UK Server Problems

[CarmineKiller]

I have had 2 threads deleted already for discussing this, but despite that I still want to get to the bottom of the problems folk in the UK are experiencing currently. In the past week or so there has been a sharp increase in lag/rubberbanding and generally the game has become unplayable for me and my friends. Those I don't know who i have been in a lobby with as well, have cited similar concerns about the gameplay.

So Epic please do not delete this thread, as ultimately it will benefit you in the longrun, as we need to establish just how serious a problem there is for UK players right now. It is not fair that the issue be ignored. Something has happened recently, and we need to know what.

[That british guy]

Theres been quite a fair bit of lag for me too.

There was one guy yesterday who sponged insane amounts from all of us and we were all randoms, so it can't have been just my connection. The rest of his team however, went down just fine.

[IX FlameHaze XI]

I'm in the UK, i've had abit of lag recently, i was telporting about Azura yesterday -.-

[CarmineKiller]

i have experienced some serious sponging myself, more so than usual. As bad as 3 Gnasher shots not putting down a person who doesn't even know i have come up behind him.

I'm not saying that we don't have servers etc etc, i don't want this thread to be about that, and then turn into a P2P argument. But the quality of my games have seriously declined, and i know it isn't my internet connection. That has remained the same as it always was, and i have no issues with any other MP games.

I just want as many UK players as possible to detail in here any issues they are having, with the view that Epic can at least take a look at the UK setup.

[dopemanJr]

We need better servers for Europe as a whole, not specifically UK, but yea, couldn't agree more.

When beta was out I was playing in Germany, with people from mid U.S.A. Connection was FLAWLESS! I mean flawless!

So in beta, I played on a perfect U.S. connection every day.
Now? I wouldn't even dare to join their U.S. lobby and search a match, Lagging and rubberbanding WAAY too much.

I mean, E.U. servers are laggy, so obviously U.S. would be down the ****ter for me, but what amazes me is the TOP of the LINE connection i had during the BETA.

[coswurv]

I have to agree with the above post, the beta connection was excellent, now its just pants and keeps coming up "host has quit" so cant be on servers at the minute.

[DanTheGamer11]

Ireland too please! The last time I played a match was last year and the connections were much better... I used to get a good score but now I get a max of 1 kill and something like 7/8 deaths cause of lag, getting downed in under half a second with a lancer etc. And now you need DLC to play on dedicated servers... that wasn't advertised at launch. I played a couple of matches yesterday shoulda mentioned it earlier.

Where's Quick Match gone?

[CarmineKiller]

Yes my friends and I always comment on how brilliant the Beta connection was. It's never been as good since sadly.

I think a cause of the problems could be matchmaking. I have found now I often end up with a diverse location of players in a match, whereas up until recently i found it was a solid base of UK players who would make up the match. Perhaps the server hosting the game cannot handle the mixed location base of players these days.

Whatever is happening though, it is having a detrimental effect on my enjoyment of the MP right now.

[DanTheGamer11]

Well the majority of people I played with yesterday were with French and Italians... the one with the french only ended up with the host hacking or something cause the enemy team spawned where we spawned but the were stuck and couldn't move, soon they quit... I'd rather play with and against Irish/UK people... they don't cheat as much and the connection is much better.

[dopemanJr]

i really wish we could start a kind of revolution. We have the potential power as a community, but not the discipline. We could really change things

[CarmineKiller]

lol, it is that kind of talk that will get the thread deleted!!

Seeing what some of you guys have said, and having a little scout around on the net, it appears that 1 of 3 things might be the problem.

Firstly, either UK servers are being invaded (for want of a better word) by Europeans and Americans, and it is dragging the connection quality down. This happens on games like Battlefield too, were the diversity of player location is too much for the server to calculate accurately (for want of a better phrase).

Secondly, UK players are being placed on servers in Europe or afar, which is why we keep coming up against Italians, French, Germans etc. Our connection to these servers is being affected by distance, which is what is causing the lag/teleporting etc.

Finally, there is legitimately something wrong with the UK servers, and some are either down or not working correctly. I obviously have no evidence of this, but it is this I would like confirmed by Epic either way. At least so we have an idea of what is going on.

[DanTheGamer11]

I'm a bit confused though, I don't think I ever play on Dedicated servers cause I don't have DLC, it keeps telling me this.. so why ain't I getting placed with Mainland Europeans?

[dopemanJr]

lol, it is that kind of talk that will get the thread deleted!!

Seeing what some of you guys have said, and having a little scout around on the net, it appears that 1 of 3 things might be the problem.

Firstly, either UK servers are being invaded (for want of a better word) by Europeans and Americans, and it is dragging the connection quality down. This happens on games like Battlefield too, were the diversity of player location is too much for the server to calculate accurately (for want of a better phrase).

Secondly, UK players are being placed on servers in Europe or afar, which is why we keep coming up against Italians, French, Germans etc. Our connection to these servers is being affected by distance, which is what is causing the lag/teleporting etc.

Finally, there is legitimately something wrong with the UK servers, and some are either down or not working correctly. I obviously have no evidence of this, but it is this I would like confirmed by Epic either way. At least so we have an idea of what is going on.

IMO, and I could be completely wrong, but i think your heavily mistaken. UK servers never existed, and couldn't get invaded by European servers, as the UK is in Europe.

Back to the point. Epic didn't give UK individual servers, nor did it give Germany, or any other country in Europe their own servers. What we have are European servers. For all of Europe, hence you getting matched up with Italians, French, Germans, etc... Completely makes sense.

The US doesn't have servers for different states. (Texas for example is much bigger than the UK) The US. has North american servers. Thats why you see all the complaints of American playing with Mexicans, and Canadians.

So sorry to bust it to you, but you complaint is invalid. UK doesn't have servers. Europe as a whole does.

My connection is usually pretty good, (yea some sponges, thats the game). The might be the reason my connection is on average quite good is because i play ranked 99% of the time. This almost ensure i play on dedicated servers (as long as they are up and running)

Could that be your reason? Do you play quick match a lot?

That could lead to a whole nother issue about all the people complaining about connection, when its obvious why.. Because 95% of people are playing quick match.

Epic said a long time ago, Dedicated servers are reserved for ranked games, quick match take up the extra room that is left over after all Ranked games are on servers.
(Theory) So I imagine RANKED TDM takes up about 50-60% of the servers in Europe. Then the other ranked game modestake another 20% , , which leaves quick match with maybe 10-20% of server bandwidth. So not all quick match games will be on dedicated.

[CarmineKiller]

Firstly, can you categorically confirm that there are no servers in the UK?

Secondly, the logic does not fit. A tiny minority of overall players play Ranked, so there should be plenty of room on Quick Match for servers. even more so now they have split those with and without the Fenix Rising DLC.

So the argument of Ranked vs Quick in terms of server space doesn't hold up. Plus why all of a sudden have things taken a turn for the worse. I had little to complain about in terms of this a few weeks back.

[dopemanJr]

Not sure... but i guarantee you UK does not have individual server. Can not confirm. It is that way though.

don't want to write a super long thread again.
Europe has servers, North America (not USA) has servers, Asia/Australia have servers.

Europe (us) gets matched up with All EU countries.. Proof is the players base you and I play with.
North America gets US, Mexican, and Canadian players.
Asia/Australia, self explanatory.

all above is confirmed by putting the pieces together on the forum.

I play with a lot of people from UK, to Ireland, with a very good connection. Always ranked.. so thats not the reason.

Just as a test, try some ranked games and see if connection is better. if not ok, logic flawed. But it still holds that UK doesn't no have individual servers. Microsoft holds Epic's servers, and Microsoft has European wide servers.

Sidenote: Incase you didn't know, Dedicated servers puts everyone on a equal playing field. So if out of the 10 people your playing with, 1 or 2 of them are streaming, and downloading while playing. This will make the entire game laggy, as the server will want to equal playing field. So all players get the lag of the person downloading (to make it fair). Dunno if you knew that.. later

[CarmineKiller]

thats just it though mate. They are meant to, but they don't. Which is why some players sponge, some don't. Some are unkillable, others go down in a second. COD tried to do the same thing with a lag compensation model. It just does not work. Maybe Epic had it cracked, but suddenly something has gone wrong.

Anyway, this isn't about how or why the servers work in general. This is about a decline in the UK quality of games in the past week or so. It's been sharp and it's been noticeable. Too many have commented on here and in game for it just to be a coincidence.

[x6nat]

Secondly, UK players are being placed on servers in Europe or afar, which is why we keep coming up against Italians, French, Germans etc. Our connection to these servers is being affected by distance, which is what is causing the lag/teleporting etc.

I thought that the servers are only in Ireland and Italy. So it´s normal that we all connect to the same servers. There are not enough servers for Europe and with the bad matchmaking all this BS happen.

[DanTheGamer11]

But what about us who don't play on the servers?

[JuggaloJ4y]

I have a great connection and I always seem to be playing with people in Canada and in Europe. I don't see lag that often and I am usually host when I play horde with other people. What do you think it could be? Is your guys connections decent or they crap?

[Danny J]

Last night I got better connections on US servers than I do when I play solo and get UK ones. Then again I play on US servers 95% of the time so my perception of what a good connection is probably off lol.

[tc88 chosen 1]

I have had horrible connections you either get a game with 6 differnt countries in 1 room our play a full team of italians are spanish who all run around like there on host but sponge 4/5 shots point blank
There is no uk server in answer to OP .I would rarther go back to gears 2 1 host rarther than keep playing against teams of unkillable ppl who just happen to live closer to servers

[tc88 chosen 1]

I have a great connection and I always seem to be playing with people in Canada and in Europe. I don't see lag that often and I am usually host when I play horde with other people. What do you think it could be? Is your guys connections decent or they crap?

If your only playing horde then you wont notice try playing full teams of ppl from another country in vs, Bad connection i have 20 meg

[ThE_SpEcIaL_1]

i really wish we could start a kind of revolution. We have the potential power as a community, but not the discipline. We could really change things

So when r u running for election

[NP473L]

Agree with this. The game has been nigh unplayable since mid-february. I don't know why...and I don't think I've gone crap

The beta was almost perfect (connection-wise)...I don't know why we've got all these issues upon release

[CarmineKiller]

Tried a few games again tonight, and whilst I admit it wasn't as bad as the last few times, its just not playing smooth. Sticking to walls, jerkiness, sponging - it was all still there. I have a good speed net, and a low ping, and I have no issues with my broadband elsewhere. Like I said, I had no real problems with this until very recently.

It could be something very minor that has been tweaked, or a setting that has changed. But it is clearly affecting the game. I have also noticed a lot more people are quitting games too these days. Like they are also backing out of a problem game and searching again.

[Gerbil_Stuffa]

Stopped playing for 2 weeks and came back today. Had one game then put Battlefield 3 back on. Was on Thrashball and run up to a guy point blank on mulcher put 2 bullets in which did..... nothing. Retro out im dead. Thing was i even stopped and aimed at the back of his head. I can take losing to a good team or someone who pulls off a good shot. When i fire and blood drops like buckets with 2 shots point blank and no kill or down i just think no more thanks. I used to love gears and have put i guess 1000 hours into it. Must have been over all those years. Finally coming to the conclusion with about 8 others who are the same that the dreeam of what this game "WAS" is slowly dying out. It is a damn shame and i am really gutted cos to be honest Gears was the game in the number one spot for about 7 years. Never thought i would see it collect dust.

I got banned from this forum a couple of months ago for a post just like this. I might aswell say the same thing again as i do not think Epic are really in touch with fans and talk to them so here goes.

Epic i am in the UK and have noticed though all 5 of us are based in London Uk we are matched against very random teams.

TEAM 1
London
London
London
London
London

Team 2
Brazil
India
Spain
USA
France

I thought that the servers for the uk were in Europe? If that is the case why do we get matched against USA , India , Brazil ? I do not understand. Could someone let us know what is happening please. Thank you in advance

*Watch me get banned for asking again

[Gerbil_Stuffa]

I have had horrible connections you either get a game with 6 differnt countries in 1 room our play a full team of italians are spanish who all run around like there on host but sponge 4/5 shots point blank
There is no uk server in answer to OP .I would rarther go back to gears 2 1 host rarther than keep playing against teams of unkillable ppl who just happen to live closer to servers

You just said it bang on. What logic is it that 5 players from london (My team) join a game of 5 randoms from anywhere in the world. Its crazy cos the most trouble i have are Italy and France. Both seem impossible to kill sometimes. Not for the lack of emptying a whole lancer clip into someone either. I think Epic really got it wrong connections wise as there are clearly many people with problems. At first i thought it was me and upgraded to a 50 meg connection. I play any other game and dont get the issues i do here. I download a movie in under 4 mins. No idea anymore so time to find another game to worship but it will not be easy

[CarmineKiller]

your experience is not an uncommon one sadly. I often check where other players are from these days, that's partly where this thread stemmed from. There is either a tiny minority of players in the UK left, or our server settings are incorrect when it comes to matchmaking.

As a related question, can anyone confirm for me exactly what region is? When i see people playing in my region, does that mean UK or Europe? If it is Europe, then I would go as far as to say that mechanic doesn't work either. The times only 5 or 6 people are playing Ranked on a particular playlist, is way too common.

[Prohibited]

I commented in a similar thread about a week ago, I was teleporting and hitting twice as many shots to kill people.
(So annoying trying to aim when you character is suffering from Parkinsons
)
But to be fair to the game, it has improved the last week, for me anyhow....
One thing I have changed is who I play with, just electing to play with my mates who have a decent connection and don't download/stream.
Obviously this is far from ideal but it has helped enjoy the game again!

Oh, and I play Ranked and Quick and have lagged on both. The worst lag I actually had, was on Ranked.

[Mystic]

I have noticed recently I have been playing with a lot of random Americans so god knows what servers i've been connecting to. My net is good at 100mb but a lot of the time I'm still getting some lag and feel as if I'm punished for having that as other people can sponge every shot I put into them from any weapon and just kill me with one shot.

[John Birdflu]

Stopped playing for 2 weeks and came back today. Had one game then put Battlefield 3 back on. Was on Thrashball and run up to a guy point blank on mulcher put 2 bullets in which did..... nothing. Retro out im dead. Thing was i even stopped and aimed at the back of his head. I can take losing to a good team or someone who pulls off a good shot. When i fire and blood drops like buckets with 2 shots point blank and no kill or down i just think no more thanks. I used to love gears and have put i guess 1000 hours into it. Must have been over all those years. Finally coming to the conclusion with about 8 others who are the same that the dreeam of what this game "WAS" is slowly dying out. It is a damn shame and i am really gutted cos to be honest Gears was the game in the number one spot for about 7 years. Never thought i would see it collect dust.

I got banned from this forum a couple of months ago for a post just like this. I might aswell say the same thing again as i do not think Epic are really in touch with fans and talk to them so here goes.

Epic i am in the UK and have noticed though all 5 of us are based in London Uk we are matched against very random teams.

TEAM 1
London
London
London
London
London

Team 2
Brazil
India
Spain
USA
France

I thought that the servers for the uk were in Europe? If that is the case why do we get matched against USA , India , Brazil ? I do not understand. Could someone let us know what is happening please. Thank you in advance

*Watch me get banned for asking again

Too true bro. I always play against people from Sweden, Poland, Spain, France, Italy, Germany etc. The quality of games has decreased since release, and I share your pain about seven years of Gears being 'THE GAME'. Recently I've struggled to put my disk in and play MP because of the BS that happens. I could cope with Gears 2 for some reason? I've been playing SSX over the weeknd and it is totally awesome online. I also got BF3 last year and haven't played it much, but the past week I've started playing it and it is so amazing! I don't know why I didn't play it before! Every EA game I have from this season/ year (Fifa 12, BF 3, SSX) play so smooth online due to the EA SERVERS. EPIC COULD LEARN SOMETHING FROM EA!!!!!

[John Birdflu]

I have noticed recently I have been playing with a lot of random Americans so god knows what servers i've been connecting to. My net is good at 100mb but a lot of the time I'm still getting some lag and feel as if I'm punished for having that as other people can sponge every shot I put into them from any weapon and just kill me with one shot.

I played with some guys from USA a few months back and the connection was better than the European servers I'm used to!!!!!

[Mystic]

I played with some guys from USA a few months back and the connection was better than the European servers I'm used to!!!!!

Your lucky the connections I've had have been horrible, but it could of been them connecting to our European servers. I have noticed though that I get put into matches with the same 4 french people alot and playing against them was worse than playing against the recent Americans.
If most of the USA servers are better than Europe and the connections are better I would rather play on them.

[Mystic]

double posted for some reason

[Blaze562]

I've been playing since launch and i'm from the UK and i've never experienced any lag whatsoever. My connection is only 20MB and i don't even always get that. Just play ranked and make sure you have the DLC and you should get connected to dedicated servers.

[The Locust Horde]

Ireland too please! The last time I played a match was last year and the connections were much better... I used to get a good score but now I get a max of 1 kill and something like 7/8 deaths cause of lag, getting downed in under half a second with a lancer etc. And now you need DLC to play on dedicated servers... that wasn't advertised at launch. I played a couple of matches yesterday shoulda mentioned it earlier.

Where's Quick Match gone?

Its funny as the server is in Ireland apparently.
Cue the I never ever lagg posters.

[Mystic]

I've been playing since launch and i'm from the UK and i've never experienced any lag whatsoever. My connection is only 20MB and i don't even always get that. Just play ranked and make sure you have the DLC and you should get connected to dedicated servers.

Not everyone wants or enjoys playing ranked and shouldn't be forced to play it just to be on servers that we were promised before launch.

[CarmineKiller]

People don't quite seem to understand that you get lag on dedi's too, and that's where most of the problems are stemming from. I rarely get P2P and it is no worse than the lag on the servers anyway.

[villaboy72]

Epic said a long time ago, Dedicated servers are reserved for ranked games, quick match take up the extra room that is left over after all Ranked games are on servers.
(Theory) So I imagine RANKED TDM takes up about 50-60% of the servers in Europe. Then the other ranked game modestake another 20% , , which leaves quick match with maybe 10-20% of server bandwidth. So not all quick match games will be on dedicated.

I understand all of the above, however...

Ranked matches are currently empty, last night at 'prime UK time', there was only 4 players in my region and 117 players worldwide playing RANKED KOTH and 14 regional and 89 worldwide on TDM

If what you are saying above is correct, then due to the lack of Ranked matches, then the QM should be getting more dedicated server coverage? As the servers will not be overloaded due to the lack of players playing ranked?

Last night was probably the WORST connections on this game I have ever experienced. It was truly awful. It was WORSE than coming up against host advantage on Gears 2.

Something has changed over the past few days on UK connections and the lack of communication from EPIC is extremely frustrating...

[villaboy72]

I've been playing since launch and i'm from the UK and i've never experienced any lag whatsoever. My connection is only 20MB and i don't even always get that. Just play ranked and make sure you have the DLC and you should get connected to dedicated servers.

Me and 4 team members searched for a good 15 minutes for a ranked KOTH match last night, we ALL have the DLC. In that 15 minutes, we only found 2 more players (who both gave up after a few minutes searching)..

No wonder so many players are playing QM?