BleepingComputer.com: Why do I get so much lag in Battlefield 1942 (BF42)?

Hi everyone. I hope this is the correct category to post this thread in. I have Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, with Avast and Windows Firewall. I don't have anything running in the background that would cause a slowdown. My problem is that I get terrible lag spikes when playing Battlefield 1942 (aka BF42, BF 42, BF1942, or BF 1942). I know it's quite the old game to play, but I still love playing it. When I first join a game, there is no lag for about 10 minutes, but then the spikes begin. My ping does not go up, but my FPS plummets. I have a fast machine. FPS should not drop below 80 or so (and doesn't when there is a lull in the lag spikes). But sometimes it drops as low as 10 with no action on screen. This all started about a year ago and I am getting bloody sick of it. I've tried searching online for hours about this issue, only to turn up very few leads. And none of the leads have worked so far. I'm fed up. Also, please spare me from the "Upgrade to XP!" comments. I've heard them all, and they're not funny anymore.

In case you might think I have other CPU hungry programs running along with the game, I will kindly let you know that I do not. I'm a minimalist. Could this be some kind of network lag issue? Or a PunkBuster type of issue? I've made sure my PunkBuster is up to date, and that I have the latest network card drivers and video card drivers. Do any other people out there have any similar problems?

I've been told that it might be UPnP or PuP or P2P or something (I forget the acronym I was told), but I'm not sure if the person that told me is a credible and reliable resource. Could it be an IPv6 / Teredo Tunneling issue? I've made sure that Windows Firewall is open. Maybe it's a router firewall issue? Perhaps port forwarding? The strange part about this whole thing is that on my other POS, VERY old and slow machine with the same configurations, I have no problem with the lag spikes. This is very strange to me. My old machine runs the same Avast and Windows Firewall software. The only difference is that it runs XP, and not Vista. My old machine has a wired connection, and my problematic machine has a wireless connection. Those are the only differences.

I hope I covered all bases here. I have more than enough network bandwidth to run this game, seeing as I did so without issue before this problem started. It is 20mbps / 5mbps. I get no errors in the game itself. I've made sure all of my software is up to date. Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm just looking for anyone to shoot me a line or throw me a bone here. I've tried everything and now I'm desperately in need of help. Thanks in advance!

This post has been edited by bassmann710: 18 May 2011 - 04:24 PM

what kind of machine are you running this on?

The machine I'm having the problem on is a Dell Inspiron 1520 laptop.

Did the problems start all the sudden, or has it always been this way on said computer?

The problem seems to have started all of a sudden. I have had the laptop since 2007 I believe, and the problem started no more than a year ago. And thanks for responding.

Have you run a good antivirus lately to make sure its not malware related?

I keep my antivirus up to date and I did a full system scan with avast (boot time and rootkit and all) not too long ago. I'd say my system is pretty sound IMHO. I also use mbam from time to time as well, just to be extra safe. So far, no malware.

Hijackthis checks out as well.

What pops to mind first is perhaps your avast, or another program, is set to check online automatically for updates at regular intervals, which would cause a system lag of what your describing, or perhaps a memory leak of some sort. I would go through, and try turning any auto updates on any of your programs off, and seeing if that solves the problem, and if it does, turn one auto update on at a time to figure out which ones causing it.

This post has been edited by the_patriot11: 21 May 2011 - 12:14 AM

Thanks for the suggestion. That had occurred to me as well, and I will try turning off the windows automatic updates, along with the avast ones too, and see where that gets me. The only reason I had not done that is because of how frequently the lag spikes happen. They happen once every five minutes or so when I'm playing the game, and they get progressively worse (lower and lower fps) the longer I have the game running. And I doubt that anything would check for updates every five minutes. Hours, maybe. But every five minutes would seem like a huge waste of bandwidth to me, not to mention it would be really annoying and pointless to check that often. I will also see if it is possibly a memory leak issue, by running process explorer along with the game, and see how the memory is during the spikes. Other than that, it would still be a mystery. But thanks again!

This post has been edited by bassmann710: 21 May 2011 - 01:26 AM

I might even try a network capture if I see it being of any use to me. I forgot to mention that my laptop is part of my home network that consists of half a dozen machines. Could it be any communication between them causing the lag? Would the workgrouping even matter? I would figure that a network activity capture would sort these matters out, eh? I guess I could just try powering down all the other machines and see what happens then >.<. Now I'm just thinking out loud, erhm, thinking on screen. LOL.

This post has been edited by bassmann710: 21 May 2011 - 01:17 AM

That is possible as well. Another thing you might try is reinstalling your direct x and video drivers, perhaps even rolling your video drivers back.you might want to see if you can get temp monitoring software like speedfan and make sure its not overheating.

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions! It had not occurred to me to see if overheating was an issue. I am familiar with speedfan and a few other monitoring programs as well that will show temp and fan readings. While there is a slight chance it may be directx related, it is doubtful that the video card drivers are an issue. Perhaps I should have mentioned this before. I use custom drivers, and I have not changed them since before this problem started. But I might try the stock/factory drivers and see what happens. Everything is much appreciated! I know I will solve this issue someday. The sooner, the better. Once again, thank you.

This post has been edited by bassmann710: 21 May 2011 - 05:07 PM

It may still be drivers-while they havent changed, Im sure you have updated the actual OS a few times, and its possible that the drivers you have, don't work with the upgrades. It may not be the drivers either, its just something to check.

Gotcha man, thanks again for all the info!