low volume servers...
By
DreadShinobi,
Posted on: 2012-02-18 17:47 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
the lowest volume would probably be the French or German one.
It is important to note: There is server lag, network lag, and there is computer lag. Depending on your lag, moving may not help you.
Server lag: The server simply cannot handle the amount of information being thrown at it to deal with. Mainly comes up in rubberbanding of characters, even solo, when moving about outside. Powers that say recharged on the screen, but when attempted to be used, say "Recharging." Among other things.
Network lag: This is caused by congestion somewhere betwen point A (server) and point B (your computer). This can be a problem with a software interfering on your computer, your cabling, the router(s)/switch(es)you are using, your ISP, the Internet Backbone path to the servers, the server ISP, the routers/switches at the server. This is hardest to deal with, because many times it's very estoteric to find, and then solve. In game, the command "/netgraph 1" can be used to see network issues, and a program such as PingPlotter could help you find the choke point.
Then there's Computer lag: Your computer and/or graphics card simply cannot handle the amount of things being thrown at it. Similar to the server lag, but wholly on your end. Either the CPU or GPU is not up to the amount of detail you desire to see, or there is software sucking precious time away from the most important thing being run on your computer... namely, our beloved Co*. 
I only type this up because I care, and because I don't think moving is going to help y'alls issues. However, unless you're in the Euro Zone, it may be better to pick Pinnacle, or maybe Champion or such.
I want to say that the servers are sorted according to player load when you load the game, with the exception being the first one is the last server you logged in to. The top 4 are the usual suspects in terms of being light.
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
I hate to apple polish here, but Houtex has a point... the last time I had to worry about team size as far as lag was concerned was in two situations: using dial-up (Network Lag), and using a SEVERLY underpowered netbook with a "Graphics Card" (SOC doesn't count I've learned... even when Tom's Hardware states it runs 15% faster than the desktop version of the budget-class card of the same kind... a.k.a. Computer Lag).
Freedom may hurt in Atlas Park/Rikti War Zone/Praetoria, but compared to the other city zones that have basically been unchanged since 2004 (except COV), there's a LOT more detail in these areas, plus Atlas Park is the de-facto assembly point for heroes in Costume Contests, Sewer Runs, and most of the time goofing off. It's sluggish in Atlas Park at times on any computer I've used, I don't care how powerful it is.
Settings that might help your situation (I've been there myself):
When teaming, choose/make teams of no more than 4-5 people, and choose areas with a ROOF. Running Newspaper/Radio/TV Missions, repeatable door missions (RWZ/Hollows) and going Resistance helps IMMENSELY on older graphics cards: in a cave, office, or secret base, it's like drawing a really fat noodle with insides (versus drawing a giant shoebox with an open lid for a sky, a distant landscape, and 100's-1,000's of players/NPC's.) Much less intensive for a low-end machine to do. Don't fight in city zones or mission maps that have a sky if you can help it. If you can't, wait on the mission until you can solo it (even then, it'll take forever and look like a flipbook), or autocomplete it if you can. If you're running through a really laggy-Atlas Park, keep your view pointed to the ground: don't look up. This may add 5-10 frames to a low FPS count. Play it like Grand Theft Auto (the Original): pull the scroll wheel all the way down, then press and hold the Right Mouse button and pan the camera to top-down view. Not an ideal way to fight, but on a lower spec machine, it helps.
Also: turn graphics wayyy down. Don't just choose Minimum in the Quality Slider, bring Max Particle Count down to 10,000 (but not any lower, unless you don't like seeing your own powers) and bring World Detail BELOW 75%. World Detail alone should add some snap back into your frame rate. Character Detail is also a consideration: it's not just your avatar affected, but NPC's by this slider as well. Shading should be Lowest, Texture Memory (Char./World) should be Low as well. If you're unsure of any other setting and want to see if it makes a difference, click on the purple ? button on the left and read the advice. If a particular choice increases performance, do it.
If none of that helps, consider Network/PC issues. As far as the client is concerned, there's only one way I've found to reduce in-game bandwidth (manually, anyway): turn Power Reporting off -- Under Options, in the General Tab, enable "Hide Buff Numbers" and "Stop Sending All Buffs" under Status Window, Group Window, and Pet Window Buff Displays. It helps reduce the network bandwidth in use a little bit, but it's not a night-and-day difference.
Last resort: decrease your screen resolution, or use resolution scaling until your performance improves. (Both choices make the game look horrible. 3D scaling may make it downright unplayable past a certain point.)
Try the above if you haven't already... if those changes don't help, there's not much else left to do. You can't reliably play on pick-up-teams and task forces/trials/raids doing this (in fact, I'd steer clear) but it's enough to play in a fixed team or with a roommate (or understanding global friends/acquaintances) and just cope until you have a better hardware/networking solution.
Quote:
Liberty is high volume? 0.o|
Originally Posted by Red_Harbringer
. Our pcs can't handle teaming on large scales in the servers we're used to (ie Freedom and Liberty).
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TBH if you can't handle liberty, I doubt a server transfer would solve your issues.
try Pinnacle, nice people, lots of fun, be sure to join pinnbadges chat channel
Fluffy Bunny 1 Person SG
Rabid Bunny 1 Person VG
Both on Pinnacle
Hobbit's Hole 1 Person SG
Spider's Web 1 Person VG
Both on Freedom
Thanks for the great input folks, I'll see if my bro and friend can pull this off on their computers to any effect. Btw, my friend says he's seen Liberty with 2 yellow bubbles on server select before. Not sure if that means anything to anyone else, I see Freedom that way all the time.
Yes, the green single is 1/2 or less server load (ish), Two yellows is 1/2 to 7/8ths load, and three red is generally "too bad, we're full".
Ok, my numbers are a little off, but pretty much that's what you can read with the stop lights.
And yes, come to Pinnacle. We have cookies. And... other libations. Such as might be found in a pub. 
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
Hi all,
My brother, friend, and I are looking for a low volume server to move to. Our pcs can't handle teaming on large scales in the servers we're used to (ie Freedom and Liberty). We're hoping that finding a server with a low player volume will allow us to play the game with less lag until we're able to get pcs that can handle the game better.