CS2: High Ping and/or Packet Loss

Having a high ping and/or packet loss when playing can be detrimental to the experience, which is why we are very keen on providing a great experience with low latency.

Troubleshooting

The first thing is to determine whether you have a ping and packet loss issue or not. In-game you can get an overview of the ping and packet loss by typing net_graph 1 into your in-game console.

If the issue doesn’t seem to be related to ping or packet loss, follow our guide in Troubleshoot Performance Issues instead.

What is a high ping?

That depends on where you’re located relative to the server, but generally speaking, you would want a latency of less than 100 ms (ideally less than 70 ms).

What is a high packet loss?

Packet loss is defined as the percentage of packets sent from your computer that wasn’t received by our servers. In an ideal world, this value should be 0% or 1% at the most. Higher than so will be noticeable and could lead to a bad experience. 

My ping and/or packet loss is higher than normal, what should I do?

The first recommendation would be to determine whether everyone on the server is affected by this issue, or if it’s only you. 

If everyone on the server, or at least more than a few, is experiencing the same issue it’s likely to be on the server side of things. Follow the steps outlined in escalating the issue to reach out to us, or you could try and change the server location as a troubleshooting measurement.

If it’s only you, or at most a couple of players, it’s likely to be a client-sided issue. That could be due to numerous reasons, read more here: Why do I receive a high ping and/or packet loss?

Change server location

One troubleshooting measurement that you could try on your own would be to change the server location. We recommend selecting the location that is nearest to your physical location, but in some cases where you have temporary routing issues, you might also be better off with the second-nearest location.

1

Go to your DatHost Control Panel

2

Click Edit on your CS2 Server

3

Select a new location and click Save

4

Join the server and see how the ping and/or packet loss changes

Escalating the issue

Do several players on the server have high ping and/or packet loss? Please, follow these steps in order for us to be able and assist you as best we can.

Step 1: Gather traceroutes

Routing issues are tricky to troubleshoot, one thing that helps us tremendously in determining where the issue persists is traceroutes. In order for us to troubleshoot things further, we would need traceroutes from some of the players affected:

Step-by-step guide:

1

Open the Command Prompt by pressing the Windows button on your keyboard

2

Type cmd and hit Enter

3

Type in tracert your-dathost-server-ip-here and hit Enter.

Note: Type it in without the port number, e.g. tracert xaro.dathost.net

4

Wait for the message "Trace complete" and then copy the entire output.

5

Paste the output to https://pastebin.com/, click “Create new paste” and then copy the link generated.

If we can get more than one traceroute from players affected by high ping and/or packet loss that would help tremendously in the troubleshooting.

Step 2: Send us detailed information

The following information should be included in your outreach:

1

Timestamp when you experienced these issues (including the timezone).

2

Players affected by high ping and/or packet loss (nicknames of the players).

3

How are you noticing these issues in-game? (e.g. stuttering, disconnecting, etc.)

4

Are the issues continuous, or do you have spikes at certain times/events in the game?

5

Pastebin links of traceroutes (see step 1 above). Ideally, more than one - if possible.

Common questions

Why do I receive a high ping and/or packet loss?

The ping is measured in the milliseconds it takes to send data from your computer to the server, and back again (i.e round-trip time). There are different factors that will affect the ping, such as distance to the server and the path the data travels.

When you are connecting to our servers, the data will be transferred in what is deemed the most efficient route at the time, as there isn’t a cable connected from your computer to our servers. On the internet, BGP is the protocol that is essential for this to work, one could say it’s the postal service of the internet. 

When you go and drop a letter into a mailbox, the postal service will choose a fast and efficient route to deliver that letter to its recipient. Similarly, when you are connecting to a CS2 server on the internet, BGP is responsible for looking through all paths available that data could travel and picking the best route possible. 

In theory, this protocol should be very efficient in making sure that connections on the internet are fast and efficient. Unfortunately, sometimes it won’t pick the most effective route and it will result in higher ping (RTT) or packet loss if the route isn’t stable. 

Do you have any upgrade offers so we can get a lower ping?

No, that’s not how we operate, and that isn’t how routing on the internet works either. There is no way for us to guarantee that you will get low ping to our servers, as the routing on the internet is dynamic and can change from time to time. 

We are working with some of the best hosting providers in the world, that have great network connectivity with multiple upstream providers. Unfortunately, routing on the internet is a bit complex as explained in the question above, but we will always do our best to make sure everyone can enjoy low-latency gaming.

If you have experienced issues where multiple players are suffering from a high ping and/or packet loss - make sure to follow the steps outlined in escalating the issue and we’ll do our best to help you out.