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officermartinez
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2006
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Like many of you out there, I have a pretty high end gaming computer by todays standards (Q6600 @ 3.6ghz, GTX260, 4gb's of 1066mhz ram, 1K power supply, Asus mobo, etc).. It allows me to game at very acceptable frame rates. However, those of you who have Vista (32 bit or 64 bit) and use the wireless option for gaming, know that during game play, you will encounter something known as a lag spike. It happens in Vista and has to do with the way Vista searches for new / better wireless signals, every 60 seconds.
Many places on the web (and related forums) try to address it with counter-measures such as Vista Anti-Lag, Wizmo, WLAN Optimizer, etc.. Some Vista users have even reported limited success with these counter-measures. For me, I tried them all. It's a known bug with Vista that the lag is present yet microsoft has done nothing to help "fix" this issue. So, I will offer a "work around" that worked for me.. Many people have tried the NETSH script method but upon rebooting, they find that their wireless no longer works. Here is a simple way to "toggle" the wireless function within Vista.
First things first. Let's uncheck a little box. Go to your Network and Sharing center by RIGHT CLICKING your icon:
That will bring up this screen:
After you click on Manage Wireless Networks, it will bring this window up:
After you have right clicked on the ICON and you have gone to PROPERTIES, it will bring up this window:
Be sure that little box is unchecked. Once unchecked, click OK and close it out.
Let's start with a simple press of the Windows Vista Start Button in the lower left hand of the screen (unless you've customized your Start Button elsewhere).
1. Click it.
2. Where it says: START SEARCH, type these three little letters: CMD
3. Right Click CMD. Then click RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR
4. This is what pops up:
5. So to turn my Wireless function in Vista (WLAN) OFF, I typed this: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=no interface="Wireless Network Connection 5"
-If you read that command string, look where it says: cmd.exe /k ...The forward slash k allows the CMD window to remain open. If you don't want your DOS window to remain open, simply bypass that portion of the command. It will look like this:
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=no interface="Wireless Network Connection 5"
6. To turn it back on, I typed this: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=yes interface="Wireless Network Connection 5"
*** In the portion that says Wireless Network Connection 5, that is the name of MY SPECIFIC wireless connection. The name of your connection may differ. You will need to type in YOUR WIRELESS CONNECTION NAME. If you don't know it, one way to find out is to go to your little wireless icon in the bottom left hand corner and click on it. Bring up your NETWORK SHARING CENTER. It will list the name of your wireless connection:
7. If you're like me, that is a lot of trouble to go through, each and every single time you want to disable the WLAN in Vista, just so you can game without LAG SPIKES. Ughhh! Here is pretty simple way to set up some ICONS on your desktop, to toggle back and forth:
You will need to create two seperate icons on your desktop. One icon will "enable your WLAN" and the other will "disable your WLAN". It's basically the same method for both:
Right click on any open space on your desktop. Go to "NEW" and then "SHORTCUT" :
This is what pops up:
To "ENABLE" your WLAN, copy and paste that long command: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=yes interface="Wireless Network Connection 5"
When you begin setting up your "DISABLE" icon, you will copy and paste the same command except it will not say AUTOCONFIG ENABLED=YES INTERFACE. It should say AUTOCONFIG ENABLED=NO INTERFACE.
Finally, I named my icon as this:
I even went a step further because I did not like the default icon(s):
Right Click your icon and go to properties.
Click change icon:
Scroll through the icons and find the ones that you like:
OK. That's pretty much it. I tried to provide some screen shots to help you out. When you disable your WLAN Autoconfig, you can continue to surf or game online. However, if you leave it disabled, when you reboot, your wireless will NOT work. Simply click on your new ENABLE icon and it should work perfectly fine. Remember, once you enable your wireless WLAN Autoconfig, you will be able to surf normally but if you want to game online, be sure to click on the DISABLE icon to prevent the lag spikes during game play on your wireless connection. Here are the icons that I used:
***A HELPFUL TIP***
1. When you shut your computer down, make sure the WLAN Autoconfig is ENABLED. Upon reboot, you should be connected to the internet, like normal.
2. I have found that my BEST results with WLAN Optimizer is when it is NOT set to start with Windows. Upon reboot, after you disable your WLAN Autoconfig, that's when I manually start WLAN Optimizer.
***UPDATED A LITTLE INFORMATION***
Just a very small update.. For grins, I decided to add the little WLAN Optimizer program in addition to my update above and it seems to add a little bit more "effectiveness" on my heavy wireless gaming usage. Another small program called Ping Tester, really helps me see the "smaller spikes". It can be ran on a continual loop and comes in very handy when checking your response times (in milliseconds). If you google WLAN Optimizer and Ping Tester, you should easily be able to find those little programs.. I've included a few screen shots below:
Ping Tester:
Just because you don't "notice" the lag does not mean you are not encountering it. This program is a very simple way to test for it. A VERY HIGH ping such as the ones below as well as "REQUEST TIMED OUT" is what you want to look for. Take a screen shot, write it down or if you can remember your time stamp, pay attention to the time intervals. When you begin to see a pattern, your lag will be in exactly 60 second intervals. Thank you Microsoft Vista (ughhh)!
WLAN Optimizer:
Here's a handy little Vista Sidebar Gadget that shows local wireless networks (like a radar screen). It's called Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor. If your computer is searching for wireless networks (and there are some within range), little dots will show up on the radar. If Vista is NOT searching for wireless networks, the radar screen will be BLANK. Blank is what you want. As you can see, it also displays your wireless connection strength and IP address:
I hope this tutorial has been helpful. Stay connected and happy gaming!
Many places on the web (and related forums) try to address it with counter-measures such as Vista Anti-Lag, Wizmo, WLAN Optimizer, etc.. Some Vista users have even reported limited success with these counter-measures. For me, I tried them all. It's a known bug with Vista that the lag is present yet microsoft has done nothing to help "fix" this issue. So, I will offer a "work around" that worked for me.. Many people have tried the NETSH script method but upon rebooting, they find that their wireless no longer works. Here is a simple way to "toggle" the wireless function within Vista.
First things first. Let's uncheck a little box. Go to your Network and Sharing center by RIGHT CLICKING your icon:
That will bring up this screen:
After you click on Manage Wireless Networks, it will bring this window up:
After you have right clicked on the ICON and you have gone to PROPERTIES, it will bring up this window:
Be sure that little box is unchecked. Once unchecked, click OK and close it out.
Let's start with a simple press of the Windows Vista Start Button in the lower left hand of the screen (unless you've customized your Start Button elsewhere).
1. Click it.
2. Where it says: START SEARCH, type these three little letters: CMD
3. Right Click CMD. Then click RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR
4. This is what pops up:
5. So to turn my Wireless function in Vista (WLAN) OFF, I typed this: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=no interface="Wireless Network Connection 5"
-If you read that command string, look where it says: cmd.exe /k ...The forward slash k allows the CMD window to remain open. If you don't want your DOS window to remain open, simply bypass that portion of the command. It will look like this:
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=no interface="Wireless Network Connection 5"
6. To turn it back on, I typed this: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=yes interface="Wireless Network Connection 5"
*** In the portion that says Wireless Network Connection 5, that is the name of MY SPECIFIC wireless connection. The name of your connection may differ. You will need to type in YOUR WIRELESS CONNECTION NAME. If you don't know it, one way to find out is to go to your little wireless icon in the bottom left hand corner and click on it. Bring up your NETWORK SHARING CENTER. It will list the name of your wireless connection:
7. If you're like me, that is a lot of trouble to go through, each and every single time you want to disable the WLAN in Vista, just so you can game without LAG SPIKES. Ughhh! Here is pretty simple way to set up some ICONS on your desktop, to toggle back and forth:
You will need to create two seperate icons on your desktop. One icon will "enable your WLAN" and the other will "disable your WLAN". It's basically the same method for both:
Right click on any open space on your desktop. Go to "NEW" and then "SHORTCUT" :
This is what pops up:
To "ENABLE" your WLAN, copy and paste that long command: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=yes interface="Wireless Network Connection 5"
When you begin setting up your "DISABLE" icon, you will copy and paste the same command except it will not say AUTOCONFIG ENABLED=YES INTERFACE. It should say AUTOCONFIG ENABLED=NO INTERFACE.
Finally, I named my icon as this:
I even went a step further because I did not like the default icon(s):
Right Click your icon and go to properties.
Click change icon:
Scroll through the icons and find the ones that you like:
OK. That's pretty much it. I tried to provide some screen shots to help you out. When you disable your WLAN Autoconfig, you can continue to surf or game online. However, if you leave it disabled, when you reboot, your wireless will NOT work. Simply click on your new ENABLE icon and it should work perfectly fine. Remember, once you enable your wireless WLAN Autoconfig, you will be able to surf normally but if you want to game online, be sure to click on the DISABLE icon to prevent the lag spikes during game play on your wireless connection. Here are the icons that I used:
***A HELPFUL TIP***
1. When you shut your computer down, make sure the WLAN Autoconfig is ENABLED. Upon reboot, you should be connected to the internet, like normal.
2. I have found that my BEST results with WLAN Optimizer is when it is NOT set to start with Windows. Upon reboot, after you disable your WLAN Autoconfig, that's when I manually start WLAN Optimizer.
***UPDATED A LITTLE INFORMATION***
Just a very small update.. For grins, I decided to add the little WLAN Optimizer program in addition to my update above and it seems to add a little bit more "effectiveness" on my heavy wireless gaming usage. Another small program called Ping Tester, really helps me see the "smaller spikes". It can be ran on a continual loop and comes in very handy when checking your response times (in milliseconds). If you google WLAN Optimizer and Ping Tester, you should easily be able to find those little programs.. I've included a few screen shots below:
Ping Tester:
Just because you don't "notice" the lag does not mean you are not encountering it. This program is a very simple way to test for it. A VERY HIGH ping such as the ones below as well as "REQUEST TIMED OUT" is what you want to look for. Take a screen shot, write it down or if you can remember your time stamp, pay attention to the time intervals. When you begin to see a pattern, your lag will be in exactly 60 second intervals. Thank you Microsoft Vista (ughhh)!
WLAN Optimizer:
Here's a handy little Vista Sidebar Gadget that shows local wireless networks (like a radar screen). It's called Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor. If your computer is searching for wireless networks (and there are some within range), little dots will show up on the radar. If Vista is NOT searching for wireless networks, the radar screen will be BLANK. Blank is what you want. As you can see, it also displays your wireless connection strength and IP address:
I hope this tutorial has been helpful. Stay connected and happy gaming!
