[CSE] Online input lag

[Mr.Ownage]

Hi guys! I felt like this is the only place I can post about this problem.

Alright, so my problem is, I have a friend whom with I play almost every day. I play quite a few characters in Continuum Shift, yet I have a HUGE problem when I want to play with, for example Mu, or Hakumen : I can't do their HCF special moves due to such high input lag. However, these two moves for their respective characters are their most powerful moves (Mu : safe poking and wall-bounce in the corner, Hakumen : Free follow up anywhere and easy Mugen 70%, without it only about 50%) and the two things that bother me are:

1. I can do these moves (Mu : Sword of Decimation, Hakumen : Rending Steel) perfectly fine and everytime offline, so it's not my execution.

2 : I can flawlessly do any type of HCB-F super anytime I need to (I combo into Ragna's 5C, then do 632146D, it works perfectly fine, but with Mu 5B into 5C into 63214C, it does not work at all!)

The only way I accidentally to these moves by some kind of miracle if I hold these buttons a little bit but that's bad because I can't wait for it in the heat of the match. Also can do wakeup DP's, and Hell's Fang midscreen hit-confirm, but these half circle specials are no go.

Any idea why this happens, and how can I fix it/avoid it? (If it helps in any way, I am a keyboard user).

[Airk]

Absolutely no idea;  Assuming your connection is decent, there must be something screwy with your inputs, because BB is pretty lenient.

My best guess is that when you do these moves, you normally hit the button too early, and BB "forgives" you in no-lag conditions and lets the move come out anyway, but you fall across a threshhold or something in lag. 

Two things to try:

#1: Go to normal training mode and verify that your inputs on these moves are 'clean';  If you're doing them sloppily, that could explain things.

#2: Have an online training mode session with your buddy and practice doing these moves online.  There's no magic here.  Everyone else does them all the time.

[Mr.Ownage]

On 12/10/2015, 4:40:45, Airk said:

 

#2: Have an online training mode session with your buddy and practice doing these moves online.  There's no magic here.  Everyone else does them all the time.

That's the problem here. I told my friend we should do training and let me practice the moves but there's no online training mode in BBCSE (that I know of). Also my inputs are clean, checked them and did them a lot of times like Mu habacan (anything into 6C > Wrath of Heavens whiff > anything, for example 5C into 63214C for corner carry), but online no go. However, I managed to pull them off a few times as of now, but still having no idea how to do it exactly. Most of the time it worked by holding back a little and then doing a QCF and attack button but there's no time in an actual match to delay an input like this, otherwise it will not combo or the opponent has moved by that time.

Ah, it seems like no Haku,Carl or Litchi for me online, these characters are so depedent on their HCF (HCB) moves (Haku zantetsu, Carl fueco and anima, Litchi 4 winds)

Also, sorry for late reply, had some trouble logging in for a while.

Lastly, for our connection being decent, well....not really at times. Sometimes I get about 4-5 frames of lag and other times up to 1,5 SECONDS of lag. Imagine getting pressured and you have to block with this lag...impossible feat. The 4-5 frame lag was in a match with one of my friends, and sometimes, towards the end it become 7-8 frames of lag or more. The 1,5 seconds of lag was in a tourney match, but that same guy with whom I had 1,5 seconds of lag had the same kind of lag in the finals, so i am guessing it was his connection. I don't know for sure.

[Airk]

Oh; That's right, I don't think CSE has online training mode, that's a CP-and-onwards feature.

Still no advice.  No one else seems to have had this problem, so...

[Ai]

There's three possibilities that come to my mind:

1. Online/multiplayer nerves: just the fact of playing online or against human players will be enough to cause you to play differently and even input things differently.

2. You're doing a combo part based on a visual confirm, or visually waiting for a move to end before doing the next part. If you're online, you'll technically have to do the following input sooner than it looks on screen. The entire combo itself from start to finish is the same timing as offline, but the visual confirmation onscreen is off since your input is registered later due to latency.

3. Sometimes inputs get completely dropped when playing online, and will not register. This is a very very rare occurrence for me. Maybe it's more common if you're on wireless?

I actually went through a huge period where I played a lot offline and did a ton of training mode. I could do combos easily 10 out of 10 times on both player sides (facing left, or facing right) while offline. Sure enough, when I went online, couldn't get a single combo down and it was pretty frustrating. When you finally get to play online, you have to learn a whole lot of hit-confirming and find out you need completely different combos for all the new situations you'll find yourself in. Also I can't emphasize enough, online nerves will do a number on you when you first start playing.

For issues with one move coming out though? Save the replay for a match where you think you did the move properly, and check out the inputs when viewing the replay. If you absolutely think it's not online nerves and want to confirm it's really dropping inputs (dropped inputs would not display on a replay file), you can record a small resolution video with like OBS or something with a keyboard/input overlay or something of that nature and then rewatch the video. But a lot of times, online nerves will make you rush inputs and cause it to be sloppy in nature until you get used to it - at least that's what happened to me when I first transitioned online.

Either way, good luck with your training!

(PS: Some keyboards will only allow you hold/push x number of buttons at the same time on certain areas of the keyboard due to "wiring" limitations. While this shouldn't affect you from transitioning from offline to online, it's something to keep in mind.)

[Mr.Ownage]

On 12/19/2015 at 11:08 PM, Ai said:

There's three possibilities that come to my mind:

1. Online/multiplayer nerves: just the fact of playing online or against human players will be enough to cause you to play differently and even input things differently.

2. You're doing a combo part based on a visual confirm, or visually waiting for a move to end before doing the next part. If you're online, you'll technically have to do the following input sooner than it looks on screen. The entire combo itself from start to finish is the same timing as offline, but the visual confirmation onscreen is off since your input is registered later due to latency.

3. Sometimes inputs get completely dropped when playing online, and will not register. This is a very very rare occurrence for me. Maybe it's more common if you're on wireless?

 

I think I have found the answer here in your post, Ai. I find it really helpful! First off, yeah, I DO get nervous sometimes, espicially when I am playing on tourneys or ranked matches against unknown people. Your 2. and 3. reasons are also right, I do visually confirm my hits, and lag makes some combos (Bang relaunch after j.C, Ragna Hell's Fang into 2A midscreen) near impossible without them teching. And also yes, I am using a wireless router, although I don't know if it's causing the issues, I got a quite good net, and I can play other games without lag issues (at least big lag issues).

As for the replaying, I've never even thought about it. I didn'T know you could view your inputs through replays! However, I don't seem to be able to find input history in the Replay Theater, maybe it's also a CP exclusive feature?

I think there's nothing else to say about it, this post by Ai pretty much explains it all. Thanks for the help!

[Airk]

If you are using a wireless router, it is causing issues.  It's not a question, at that point.  Wireless adds latency, and latency is bad news for fighting games. Try to wire your setup if at all possible.