[SOLVED] Low pings when hosting more than 4 players

[Kawabanga]

I would like to host games for 8 players, but currently 2-3 players is max, otherwise pings rise dramatically (8 players = pings 500-1000).

Here're some details on my situation.
- Port forwarding is OK.
- I play mostly through wi-fi (n) but switching to cable doesn't improve at all.
- My current hardware provides me 270fps on integrated gpu and 700fps on dedicated in the original maps.
- I have 10mbps internet connection.

So where's the problem? Cause I get bald.

[Gurt]

Sounds like you need to control your upload limit and that your router can manage the upload throughput. If not you will have congestion problems and the ping will rise.

[Kawabanga]

S(...) control your upload limit and that your router can manage the upload throughput. (...).

You mean to prioritise upload bandwith for particular applications? My router is Netgear DGN2200M. I've made two steps.

1. Menu>Advanced>QoS Setup
here turend on "Bandwith Control" and created QoS priority rule "Highest" for TCP/UDP starting port 52233, ending port 52233.

2. Menu>Advanced>WAN Setup
switched NAT filtering from secured to open.

Unfortunately, these steps didn't bring the result. One thing I've noted hovewer, 10mbps is for DownStream, while UpStream is merely 1mbps. Is is enough to be a host? If not, what would be the minimal upload speed required?

[Gurt]

Right now I would say a minimum of 250 kB/s in upload is required when hosting for 8 players (custom maps might be more or less depending on content).

You can see current upload rate in SFD when hosting if you press F11. At the bottom you will see "Sent kB/s: ###". It will roughly increase with +25kB/s for each player joining. This is just an estimate and isn't exact.
250 kB/s rougly translates to ~2.0 mbps upload if my math is correct (if we include some overhead, packet loss and variations depending on what's happening in the game at least 2.5 mbps is more realistic). So you will hit a border at your current 1 mbps at around 3-4 players and then the throughput isn't enough - resulting in congestion and high ping for everyone! Sorry to say but this isn't something we will fix
Optimization of the network code is in the end-phase of SFD and we might not be able to lower it too much anyway.

Maybe I should put some more in-depth information about upload bandwidth requirements when hosting in the SFD requirements.

When joining a server you will need an upload bandwidth of 6 kB/s or roughly ~ 0.05 mbps.

[Kawabanga]

This explains everything. Your calculation on 3-4 players for 1Mbps covers with my experiences. Seems as if I need to visit my net provider for better options.