I’ve noticed recently that sometimes I see the players skip a few frames. I took a screenshot of the netgraph (see above) and saw periodic instances of what you see there. I asked around, the typical answer was that it’s packet loss. I am running on WiFi, but that hasn’t been an issue before, only recently. Below, I will link and image to my PC setup in case that is important. I am currently playing OW so the temps are mostly accurate.
Thanks for the screenshot and links. While wifi may have worked well enough for you in the past, it is possible for wifi issues to show up without you necessarily changing anything on your end. Wireless interference can be caused by a ton of different things.
I’d try starting with just a basic power cycle of the network in order to refresh the connection.
If it continues happening you may want to try swapping between the 2.4ghz and 5ghz wifi networks (most newer routers support both) to see if the issue goes away on one versus the other.
Running a WinMTR can also help identify any issues that might be causing packet loss along the path between you and the server, if the connection issues persist.
Right-click on the downloaded .zip folder and select “Extract All”, to extract the files to a new folder.
Open the new folder that was created, then open the WinMTR_x64 folder.
Right-click on the WinMTR application and select “Run as administrator”.
Launch Overwatch and join a match. Once you’re in the match, press Ctrl+Shift+N to open the Network Graph.
Look for the server name displayed in brackets and the IP address at the top. Note you will need to remove the colon and port number after the IP address before running the test. (12.345.67.89:PORT)
Switch back to WinMTR, then type the server IP address in the “Host” field.
Click on “Start”. Allow the test to run for at least 10 minutes or the duration of a match. Click on “Stop” when you’re done playing after you have experienced the latency or connection issue.
Click on “Copy Text to Clipboard”, paste the results here, then highlight everything and hit the </> button in the posting section so it will allow links.
Looks like the connection between your PC and router (mynetwork) is pretty stable, no packet loss and an average of 1ms latency. However after the connection leaves the router and hits the internet provider’s network it starts to show packet loss and latency spikes up to 169ms at the worst.
If you were wired and plugged in directly when the WinMTR was run then I’d recommend contacting the ISP to see if they can take a look at the packet loss and look for any signal issues from your home that might be causing this.
I contacted my ISP, I asked about my packet loss and what it has been. They said it was less than the average user.
**Bell Specialist** : Hi! I’m a Bell residential product specialist. How can I help you today?
**You** : I've noticed some packet loss on my connection, was wondering if you could do a test on my line
**Weva** : Hello and welcome to Bell's chat service. How may I provide you with excellent service today?
**You** : Just wondering if you could run a test on my line to determine the amount of packet loss
**You** : blocked
**Weva** : Sure, I will check on your account.
**Weva** : Who do I have the pleasure of chatting with today?
**You** : --
**You** : the owner
**You** : online tests have showed an average of about 0.3% which is negligible, but one of the games I play has a significantly higher amount
**Weva** : May I have the exact name on the account and the 4 digit pin, please?
**You** : Blocked
**Weva** : Thank you, Mr. --, I will be checking your account now.
**You** : thank you
**Weva** : Thank you or patiently waiting, Mr. Borden. Upon checking here for the last 24 hours, the total packet loss is 1.0
**You** : is that normal?
**Weva** : Yes, Mr. Borden. Other customers experience higher to that number.
**You** : ok, I was concerned because I am running a line from the basement to the main floor
**You** : the cord is rather long
**Weva** : Oh, don't worry. It's normal and your network is stable.
**You** : is there a way to test the packet loss between my PC and the router? Since I'm on wifi?
**Weva** : Yes, I am checking on it.
**Weva** : Upon checking here, for pc and router, no records of packet loss for the last 24 hours.
**You** : thank you
**You** : that's all
I see. Well that is rather unfortunate since any amount of packet loss is going to affect real-time gaming. If they are ok with you having 1% packet loss then you are bound to see packet loss occurring in Overwatch. Any ISP should be aiming to give the customer a service with 0% packet loss, otherwise you won’t have a good experience in games where latency and connection stability are key factors.
Overwatch is sending and receiving around 64 packets per second while you’re in-game. The WinMTR test sends 1 packet per second. So you will definitely feel and see even 1% loss while playing.
In the Options menu under Gameplay there are two settings. “Limit client send rate” and “Limit server send rate”. Turning these ON will reduce the amount of packets per second the game sends and receives respectively. If you want to try playing with these enabled it may reduce the chance of you seeing packet loss, but ultimately it sounds like the connection to your ISP is the source of the problem.
Thanks for the info. I’ll try that out. The packet loss only causes a moderate annoyance in terms of frame skipping. I can still play fine with it, but I still notice it. I will report back with results after using your changes.