LAG![]
We all know what that means or most of us do. This page is comprised of exactly what the title says; how to identify what type of lag you're experiencing and how to fix and or prevent it. As well as some additional information.
Terms commonly associated with lag issues:
- Delay - Response time for interactions is slowed
- FPS - Frames per second, (google for a more in depth answer)
- TPS - Ticks per second, there are 20 ticks per second
Identifying and Fixing lag:
The first thing you should do when you believe you are experiencing lag is type /tps (this command will show the tps in the form of 3 numbers ranging from 0-20 from the last 1, 5 and 15 minutes respectively), if the first number is below 15, then tell the DeVco staff in chat or use /w, they will solve it asap.
Now if /tps shows numbers all above 15 and you're still experiencing lag then use /cofh tps (this command will show the tps of all dimensions on the server the instant it was entered, the numbers are what matter) and if any of the numbers are not 20's and are below 10 there is a chance the server is spiking. The only way to confirm this is to wait a few seconds then do /cofh tps again, if the numbers are all high then do it again a few seconds later, if the numbers are low again the server is spiking. Now this is a tricky one because usually after a minute or 2 it will either disappear or end up crashing the server or causing constant lag, the best method to fix this is again to contact the DeVco staff and tell them its spiking.
Now if /tps and /cofh tps show nothing then the cause is a little harder to find, it might be someone exploring which you can do nothing about. It may also be client side, we'll get to that further down, however there is another cause directly connected to the player, commonly known as 'ping'. Press tab and look to the top right, there's your ping and if its below 450 you shouldn't be experiencing lag or that little its hard to notice, if that number is above 450 you will experience a delay in responses from the server. In knowing that each 100 ping is a 0.1 second in delay, so in short if you have 1000 ping you will get a 1 second delay, the cause of this? Well there's a few, one is simply you reaching your bandwidth's limit. Now some of you might not know what that is: It is your internet's maximum transfer rate, now finding that out is another story and one that is not going to be explained here. Another reason why your ping is high and though this is not that common is an item in your inventory is causing you delay, only way to test this is to remove 1 item at a time until your ping goes down, give it about 5-10 seconds for your ping to fix itself. Another rare cause is a corrupt area (chunk), these can either cause a HUGE delay (over 1k ping) or crash you, if you end up in one you will need to jail yourself, via the reward store, don't worry its free and there is an unjail option (see Jailing for more info). Also if you find a corrupt chunk report it to the DeVco staff with /ticket <msg>.
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Defining Lag: [WIP] []
everything after ; will be the definition and or what the term/phrase is associated with.
Server Wide lag; This type of lag affects the entire server which means everyone on it is also suffering.
Block lag; You break a block and it doesn't break... at least for a few seconds.
Client lag; This is a very vague 'definition' of one type as many things can cause this... and by many I mean lots and lots.
Often times when someone is 'lagging' every time they're logged on its due to the client more so than anything else. More specifically the computer a person is playing on. There are some very large and/or complex mods and packs that it takes significantly more processing power than standard vanilla Minecraft requires. Some computers may even have trouble playing vanilla Minecraft as well. There are a few options here I will address.
A simple, possible, solution to this is allocating more memory to Minecraft. How to do this depends on which launcher you are using. Instructions for common launchers will follow:
- ATLauncher: From the main screen after opening the launcher click the "Settings" tab on the right side. From there on the tab headings at the top, click "Java/Minecraft". The second option for "Maximum memory/ram" is the one you want.
- FTB Launcher: From the main screen after opening the launcher click on the tab heading labeled "Options." On this tab there is a slider next to "RAM Maximum (MB)"
- Vanilla Launcher: From the main screen after opening the launcher click the "Edit Profile" button for the profile you are having trouble with. The option you want here is "JVM Arguments." For the vanilla launcher is a little more in depth but it will be addressed below. Be sure the check box is ticked and as a side note, 1024M = 1G for this option.
Once you have found this option you need to know what your computer's memory or RAM capacity is. For Mac users, I'm sorry but I don't know how to find this. For Windows users it is relatively simple to find out. If you are on Windows 7 or 8 just open Windows Explorer, the My Computer icon on your desktop. On Windows 8, click the "This PC" option on the left pane. On the right side there should be some information about your computer, memory being one of them. This number is what we are looking for. On Windows 7 click the "Computer" option and on the bottom pane there is a memory number, which is what we are looking for. For either if you selected anything on the middle section just deselect it by clicking in the open whitespace (or whatever the majority color it is based on your theme).
Now that we know how much RAM your computer has it's time to set how much we want Java to be able to allocate for Minecraft. At the most you only want to allow Java to use up to half of your memory. Remember, 1024MB = 1GB. For the vanilla launcher, once you decide on how much you want to let Java use, the -Xmx flag has to be set in the "JVM Arguments" textbox. Put "-Xmx#G" without the quotes. Replace # with the number you decided on. If you decided on MB instead of GB replace the G with an M instead.
For low amounts of RAM (i.e. <2-4GB) it is inadvisable to play large modpacks as the more you allocate for Minecraft the less your computer will be able to use to run normally.
If there are other type of lag feel free to add them, NOTE: if u can think of specific 'types' of lag instead of 'client lag' please add them.
