference between my old rig and this new one, however, is that it's running Windows 7 (64-bit).
 
Ever since I reinstalled NWN and started logging in, I've noticed that I'll get spurts of lag. It's not my computer itself lagging, the models and animations are still moving and I can still interact with the UI. There is, however, a very obvious disruption in communication between me and the server. I will, for example, be traveling with a bunch of other people, all of the character models will suddenly stop moving and just idle, half a second later, all the characters have jumped/teleported/fast-forwarded a few steps and things continue on.
 
This happens about once every five, ten minutes and often when there are a bunch of characters and models on the screen, such as during a quest. Then again, it could be just that the problem is that much more noticeable when so many things are on the screen.
 
So, I'm wondering if anybody's experienced anything similar and if they ever did anything to fix the problem.

[Paha]

First of all, have you disabled vsync from graphic card? Second, what graphic settings are you running? I would suggest just dropping general settings and going with good texture details.

On other note, if you feel it's connection issue, you could dabble with the firewalls and possible connectivity matters. There are also suggestions on how to improve possible problems for some people with connections, if you google windows 7 game lag or anything of similar kind.

Oh. Also, what windows 7 are you running? I've noted that seems to matter. I myself has the ultimate version, and never had any problems.

[Father of the Four Winds]

I don't know how you feel about working with the registry, but changing some settings there may help.
 
http://lifeandcode.net/2009/05/reduce-game-network-latency-in-windows-7-or-vista/

[Caster13]

Hey guys. I forgot to mention. Strangely, while the graphics or visuals continues to play/render smoothly, I have noticed that my audio cuts out in parallel to the apparent lag problem.
 
Paha Poika,
I set all of the graphics to their maximum settings. I think I have vsync disabled since I usually prefer it off. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium edition.
 
Father of the Four Winds,
Awesome link.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.

[Paha]

I had to leave out my old sound card, sound blaster what ever it was. It did not have full support for windows 7 and for me, caused lag and problems with sound. It can be one possibility as well.

[Caster13]

Hmm. I've got on-board sound from an ASUS P7P55D PRO.
 
My computer is connected to the router through an on-board LAN, ethernet cable. Is it possible for the sound to be interferring with the LAN?

[Paha]

Well I doubt it's that necessarily. The register matter can help if you're up for it. I've done similar in the past and it does help if you have issues.

On other hand, I'd just go and check that you got latest firmwares on your modem or what not and test if you got connection issues or are they hardware. I'd rather gues it's just something to do with connection matters. Firewall, ports, simple windows lag problem.

[Caster13]

I'll give this all a try when I get home. Thanks again!

[IxTheSpeedy]

Hey Caster, i'd put money on this being a driver issue.  You built the machine yourself, right?  Check for any driver compatibility issues for the card you have and windows 7 64-bit.

I'm running windows 7 64-bit and playing NWN in windows XP compatibility mode and i'm good to go.  No issues at all.  My machine is MUCH less powerful than yours as well.

[John Poirot]

I've already updated my drivers but the compatibility mode is something I forgot about. Thanks for reminding me.

[Caster13]

My drivers are already up to date but I forgot about compatibility mode. I'll need to take a look at that. Thanks for reminding me!

[IxTheSpeedy]

Oh yeah, that's pretty key. Although, I would think that NWN just wouldn't run if that were an issue.  Give it a shot, I think you should run in that mode regardless.

[Paha]

It is just possible the latest updates on windows 7 screwed up. If you've gone down with the auto update, you got new windows activation techics or what ever and some other fo'shizzle that may be causing that thing.