Slowdown problem when both PC's on LAN are on net

[Trey22]

Hello all, apologies for not being Forum Savvy (no pic or sig), but... I did try to do my homework and look around the forums before posting, but to no avail.

I have 2 PC's networked, connected to a 4-port 10/100 US Robotics 8000 DSL Router, into which my DSL modem connects to on the WAN port.

Actually, I have two problems. When I'm playing Battlefield1942, if the wife does anything on the net (EBAY-holic shopper) my game lags (stutters, glitches, whatever you may want to call it) and I get that annoying connection warning.

Second, having me and a friend play online at the same time also causes the connection warning, and it seems either one will always get disconnected.

I have SBC DSL, the 1.5 package (actual speed probably around 1.1, 1.2 according to some bandwith meters). So I figured it's not that theres not enough bandwith... so what's my problem?

PC's are almost identical, run XP Home, 2.4B's, 512 PC2700, 80GB 8MB cache drives, 1 w/ a GF4 vidcard, the other 9800 pro (mine of course) and with only one running BF, there are never any connections issues. Just when both are in use.

Friend told me I might need a switch... he wasn't sure, and I sure didn't know, hence my post.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Trey

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

You already have a switch as part of your router, another one won't do anything for you, your friend is wrong.

I'm going to guess that while you may have the bandwidth for both computers, the latency goes up with the connection is shared, and that's why you're seeing the delays. If the game is that important, just disconnect your wife's computer.

 

[DeepSparklePupa]

That's fubar, Trey. I run BF1942 (Desert Combat) inside my LAN while simultaneously hosting a Ventrilo Server (VoIP) with 5+ external clients + me (internal) on a seperate machine on the LAN, *and* simultaneously hosting a NWN server with 4+ external clients. Additionally, my wife will surf and check email while I play. There's no way your wife's activities should be causing packet drops.

I'm curious: what setting have you got under BF1942 for connection speed? I think you get there by loading the game and clicking settings: options. Bah, I forget. Anyhow, you have a choice between 32k modem, ISDN (128k), Cable Modem and something like T1. I've never really found any documentation on what effect these settings have on game performance, but I suspect your problem may be in here. As FYI, I have might set to ISDN - second lowest on the chart.

-DSP

 

[Trey22]

I know it sucks... I'm blasting away on BF, and my wife decides to load a web page (any web page) and boom, that stupid connection message pops up, sometimes momentarily, other times I get disconnected from the server.

You're on the same track as some others who have offered suggestions... check the Connection Speed on the Multiplay page in BF.

Right now both PC's are set to ADSL 256. Gonna try different combinations and see what happens.

Thanks,

Trey