A Basic Reality

You, Your Internet Service Provider, and Playing Online Games.

If you have problems with lags, warps, or dumps when playing online games,
that is usually not a game problem or a GameStorm network problem.

Not all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are the same. Your best ISPs are
those that care enough about their service to only offer service to as many
customers as they can support with a quality connection. There are ISPs out
there that will actually turn away customers before they will over-sell their
capacity. When you find one of those providers, latch onto it--your gaming
will probably be excellent!

Only you can determine whether or not your Internet service provider meets
your need for a quality connection to online games. Two people using the same
service can experience very different levels of connection quality, depending
on a number of variables. All you can do is make use of evaluation periods.
Don't be afraid to shop around for the best ISP. If they want you as a
subscriber, they'll provide the service and connectivity you need!

Basic Solutions.

Listed below are some basic things to try to help smooth out an Internet
connection that occasionally gives you problems. If these changes do not
improve your gaming experience, you may need to pursue more drastic options.
Before you do that however, try working through the following suggestions. If
these work for you, you may want to configure a special Dial-up Networking
connection for use ONLY when you play games, then use your "normal"
connection for other Internet browsing.



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Suggestion: Try connecting to your ISP at 9600 baud.
Explanation: It's counter-intuitive, but higher speeds are not always better
when it comes to online gaming. We sometimes see greater frequencies of
disconnects at higher speeds.
Implementation: Go into your modem's properties, and reduce the maximum
connection speed.
Detailed Instructions: (Windows 95 only)
Select your Start Button, Settings, Control Panel.
Double-click on the Modems icon.
Double-click on your modem, or high-light it and click "Properties."
Where it says "Maximum Speed," set the value in the drop down list box to
9600 or 19200.
Click "Ok," then "Close," then close the control panel.

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Suggestion: Turn off data compression.
Explanation: The default setting for most modems is to attempt to compress
blocks of data before sending them out. This can adversely affect the smooth
streaming necessary for an optimum game connection.
Implementation: Change the properties of the Dial-up Networking connection
you use for gaming so that the data compression box is unchecked.
Detailed Instructions: (Windows 95 only)
Double click the My Computer icon, then Dial-up Networking.
Right click on the connection you use for Internet gaming. If you have only
one ISP, or only use one connection, click on it with the right mouse button.
Select Properties.
Down by the selected modem, click on Configure.
Click on the Connection tab, then on the Advanced button.
Click the box next to Compress data if there is a check mark in it (i.e.,
turn it off). You want this box un-checked.

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Suggestion:Adjust your modem's transmit and receive buffers.
Explanation: Transmit and recieve buffers allow your modem to queue up data
before sending it out. This improves your modem's efficiency for high-speed
communications. However, game connections do not need to be high-speed, and
having large buffers can adversely affect your game connection's performance!
Implementation: Move your modem's buffer slides toward the "low" setting.
Note: this may not work well if you have a US Robotics WinModem.
Detailed Instructions: (Windows 95 only)
Go to your Windows/Control Panel and double-click on the "Modems" icon.
Select your modem and click on the Properties button.
Click the Connection button.
Click on the Port Settings button. This will open up the Advanced Port
Settings window.
Slide the Receive Buffer and the Transmit Buffer to the "Low" settings.
Click OK, then OK again, then Close. Close your Control Panel window.
This concludes the Basic Solutions. After making one or more of these
changes, check your game connection performance. If you still experience lags
or warps, or disconnections, go to the following section.
Intermediate Solutions.

The following section involves going a little bit deeper into the network
configuration section of your computer. You should not make changes to this
part of your Windows 95 configuration without having the Windows 95 CD-ROM
handy.



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Suggestion: Clean up your Excess Protocol Bindings.
Explanation: When you add an adapter to your network configuration (which is
what the Dial-up Networking installation does), Windows 95 will bind excess
protocols to that adapter. These should be cleaned up since, in some
instances, they can interfere with your Dial-up Networking connection. Note:
If your ISP is America Online, you may want to do this to your AOL Adapter,
too.
Implementation: Remove all protocols bound to your Dial-up Networking
Adapter, except TCP/IP.
Detailed Instructions: (AOL users skip to step 8)
In My Computer Double Click Dial Up Networking.
Right click on icon for your ISP dial-up and select Properties.
Click Server Type. "TYPE OF DIALUP SERVER" should be PPP:Windows95.
Under ADVANCED OPTIONS, No boxes should be checked.
Under ALLOWED NETWORK PROTOCOLS, only "TCP/IP" should be checked.
Click TCP/IP Settings button. Should be NO check in "Use IP Header
Compression" box.
Click OK on all boxes all the way out.
Open Control Panel.
Double Click Network
Double Click Dial Up Adapter. (AOL users repeat this and the following steps
for your AOL Adapter, if necessary.
Click the Advanced tab.
In the property box, left click "Use IPX Header Compression," Make sure that
value is set to NO in the drop-down list box to the right by changing the yes
to no.
Click OK all the way out.
The above steps solve disconnects (dumps) and warping problems for many
users. If, after implementing both the basic and intermediate steps above you
still have problems with lags, warps, or dumps, don't give up!
You have a problem connection. For that, we have bad news and we have good
news. The bad news is: You might not be able to "fix" your current connection
problems with your current ISP. The good news is: We might have advice that's
useful to you. Playing online games is not a lost cause! Never say die!

Bottom Line: If your Internet Service Provider will not provide you with an
uncongested Internet connection, no amount of fiddling with your
configuration will fix this. If you really want to play games online, you
might have to shop around until you find a provider that offers you the
service you demand. Many people have EXCELLENT connections into GameStorm,
ALL the time. The question is: Are you willing to find an ISP that gives you
a good connection into the game you want desperately to play?

What makes this difficult is the fact that you can't always blame your ISP.
If your connection through them goes through an area of the Internet where
congestion problems are severe, then when the Internet gets busy, your game
play will suffer. A routing problem like this isn't anyone's fault; it's
merely a fact of life on the Internet. The only solution is to use an ISP
that gives you the routing you need for a consistently good connection.