I have a special request for network software developers.
Esports VPN Latency De-Jittering and De-Bufferbloat App For High-Jitter ISPs
Often, many of us have to use a gaming VPN (see thread) to fix Internet hitreg issues. This helps bypass crappy Internet routings. But it can be even better.
However, this doesn't help when your ISP is high jitter, like an overloaded cable Internet connetion (10ms+ jitter) or a Starlink satellite connection (5ms jitter). In this case, we know the high-jitter is usually the first few hops. The good news is that latency can be de-jittered with an intermediary server/VPN.
CS:GO hitreg is much better at 30ms latency + 1ms jitter, than it is at 15ms latency + 5ms jitter. Pros frag much better at lower jitter, the low-jitter is often more important than average Internet latency. Also, some games have playing field leveller algorithms that disfavour the lowest-lag players when most players on a server has high Internet latency. So, this gives a latency de-jitter opportunity to improve hitreg.
COVID shut down all the big esports stadiums with jitter-free Ethernet LANs, forcing lots of competitive players to play over the open Internet, creating a wild zoo of very bad hitreg that constantly annoys a lot of gamers. Similarly, casual gamers who love competitive gameplay but hate erratic hitreg of Battle(non)sense lore, get very tired of terrible games. Sometimes even FTTH performs very terribly.
Why??? Why is this important?
Network latency jitter can erratically fudge your hit registration -- you shoot an enemy in a FPS game such as CS:GO. It randomly overshoots (shoots early) or undershoots (shoots late). This inconsistent hitreg is often caused by network jitter, especially relative to the latency of the other players on the same server, as well as the server tick rate too.
Remember, 128-tickrate CS:GO servers means only 8 milliseconds between ticks. A 4ms latency jitter can erratically jitter your hitreg early/late badly. Sometimes you can't easily fix this at the ISP end. Even a 2ms latency jitter can produce erratic hitreg that annoys seasoned competitive players.
Also, your family may be surfing on your same Internet connection. That will jitter your game around badly.
Your sister starts Netflix somewhere in the house? Network jitter.
Your mom browses the news? Network jitter.
So sometimes jitter is from Internet sharing.
But we can still "undo" and "repair" network jitter and bufferbloat near the remote end -- e.g. an intermediary server very close to the remote gaming server. Read more:
The Possible Fix For Some ISPs
So -- we need an open source software developer to step up to the plate to help us out.
We need to merge a network conditioning app (latency smoothing / ping dejittering) with a gaming VPN app (such as command line WireGuard VPN). This app can run on any intermediate server you purchase (like a VPS web hosting service, or somebody distant friend's low-jitter FTTH connection).
It's not that complicated software development -- combining a network conditor app & a VPN app into one app would be a killer app for fixing high-ping-jitter ISPs. Your own latency-dejittering gaming VPN app!
I would like to see somebody has to fork the source code of existing network conditioners & existing WireGuard VPN app, and merge their source code, to produce a killer esports-fixer app. Adjust latency, add/remove latency, add/remove ping dejittering, near-lagless WireGuard VPN to a better route, to fix more most hitreg problems. Whammo the sweet spot of gaming servers, perfectly in the middle of the latency playing field. You software devs, make an app for it!
The current best DIY gaming VPN software is WireGuard (see wireguard.com/compilation/ ), especially when installed on your very own fast web hosting service (such as VPN).
1. Routing of a Bad ISP:
Favourite Game -> Your Router -> Your ISP -> Crappy ISP Routing -> Game Server
RESULT: bad random hitreg
pros: easy
cons: bad hitreg
2. VPN Fixing Bad ISP Routing:
Favourite Game -> Your Router (VPN entry point) -> VPN over Your ISP -> VPN Provider Server Nearest ISP -> Routing over VPN Provider's Network -> VPN Provider Server Nearest Game Server (VPN Exit Point) -> Game Server
RESULT: less random hitreg
pros: can improve hitreg but you have to win the VPN lottery
(Test at least 3 different fast *paid* VPN providers, using the most lagless gaming-friendly WireGuard VPN protocol. This is the best way to find a VPN that has lower lag than your ISP routing -- it depends on your location.)
cons: doesn't fix jitter, see below
3. VPN Unable to Fix ISP Jitter:
Favourite Game -> Your Router (VPN entry point) -> VPN over Very Badly Jittering ISP -> VPN Provider Server Nearest ISP (bad jitter not fixed) -> Routing over VPN Provider's Network (bad jitter not fixed) -> VPN Provider Server Nearest Game Server (VPN Exit Point) -> Game Server
RESULT: bad random hitreg
cons: Most VPNs can't fix ISP jitter, you have to be lucky
4. Network Conditioned VPN (Theoretical Commercial VPN Provider):
Favourite Game -> Your Custom Jitter-Correcting VPN Router (VPN entry point) -> VPN over Very Badly Jittering ISP -> VPN Provider Server Nearest ISP (bad jitter not fixed) -> Routing over VPN Provider's Network (bad jitter not fixed) -> VPN Provider With Jitter-Correcting Exit Point (VPN Exit Point) -> Game Server
RESULT: Beautifully consistent hitreg
pros: Holy Grail fix for high-jitter ISPs (overloaded cable, Starlink, oversubscribed DSL, etc)
cons: Not yet commercially available but technically possible. Requires a software developer
5. DIY Network Conditioned VPN (Do-It-Yourself):
Favourite Game -> Your Custom Jitter-Correcting VPN Router (VPN entry point) -> VPN over Very Badly Jittering ISP -> Your purchased VPS server nearest gaming server (bad jitter not yet fixed) -> Custom jitter-correcting VPN client software you install on your VPS server (VPN Exit Point) -> Game Server
RESULT: Beautifully consistent hitreg
pros: Holy Grail fix for high-jitter ISPs (overloaded cable, Starlink, oversubscribed DSL, etc)
cons: Not yet commercially available but technically possible. Requires a software developer
NEW UPDATE (2023) due to users doing exploits.
Not Considered Cheating: Symmetric packetdelay
Some game companies (and I) don't mind if a user symmetrically delays their FTTH to match their DSL/Cable peers, since that makes prediction a lot less wonky if you intentionally handicap to get the same algorithmic behaviors as other people in your local region game servers. For some, it is a lot easier running packetdelay app on an opensource router (e.g. OpenWRT) than to switch to a VPN provider (to add intentional lag to equalize your latency with peers) -- same end result of latency self-equalization.
Considered Cheating: Asymmetric packetdelay
But, using very heavily asymmetric packetdelayers to trigger an exploit (e.g. a game that doesn't detect for unusually asymmetric ping) -- is currently considered cheating. It is possible for game engines to detect asymmetric latency, through various algorithms that measures ping in one direction (from both ends) and comparing, and using heuristics (over long term) to automatically redflag if there's heavy asymmetry. Some game engines MAY ban you if you do this, others haven't upgraded theirs to detect this. This is considered an exploit.
NOTE TO GAME COMPANIES: It (just about) is possible to detect asymmetric latency by various techniques, and whitelist things like Hughesnet (satellite download + dialup upload combo) while blocking very noticeably heavily asymmetric latency cheats. By doing this, timestamp-based asymmetric latency detection is possible. This is challenging with imprecise clock synchronization without GPS-accurate timestamps on both ends. But not impossible, since heavily asymmetric latency will often eventually fingerprint itself (and detectable by heuristics/AI/etc). Valve and VAC should add centralized master clocks that is relatively resistant to asymmetry-latency cheats. By having a latency-compensating VPN, it makes it less tempting for people to cheat via asymmetric-latency tricks -- fingerprinting shows up if browser-based lag behaviors are not in sync with steam-based lag behaviors and are not in sync with gameserver-lag behaviors (e.g. selective asymmetric latency shows up like a christmas tree in multiple-channel timestamp synchronization!). So games should use multiple timestamp sync APIs that run through separate apps (via Windows OS, via VAC, and via in-game), to resist filtering by router-based selectivity. Therefore, a symmetric-latency-jitter-compensating VPN is considered kosher by some game companies that I discussed to, but none currently exist yet. Much like how making Netflix available reduced the need to Bittorrent, we badly need a fair game-company-approved latency-compensating VPN.
New BountySource Rule: The client must absolutely be game-company-approved, and not capable of allowing asymmetric latency (unless someone pulls it from github, modifies it, recompiles it with an illegal asymmetric packetdelay). Source code pull requests for asymmetric latency will be rejected.
Discussion on how to do asymmetric packetdelay is a rules violation ("no cheats" forum rule).