Angel One Tutorials
Lag and Hackers
Author : TCB
1 Lag and Hackers
This is a Tutorial about Lag and Hackers by FaTal_Smurf. I found it on the net on a old site that barely works with alot of missing icons and stuff. I would say it is just not maintained anymore so I wanted to post it here so if the other site goes down the info will not be lost. It was based on Mechwarrior 3 and the Zone but some of the info is still good.
TCB 
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Don't play so-n-so, he hacks!!! So-n-so uses lag/heat hacks!!!
The accusations never seem to end. Sad part is that the accusation refers to code jockeys that debug software and such. They have extreme computer programming knowledge and these fools couldn't even play Mechwarrior 3 without em...LMFAO (you wont run into hardly any REAL hackers at the zone, I assure you. Just perhaps the occasional cheater with CRACKED maps or programs created by someone else that alter their game parameters unfairly)
I've been called a hack more times then I can count, I just take it as a compliment and blow them off... Hell I wish I had the brainpower to be a hacker. I could write my own software instead of having to buy everything. Maybe I could even hack these "Crackerz" and put an end to this cheating bs all together. HEY!!! It could happen!!!
I feel the need to say that every single program you will find here and anywhere else for that matter was either CREATED by or FIXED by 'HACKERS", which are the geniuses that make all software usable by "Hacking" at it for hours on end until they get the bugs out. And let me tell ya, Microsoft could damn sure use a few more of em...lol So the next time you feel the need to make a jackass out of yourself and accuse someone of "hacking" just because you see their mech do some odd things on YOUR screen, or you can't understand how they could be killing you so easily and you can't hit them at all (sometimes even when they appear to be standing still - often caused by excessive lag), try using the word "cheater" instead of "hacker" which would actually be a compliment. 90% of the people that get called hacker are usually just as legit as you are (assuming you are), and of the ones that aren't only MAYBE 2% of them actually know how to hack. The rest just use other people's hacks ; or crackz as they should be called since "crackerz" is the true name for the code jockies that use their knowledge to corrupt other's systems or to give themselves an advantage over something/someone where the playing field was engineered to be equal. Nevertheless, you will still run across those morons that think and accuse someone else of hacking just because that person whipped their unskilled ass at MechWarrior 3. You will also commonly hear the same morons whining their asses off about anothers lag, that of course being the ONLY reason they were beaten (yeah right). keep in mind that a great deal of us are on high speed connections, which in some cases can be an advantage, but can also be a disadvantage (when fighting some dial-ups, you may have to leads them quite a bit farther then they have to lead you). So if you experience or see something in a game that you don't think is koscher, ask around quietly before accusing, because you will find there are many move sequences you can put a mech through that will make it appear to do very odd things on the other person's screen. The higher the ping (lag) between you, the odder things may look. You may see mechs bounce up and down rapidly, hover in the air, stand still and take no damage, run in place, and SLIDE a good distance one direction then SLINGSHOT the other way at about 300 kph. If the majority of the players (pilots) in any given game are Mw3 VETS (elite players), then prepare yourself to see some really freaky and sometimes totally unbelievable shit happening before your eyes. Most often their precision lag shooting skills combined with a very small (less target area) mech that can do a great deal of damage with a full volley of lasers can make for a very fast "GAME OVER" or even a shut out for you. So don't expect to beat someone that has been playing almost everyday for 2 or 3 years very often. And what ever you do, PLEASE! don't call them a "hack or cheat" just because they "OWNED" you in a game. It's really insulting to those of us that have EARNED through practice the ability to whip the living shit out of you...LOL It also helps to bring attention to the "ignorance" that provokes the accusations anyway. Here's a good motto for ya, the one you call a cheat may have been the one that would have sometime in the future showed you how to perform the move that made his/her mech "fly like a bird" and made you think he/she was cheating in the first place! Don't burn your bridges in this game, TRUST ME *** FaTaL_SmurF
WhatS - WhyS - HowS of "LAG" and compensating for it.
***THE WHAT***
The colored bars next to a person's name on the Zone (MSN Gaming Zone) are graph views of their Lag (latency) in ms (milliseconds) to you. The bars are only a quick visual reference, if you want to know someone's exact lag time (ping) in ms then left click and hold on their name. An info box will then appear showing that person's ping to you, whether or not they are at a game table and if so which one, and their status (waiting or playing). If they are already playing a game, then you will also see how long they have been playing for. If you right click on the name, you get the options of sending that person a "zone message", adding/removing that person to/from your "friends list", viewing their profile (though hardly anyone fills out their profile), and maybe one other thing that obviously wasn't important enough for me to remember...LOL
***THE WHY***
"Lag/Latency" can be caused by many things and how far you have to lead (aim ahead of target) with your shots will depend on how bad that player's lag is. The higher the ms ping on a player is, the further ahead you must fire to actually hit them. But be careful, many players have connections that rank less then mediocre but just above using beer cans and string! (no offense intended) The problem their poor connection causes you, if you have a good connect, is that you will have to lead (lag shoot) them by a greater distance (commonly called "mech lengths or mechs out") then they have to lead you (though sometimes contrary to what they tell you..lol). This can be a hindering disadvantag to you since dodging their shots will be somewhat more difficult than dodging yours is for them. You will hear many say that if they are lagging bad to you then you are lagging bad to them as well, which is NOT always the case. But they will insist on it most of the time due to the fact that they just don't have much if any understanding of how data transfer works and how lag effects it. Then you have the ones that DO know but just don't care because they like the advantage; though that so-called "advantage" actually ends up restricting their skill level advancement (ignorance isn't always bliss...lol). And finally, you have the ones that just straight up can't afford top end computers or high quality internet connections; in which case it isn't their fault so bitching at them for something they can't do anything about becomes more or less wasted breath...
Any internet connection is going to have at least a minut amount of lag because it takes time for data (sent in packets) to leave a computer, reach that computer's ISP (internet service provider) and eventually arive at its destination; though it takes quite a few more "twists and turns" then we need to get into at this point. I have seen pings on some that were as low as 10ms at times, and i have seen others that are as high as 5000ms; though normally their ping just registers as "N/A" to you when its over like 900ms or so. >>NOTE<< n/a does NOT always mean a poor connection. I have played people that were n/a to me but had so little lag that i was pretty much shooting right at them, maybe half a mech length out at the most. People with good connects usually are the ones with better developed skills (as far as aiming and manuevering goes). When you dont't have much of a "lag shield" for protection you tend to lean towards developing the "skill" side of your game. I personally have a very good cable connection so over the 3 yrs I have been playing I have developed a collection of moves (style) that help me to avoid a laser here and there. I still go through my fair share of respawns, but except for maybe about 10-15 elite players (vets) on the zone, my respawn count is usually far less then my opponent's (after 3 yrs of playing 3 to 8 hours a night at least 4 days a week I would hope so!!! LOL). And besides, I have run into plenty that hit me just about every shot and quite often had a number of one-shot kills throught the game. I am nowhere near the best but I am even further from being the worst so I can't complain...
If you are using a dial-up and have extremely poor throughput (ex. - good ping in zone lobby but bad lag during the actual game), here are a few of the things that can cause this : a cheap/slow modem or one with a worn out phone jack, AOL + quite often MSN, or more importantly then many know, the PHONE LINES in/outside your home. Apartments are bad about painting over the phone jacks! Houses are bad about having the same phone jack that was installed when it was built, and trailers are bad about phone lines being over-exposed to outside elements. Also the make-up of your phone line can count for a little bit. If you are using the phone cord that came with your modem (the free one), thewn chances are you have an "angel hair" cord. In other words, each element (inside wire - 2 to 4) of the phone line is made up of many hair like wires that are twisted around a non-conductive paper like center. While these work ok for telephones, they are not ideal for connections frequently pushed to their max capabilities (like online-gaming does). But, when it comes to dial-ups in most cases the ISP is of less quality then the generic phone cord anyway so we won't harp on that small link of the chain. Just try to make sure that every line, connector, and splice you can access from your modem to as close to the telephone pole as you can get is in good condition. The prongs in phone jacks that get moved around a lot, are frequently plugged/unplugged, or are just to damn old can lose their "tension" and not make a good firm contact against the cord plugged into them. If a cord/main line is bent, twisted, smashed, or kinked to often or to extremely, the wire(s) inside often break or push through the insulation and make contact with the other wires in the cord. This can create resistance or just plain give you a "short circuit". A short usually results in an inoperative phone line(s) and since there's no need to worry about lag on a line that doesn't work, we won't. Resistance on the other hand can play a detrimental role in the throughput quality of a connection. Resistance "slows" down the flow of electrons through a conductor or in other words, slows down the data traveling to and from your modem since that data is actually only a sequence of electrons. Way back when I was using a dial-up (waiting for South Western Bell's slow asses to get my DSL set up), my Zone pings were mostly red and yellow. Much of it was do to using MSN as an ISP, but i tried everything I could think of to speed my connect up. I went and bought a 50 ft. roll of solid stranded (not fiber stranded - angel hair wires) 4 conductor phone line and the tool to strip and put the ends on myself. I also bought a good quality phone jack (not the 99 cent one at Wal-Mart, this one cost me like 8 dollars if I remember right) to go at one end. I ran a totally new cord from the cleanest phone jack I could find in my apartment, which just happened to be hidden behind the microwave that came with the place, and therefore not destroyed from the bi-annual brush of some "get it ready fast" apartment maintenance man slash painter slash plumber slash heating and air-conditioning slash electrician, etc... I also connected to this wall jack on the back side where the wires of the outside line connect to. There are small screws to secure the wires, and almost always there will already be four wires of the same colors as your new cord has so just match the colors (red-green-black-yellow) to the ones that seem to be part of the jack itself. Some cords are only 2 strand so all you'll have are the red + green wires to connect. I secured my line with a staple gun so no un-needed movement could occur, and be sure to use the staples that are made for this purpose ; the center of the staple has a hump to protect the wire from being smashed by the staple. If that happens, you just defeated the purpose of installing a new line. Secure, tight, and clean ; though simple enough, this changed my pings from all reds and yellows to only a very few reds and many more high yellows to 3 and even some 4 bar greens. Many opponents were still a little high on the lag side to me, but at least the games were playable now. The mechs no longer lagged so bad that they looked like someone was using them as YO-YOs, and I got called a "laggy ho" a great deal less, or at least with less emphasis then before..lol From what research I have done on dial-up ISP quality (and it hadn't been a great deal), the one in my area {corpus, texas} with the highest ratings is or was back then AT&T World Net Service. I'm sure there are some other descent to fair ones out there ; usually being NOT FREE, and not AOL OR MSN! If you are connecting through a service that isn't making money off you, then you either have 30% of your screen dedicated to their advertising banners or you have a server route with a maintenance priority that probably isn't gonna persuade someone to shorten their coffee break or make them put down their "five minute vacation" candy bar to make sure you get max capable throughput on their end, or sometimes not even to make sure you CAN at least connect period. So if you can afford it, turn that ol' timer (dial-up modem) into a paper weight or just a simple tool to increase the volume of your current kitchen trash bag =^)
***THE HOW***
As with any skill, and it is a skill, "lag shooting" will take some practice. The distance ahead of your target you must fire is always changing. If the target speeds up or slows down, angles toward or away from you, jump jets, etc... There are also many many "trick" moves that a pilot can perform that will make their mech appear to be somewhere it is not on the enemie's screen. These moves are also learned skills that take practice. For instance, you may see your target moving to the left of you when in fact it has actually already changed direction. Combinations of direction change, jump jet, turns, and a few other "tricks" play on the lag of the game and make this possible. From time to time you may see a mech "hop" rapidly in place, while ascending upward, or just moving ahead (at least it appears to be moving ahead on your screen =^). You may also see a mech go slightly into the ground then bounce up about 5 inches or so and just float at that height. When this happens, you usually won't hit with your weapons unless you are experienced and know where the mech "actually is". This is an exploit of a game software bug. You may fire at a mech that is not moving repeatedly and cause no damage. This can be due to lag, game bugs, etc... There are some ways to cause this to happen when you shutdown or such, but I will not be explaining those "CHEATS!!!". Heaven knows the zone doesn't need any COWARDLY ASS CHEATERS, or "hackers" as the misguided like to term it. The best way to progress at this game is to let the cheaters cheat (cause then they didn't really win anyway), and go on having fun cause after all that's what it's all about, right?!?! And under NO circumstances ever be afraid to lose or quit playing someone cause they beat you all the time. Those are the pilots you WANT to play against, for they are the ones that will increase your skill. And every now and then one might even slip you a tip on firing, mech configs, trick moves, etc... The Zone pilot "Cooler" beats me like 10-4 maybe sometimes 5 everytime we play. And I would rather play him then a great majority of the other pilots simply for the fact that he's DAMN good at this game and that will make me better! So get your ass whipped, get up, and go get it whipped again for you will eventually start to see yourself respawn less and less as time goes by =) Learning to "lag shoot" can be frustrating as hell, especially if you, your enemy, or even worse both of you are on a dial-up connection. But once you get used to it you'll wonder why it was ever a problem. It's the lag that makes this a game of skill which in turn makes it fun both while learning the ropes and kickin ass when you get the hang of it. If you can't stand lag, then I suggest you go play MechWarrior 4 (I use mine as a coaster).
I took the screen shots below to help demonstrate the "art" of lag shooting. As you can see my targeting reticle is ahead of the mech I am trying to hit. This is the distance I have to fire ahead of this particular pilot at this given speed and angle to me, and this I know by trial end miss. If he slows down or angles more towards me, I will have to fire closer in and vice-versa if he speeds up or angles away from me. Sounds like alot I know, but we all went through it and it becomes thoughtless for most. Of course there will always be the select few that just never seem to get the hang of it. You can probably find them in Mech 4...lol
I pilot nothing but Striders in C1 games. They are agile, hostile, and mobile, and make for a pretty deadly machine in the right hands. The mech I was using below is my "one-punch" config, 5 ER medium lasers (clan) with I believe 16 double heat sinks. It has a MASC and 2 jump jets, and is more for team battles where you have wings to cover you somewhat giving you time to be more precise with your shots. However, I rarely use it anymore because it seemed like I always got lined up for a kill shot when they were recharging, go figure. I went back to 10 ER smalls in 2 groups, 2 JJs and 17 dbl sinks. And of course a MASC, which helps a great deal when performing trick moves such as slides, slingshots, hops, etc... Recently I have been trying out a 12 er small 2 grp config I got from a friend. I can't run a MASC on it (too much heat) but without it goes about 130kph or so. Moves are harder but shots seem to be a lot more deadly.
To sum up my seemingly endless yacking, use any damage display BUT the "live" picture of the mech. I prefer the outline myself but many use the graph. These displays show damage almost instantly when you contact your target and if watched properly can be a "tell tale" of that hiddeous "lag spot" we all spend hours chasing around. Until you get the hang of it, start by aiming no more then one mech length ahead of target. Work your way out until you see it take damage on your display. Pay attention to who it is also so when they respawn and come for you again, you already know where to shoot if conditions are same as when lag spot was found (speed, angle, etc...). Unless the other player is on a P.O.S. connection, that spot under given conditions should remain constant for you, sometimes even in future games. Keep in mind if you are on a P.O.S. connect then lag for you may change anyway. So basically, you just PLAY THE HELL OUT OF THIS GAME and sooner or later you won't be the "n00b" anymore...hehe
GL GH HF *****more to come
One other thing, as you can see below I am firing at the same "out" distance as above, this is because the mech has maintained it's prior speed, or at least seems to be moving at the same rate to me. Can't judge em right all the time though so just relax and roll with it, you'll figure it out... >>>FaTaL_SmurF
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