Leatrix
The best and easiest way to lower your latency in warcraft is by using the leatrix tool.
Leatrix Wowinterface wrote:Online games generally use the TCP protocol which requires that network segments sent to your computer be acknowledged in order to provide a reliable connection.
Windows bundles these acknowledgments together and sends them in pairs. While this is an efficient way of dealing with them generally, the inevitable delays caused by the bundling process increase latency considerably.
This is because when Windows queues up an acknowledgment in order to bundle it with the following one, the game server has to wait for the acknowledgment timer to expire before sending new data.
Leatrix Latency Fix removes the acknowledgment bundling process so that an acknowledgment is sent immediately for every segment that's received. This produces a significant reduction in latency as there is no longer a delay before new data is sent to your computer.
In a normal networking environment, you would prioritize network efficiency over latency and use the Windows defaults, but in online games the opposite is true and you want the lowest latency you can possibly get.
If you could listen to a conversation between your computer and the game server, this is what you would hear.
Before Leatrix Latency Fix is installed:
•Server: "Ok computer, I just sent a data packet over to you, got it?"
•Your computer: ...
•Server: "Come on, answer me! I don't have all day! Stop wasting time!"
•Your computer: ...
•Server: "Ok, forget it, I've waited long enough, sending another one over! Got it?"
•Your computer: "Yep, got that one, also got the one you sent before, thanks."
•Server: "Well, why didn't you acknowledge the first one when I sent it? I was waiting ages!"
•Your computer: "Sorry, I'm just trying to make the network more efficient by bundling the acknowledgments together in pairs. This is how I'm setup by default."
After Leatrix Latency Fix is installed:
•Server: "Ok computer, I just sent a data packet over, got it?"
•Your computer: "Yep, send the next!"
•Server: "That was fast! Ok, here's another, got that?"
•Your computer: "Yep, send the next!"
•Server: "Wow! What an improvement! Now that's more like it!"
•Your computer: "Yep, it's certainly keeping me on my toes, thanks!"
After installing this my latency went from 290 to 130, not bad.
Simply download the file, execute the install file restart your computer.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/i ... cyFix.html
In-Game Settings
If you are having any fps issues in game go to your video settings and make sure you have tried adjusting these.
Resolution Tab
-Always set your resolution to the proper size resolution of your monitor for best performance. If you do not know the resolution of your monitor refer to your monitors manual. Also make sure that you have your desktop resolution set to the proper setting, not only world of warcraft.
Note: LCD Monitors maximum resolution size available is the correct size. Right click your desktop go to display settings, (screen resolution for windows 7) and make sure it is set to the maximum option, whatever that is you should set world of warcraft to be that resolution.
-Refresh rate, this setting needs to also be set to whatever your monitor can support, in most cases the highest available option is the correct. Refer to your monitors manual.
-Vertical Sync, this option should be turned ON! Yes it will lower your frame rate, but the point of it is to steady your frame rate. Ex: Your looking at a wall, you have 150fps, you turn and look away towards a bunch of people, your fps drops to 20. If vertical sync is on the cap is normally 60 on your fps. This means when you turn around you shouldn't notice any lag and your fps should only drop about 5-10 instead of from 120 to 20.
-Multisampling, this is what shows the staircase effect on most 3d models in game if you look close to the edge. If your having fps issues, setting this to 1x is the best thing to do. If you don't have fps issues changing this to a higher setting will reduce the staircase effect.
-Windowed Mode, uncheck this! This is the worst thing for your frame rate.
Effects Tab
-This is the list of things you should try lowering from highest priority down.
1. Shadow Quality, any fps issues turn this to low first.
2. View Distance, i don't recommend setting it to completely low find a medium.
3. Ground clutter density, this can be turned completely off if your having issues.
4. Ground clutter radius, same as above
Pretty much everything else on this tab can be turned off or set to low/medium if your still having issues, but adjust the top 4 things first.
View Area
When setting up your UI the most important thing to remember is that you actually need to play and see what your doing.
Other than a boss mod timer you should have next to nothing in the center of your screen. The excuse is healers who should have their raid frames near the lower center area of their screen somewhere.
The next thing is the warning texts from boss mods. You should be able to read the top center of your screen, in other words you need to disable blizzards error text.
-image from Galdor on tankspot forums
I recommend this add-on, its about 7 lines of code it will cause no stress to cpu.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addo ... error.aspx
Also if you have a scrolling combat text, having it show auras scrolling in the center screen is retarded, you can never see them and they just block your vision, turn it off or move it elsewhere.
Another important thing this is directed towards dps/tanks more than healers is your player frame / target frame, target of target frame should all be in one area that is easy to see. I personally use the lower area of the screen because its easily in my vision.
Keybinds
From Bloodwraith on Tankspot
- Why Should I Use Keybinds?
- Common Keybinds
- How to Learn Your Keybinds
Why Should I Use Keybinds?
A keybinding is a shortcut exclusively pressed by your left hand on the keyboard to make your character do something, fast. Clicking does things slowly and thus is less effective than someone who uses keybinds. Clicking forces you to watch your action bars and hinders you from watching what is going on around you causing tunnel vision.
To change keybindings, you press the Esc key, click on Key Bindings in the menu that appears in the middle of the screen, and scroll down through the various different abilities. The function of the ability is described on the left side, and the two boxes in line with the description are the two possible keybindings. To assign a new keybinding you click on the left box and press the keybinding you wish to assign. Click Okay after you’re done changing things.
Common Keybinds
The first thing you need to keybind is your movement base. I would suggest you use WASD as your movement base. If you currently turn with your keyboard you need to stop. Turning with your keyboard is slower than turning with your mouse (hold right mouse button and drag it). Your movement keybinds should be:
W: Forward
A: Strafe Left
S: Backward
D: Strafe Right
Some people use ESDF instead of WASD. They feel that this opens up more keybind space.
You can use modifiers (Shift/Ctrl/Alt) with normal keys to open up even more space on your keyboard. These keys allow you keybind all of your spells while keeping everything within reach of your left hand.
Everyone does what is comfortable to them, but this is the general idea:
Common keys are `12345QERTFGC. You can also bind abilities to your mouse wheel.
Your most used spells will probably be most comfortable if you place them on QERF4 and then branch out from there.
Use shift/ctrl/alt as modifiers for keybinds to keep them near your movement base.
Leave nothing as a clicking ability.
Keybind your focus target.
I find that Caps Lock is a great keybind for Ventrilo.
How to Learn Your Keybinds
You won't be able to learn keybinds overnight. It takes time and effort to get used to them, but in the end you won't regret it. I have a few suggestions on getting used to them.
- First just practice your keybinds in a BG or solo. I don't suggest trying them while you're in something important such as an arena match or in an instance or raid because you won't be used to them yet. As time goes on you'll usually notice that some keys need to be bound differently. Change them and continue to practice the keybinds by yourself. After a while (depends on the person) you'll usually start to meld your keybind play while you do non-solo activities and then you'll start playing with keybinds full-time. When this happens: Congratulations you've mastered the use of keybinds
- If you're having troubleput all of your binds in order(on your bars). If your spells are jumbled around it can get confusing for some people and makes them harder to learn.
- Download an action bar mod if you don't already have one. I would suggest Bartender4. This mod has a keybinding feature that allows you to type "/kb" which brings up a little window. Once the window is up you can hover your mouse over your action bar buttons and bind and clear the keybinds for each button. Not only does it help with keybinding but it also allows you to hide your bars. Hiding your bars makes you depend completely on your keybinds. You don't have to keep it hidden because you need to be able to see your cooldowns, but keeping it hidden while you first learn them is very helpful. This is a video on Bartender4: Bartender4 | pvptutorial.com