CSGO - player models feels like sliding on ice
Posted: 11 Nov 2021, 11:01
Sorry this is kind of a longer write up. Earlier this year I moved from a house built in the 90s with ATT fiber internet to an apartment that was originally built in the 50s or 60s and now i have Spectrum 400/20 plan ("Internet Ultra"). I'm in the US on the east coast. I played CSGO often while living in the house from Aug 2018, to Jan 2021. The only issues I ever had with the game were micro-stutters from CPU/GPU bottleneck. I would usually have FPS around upper 100s and low 200s, depending on the map. I had the same PC when i moved out and moved to the apartment this year. I only wanted to note all of this because I can't figure out if my issue is related to internet issues or electrical issues.
So, after moving into the apartment, I started to game again. If you've played CSGO you know its common to 'jiggle peak' around corners/walls/etc to try and spot your enemy and shoot at them. It usually involves alternating the A and D keys quickly. I noticed that while playing CSGO my player model was doing something it had NEVER done before. When alternating the keys quickly, every now and then my player, or 'character', would slide (either left or right, respectively) long after i had let the A or D key up. I've had 3 different keyboards in this time and I've had this happen on all of them.
Initially when this started I thought right away it was the downgrade in internet quality so I investigated into my router/modem. I turned on QoS on my router and that helped with a LOT of things, not just gaming. But I still have these issues to this day. In a way it has improved my play because i don't mash the movement keys as much as i used to for risk of sliding out of position randomly.
I dove down the Home Networking rabbit hole on reddit and tried to determine if my modem was a crummy 'puma chip' modem after learning about this issue. Apparently it is not, it's a Spectrum brand modem but according to people on Reddit it is one of the newer ones and shouldn't be an issue. (granted one person said it may still cause issues). I still want to replace it at some point soon but it's a hefty price tag just for a hope that it helps the issue. But I want to do it soon because it should future proof me as far as networking hardware goes for a while. Wanting to get this motorola modem.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/motorola-3 ... Id=6451964
After a CSGO game you can open the console and see your packet loss. I started looking at this often and noticed the game reported 0% loss on almost all of my matches. A few packets might not have made it but it seemed to be less than 1%. I really don't think I'm facing an internet quality issue, but i could be wrong.
After giving up and just dealing with it, i started googling to see if others had the same issue. Finally, I found one post on the CSGO subreddit which described a similar issue and led me down this input lag/EMI rabbit hole and then led me to blurbusters. I don't think my issue is as great as some peoples (like the guy who puts a generator outside to play valorant better), but it is frustrating nonetheless. I talked to a friend who works on powerlines and he said that it is highly unlikely that my apartment has 'dirty electricity' but I'm not sure he knows enough about it to really speak to this issue.
I've considered buying a UPS like this one maybe, https://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products ... P-BGM1500B
But from what I've read it seems like a UPS won't help or fix the issue. I figured it couldn't hurt and at the least would protect my expensive gaming PC from crashing unexpectedly, but again like the modem, I don't always have the cash around for these things. Maybe after Christmas.
And that's my story. I have been wanting to post here for a while but just haven't taken the time to. I'm just posting to get my issue out there and see if others have had a similar issue and see if there is a fix or solution. Or just gather more knowledge on the situation. I'm renting and my lease will be up in 3-4 months, so if it is an electrical issue, a move isn't entirely out of the question. I may edit this post to add more things i may have forgotten.
Also, the house I moved away from isn't that far, only 10 minutes away. I could potentially go back there and take my PC to see if the issue goes away, but just haven't had time to do this and also don't want to lug my PC over and possibly drop it or have something go wrong. But it might be a worthwhile test. Thanks for reading.
So, after moving into the apartment, I started to game again. If you've played CSGO you know its common to 'jiggle peak' around corners/walls/etc to try and spot your enemy and shoot at them. It usually involves alternating the A and D keys quickly. I noticed that while playing CSGO my player model was doing something it had NEVER done before. When alternating the keys quickly, every now and then my player, or 'character', would slide (either left or right, respectively) long after i had let the A or D key up. I've had 3 different keyboards in this time and I've had this happen on all of them.
Initially when this started I thought right away it was the downgrade in internet quality so I investigated into my router/modem. I turned on QoS on my router and that helped with a LOT of things, not just gaming. But I still have these issues to this day. In a way it has improved my play because i don't mash the movement keys as much as i used to for risk of sliding out of position randomly.
I dove down the Home Networking rabbit hole on reddit and tried to determine if my modem was a crummy 'puma chip' modem after learning about this issue. Apparently it is not, it's a Spectrum brand modem but according to people on Reddit it is one of the newer ones and shouldn't be an issue. (granted one person said it may still cause issues). I still want to replace it at some point soon but it's a hefty price tag just for a hope that it helps the issue. But I want to do it soon because it should future proof me as far as networking hardware goes for a while. Wanting to get this motorola modem.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/motorola-3 ... Id=6451964
After a CSGO game you can open the console and see your packet loss. I started looking at this often and noticed the game reported 0% loss on almost all of my matches. A few packets might not have made it but it seemed to be less than 1%. I really don't think I'm facing an internet quality issue, but i could be wrong.
After giving up and just dealing with it, i started googling to see if others had the same issue. Finally, I found one post on the CSGO subreddit which described a similar issue and led me down this input lag/EMI rabbit hole and then led me to blurbusters. I don't think my issue is as great as some peoples (like the guy who puts a generator outside to play valorant better), but it is frustrating nonetheless. I talked to a friend who works on powerlines and he said that it is highly unlikely that my apartment has 'dirty electricity' but I'm not sure he knows enough about it to really speak to this issue.
I've considered buying a UPS like this one maybe, https://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products ... P-BGM1500B
But from what I've read it seems like a UPS won't help or fix the issue. I figured it couldn't hurt and at the least would protect my expensive gaming PC from crashing unexpectedly, but again like the modem, I don't always have the cash around for these things. Maybe after Christmas.
And that's my story. I have been wanting to post here for a while but just haven't taken the time to. I'm just posting to get my issue out there and see if others have had a similar issue and see if there is a fix or solution. Or just gather more knowledge on the situation. I'm renting and my lease will be up in 3-4 months, so if it is an electrical issue, a move isn't entirely out of the question. I may edit this post to add more things i may have forgotten.
Also, the house I moved away from isn't that far, only 10 minutes away. I could potentially go back there and take my PC to see if the issue goes away, but just haven't had time to do this and also don't want to lug my PC over and possibly drop it or have something go wrong. But it might be a worthwhile test. Thanks for reading.
