How to reduce lag
Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:32 pm
This is a tutorial on how to reduce lag and crashes on GTA:SA/MTA:SA.
Firstly, you should determine what type of lag you are experiencing. It could be either FPS lag or latency lag. Connect to our server and press F1. Click on the options app. Find a setting called "FPS counter" and enable it. An FPS counter should appear on the left bottom of the screen. If the FPS counter shows less than 30 then your FPS is considered to be low.
If you are having high and stable FPS but you still experience lag, it is likely that you are having a high latency (ping). To check your ping, open the scoreboard by pressing and holding the TAB key. Ping higher than 200 is considered too high.
Low FPS:
The game most likely lags because your computer specifications are too low.
Below are the recommended requirements for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
CPU: Pentium 4 or Athlon XP
CPU speed: 2 Ghz
RAM: 384 MB (Usually more since MTA uses some extra RAM)
Video card: 128 MB DirectX 9.0c compliant video card (NVIDIA GeForce 6 series) with 128 MB video ram, 3D, Hardware T&L, 2.0 Pixel Shader version and 2.0 Vertex Shader version.
You can increase your FPS by lowering your graphics. Follow the video below:
If you are still not satisfied by the FPS you are gaining, try disabling the shaders.
F1 -> Options app. Uncheck every checkbox except the level bar, notifications bar and FPS counter and click "Apply".
Make sure you have your render distance set to default. You can click the reset button to do so.
If your FPS is unstable (constantly jumping from high to low), you can set an FPS limit in the same options app where you disabled your shaders.
If you have any third party skin modifications installed, try removing them. Too many skin mods could cause the game to crash.
If you have downloaded the skin modifications through our client files setup, you can easily manage them via /downloads panel. Try disabling them and see if your FPS gets any higher.
You can also try to reduce the zombie limit. Too many zombies in one place can cause the game to crash.
Disabling zombie sounds might help as well. You can toggle these settings in the zombie options panel which can be accessed by pressing F2.
Lastly, you can try using third party GTA modifications to reduce lag. Click here to see a tutorial about this.
If none of these steps help, you should upgrade your hardware or purchase a better computer.
There is also a useful command that do some of the steps for you: /lag
This command can take an extra argument that determines how extreme can the lag reduction measures be.
/lag - Normal reduction
/lag 2 - High reduction (disables all modifications installed in the mods folder and removes some terrain items)
/lag 3 - Extreme reduction (removes vehicle detail)
/lag reset - Resets some lag reduction measures
Please note that this command is not as effective as the manual steps mentioned above.
High ping:
Measure your internet connection speed here: http://www.speedtest.net/
If the results are not satisfactory, you can improve your connection by following these steps:
Firstly, you should determine what type of lag you are experiencing. It could be either FPS lag or latency lag. Connect to our server and press F1. Click on the options app. Find a setting called "FPS counter" and enable it. An FPS counter should appear on the left bottom of the screen. If the FPS counter shows less than 30 then your FPS is considered to be low.
If you are having high and stable FPS but you still experience lag, it is likely that you are having a high latency (ping). To check your ping, open the scoreboard by pressing and holding the TAB key. Ping higher than 200 is considered too high.
Low FPS:
The game most likely lags because your computer specifications are too low.
Below are the recommended requirements for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
CPU: Pentium 4 or Athlon XP
CPU speed: 2 Ghz
RAM: 384 MB (Usually more since MTA uses some extra RAM)
Video card: 128 MB DirectX 9.0c compliant video card (NVIDIA GeForce 6 series) with 128 MB video ram, 3D, Hardware T&L, 2.0 Pixel Shader version and 2.0 Vertex Shader version.
You can increase your FPS by lowering your graphics. Follow the video below:
If you are still not satisfied by the FPS you are gaining, try disabling the shaders.
F1 -> Options app. Uncheck every checkbox except the level bar, notifications bar and FPS counter and click "Apply".
Make sure you have your render distance set to default. You can click the reset button to do so.
If your FPS is unstable (constantly jumping from high to low), you can set an FPS limit in the same options app where you disabled your shaders.
If you have any third party skin modifications installed, try removing them. Too many skin mods could cause the game to crash.
If you have downloaded the skin modifications through our client files setup, you can easily manage them via /downloads panel. Try disabling them and see if your FPS gets any higher.
You can also try to reduce the zombie limit. Too many zombies in one place can cause the game to crash.
Disabling zombie sounds might help as well. You can toggle these settings in the zombie options panel which can be accessed by pressing F2.
Lastly, you can try using third party GTA modifications to reduce lag. Click here to see a tutorial about this.
If none of these steps help, you should upgrade your hardware or purchase a better computer.
There is also a useful command that do some of the steps for you: /lag
This command can take an extra argument that determines how extreme can the lag reduction measures be.
/lag - Normal reduction
/lag 2 - High reduction (disables all modifications installed in the mods folder and removes some terrain items)
/lag 3 - Extreme reduction (removes vehicle detail)
/lag reset - Resets some lag reduction measures
Please note that this command is not as effective as the manual steps mentioned above.
High ping:
Measure your internet connection speed here: http://www.speedtest.net/
If the results are not satisfactory, you can improve your connection by following these steps:
- Disable programs such as Skype or P2P services and other background applications.
- Make sure your Firewall is configured properly.
- Try to reset your router to fix connectivity issues. If your modem or router don't have power switches, you can unplug the power cable, wait 30 seconds, and then plug it back in.
- Check to see if you've reached your ISP's data cap.
- If your Internet connection is used by other devices, see if those devices aren't using too much bandwidth by downloading large files or watching videos.
- Use LAN instead of WiFi if possible.
- Upgrade your router's firmware.