Huge ping spikes only when playing poe
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Hi,
I've recently found I'm getting massive ping spikes (from a steady 10-20 spiking to 500-600 and sometimes even 10k-20k) when playing poe 1. My internet connection is otherwise fine as far as I can tell (Discord functions, downloads are not interrupted, or anything else that would result from loss in my internet connection). I've run WinMTR while walking trough a zone experiencing these problems, the output is as follows: https://pastebin.com/dKd6J8Mf " So far I have tried restarting my pc and my internet connection, changing gateways in POE, changing to lockstep/predictive, checking power savings settings on my ethernet adapter (all off) and even going as far as adding a group policy in windows to prioritise poe1 traffic, all to no avail. Any tips? Last edited by YoeriGod#3528 on Jul 12, 2025, 1:38:57 PM Last bumped on Jul 13, 2025, 10:31:45 AM
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" GGG's guide asks for 300 - 500 echo requests sent to each hop. Yours has 131, and already shows packet loss between your computer and the router in your home. The rest of the log shows not a single hop reporting 0% packet loss - thus we know this is 'real' packet loss. Therefore, any troubleshooting would focus on steps you can take on your end. The other examples you cite (file downloads, etc.) are not a good barometer for packet loss as any individual chunks of a file that aren't received can simply have the associated packet time-out without acknowledgement, thus triggering a resending of that particular packet. The first two things I would ask would be 1) please undo any fringe steps you have taken such as Windows group policies - this is the kind of thing you'll never remember a year or two down the line when troubleshooting other problems (be they related to Path of Exile, or otherwise), and it's something that makes your system configuration different from the 'default' expectation - the other would be to confirm what device type you are using (e.g. form factor; OS) and your connection type. The latter is because, having seen your WinMTR log, I strongly suspected that you were in fact using WiFi - the shielding afforded to internet traffic by Ethernet cables is designed to prevent problems such as packet loss. Are you using a powerline adapter kit? Have you tried relatively simple steps such as disconnecting the Ethernet cable from each end and re-inserting it to rule out any issues with it simply having come loose, and physically inspecting the cable for any signs of damage? I'm working on something for the PoE community! 👀
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" I appreciate the thoughts. I'm using a W11 desktop with a wired connection trough an ethernet cable. Any other games (say: Overwatch) that would be affected by regular packet loss are not displaying similar behaviour such as lag and ping spiking or otherwise. A mechanic did install a powerline adapter to improve connection to another device previously (which was unsuccessful). I've just removed that and I've done a packet loss test (https://packetlosstest.com/) which does seem to be insane (20% packet loss?!). Trying to figure out how to fix that as we speak. |
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I would not expect a powerline adapter kit for other devices to matter.
You say it's a Win11 desktop being affected - would you happen to have any other Windows, macOS, or Linux devices you could use for testing purposes? It'd allow us to localise the problem to either the router or the PC. (Well, or the Ethernet cable - but narrowing it down would help a lot.) Is there anything that could potentially be performing large-scale downloads in the background? The most common example for PC gamers is typically Steam configured to keep games up-to-date. I'm working on something for the PoE community! 👀
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" Unfortunately it seems like it was a layer 8 issue. I just double checked my ethernet cable and it had some wiggle room on the PCs end. Managed to seat it completely and now I'm getting 0% packet loss on the same test I was running yesterday after a reboot. Going to play for a bit and see if the issue comes back, feeling mighty silly. Edit: Couple maps further, no problems whatsoever. Unfortunately this was entirely my fault :') Last edited by YoeriGod#3528 on Jul 13, 2025, 10:36:19 AM
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It happens. :)
I'm working on something for the PoE community! 👀
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