Author: GSP Staff

What Ping Is Good For Gaming

What Ping Is Good For Gaming

In the world of online gaming, ping can make or break your experience. Whether you’re engaging in a fast-paced first-person shooter (FPS), a strategy-based real-time strategy (RTS), or a massive multiplayer online (MMO) game, your ping can drastically influence how smooth and responsive the game feels. Many gamers have experienced the frustration of delayed responses, missed shots, or lag that makes the game nearly unplayable.

So, what exactly is ping, and why is it so important for gaming? Understanding ping can help you identify the best conditions for competitive and casual gaming and, more importantly, help you figure out how to improve your connection for a better gaming experience. In this article, we’ll break down everything you need to know about ping, from what constitutes a good ping to how you can lower it to optimize your gaming performance.

What is Ping?

Ping is a measure of latency, or the time it takes for data to travel from your device to a game server and back. Think of it as a round-trip time for your connection. Measured in milliseconds (ms), a lower ping means data is sent and received quickly, resulting in a more responsive gaming experience. A higher ping, on the other hand, indicates a delay, which can lead to lag and slow reactions in the game.

In the context of gaming, ping plays a critical role in real-time gameplay. Every time you perform an action—whether shooting an enemy in an FPS or building units in an RTS game—your command is sent to the game’s server. The server processes it and sends a response back. If this process takes too long (i.e., you have a high ping), the server’s delayed response can cause lag, leading to missed shots or delayed actions.

It’s important to note that ping is different from bandwidth. While bandwidth measures the amount of data that can be sent through your connection, ping specifically measures the speed at which data is sent. This is why you can have a high-speed internet connection with poor ping, especially if you’re far from the game server or your connection is congested.

Why Does Ping Matter in Gaming?

In gaming, every millisecond counts. When playing fast-paced, competitive games, even a slight delay in your actions can lead to frustrating losses. Imagine you’re playing an FPS game and see an opponent appear. You fire your weapon, but due to high ping, your command reaches the server milliseconds too late, causing the shot to miss or hit too late. This is where ping plays a crucial role in real-time gaming experiences.

Let’s break down a few reasons why ping matters in gaming:

  • Fast Response Times: In competitive games, low ping ensures that your actions are reflected in the game almost instantaneously. High ping results in delayed responses, which can severely affect gameplay.
  • Synchronization with Game Server: Online games rely on synchronization between your device and the game server. Low ping ensures that you’re aligned with what’s happening in the game world at any given moment.
  • Game Genre Sensitivity: Certain genres of games—especially real-time games like FPS, MOBA, and Battle Royale—are more sensitive to ping. A high ping can make these games virtually unplayable as actions like shooting, aiming, and moving are time-critical.

For example, in an MMO game, a high ping might make the game feel sluggish or delayed, but the overall experience won’t be as severely impacted as it would in an FPS game where real-time decisions and actions are key to success. Therefore, the type of game you’re playing will also influence how crucial low ping is to your gaming performance.

What is a Good Ping for Gaming?

When it comes to determining a good ping for gaming, the lower, the better. However, what is considered a “good” ping can vary depending on the type of game you’re playing and how competitive you want to be. Here’s a general guideline for ping ranges:

  • 0–20ms: Exceptional. This is the optimal range for highly competitive gaming, especially in fast-paced genres like first-person shooters (FPS) or multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs). In this range, gameplay will feel incredibly smooth and responsive, with no noticeable delay between your actions and the game’s response.
  • 20–50ms: Good. Still excellent for most types of gaming. You’ll experience smooth gameplay with no lag, making this range ideal for both casual and competitive players.
  • 50–100ms: Acceptable. In this range, most games will still be playable, but you may start noticing slight delays in fast-paced games. For example, in a shooter, your actions might feel just a fraction of a second behind, but it’s still manageable for most casual gamers.
  • 100–150ms: Tolerable. This is where the delay becomes noticeable, especially in games where reaction time is critical. You may experience more frequent lag or missed actions, particularly in competitive settings. However, for less time-sensitive games like strategy or turn-based games, this ping range is still playable.
  • 150ms and above: Poor. Anything above this threshold will likely result in frustrating gameplay, with significant delays between your actions and the game’s responses. High ping in this range makes real-time games nearly unplayable and is likely to cause lag, rubberbanding, or disconnections.

It’s important to recognize that the type of game you’re playing affects what is considered an acceptable ping. For example, in an FPS game, even a ping of 60–70ms might be considered too high for competitive play, while in an MMO, a ping of 100ms or even higher might still be acceptable.

Many professional and competitive gamers aim to keep their ping below 30ms to ensure that their actions are registered as quickly as possible. If you’re a casual player, anything under 100ms will generally provide an enjoyable experience.

Factors That Affect Your Ping

Several factors can affect your ping, both internal and external. Understanding these factors can help you diagnose why your ping might be higher than desired and what steps you can take to reduce it.

1. Distance to the Game Server

The physical distance between your device and the game’s server is one of the most significant factors influencing ping. The further away you are from the server, the longer it takes for data to travel between your device and the server, resulting in higher ping. For example, if you’re playing on a server located in Europe while you’re in the United States, you’ll likely experience higher ping than if you were connected to a nearby server.

Some games allow you to select which server region you want to connect to. To lower your ping, always choose the server closest to your geographic location. If your preferred game doesn’t offer server selection, try playing at different times of the day when there is less global server traffic.

2. Internet Connection Type

The type of internet connection you use can also have a significant impact on your ping. In general, wired connections (like fiber or cable) provide lower ping compared to wireless connections (Wi-Fi). Wireless connections tend to have more interference and can be subject to fluctuations, which can increase latency.

For optimal performance, connect your gaming device directly to your router with an Ethernet cable, which reduces the potential for interference and ensures a more stable connection.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how different types of internet connections affect ping:

  • Fiber Optic: Provides the lowest latency and best speeds, making it ideal for gaming.
  • Cable: Still provides decent speeds and low ping but can be affected by congestion if many users are online in your area.
  • DSL: Generally slower with higher ping due to older technology.
  • Wi-Fi: Higher latency compared to wired connections, especially if you’re far from the router or experiencing interference.

3. Network Congestion

How ping travels between gaming device and serverNetwork congestion happens when too many devices are using the internet simultaneously, which can slow down your connection and increase ping. This is especially true during peak internet usage hours when many people in your area are online. To reduce ping, try gaming during off-peak hours or limit other internet activities in your household while gaming (e.g., streaming videos or downloading large files).

4. Hardware and Network Setup

The quality of your router and modem, as well as your overall network setup, can influence ping. Old or outdated networking equipment might not be able to handle high-speed connections effectively, leading to increased latency.

If you’re experiencing high ping consistently, it may be worth upgrading to a modern router that supports faster speeds and prioritizes gaming traffic (some gaming routers offer Quality of Service (QoS) settings, which can help prioritize gaming over other activities).

Additionally, ensure your device’s network drivers are up to date, and check for any background processes or apps that might be using your internet bandwidth, as this can also affect ping.

5. Game Server Quality

The quality and stability of the game server itself can impact your ping. Sometimes, the issue isn’t on your end but with the server you’re connecting to. If the server is overloaded or located far away, your ping will naturally increase.

Some online games experience “server tick rate” issues, which can result in delayed responses even if your ping is low. In such cases, there’s little you can do other than switch servers or wait for the developers to fix the issue.

How to Lower Your Ping for Gaming

If you’re experiencing high ping during gaming, there are several steps you can take to reduce it and improve your overall performance. Here are some actionable tips:

1. Use a Wired Connection

One of the easiest and most effective ways to lower your ping is by switching from Wi-Fi to a wired Ethernet connection. Wi-Fi signals are subject to interference from walls, devices, and other wireless networks, which can result in fluctuating latency. By using an Ethernet cable to connect directly to your router, you’ll enjoy a more stable connection and lower ping.

2. Select the Closest Game Server

Many online games offer the option to choose which server region you want to connect to. Always select the server closest to your geographic location, as this will minimize the physical distance data has to travel, reducing your ping.

If your game does not allow you to select a server, try to play during off-peak hours, when there is less overall traffic, which can help lower your ping.

3. Close Background Applications

Running multiple applications in the background can consume your internet bandwidth, leading to higher ping. Make sure to close unnecessary programs, especially those that use the internet, such as streaming services, file-sharing apps, or cloud backups. This ensures your game gets the maximum available bandwidth, reducing latency.

4. Upgrade Your Router

If you’re using an older router, upgrading to a modern, high-quality gaming router can make a significant difference in reducing ping. Some routers are specifically designed for gaming, offering features like Quality of Service (QoS) settings, which prioritize gaming traffic over other activities. This can help ensure your connection is stable and latency is minimized.

5. Check for Software or Firmware Updates

Make sure your router, modem, and gaming device are using the latest firmware and software updates. Sometimes, outdated firmware can cause connection instability, leading to higher ping.

6. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

While many gamers worry that using a VPN will increase their ping, there are some cases where using a VPN can actually lower it. If your internet service provider (ISP) is throttling your connection during gaming, a VPN can bypass this throttling, reducing ping. Additionally, some VPNs offer optimized servers for gaming, which can provide a more direct route to the game server.

7. Limit Other Devices on Your Network

If multiple devices in your household are connected to the same network, it can lead to increased bandwidth usage and higher ping. Try to limit the number of devices connected to your network while gaming, especially if others are streaming, downloading, or gaming simultaneously.

8. Contact Your Internet Service Provider (ISP)

If you’ve tried everything and your ping is still too high, it might be worth contacting your ISP. They may be able to offer solutions, such as upgrading your internet plan, or diagnosing any connection issues that might be affecting your performance.

Best Games for Low Ping Performance

Not all games are equally affected by ping. While some games are highly sensitive to high ping and latency, others are more forgiving. Below is a breakdown of the types of games that benefit most from low ping, and those that can handle higher latency.

Games That Require Low Ping

For certain genres, especially those involving real-time actions, having low ping is crucial for an enjoyable experience. These games demand quick responses and real-time synchronization between players and servers.

  • First-Person Shooters (FPS): Games like Call of Duty, Valorant, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive require fast reactions. A slight delay in your shot can be the difference between winning or losing. For competitive play, low ping (ideally under 50ms) is critical.
  • Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBA): Games like League of Legends and Dota 2 rely on fast reactions and precise timing for abilities and movements. Low ping ensures that your actions are executed quickly without any lag.
  • Battle Royale: In games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, or PUBG, where split-second decisions are necessary for survival, having low ping is important to avoid delays in movement or aiming.

Games That Can Tolerate Higher Ping

While some games demand low ping, others are more lenient. These games typically involve slower-paced gameplay or aren’t as reliant on precise timing.

  • Turn-Based Strategy Games: Games like Civilization VI and XCOM are less sensitive to high ping since they don’t require fast, real-time inputs. These games are more forgiving if there’s a slight delay between actions.
  • Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs): Games like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV can generally tolerate higher ping, as much of the gameplay revolves around non-real-time interactions. However, in high-level raids or PvP scenarios, lower ping is still preferable.
  • Single-Player Games: Since single-player games don’t require communication with a game server, ping is a non-factor. However, for online multiplayer modes or live-service games, ping may still play a role.

How to Test Your Ping for Gaming

Testing your ping is a straightforward process, and there are multiple methods available depending on whether you’re using in-game tools, third-party applications, or websites. Monitoring your ping can help you identify issues with your internet connection and make improvements as needed. Here are the best ways to test your ping for gaming:

1. In-Game Ping Tools

Many online games come with built-in ping monitoring tools that allow you to see your ping in real-time. These tools often display your current ping next to your FPS (frames per second) on the game’s user interface. Here’s how you can check your ping in some popular games:

  • Fortnite: Go to the settings menu, navigate to the “HUD” tab, and enable the “Net Debug Stats” option to display your ping during matches.
  • League of Legends: Press Ctrl + F while in-game to toggle the display of your current ping and FPS.
  • Call of Duty: Warzone: In the settings, navigate to the “Account” tab, and turn on the “Server Latency” option to see your ping.

These tools give you a direct indication of how your connection is performing while you’re in a game. If your ping is consistently high, you can then take steps to improve it.

2. Third-Party Websites

Game PingsIf your game doesn’t have built-in ping tools, or you want to test your ping to different game servers, you can use third-party websites such as Gameserverping.com to measure latency. If you don’t have a specific game you want to test against. Try this general ping test tool. This website allows you to select a game or a specific server to test your ping.

To test your ping with Gameserverping.com, simply:

  1. Navigate to the website.
  2. Select the game or server you’re interested in.
  3. View the results, which will display your average ping to the server.

3. Command Prompt (For Advanced Users)

If you’re comfortable using the command prompt, you can manually test your ping by sending a ping request to a specific IP address or domain. This method works for any server you can reach over the internet.

To test your ping via command prompt:

  1. Open Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (Mac).
  2. Type ping [server IP address] and press Enter.
  3. The results will show your ping to that server in milliseconds.

For example, typing ping google.com will return your ping to Google’s server. Replace “google.com” with the IP address or domain of your game server for more specific results.

Ping plays a crucial role in determining the quality of your online gaming experience. Whether you’re playing competitive FPS games, immersive MMORPGs, or casual strategy games, low ping ensures smooth, responsive gameplay, while high ping can result in frustrating lag and delays. Understanding what ping is, how it affects your games, and how to reduce it can greatly improve your gaming performance.

To achieve the best gaming experience:

  • Aim for a ping under 50ms for competitive gaming.
  • Use a wired connection and optimize your network setup for low latency.
  • Choose the closest game servers and play during off-peak hours when possible.
  • Regularly test your ping using in-game tools or third-party websites like Gameserverping.com.

By following these steps, you can reduce your ping, enhance your gaming experience, and stay competitive in the fast-paced world of online gaming. Lowering your ping may require some tweaks to your network and setup, but the payoff is well worth it for smoother and more enjoyable gameplay.

Counter Strike Global Offensive (CSGO) : Where are the Servers Located?

Where are the CSGO servers located?

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), developed by Valve Corporation, is a widely popular online multiplayer first-person shooter game. CS:GO is recognized for its competitive scene, its engaging gameplay, and its worldwide player base. To cater to this extensive global audience, CS:GO operates servers in numerous countries across the globe, providing players with optimal gaming experiences based on their geographical locations.

The server locations for CS:GO are strategically spread out to encompass the key regions of the world where the game is played most. These servers are located in the United States, Sweden, Poland, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany, Japan, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, France, Brazil, Romania, Portugal, Australia, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Ukraine, Hungary, South Africa, China, Canada, Norway, Argentina, Spain, Finland, Israel, and Hong Kong​​.

Continuing with the extensive list, there are servers in Lithuania, Chile, India, Pakistan, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Peru, Estonia, Indonesia, Belarus, Serbia, Greece, South Korea, Latvia, Vietnam, Algeria, Philippines, Taiwan, Austria, Reunion (an island that is part of the French territories), Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Albania, Colombia, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Croatia, Morocco, Panama, Macedonia, Mongolia, Namibia, Ireland, Belgium, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia​​.

This wide geographical spread allows Valve to provide low latency online gaming to players in almost every corner of the world. The server’s location plays a critical role in the player’s gaming experience as it directly impacts the latency or ping during gameplay. The closer the server to the player, the lower the latency, and consequently, the smoother the gaming experience. The strategic placement of these servers allows CS:GO to deliver a seamless online gaming experience to its massive worldwide player base.

The location of these servers directly impacts the latency or ping players experience during gameplay. Lower latency, which is typically achieved by having servers closer to players, translates into a smoother gaming experience. You can use tools like Game Server Ping to check your ping to CS:GO servers, helping you identify the servers that will provide you with the best gameplay experience.

CSGO Server Map

Each server location typically houses multiple individual servers to handle the high volume of players. These servers are responsible for hosting matches, managing the connections between players, and ensuring that the game’s data is correctly synchronized across all participating players.

CS:GO servers also play a crucial role in the competitive scene of the game. The competitive ranking system of CS:GO relies on these servers for matchmaking, ensuring that players are matched with other players of similar skill levels for a fair and balanced gameplay experience. The servers maintain the integrity of the competitive matches and help enforce the game’s rules and regulations.

CS:GO’s extensive server network is a testament to the game’s global popularity and the commitment of its developer, Valve Corporation, to providing a high-quality, low-latency gaming experience to players around the world. Despite the technical challenges associated with managing such a large and distributed network of servers, CS:GO continues to deliver a seamless and enjoyable online gaming experience to millions of players every day​​.

League of Legends (LOL) : Where are the servers located?

Where are the LOL servers located?

As a globally popular online multiplayer game, League of Legends (LoL) utilizes a robust network of servers worldwide. This network ensures that players from various locations can enjoy smooth gameplay with minimal lag. This article outlines the specific locations of these servers.

The game includes fourteen primary servers: EUW, EUNE, NA, KR, CN, SEA, BR, LAN, LAS, OCE, RU, TR, JP, and PBE​​.

The European West server (EUW) is located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, serving a broad spectrum of countries including Spain, the UK, and Belgium​​. Its counterpart, the Europe Nordic and East server (EUNE), is based in Frankfurt, despite hosting many Northern and Eastern European countries like Sweden, Norway, Estonia, and Latvia​​.

North America’s server, situated in Chicago, Illinois, supports players from the entire region, including the United States and Canada​​. Meanwhile, the Korean server, renowned for its competitive solo queue players, exclusively serves South Korea and is one of the most populated servers globally​​.

Brazil has its dedicated server located in Sao Paulo, serving players within the country​. The Latin American North and South servers, though catering to different countries, have their server locations in Miami, Florida, and Santiago, Chile, respectively​​.

The Oceanic server, based in Sydney, Australia, serves players from Australia and New Zealand​​. The Russian server, despite serving Russia, is located in Munich, Germany, thanks to the country’s robust networking infrastructure​.

Turkey has its server in Istanbul, catering to the Turkish player base​​, while Japan’s server, a relatively late addition to the server list, is located in Tokyo​.

LOL Server Map

The People’s Republic of China server, one of the most populated, is unique, with the server divided within the country itself​​. The Garena Southeast Asia (SEA) server, the other non-Riot hosted server, has multiple locations within Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam​.

Lastly, the Public Beta Environment (PBE) is an important mention. It is not tied to a specific region, but it is a crucial part of the LoL ecosystem, serving as a test bed for new skins, champions, patches, and updates before they are released to the main game servers​​.

This widespread server network ensures that players worldwide can experience League of Legends at its best, with server locations selected to optimize ping times and gameplay quality. Riot Games continues to manage and expand this network in response to the game’s enduring popularity and growing player base.

Valorant Servers : Where are they located?

Valorant Servers WHere are they located?

The location of gaming servers is a critical factor in the gaming experience, especially for competitive online games like Valorant. The server location determines the latency or “ping” that players experience, which can greatly impact the gameplay. The spread of Valorant servers across the globe is aimed at providing an optimal experience for players in different regions.

In Europe, the Valorant servers are located in London, Warsaw, Stockholm, and Istanbul. These servers mainly cover central Europe, with Southern Europe somewhat lacking in coverage. There are no servers in Spain, Portugal, or anywhere nearby, which has been a recurring issue brought up with Riot Games.

In North America, Valorant has six servers located in Portland, San Jose, Chicago, Ashburn, Atlanta, and Dallas. These servers are evenly distributed across the region, providing broad coverage. However, it’s worth noting that Canada has a lack of servers, meaning players from Canada or Alaska must connect to either the Portland, Chicago, or Ashburn servers, which might result in higher ping times​1​.

In Latin America, the servers are located in Mexico City, Santiago, and Miami. Even though Miami is geographically located in the United States, the server actually serves the Latin American region. These servers are the most sparsely distributed of all, and those who wish to play Valorant or use an internet service provider in South America may face challenges unless they are near Santiago. The close proximity of the Mexico City and Miami servers relative to the size of the region poses a significant issue for the Latin American Valorant community.

Valorant Server map

The Brazilian region of Valorant has only a single server located in Sao Paulo. While the Brazilian region for Valorant is the smallest of the five main regions, it is suggested that there is room for another server. It should be noted that the Brazilian servers only appear for accounts in the account region of Brazil, so creating multiple accounts in the Brazilian region wouldn’t enable access to Valorant from a different region​.

Finally, the Asian region, which also covers the Oceanic countries, has five server locations: Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney. The Seoul server in South Korea is almost exclusively for players in the Korean region, and there is very little crossover with other regions and servers. The same is somewhat true for Tokyo in Japan. Hong Kong and Singapore are fairly spread out, but there is limited server possibility between Singapore and Sydney, especially given that Sydney is on the far coast of Australia from the Singapore server.

In conclusion, Riot Games has distributed Valorant servers globally to accommodate its player base. However, the distribution is not uniform, and some regions are better served than others. This uneven coverage can impact gameplay quality due to variations in latency, and it’s an issue that Riot Games continues to address as it expands and improves its server infrastructure.

VPNs for Gaming: Can They Help Reduce Ping?

VPN for better gaming

In the world of online gaming, the quest for smoother gameplay never ends. Gamers constantly seek solutions to improve their gaming experience, and one such solution is the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). So, does a VPN truly offer benefits for gaming, and can it really help reduce ping? Let’s dive in and explore.

Firstly, it’s important to understand what a VPN does. A VPN essentially creates a secure, encrypted tunnel between your device and the game server, rerouting your connection through a server located anywhere in the world. This technology was originally designed to provide enhanced security and privacy, but gamers have found other potential uses, one of them being the potential to reduce ping times.

Ping, for the uninitiated, is a measure of the time it takes for a packet of data to travel from your device to a server and back. In the realm of online gaming, lower ping translates to less lag and a smoother gaming experience. High ping can cause serious issues such as game lag and delays, which can significantly impact gameplay.

The question then is – can a VPN reduce your ping time? The answer is – it depends. In theory, if your ISP is throttling your bandwidth for gaming or routing your traffic through congested networks, a VPN could bypass these issues, providing a more direct route to the game server and reducing your ping. However, it’s important to note that a VPN can also add extra steps in the data route, which could potentially increase your ping or slow down your connection if the VPN server is congested or located far from the game server.

Choosing the right VPN is crucial. A quality VPN service with a large number of servers spread globally can provide you with more options for connection, increasing the chances of finding a less congested route to your game server. Furthermore, modern VPNs often employ advanced routing technologies that can optimize the path for your gaming data, potentially reducing ping.

In addition, if you’re trying to play a game that’s not available in your region, or if you want to play on international servers, a VPN can be an invaluable tool. It can mask your IP address, making it appear as if you’re gaming from a different location, allowing you to bypass geographical restrictions.

However, it’s essential to remember that while a VPN can potentially reduce your ping in some cases, it’s not a magic bullet. If you’re suffering from high ping, the problem might be due to issues that a VPN can’t solve, such as poor local internet infrastructure or sub-optimal Wi-Fi connection.

To conclude, a VPN can be a powerful tool in a gamer’s arsenal, offering potential improvements in ping and bypassing geographical restrictions. However, its effectiveness can vary depending on many factors, including the quality of your VPN service, the location of your game server, and the nature of your internet connection. Always remember to do your research and choose a reputable VPN provider, and most importantly, understand that a good gaming experience is a combination of many factors, with VPN being just one component of the bigger picture. Happy gaming! For a run down on what VPN’s we recommend, go to our Best Vpn’s for Gaming article

Ping Test

Ping Test

In the realm of online gaming or any activity that relies heavily on internet connectivity, the term ‘ping’ is often thrown around. But what does it mean and why is it so crucial to your online experience? Let’s dive in!

What is a Ping Test?

A ping test is a method used to check the connectivity between your device (the ‘host’) and a server. It’s an invaluable tool when diagnosing network issues and ensuring optimal performance in online activities, especially in real-time games where every millisecond matters.

How Do I Check the Ping?

Checking your ping is straightforward. For desktop users, you can do this directly through your operating system’s command prompt or terminal. In Windows, for instance, you can open the command prompt and type ‘ping’ followed by the IP address or the website URL you want to check.

However, for a more user-friendly experience, you can try out this online ping test tool. It provides an easy-to-understand interface and instant results, helping you diagnose your network status in seconds.

Is a 20 ms Ping Good?

Yes, a 20 ms (milliseconds) ping is excellent. The ‘ping’ time is the round trip time for a signal to travel from your device to the server and back. The lower this number, the better. A ping of 20 ms means there’s minimal delay or ‘lag’ in your network, making for a smoother online experience. Generally, a ping time of under 50 ms is considered good for most online activities.

Why Do I Have a High Ping?

Several factors can contribute to high ping times. These include network congestion, physical distance from the server, poor quality or outdated hardware, or issues with your internet service provider. It’s important to identify the source of high ping to address it effectively.

How Do I Check My Ping on My Phone?

Checking your ping on a mobile device can be slightly more complicated than on a desktop, but it’s still quite manageable. For Android users, you can use the ‘Ping’ command in the ‘Termux’ app, which acts like a terminal. iPhone users can download the ‘Network Utility’ app from the App Store, which includes a ping utility. Alternatively, mobile users can also use online tools like the Game Server Ping for an easy, browser-based solution.

Conclusion

Understanding your ping and knowing how to check it is critical in today’s online-centric world. It can be the difference between a smooth, lag-free gaming session and a frustrating experience filled with delays. By using online tools like Game Server Ping, you can regularly monitor your ping times and take steps to improve them for the best online experience.

Remember, the internet is like a highway. A low ping ensures you’re in the fast lane, racing past any potential roadblocks to your enjoyment.

How To Get Lower Ping For Online Gaming

how to get lower for online gaming

The ping time is what you need to look at if you’re experiencing lag when playing online games – here are steps to lower your ping time, reduce latency, and improve your gameplay. When playing online games, lag can occur when other players appear, disappear, and consistently move around. This could be caused by a high ping. Let’s have a look what the term ping means?

WHAT IS PING?

The ping is a measure of how quickly data travels from your computer to another player’s computer and back. Latency – also referred to as lag – is a measurement of the time between the computer and its server. Ping is measured in milliseconds.ping times
Pings help players gauge the speed with which their computer communicates with gaming servers and other online players. When a player performs a ping test, they can see if their gaming experience will experience dips in responsiveness. In the context of ping speed, the term ‘low ping’ or ‘high ping’ is used. Ping is generally preferred in online games, especially those requiring timing and positioning. A high ping could affect the outcome of the game for players with a high ping. The ping time of other players as well as the ping of servers is often displayed in online games.

HOW TO LOWER YOUR PING?

Here are some steps you can take to optimize your gaming experience by reducing your ping:

Since writing this article we have developed a better strategy for lowering your ping. have a look at this article titled “How to Lower Ping: 11 Effective Ways to Fix High Ping and Improve Gaming Performance” for a more indepth explanation.

1. CHECK OUT FOR LATENCY

Internet signals are like couriers. In fact, the speed of your internet is really a measure of how much data you can hold at once. His route and the distance between his home and destination determine the length of his trip. It shouldn’t take long for you to travel if you play an online game hosted on a server that’s not too far away. It could take many hours for your signal to reach that server if it is located on the other side of the world or if it is not taking the most direct route. It is also a good idea to get a good gaming router. Fast speeds and powerful processors are just some of the features that help you beat your roommate’s Netflix binge without slowing you down. You should consider any other factors in your home that might be influencing the situation before spending hundreds of dollars on new networking hardware.

2. RUN INTERNET SPEED TEST

After you have made sure your router is up to par, it’s time to do a speed test to ensure that it’s not your internet connection slowing you down. Enter “internet speed test” into Google to run an internet speed test. The lower the speed score, the more likely the internet could be the culprit. There is a correlation between your Internet speed and the number of concurrent users on your network. It is therefore recommended that you run several internet speed tests during the day to determine whether your bandwidth has been overused. If you want to see how different the numbers are, you can also plug an Ethernet cable directly into your computer.

google speed test
It is recommended that you should always use a wired connection when you play online. If your computer or gaming console is located in the same room as your router, then the wired approach may sound appealing, but it might not be practical if you’re gaming in a bedroom or a back room. You may want to consider powerline adapters, which use your home’s electrical wiring to carry your internet signal without affecting its speed. Connect one to your router and the other to your gaming setup, and voila, you’ll enjoy nearly the same speed and latency you’d get with a direct connection.

3. REMOVE UNNECESSARY DEVICES FROM YOUR INTERNET

Similarly, our connected devices compete for our Wi-Fi just like the programs and applications that vie for our attention. We have to juggle a lot of things when considering the rise of IoT. Even our wireless gaming headsets can connect to smart TVs, computers, cell phones, and smart watches. When you multiply that by the number of people living under one roof, you might end up with an overwhelmed internet connection. You may need to disconnect those other devices or users from your network if you experience lag in your video game – one example is that annoying roommate who watches TikTok all the time.

4. CONNECT VIA ETHERNET CABLE

Online gaming usually requires a good Ethernet cable connection. Wireless connections are vulnerable to many interference sources in the real world, such as neighboring devices, walls, and distance from the router. A direct Ethernet connection eliminates all types of interference and gives you the most speed possible.

5. ADVANCE YOUR SIGNAL STRENGTH

A good cabling setup is nice, but perhaps you’re playing a mobile game that wouldn’t benefit as much from a wired connection. You might be better off upgrading your router in that case, but you must ensure that your current setup is performing as well as possible first. To continue our metaphor, a strong home signal allows the data courier to reach his destination faster and easier. This decreases ping.
The best way to optimize the signal strength of your network is to follow the basic best practices. Put the router in a space that’s clear and unobstructed. It is better to raise the Wi-Fi signal off the floor so that it will be angled upward. Angle matters, too, so try staggering the antennas every 45 degrees: diagonally first, straight second, diagonally third.
You may need to experiment a bit to find a connection that is much more stable. If you’ve optimized your router’s performance to the best of your ability, you’ll want to run a few final speed tests to see how much better it is.

FINAL THOUGHTS!!

The only thing left to do if you still have bad ping after following the above steps is to call your internet service provider. If you are not experiencing any issues with your connection, it might be time to consider switching providers, as your ISP is usually able to diagnose and fix most problems remotely. But we are sure that following our guidelines, you will experience a clear positive change in your games in the form of lowered ping and zero lag.

Fortnite 2fa – How to enable it

Epic account 2fa
Epic account 2fa

What is 2FA?

2FA is short for 2-Factor Authentication. This means that instead of just using a username and password (Single Factor Authentication) to protect an Epic account, an extra step is added to make the process even more secure. The additional layer makes it much harder for hackers to gain access to a Fortnite account and the sensitive information it contains. We will be showing you how to protect your valuable Vbucks and cosmetic items.

What types of Two Factor Authentication are available?

  1. Epic account 2fa
    Epic account 2FA

    Knowledge factor : This when the owner of the account has an extra PIN or shared secret.

  2. Possession factor : This when an owner of account has some physical device that can help verify the person accessing an account. This is usually a mobile phone (Text Message or Verification App), Security token or smart ID card.
  3. Biometric factor : This is usually a fingerprint reader, facial recognition  software or some rare cases retinal eye scanner.
  4. Location factor : Tracking where the login attempt is being made from. This factor can take into account IP addresses, feo location  and GPS coordinates.
  5. Time factor : This factor forces a time window restriction on accessing an account. This is often used by parents to restrict access to mobile devices.

How to Enable Two-factor Authentication in Fortnite

First of all, there is a good chance you will be receiving emails asking you to change the password to your epic games account. These emails will often have links in them and the email will be asking you to click on the link to change the password. DO NOT DO THIS! Even an email is from Epic themselves it is never a good idea to click on a link that is asking you to change your Fortnite password. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

To protect your Fortnite account with 2 Factor Authentication do the folowing:

  1. Go to epicgames.com.
  2. log into your Fortnite account.
  3. Open account settings at the top right of the screen.
  4. Select password and security.
  5. Scroll all the way to the bottom and select enable Authentication App or enable Email Authentication. 

 

Fortnite 2fa selection screen
Fortnite 2FA selection screen

Epic Games offers two types of 2FA. Either through the use of a mobile or through an email address.

Enable Authentication App

Authenticator app selection
Authenticator app selection

This is possession factor authentication.

When you click on “Enable Authentication App”

You will presented with another screen asking you to download the authenticator app.

There are 3 common authentication apps that can be used with Fortnite. They are:

  • Google Authenticator
  • LastPass Authenticator
  • Microsoft Authenticator

It doesn’t matter which one you use they all work the same way. Download one onto a mobile device.  Either scan the QR code shown in the epic games account or manually enter the entry key shown. This will tie your account with that device. From now on when you log into your Fortnite account you will prompted on your mobile device to enter a security code.

Enable Email Authentication

Email 2fa
Email 2FA

When you click on the Enable Email Authentication button a screen will pop up which will ask you to enter a security code. That code should have already been emailed to the email account associated with the Epic Games account. The security code in the email will have to be entered into the field provided showing on the pop up screen.

Once this has been completed you will be prompted to enter a security code every time you log into Fortnite. This code will be emailed to you. While this will be a little bit of inconvenience. It will save the heart ache of losing your account, all your Vbucks and skins.

Fortnite Battle Royale : V10.10 Content Update

Dusty Depot is Back
Dusty Depot is Back

So what’s new in V10.10 Content Update?

Dusty Depot is Back
Dusty Depot is Back

Dusty Depot is back but don’t get your hopes up it is only back as a prefab in creative mode. The full list of Prefabs and galleries is:

  • 5 New Prefabs
    • Dusty Depot Blue Warehouse
    • Dusty Depot Gray Warehouse
    • Dusty Depot Red Warehouse
    • Dusty Depot Visitor Warehouse
    • Dusty Diner
  • 2 New Galleries
    • Dusty Depot & Diner Gallery
    • Dusty Depot & Diner Prop Gallery

What’s new in Fortnite Save the World?

There is a new rocket launcher. The V6 Rocket launcher which is a 6 shot rocket launcher and part of the Rat Rod Weapon set. It does not consume ammo but has very low durability.

A new quest has appeared so make sure you run Hit the Road to activate your weekly quest!

There have been some bug fixes:

  • Mission details now correctly update when switching between different Missions with a controller.
  • Resolved an issue where objective information was not displayed for the current Mission.
  • Added some information that was missing from the Command and Armory tabs.
  • Fixed an issue where the map was not loading properly after changing tabs.
  • Game no longer crashes when launching a Mission through the “Play Now” button in the quest log.
  • The Record Dash quest no longer states to find five records instead of four when in a full party.

What has changed in Fortnite Battle Royale mode?

This is what most people are here for. The additions to the BR mode are as follows:

1) There is a new throwable item called the Junk Rift. It creates a rift in the sky that objects fall out of the sky and destroys things they land on. When thrown it breaks on contact with something (hopefully another player). It generates two types of damage.

  1. Direct Damage – It does 200 damage to players and knocks them back a little.
  2. Shockwave Damage – This causes a small damage radius that does 100 damage and immediately destroys vehicles and destructible objects.

The Junk Rift has Epic Rarity and max stack size of 4. it will be available from Floor Loot, Chests, Supply Drops, and Llamas.

2) Glitched Consumables: appear at the explosion site (explained below) and randomly switch between forageable items. The following items are included:

  • Apples – Grant 5 Health.
  • Mushrooms – Grant 5 Shield.
  • Coconuts – Grant 5 Effective Health (sum of a player’s Health + Shield).
  • Peppers – Increase player movement speed for a short duration.
  • Hop Rocks – Decrease player gravity for a short duration.

Shadow stones were supposed to be included as a Glitched Consumable but had a bug and have been removed.

The Rift Beacon at the Rec Center has malfunctioned, which has caused an explosion and crater. This is where the Glitched Consumables spawn.

There has been a change to the Green Toy Wrap which means players can get a refund on the Toy Soldiers Wraps bundle if they do not like the changes. Players have 30 days from their next login to get this refund.

Fortnite Brute Mech Nerf

Junk rift temporarily removed
Junk rift temporarily removed

This week Epic Games has finally come to their senses and have nerfed the B.R.U.T.E.

Why are they Nerfing the B.R.U.T.E ?

The B.R.U.T.E is a mech that was introduced a few patches ago and was insanely overpowered. This was shown when Harrison  Chang AKA “Psalm” who came second place in the Fortnite Solos World Cup used the B.R.U.T.E devastate the field. He got to a high vantage point then proceeded to take out players from across the map.

What are the nerfs to B.R.U.T.E?

  • Decreased the maximum amount of rockets fired by the B.R.U.T.E. in a single charge from 10 to 6.
  • Decreased the rate at which the rockets are fired from the B.R.U.T.E. by 56%.
    • Our goal with these changes is to increase the back and forth between the users of the B.R.U.T.E. and the players they face. These changes allow the players on the receiving end of the missile volley to have more time to react and protect themselves.
  • Decreased the radius of the B.R.U.T.E.’s rocket explosion by 42%.
    • Our goal with this change is to improve consistency and understanding around focused barrages of missiles. B.R.U.T.E.s will continue to be a strong option against structures, but less lethal against players.
  • Increased the dash cool-down from 3 seconds to 5 seconds.
    • The previous dash cool-down not only increased the B.R.U.T.E.’s mobility, but also made the B.R.U.T.E.s a harder target to hit from distance than we’d like. The adjustment here reduces the ability to close gaps quickly while in the B.R.U.T.E. while also increasing the ability to land shots on target for players facing the B.R.U.T.E.
  • Decreased the velocity gained from boosting while in air by 33%.
    • We want to reduce a B.R.U.T.E.’s ability to engage and disengage at long distances to encourage a more strategic approach to an encounter. In general we hope to shift B.R.U.T.E.s away from being highly mobile and put more emphasis on their already defensive nature.
  • The B.R.U.T.E. no longer grants materials to the driver and passenger when stomping or dashing through the environment.
    • Note: This change should roll out shortly following the other changes.
    • Our goal is to add more tension between being in and out of a B.R.U.T.E. as well as reduce instances where players can farm faster than intended without exposing themselves to danger.
  • Adjusted the variability of spawn rates for storm phases 1, 2, and 3 in core modes. Arena spawn rates will remain unchanged.
    • Storm phase 1
      • New spawn rates
        • 29% chance to spawn 0.
        • 14.3% chance to spawn 1.
        • 14.3% chance to spawn 2.
        • 14.3% chance to spawn 3.
        • 14.3% chance to spawn 4.
        • 14.3% chance to spawn 5.
      • Old spawn rates
        • 33% chance to spawn 2.
        • 33% chance to spawn 3.
        • 33% chance to spawn 4.
    • Storm phase 2
      • New spawn rates
        • 25% chance to spawn 0.
        • 25% chance to spawn 1.
        • 25% chance to spawn 2.
        • 25% chance to spawn 3.
      • Old spawn rates
        • 33% chance to spawn 2.
        • 33% chance to spawn 3.
        • 33% chance to spawn 4.
    • Storm phase 3
      • New spawn rates
        • 25% chance to spawn 0.
        • 25% chance to spawn 1.
        • 25% chance to spawn 2.
        • 25% chance to spawn 3.
      • Old spawn rates
        • 33% chance to spawn 1.
        • 33% chance to spawn 2.
        • 33% chance to spawn 3.
    • Previously, the early stages of a match were guaranteed a minimum amount of B.R.U.T.E.s. We’d like to provide a little more variance to that experience so that matches don’t always play out the same way. The overall average number of B.R.U.T.E.s per game is reduced slightly.
  • Decreased the material cost of using the gunner’s overshield from 200 to 75.
    • Our goal is to further emphasize use of materials for positive defensive benefit.
  • Junk rift temporarily removed
    Junk rift temporarily removed

    Increased the Health of the B.R.U.T.E from 1000 to 1250.

    • With the above changes, users of the B.R.U.T.E. need to play a bit more strategic than before, so we want to give a little bit longer of a window to do so.

Other changes

Epic games had  temporarily disabled the Junk Rift for the FNCS tournament and Arena playlists until the 10.20 update. the reason they are doing this is because of an Audio bug that occurred when the portal was high above the player.

Fortnite DLC to be Sold in Stores Again this Holiday – Darkfire Bundle

Darkfire Bundle to be Sold in Stores

Fortnite Battle Royale is a free to play game but that has not stopped Epic from making billions from it. Epic has announced the Darkfire Bundle which be sold in stores this next holiday season. The interesting thing about this bundle is that the games developer Epic Games has partnered with Warner Brothers on this cosmetics bundle. There is a claimed $80 value to the pack but remember kids this is just pixels on a screen how much could it really be worth? the in-store price will be set at US$29.99.

The release date is the 5th of November 2019. It will include 3 Legendary dual-wield pickaxes, 3 Legendary Back Blings, 3 new Legendary skins, 3 Epic Wraps and one new emote. In total there are 13 new items making this the biggest Fortnite bundle so far. The bundles are console only for now and will be available on PS4, Xbox One and the Switch.

Fortnite Black hole – Fortnite Servers have been down for hours

Twitch myth watching the black hole
Twitch myth watching the black hole

Fortnite is still the biggest game on the planet and when the servers go down Fortnite Server Status knows all about it. The traffic to this site has gone through the roof and our own servers are approaching meltdown. Whether you are Ninja or just a casual player you can not log into Fortnite right now. Every player on earth is in a holding pattern and what has Epic Games given us to stare at? A black hole!

Epic took Fortnite offline on purpose this is all part of a strategy to build up the hype around the new season. The meteor that appeared at the beginning of season 10 started moving and eventually destroyed the entire map. This meteor event was hard to be a part of and if you couldn’t log in then you had a space invaders style game to keep you amused but you needed the konami code to do this. The Fortnite Server Status has been off the charts!

It seems the event culminated into a black hole and everything including the lobby and character screens where sucked up by the gravity of the imposing black hole. The black hole seemed to even reach outside of the game itself. The Fortnite Twitter account lost all it’s Tweets! The Epic Trello board seemed to disappear. This black hole was truly decimating ever aspect of the game.

Will season 11 bring us the long rumored new Fortnite map? The speculation is rife amongst the community. Twitter, Twitch.tv and Youtube are all a buzz with these rumors. Epic has truly done a epic “pardon the pun” marketing ploy with this latest season introduction. It is still unclear whether this is the end of season 10 proper as the speculation mounts.

Twitch myth watching the black hole
Twitch myth watching the black hole

Twitch Fortnite Streamers like Myth are holding black hole parties while waiting for something to happen and chat is going wild. Here he is wearing his tinfoil hat as chat throws speculation at him faster than anyone could possibly read.

Many fans of Fortnite feel there has been a line drawn in the sand and that Fortnite Chapter 2 has begun. This black hole event has really got all gamers talking. Not only are the fans of the game watching the whole but players who left are coming back and even people who have never played the game are starting to talk about this latest development.

Whatever is happening to the servers and the game. One thing we can all agree on is that this is one of the most daring things Epic games has done and is probably the most daring thing any popular game has ever done. Another good place to check whether Fortnite is down is to check your Fortnite ping here.

Fortnite is Still Down, Season 11 Not Starting Anytime Soon

Fortnite Server Status
Are Epic servers down

Is Season 11 Ever Going to Start?

As you probably know by now Fortnite has disappeared into Black hole. There is speculation that it will never come back but let’s be real. This is the most popular and possibly the most profitable game of all time. Would Epic Games really shut it down?

While Fortnite is still popular, the lustre has started to tarnish on the game. When the office managers 12 year old says he would rather watch Shroud play Apex you know that Fortnite is not flying as high as it once was. Maybe Epic should end the game on a high? but no that will not happen

What we are witnessing here is one “Epic” (pun intended) Fortnite promotion. Epic Games needs to get the world buzzing about Fortnite again and what better way to give the game a kick in the pants but to stop the players from playing their favourite game? Even if they are playing something else at the moment.

The biggest Twitch streamers like Tfue, Dr Lupo and Myth have been staring at a black hole for the last day or so but there has been some movement but over at Epic Games.

Fortnite chapter 2
Fortnite chapter 2

But of course as we write this THE GAME SERVERS HAVE COME UP!!! GO PLAY LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!!

Is Fortnite Down? How to find out

Fortnite - Save the World
Fortnite - Save the World

“Is Fortnite Down?” is a question we have all asked ourselves at some point in our time playing Fortnite Battle Royale. What do you do when your connection to the servers seems to be down or laggy? A good place to start is to check if there isn’t a problem with your local network. Check your wireless or wired  connection to your router. If you can get to other sites but Fortnite is not working the the two most obvious answers to these problems are:

  1. The internet connection to the game servers is down.
  2. The servers themselves are down.

How to check you internet connection?

Pings to Fortnite
Pings to Fortnite

There are a few things you can do to check if your internet connection is down or if your connection to the epic games servers is having issues.

Check your Fortnite ping . This site will show you the pings to all available fortnite servers. If you know which server region is your closest and this site is saying that your ping to that server is bad. Then there is obviously problems with your connection to that region.

Fortnite Server Status
Are Epic servers down

If the ping seems OK then checking if the actual Fortnite servers are down is the next step. The site you are currently on is well known for checking server status. It does this by looking for social chatter about Fortnite. It checks the official Fortnite twitter account amongst many others to try and get a sense of if there is something wrong with the servers.

Where else can you check?

Epic used to have a great forum that kept players up to date on what was happening with Fortnite but recently they shut it down. We here at Game Server Pings think that was a mistake. It was a pretty vibrant little community and was a little more informative than reddit.com.

Fortnite Battle Royale – The Game the World is Playing

Fortnite - Battle Royale

What is a Battle Royale Game?

Battle Royale Movie
Battle Royale, the original movie

The term “Battle Royale” was first popularized by the 2000 Japanese movie Battle Royale directed by the late Kinji Fukasaku. The movie was based on the book of the same name by Koushun Takami.  The film centers on a group of high school kids that are forced to fight each other to the death on an island that has been split up into a number of “death zones“. All the students are fitted with explosive collars to try and ensure that they fight each other. If a student disobeys this directive the collar is detonated and the student is killed.

In BR games there is a storm or circle of energy or similar that slowly restricts the playing area, forcing the players together. This technically doesn’t happen in the movie but does bring us to the next talking point.

What makes a BR Game different from a standard First or Third Person shooter?

Come along as we will delve a little into the history of BR games.

Other than BR there are a few styles of First/Third Person Shooter games.

Death match style games like Unreal Tournament. Where the goal is to get as many kills on the other players in the game.

In a standard First Person Shooter (FPS) there are usually 2 or more teams fighting each other. A good example of this is CS:GO. CS:GO is published by Valve Entertainment and is one the longest continuously running FPS games on the internet. In this type of shooter game one team will win if either of the following conditions occur:

    •  It kills the whole of the other team.
    • Completes an objective like planting a bomb or defusing a bomb.
Arma 3 - Battle Royale
Arma 3 – Battle Royale

Both Unreal tournament and CS:GO have long heritages that stretch back into the 90’s. However the history of BR games really only goes back to 2013 and the release of Arma 3. The team that developed ARMA 3 built it to be modifiable by the player base and modify it they did. the two biggest mods that came out of Arma 3 were Dayz which is a huge Zombie survivalist mod and the one we are interested in is “PlayerUnknown’s Battle Royale”. PlayerUnknown ( AKA Brendan Greene) is now famous for role in the development of PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds).

Brendan Greene is a huge fan of the Battle Royale movie and decided that it would make a great mod for Arma 3 which he was playing heavily at the time. He admits to not being a great coder but he cobbled together the battle royale mod for Arma 3 and the game was an instant success. he went on to help with the development of H1Z1 which is another standalone third person Battle Royale game. In the mode a

So how did Fortnite become a Battle Royale game?

Fortnite - Save the World
Fortnite – Save the World

Fortnite was never conceived as a Battle Royale game. Originally the only mode was called “Save the World”. In Save the World players have to cooperatively fight zombie-like creatures to achieve various missions across a number of different maps. In this mode “the Storm” from the BR mode actually caused the death of 98% of the world’s population.  players gain rewards by completing missions and their characters level up and improve.

Fortnite was never going to be a Battle Royale. It was actually conceived as cross between Left 4 Dead and Minecraft. The unique building element of the game was designed to be somewhat like Minecraft. Suffice to say this mode was not very popular.

So how did Fortnite morph into a Battle Royale? Epic Games had what was reportedly a consultative role in the development of PUBG. PUBG is built on Epic’s Unreal Engine. PUBG was pushing the limits of what the Engine could do so Epic was consulted heavily in technical elements of the PUBG implementation. It was at about this time that Epic got the idea to add a Battle Royale version of Fortnite. Bluehole, the developer of PUBG, sued Epic over infringement of intellectual property but that lawsuit was dropped around June 2018.

It has to be said that Fortnite adding a Battle Royale element at about the same time as helping out with PUBG can’t be a coincidence. No intellectual property was stolen, but you can’t help thinking the seed idea of Fortnite BR mode germinated at about this time. Epic might have gotten the idea from Bluehole, but the Fortnite implementation of Battle Royale went on to dominate the gaming world.

Why are Battle Royale Games so Popular?

It has to be the gladiator effect. The gladiator effect is that feeling a player gets when they are the last person standing. Knowing that 20, 40 or even 100 people dropped into this game, after all the many battles that have taken you are the last person left alive at the end is one of the best feelings ever in gaming history.

Another phenomenon has arisen at the same time as battle Royale games and that is Streaming. Twitch is the most popular live streaming service and twitch’s growth in traffic has developed  a definite spike since the introduction of the battle Royale formulae. Streamers like Ninja, Myth and Timthetatman almost exclusively stream Fortnite battle royale games. Streamers like Shroud stream other battle royale games almost exclusively. These streamers have millions of followers collectively. no other gaming genre comes close to matching these viewer numbers.

We can’t finish without talking about The Storm

What is the storm in Fortnite? It is a ring around the playing area that reduces in size as the game progresses. It’s main job is to force players together to encourage fights and to finally leave on player standing. In the history of BR games the storm has had many variants. In PUBG it is called simply the Blue Zone, which causes varying amounts of damage depending on how far the game has progressed. In H1Z1 it is called the gas. In Apex it is usually only referred to as the circle. Whatever it is called in the Battle Royale you are playing there is one thing they all have in common and that is the storm has the most kills. More than even the best player. Beware of the Storm.

 

 

Fortnite Servers – Where are they located?

Fortnite - Battle Royale

Are you getting lag in Fortnite? You might not be connecting to your local server.

High ping or latency is only one of the many possible issues when Fortnite starts feeling laggy, although it is probably the most common. What is lag? It can be caused by a few things but the most common cause is connection distance/time between a players PC and the server the game is running on. The data being sent between the PC and server is being delyaed by a slow connection so both machines are often waiting for the next piece of information to arrive before being able to make decisions on that data. This ends up feeling like the game is reacting slowly to the players input.

Another possibility is that servers themselves are under load which can manifest as lag but more often than not you will notice this as in-game stuttering or as gamers have termed it rubber banding. In a third person shooter or Battle Royale like Fortnite, if an opponent is rubber banding the player’s character will make random jerky movements and can make them harder to hit. Often if someone else’s character is rubber banding then your own character will appear to be doing the same to them. It’s not a great experience for either party.

Another thing we need to take into consideration when discussing Fortnite servers is that Fortnite has inbuilt lag compensation. What is lag compensation? It is an inbuilt prediction formula that will let Fortnite guess where a player is at the time that another player takes a shot at them. What lag compensation isn’t is the throttling of fast connections to make everyone play on a similar ping. This is a myth that still prevails amongst some Fortnite players. Fortnite’s netcode and lag compensation is state of the art, while it will give the shooter priority and on occasion players will take damage or even dying behind cover. However, it is very rare especially when compared to other BR games.

Where are Fortnite Servers Located?

Fortnite and in fact most Epic games use AWS (Amazon Web Services) as the infrastructure to run games on. This cloud based service by Amazon is easily the biggest and most widely used cloud infrastructure at the time of publishing of this article. Although Google’s Cloud Computing Services is gaining ground on Amazon. What does this mean to the average player of Fortnite? It means that when connecting to Fortnite, there are a number of hops that every connections must take. Amazon’s world wide cloud computing distribution means that there are relatively few hops before you network packet finds its way to the entrance points of the Amazon cloud. Once inside the AWS infrastructure traffic flows across a very fast private fibre network. See the map below to find the closest epic games servers to you.

Fortnite Server Locations
Fortnite Server Locations

This isn’t the end of the story for a Fortnite players network traffic. Fortnite’s matchmaking will try and select the closest server to you when you load the game. This is not foolproof, occasionally Fortnite will try and connect a player to a server that is further away or the server closest you may indeed be laggy for some reason. If this happens the game can feel very laggy and you might want to try and reset the server connection. If this has happened to you do the following.

If one or both above checks are highlighting a problem with the closest region to you then you can change the matchmaking region in the game. Do this by doing the following.

  1. Enter game settings.
  2. Open the game tab.
  3. Select matchmaking Region.
  4. Apply the changes.
Use Matchmaking Region to select a new Fortnite server
Use Matchmaking Region to select a new Fortnite server

What are the Fortnite Server Regions?

Below we have listed all the known (as of publication) Fortnite server regions. Fortnite is constantly adding server capacity as the game’s player base is not reducing but holding steady and even increasing slightly in last few months.

 

Fortnite Server Regions (updated for 2020)

  • Ohio, USA
  • Virginia, USA
  • California, USA
  • Oregon, USA
  • Tokyo, Japan
  • South Korea
  • Osaka, Japan
  • Singapore
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Frankfurt, Germany
  • Ireland
  • London, UK
  • Paris, France
  • Sao Paulo, Brazil

We will be updating this list if Epic decides to change and/or remove any AWS regions. We will also update if Epic moves to another server provider.

Why Is a Good Ping a Good Thing?

Submarine at sea

In a multiplayer gaming world, there are a lot of things that go into the player having a good gaming experience – particularly if that good experience is dependent upon you winning.

‘Twitchy’ online multiplayer games like FPS (first-person shooters), racing and some MMORPG-type games, particularly depend on the player reacting to the feedback from the game in a timely and effective way. And that chain of feedback and reaction has many links, one of them being you, the player – and one of them being your ‘ping’.

There’s also things like mouse/keyboard input lag, CPU lag, GPU rendering time and monitor refresh rate – we’ll touch on those in a bit.

So What Is a ‘Ping’?

Submarine Ping
This expensively made graphic shows a submarine ping

If you’ve ever seen any of those old, World War II submarine movies, you’ll recall a lot of suspenseful scenes where the crew huddle in the darkness listening to a ‘ping’ sound getting faster and faster. That’s a sonar ping – a pulse of sound that goes through the water and bounces back to the emitter, to basically determine how far away something is.

To get technical:

An IP address is your unique internet address.

Information goes from one place on the internet to another in little packets, one after another.

In terms of the internets, a ping refers to latency – how long it takes for a data packet to go from your computer or gaming console to another IP address somewhere else on the internet. Got it?

There are two types of data packets; TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol).

TCP/IP is slower, as there’s a lot of back-and-forth to make sure the data is where it should be and that all of the data gets through. If a data packet is corrupted, it’ll be asked for again.

UDP is faster; it only checks to make sure that the data isn’t corrupted – if it is bad data, the receiving computer will just ignore it. Games that need to send a lot of data to keep your game updated use UDP.

Which brings us to ..

Packet Loss

Packet loss is something you’ve probably experienced; the game freezes and then suddenly everything is somewhere else.

This happens when the UDP data packets aren’t getting through to you in good shape, so your console/computer is rejecting them.

Why Is My Ping So Bad/Good?

So: your ping is the time it takes a message from your machine to reach the game server (or from the game server to your machine).

A game server is basically the judge of what all the connected players are doing. It knows where everything is and what everything is trying to do, and must decide who did what first – for example, two players firing a stream of bullets at each other.

As far as the server is concerned, the response time that matters is when your response is received by the game client (on your computer or console) and finally transmitted to the server. If you and your opponent both fire at the same, real-world time, but their message gets to the server 20 milliseconds before yours, bing bing! The win goes to your opponent.

(Of course, it’s not always that simple – many systems allow for a certain amount of latency, but hey, another time..)

The server also keeps your game client (the game program on your console or computer) up-to-date with necessary info about what’s going on around them in the virtual world; loot lying around, other players driving past, spells being cast on them, windows being broken. Your game is rendered locally for you to see, and generally shows you moving through this world quickly.

Your game also receives a lot more data about the world than you see – the server hands off the work of calculating that stuff to the game client. The simplest, hardest-to-beat game hacks are the ones that plug in to this information and present it to your sad, pathetic cheater-types, either on a separate program or as an on-screen overlay. Sad, sad people.

The Journey of the Data

The data you send to the server can go on quite an elaborate journey, depending on how far away the server is. If you’re running a server on your own machine, this will be on the order of 1ms. If you’re playing from Brazil and the server is in Iceland, that message takes quite a few jumps. Broadly speaking, here are the steps in the journey:

Start: Your PC / Console
> To Your Router / Modem
> To Your Local Internet Exchange / Node
> To Your ISP
> To .. Internets (this is where stuff can get complicated)
> To Internets > To Other Internets > (Add as needed)
> To Game Server Host / ISP / Data Centre
> To Network Switch
> To Game Server

Reverse the above for the journey from the server to you.

Improving Your Ping

There’s stuff you can do and stuff out of your control.

Your Local Network

Try to plug directly into your router with an Ethernet cable. If you’re paying on WiFi and other people are using that channel heavily, your data is going to have to compete and queue, which will slow things down and possibly cause packet loss.

Your Internet Connection

A complete, gigabit fibre connection is optimal here, but we can’t all have that (yet). When choosing a plan, remember that upload speed is a big factor here. Many people will ‘tether’ their phones – either by USB or by making their phone a wireless ‘hotspot’ – but be warned that some phone companies ‘de-prioritize’ gaming data.

Other Lag Factors

Finally, don’t forget that the complete performance picture is one where you are given the data as quickly as possible and that returns your response the fastest – that is, you see it on the screen as it happens and your controller / keyboard / mouse input is acted upon the fastest.

Essentially, this means getting the meanest, most expensive rig you can – but there are a bunch of cheaper ways to improve things somewhat.

  • Use a wired mouse rather than a cheap wireless mouse. Cheaper wireless mouses use older, slower technology to communicate with the PC (some modern, more expensive wireless mouses have pretty good response times, though)
  • CPU intensive games need a better CPU (all the better to work out where everything is)
  • GPU (graphics card). The more frames per second you see, the more data you have. But remember, a better GPU is only as good as the monitor that it outputs to – if you’re using a 60hz monitor, your graphics card only needs to render at 60 frames per second.

How We Measure Game Server Pings

The eagle-eyed may have spotted that you can’t ping a UDP connection – it only goes one way. So how does gameserverping.com DO it?

Well, it’s a bit of a hack, but it pretty much works.

We get your web browser to send little requests to a web address on a machine adjacent to the game server (or at least, in the same data center). This is about 10% slower than a TCP/IP ping, so allow for that and .. PING!

Thanks for reading. Check out your game pings now at gameserverping.com!