So, i see the new Latency option that replaced the old Ping.
I assumed that ping and latency were the same thing, but it seems that Latency is some ms higher than ping. Can anyone explain what does Latency means for this game?
I checked with a lot of friends and they all have the same “issue”, Latency is around 20ms higher than Ping was before the update.
It’s measured differently now, so it’s higher for everyone. I would post a link to the forum post elsewhere here, but I’m apparently not trusted enough to be allowed. Thanks forum.
Latency is formerly known as RTT (Round Trip Time)
By actual definition it’s also called Ping time… prior to this patch, Ping was represented by 1/2 of your RTT “Latency.”
So if you had a 16ms ping in the previous patch like me you now have a 32ms “Latency.”
The ping is the reaction time of your connection–how fast you get a response after you’ve sent out a request. A fast ping means a more responsive connection, especially in applications where timing is everything (like video games). Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms).
That would make sense if the full network info (ctrl + shift + N) wasn’t still showing my latency the same as it was before.
Before and including now, the full info reports my connection, in all regards, as being around 15-18ms. This includes the ‘latency’ bar within the full network information. However, the latency tag in the top corner is reporting >40ms at all times.
To reiterate for clarity, latency in the full network info says <18ms, while latency in the top corner says >40ms.
Also it’s really annoying that the ‘latency’ corner display doesn’t show outside of gameplay and that they went from the short ‘PNG’, which is easy to check at a glance, to the longer ‘LATENCY’ which is simply more clutter for no benefit. If they really want to get away from saying “ping” (which there’s really no need to, as people have understood latency as “ping” for decades; I’ve been monitoring RTT by ping in games since about 1998, myself) then they could at least have used the common LTN or RTT shorthand, rather than the whole word.
This seems like one of those aimless changes that happens “just because”, with no particular goal and little thought put into execution. The previous “PNG” display, shown at all times, was more useful, more compact, and more accurate.
That is another issue entirely and has to do with networking specifically. I don’t really feel like going into details why it’s the way it is for you, but it has to do with routing, distance from the server, stability of your connection, among many other things that can randomly occur that may affect it.
For example The routing I have for Overwatch is very good and distance is negligible for me.
However, Someone down the street from me could have a higher ping time, because he may have a different ISP, or different routing through his ISP.
There’s a lot that can affect it. Without going into to many details.
The real reason they fixed it to what it is now, is because before it was wrong by definition.
Ping time was not represented correctly in previous patches, the RTT value was the REAL ping value you get in game.
It was basically an “Oops, We need to fix that.” Which is why I gave the definition of Ping Time in my previous post.
To clarify, Ping in previous patches, only measured how fast your connection sent info to the server, but DID NOT include how long it took the server to respond, which by definition is NOT Ping time.
You misunderstand. The problem is that the game offers two ways to display “latency”, and they are not consistent with each other.
And also, ping and full circle latency/RTT are two different things and knowing them has two different uses. Yes, full latency/RTT is a more accurate representation of the full trip the information has to make for your connection, but ping is more useful for frame counting because when you’re frame counting, only your inward connection matters, not the outward portion or any time added by the server.
And though ‘ping’ may be defined as the full circle latency, the fact of the matter is that games have used it for one-way measurements for decades now. Saying you have to scrap ‘ping’ because it is “by definition” the full circle latency is like saying you’ve got to stop referring to computer mice as working in DPI because technically it’s CPI; that doesn’t matter, ‘DPI’ is what everyone knows and has used for decades, so it stays. Same with “ping” and the previous method of measuring it.
tl;dr version: You are technically correct, but you’ve missed the point.
There’s really no need to get rid of the previous ‘ping’ reading. They could easily have the option to display the previous (one-way) ping reading or the new (full circle) latency reading. (Or, of course, the option to display neither.) The full network graph option does still display both (though, again, the ‘latency’ reading on that page and the new latency UI element do not match up, which is a problem) so clearly the game is capable of reading and displaying both or either. For frame-counters like me, coming from an old pro gaming habit, having a quick one-way ping count is extremely important.
I have never played a game in 24 years of online gaming that EVER used ping as a one way measurement.
Granted that doesn’t mean all games do that, but Overwatch is the first game I’ve ever played that does it.
And no they haven’t done it for more than 10 years, because 20 years ago, there was no one way defined ping time.
Even BNS doesn’t use one way ping times, and it only measures skill ping times, but DOES NOT include motion in game as part of the ping value.
Furthermore,
Round-trip delay time. In telecommunications, the round-trip delay time (RTD) or round-trip time (RTT) is the length of time it takes for a signal to be sent plus the length of time it takes for an acknowledgement of that signal to be received.
Latency Definition. Latency is the amount of time a message takes to traverse a system. In a computer network, it is an expression of how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one designated point to another. It is sometimes measured as the time required for a packet to be returned to its sender.
The ping is the reaction time of your connection–how fast you get a response after you’ve sent out a request. A fast ping means a more responsive connection, especially in applications where timing is everything (like video games). Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms).
I’m sorry but I don’t see the difference in definition you are trying to illustrate, can you explain more what you mean exactly?
Even the Ping command itself doesn’t work in one direction.
The Internet Ping program works much like a sonar echo-location, sending a small packet of information containing an ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to a specified computer, which then sends an ECHO_REPLY packet in return. The IP address 127.0.0.1 is set by convention to always indicate your own computer.
I believe what you are confusing is what’s called OWAMP:
OWAMP is a command line client application and a policy daemon used to determine one way latencies between hosts. It is an implementation of the OWAMP protocol as defined by SNIP (When referring to the protocol within this document, “OWAMP” will be in italicized. In all other instances, “OWAMP” will be referring to this implementation.)
Ping works through TCP and UDP protocols. To clarify OWAMP has it’s own network protocol. Which most people don’t use on gaming client machines, short of if they are playing the game from work then the possibility exists.
I’ll repeat what I said before:
And though ‘ping’ may be defined as the full circle latency, the fact of the matter is that games have used it for one-way measurements for decades now. Saying you have to scrap ‘ping’ because it is “by definition” the full circle latency is like saying you’ve got to stop referring to computer mice as working in DPI because technically it’s CPI; that doesn’t matter, ‘DPI’ is what everyone knows and has used for decades, so it stays. Same with “ping” and the previous method of measuring it.
tl;dr version: You are technically correct, but you’ve missed the point.
You’re talking about dictionary definitions; I’m talking about what’s used and understood by video games since online multiplayer was A Thing.
As for games which use “ping” to represent a single connection measurement:
Counter-Strike, all versions except Condition Zero on Xbox.
Day Of Defeat
The Specialists
Unreal Tournament up until 2k4.
Quake 3 Arena
Deus Ex (original)
Street Fighter 5 (PC)
Dead Or Alive 5 (all versions)
Tekken 7 (PC)
Guild Wars (both)
Forza 7 (PC)
I mean, we could go on, but I hope you have the idea by now.