Spell lag while raiding

[Swaby]

First off, specs:

Dell XPSM1730

Dual NVIDIA GeForce M8700 GT

Intel Core2 Duo T8300 2.4 GHZ

4GIG Memory

Vista 32bit

Question:

About a week ago I experienced very bad spell lag in various zones while raiding. I raid in extreme performance and am usually around 30fps. Everything else is normal (i.e., other character movement, NPC movement, in-game VC, although people tell me I lag on voice when this occurs). My FPS seem to be stable although, my ping seems to jump to 1K.

I have tried a fresh installation of EQ2, defraged, malware scans, new drivers for vid, etc. Also, tried enabling/disabling multicore support, doesn't change the problem.

I started thinking it was a connection issue. Reset modem, power cycled it, etc. Called ISP they my tested modem said ping was fine, no packet loss, etc.

FYI, cable modem (16gig) directly connected.

I am now thinking it is the routing to EQ2 servers, so here I will provide the log from tracert and pingpath:

Tracing route to sdkeq2-05-01.everquest2.com [199.108.12.161]over a maximum of 30 hops:  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.  2    35 ms    42 ms    25 ms  te-8-3-ur01.boulder.co.denver.comcast.net [68.85.107.193]   3    21 ms    11 ms    18 ms  te-9-1-ur02.boulder.co.denver.comcast.net [68.86.103.122]   4    13 ms    29 ms    38 ms  te-0-8-0-0-ar02.aurora.co.denver.comcast.net [68.86.179.97]   5    35 ms    35 ms    35 ms  pos-0-3-0-0-cr01.denver.co.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.91.1]   6    48 ms    44 ms    43 ms  te-4-4.car2.Denver1.Level3.net [4.79.82.57]   7    69 ms    50 ms    49 ms  ae-31-55.ebr1.Denver1.Level3.net [4.68.107.158]   8    55 ms    62 ms    63 ms  ae-2.ebr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.69.132.106]   9    64 ms    84 ms    77 ms  ae-4-4.car2.SanDiego1.Level3.net [4.69.133.213]  10    63 ms    57 ms    50 ms  ge-6-2.hsa1.SanDiego1.Level3.net [4.69.142.158]  11    64 ms    83 ms    53 ms  vl861.sdtermswitch-1.sonyonline.net [63.215.251.130]  12    59 ms    52 ms    71 ms  vl831.sdkollsw-1.sonyonline.net [64.37.144.82]  13    59 ms    67 ms    68 ms  sdkeq2-05-01.everquest2.com [199.108.12.161] Trace complete.Tracing route to sdkeq2-05-01.everquest2.com [199.108.12.161]over a maximum of 30 hops:  0  XXXXPC.hsd1.co.comcast.net. [67.176.58.244]   1     *        *        *     Computing statistics for 0 seconds...            Source to Here   This Node/LinkHop  RTT    Lost/Sent = Pct  Lost/Sent = Pct  Address  0                                           XXXXPC.hsd1.co.comcast.net. [67.176.58.244] Trace complete.

I assume the >30 hops is a bad thing and that the request timed out

Am I correct in assuming this maybe the root or at least partially contributing to the problem? And if so, how do I resolve this issue?

I appreciate any advise.

[TSR-DanielH]

Greetings,

This honestly looks like a problem with the modem considering all the timeouts you're receiving on that hop of the connection tests.  I assume this is a modem supplied by the ISP?  If so, it may need to be replaced.  I used to experience a similar issue that would only occur when connecting to a ventrilo server.

Before that, though, I would advise making sure that background applications aren't interferring with your connection.  To disable background programs:1. Select the START button.2. Select RUN, then type in "msconfig" (for Vista, type msconfig in the search bar at the bottom of the Start Menu)3. Press OK4. Select the STARTUP tab.5. In the list, uncheck all boxes EXCEPT for SCANREGISTRY and SYSTEM TRAY. If you use Windows XP, please note that SCANREGISTRY and SYSTEM TRAY will not be listed - just uncheck the entire list.6. Hit apply and then OK. Restart the computer and try the game again.If you are still experiencing the same issue, please reply back.