Unit Freezes / Unit Jumps / Stuttering

Unit Freezes / Unit Jumps / Stuttering

Unit freezes, unit jumps and stuttering are usually caused by local network / transit issues or software such as firewalls / antivirus interfering with client network connections to the server (local or public).

Solutions

On Windows ASUS systems uninstall ASUS GameFirst III as it interferes badly with PA.

Some firewalls and antivirus may need an exception added for both PA, the local PA server and CoherentUI.

To play online PA requires a reliable broadband connection with at least 1 Mbit/s download and 0.5 Mbit/s upload to the servers.

You can check your internet speeds using Speedtest.net to one of the following closest hosts:

• Australia: Melbourne Internode
• USA: Dallas, TX speedtest.net
• EU: Amsterdam speedtest.net

Packet loss or network lag in transit between a client and the server will also cause issues.

Many transit issues like packet loss are temporary.

Avoid playing over Wi-Fi or mobile / cellular networks.

Testing for Packet Loss

mtr is the simplest way to see packet loss and network issues:

• https://www.linode.com/docs/networking/diagnostics/diagnosing-network-issues-with-mtr

You have a couple of options on windows:

• linux virtual machine
• winmtr: http://winmtr.net/ (shows less information)

You can test your network connection to a server with the following:

• create a a private game
• check your most recent logs for the last Connect to [host : port] worked eg 174.37.76.35:9003
• run mtr or another tool against that ip address eg mtr 174.37.76.35

The game has to be active to make sure the server instance is not reclaimed.

You'll get something like this from mtr on linux: (I've removed my local network data)

Host                                           Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
<snip>
3. ae-0-942.cr1.mdr.vygr.net                    0.0%   253    5.1   7.9   4.3  91.6  10.2
4. 203.97.9.97                                  0.0%   253    5.1   7.4   4.4  72.7   8.0
5. unknown.telstraglobal.net                    0.0%   253    8.3   8.8   5.7  48.5   4.4
6. i-0-6-4-1.tlot-core01.bx.telstraglobal.net   0.0%   253  132.4 132.7 130.3 137.5   1.3
7. i-0-4-0-8.eqnx-core01.bi.telstraglobal.net   0.0%   253  162.7 163.8 160.9 183.4   2.3
8. i-0-5-0-0.eqnx03.bi.telstraglobal.net        0.0%   253  162.0 163.4 161.3 257.0   8.0
9. te1-7.bbr01.eq01.sjc01.networklayer.com      0.0%   253  161.9 162.6 161.1 186.0   3.3
10. ae7.bbr02.eq01.sjc02.networklayer.com        0.0%   253  162.5 162.7 161.2 248.7   5.9
11. ae0.bbr02.cs01.lax01.networklayer.com        0.0%   253  169.6 170.1 168.7 213.6   3.8
12. ae7.bbr01.cs01.lax01.networklayer.com        0.0%   252  169.1 170.3 168.4 332.7  11.4
13. ae19.bbr01.eq01.dal03.networklayer.com       0.0%   252  196.8 196.9 195.8 221.2   1.8
14. ae0.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com        0.0%   252  200.3 200.5 199.5 221.3   2.2
15. po1.fcr04.sr05.dal01.networklayer.com        0.0%   252  199.4 201.0 198.8 248.8   5.9
16. 174.37.76.35-static.reverse.softlayer.com    0.0%   252  196.5 196.5 196.2 198.3   0.2