Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98 (4.10, Build 2222) A Processor: Intel Pentium III, ~550MHz Memory: 126MB RAM Page File: 109MB used, 1811MB available DxDiag Version: 4.08.01.0881 32bit
Close everything on your computer and all AOL software and windows you can beofre starting the game. ¤Night
If you cannot upgrade your connection, then there are a couple things you can do. However, none of it is going to make you have the same kind of connectivity as someone with broadband. Just isn't possible. 1. Make sure your phone line is good quality. If the copper wire is degraded somewhere between you and the phone company's fat pipe, you will have a much poorer connection. If the copper in your house is old, you might want to replace it. If it's outside, the phone company **MIGHT** be nice enough to come out and replace it... but don't hold your breath. If wire degradation is your problem, you may just be out of luck unless you really know what you're doing and/or have a really nice phone company. 2. Changing the way the modem behaves. Back in my Quake1 glory days and when then U.S. Robotics (best modem makers ever) had their X2's (very first 56k modems), I messed around with multiple string settings until I had shaved a good 100ms off my average ping times. A string is a set of commands the modem uses as instructions about how to connect and what to do after you connect. Refer to your modem manual about them. My advice is to turn OFF any and all compression, set a "floor" and "ceiling" rate (basically will never try and connect slower or faster than the values you set... make sure your ceiling rate is slightly lower than what you'd like it to be), and turn off error correction. This will help a lot. Most modems use different commands to do that, and on top of that, I haven't used an actual analog modem for 5 years so I couldn't give you strings even if I wanted to. But there is a place to put your modem string somewhere in the properties of your dial-up program. Whether that be windows' general dialer or AOL or whatever, there's always some place to put it. Might be called "additional commands" or something. You might have to try different settings and mix and match until you get it right. But never force your modem to connect too high, as the faster the modem goes the more unstable it gets (which is why if you force a ceiling rate, you want it lower than normal). Also, look for servers that require the least amount of hops to get to. If you do a "tracert" and the IP address of the server in a command prompt in windows, it will show you how many hops (connections) it has to go through to get there. The lower the better, and the more stable and faster your connection will be. Hope that helps, though it might not as it's kind of technical and not a very detailed walkthrough. Like I said, all modems are different as with Internet Providers. Your best bet is to consult your modem manual, your internet provider, and maybe do a search for what you're looking for by people who have already done the work. -Jomero
Assuming you're in Windows 95 or better: Control Alt Delete Turn off almos everything except Systray Explorer and anything else that looks very important. Experiment now to find out what you can and can't kill. ¤Night
