How to find/solve lag [WORK IN PROGRESS]

[LaughNgamez]

THIS POST IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND WILL BE REPOSTED WHEN FINISHED.

Server Owners guide on how to find and solve Minecraft lag issues



It is no secret that Minecraft is an incredibly laggy and un-optimized game.
This guide has been created so you can do something useful when your lagging besides saying "lag" in chat.
In this guide I will go over the following:
What lag is.
What kinds of lag there are.
Sources of lag & what kind of lag you may have.
How to solve lag.



What lag is:

Spoiler for Hidden:

According to the internet the definition of lag is "fall behind in movement, progress, or development; not keep pace with another or others."
When the term "lag" is used on the internet it generally means that your computer, network, or destination is not keeping up due to it not being able to handle the task or collective tasks handed to it.


Summary: Lag is your computer/internet/server not being fast enough.

What kinds of lag exist:
When it comes to Minecraft there are three main kinds of lag: PC/Computer lag, Network lag, and Host lag.


PC/Computer lag:

Spoiler for Hidden:

This is lag that comes from your computer not being powerful enough to handle all the tasks given to it. This lag usually displays itself in low FPS (Frames per second) which makes your game seem to jump around and be choppy. Minecraft is a very hard to run game so many computers have this problem.
There are ways to improve this lag which are shown below in the post.

Network lag:

Spoiler for Hidden:

When referring to "Network " I am meaning your home Internet connection. Network lag is usually caused by too many things using your internet. When too many things use your bandwidth (Internet speed) you don't have enough to go around resulting in slow response to your actions/disconnection from the server. Internet issues usually display themselves in the form of high ping (ping being how long it takes for your actions to process) or disconnection/dropping connection from the server. This lag presents itself with either slow response time (such as breaking a block but it not dropping the item until a second later) or by disconnecting you at seemingly random intervals.
There are ways to improve this lag which are shown below in the post.

Host lag:

Spoiler for Hidden:

Host lag means the host (the server) is lagging. If this is the case then there is little you can do besides confirm it is the host lagging and not your Network/Computer. Server lag usually presents itself in 3 ways:
- Spikes of everything/everyone freezing (most common)
- Host lag. Similar to network lag the server takes time for your actions to process such as a block you break taking 2 seconds to drop. This means the server is overloaded on our end. (less common)
- Server crash. When this happens it means that something has gone wrong on the technical end or the server has been incredibly overloaded. Most of the time when this happens it's due to a technical fault such as a server error crashing the server and requiring it to restart. (least common)

As stated before there is little you can do to fix this lag. We always are looking to reduce lag on our end to create the best playing experience possible.
There are ways to identify and report this lag below

Summary of lag types:

Spoiler for Hidden:

PC/Computer lag: Your computer is not powerful enough/loading too much so your game seems choppy and you get low FPS (Frames per second)
Network lag: Your Internet is being used by too many things so it takes long to load. This makes actions take time/things seem jumpy.
Host lag: Lag on our end that has nothing to do with your connection/computer. This is the server having issues which can lead to freezing, disconnecting players, and slow response times.

Sources of lag & how to find it.
This section covers how to find what kinds of lag may be affecting you.


Computer lag:
As shown earlier in this post Computer/PC lag is lag that comes from your computer not being powerful enough to handle running the game. This lag is from your computer not having too many things using its power or if it simply doesn't have enough power in the first place.

If you feel like your game is choppy/slow at all to look around then it could be Computer/PC lag.
There's a simple way to tell if your computer is lagging which is by checking your FPS (Frames per second) any less than 30 FPS will make your game seem slow/choppy. To check your FPS do the following (Make sure to follow the tutorial for windows/mac depending on what you use).

If your game is frequently "locking up" and everything on screen freezes for a second then it is most likely your computer having performance issues. If this only occurs at one spot on the server then this is likely the server causing your computer to lag due to lots of entities/mobs. Look for "Resolving computer lag" below in this post if this type of lag occurs everywhere around the server map.

Check FPS on Windows (PC):

Spoiler for Hidden:

Step 1: Launch Minecraft & Connect to the server
Step 2: Press F3
Step 3: look at the top left and look for "X FPS".

Step 4: Observe the number for a while, if it frequently drops below 30 on all servers this is likely the cause of the "lag" you're experiencing.

If your FPS does not often go below 30 then it is not your computer lagging! It could either be the following:
A) a short time lag spike caused by lots of mobs/items/particles/tnt. If this is the case then you shouldn't need to worry.
B) your Computer only temporarily lagging if its overheating/doing lots of things at once such as watching youtube, virus scanning, etc.
C) you could have misdiagnosed your lag and what you think is computer lag could be Network/Server lag.

If FPS below 30 is your issue look for "Resolving computer lag" below in this post.

if you use Mac check FPS on Mac:

Spoiler for Hidden:

Step 1: Launch Minecraft & Connect to the server
Step 2: Press FN+F3 at the same time
Step 3: look at the top left and look for "X FPS".

Step 4: Observe the number for a while, if it frequently drops below 30 on all servers this is likely the cause of the "lag" you're experiencing.

If your FPS does not often go below 30 then it is not your computer lagging! It could either be the following:
A) a short time lag spike caused by lots of mobs/items/particles/tnt. If this is the case then you shouldn't need to worry.
B) your Computer only temporarily lagging if its overheating/doing lots of things at once such as watching youtube, virus scanning, etc.
C) you could have misdiagnosed your lag and what you think is computer lag could be Network/Server lag.

If FPS below 30 is your issue look for "Resolving Computer Lag" below in this post.

Network lag & Server lag:
Network lag & Server lag are very similar so it can be a challenge to differentiate them. This section of the post will help you identify and tell them apart. Both of these involve the information going between your computer and the server. Somewhere along the way something could be causing lag. Network lag is to do with your internet connection/provider while Server lag deals with the server/host.

Identify and differentiate Network lag

Spoiler for Hidden:

Network lag usually presents itself in either action delay (such as a block taking a second to break/drop), disconnecting from the server, or both of these things.
The first symptom of network can be "action delay" otherwise known as "high ping". Ping is the amount of time in milliseconds it takes for your Network to send and receive the information from the server. Usually 150+ ms ping causes your lag and for it to cause things such as chests taking a second to open. To identify if you have high ping as a result of your internet connection follow these steps below.

Identifying Action Delay (High ping)
Step 1: Open your Minecraft and go to your multiplayer menu.
Step 2: The next step is to hover your mouse cursor above the green connection bar of the CDGS server you have in your list (if you used direct connect you'll need to add the server to your list).
Step 3: It should look something like this attached image (the number of ms will likely be different than in the image)

Step 4: If the number displayed is above 150ms then this means high ping is the cause of your lag but there is still one more step. If your ping is not above 150ms then the lag is likely on the servers end.
Step 5: You now need to repeat step 1-4 again except with a different server such as hypixel.net

Step 6: If your ping was 150ms+ when connecting to CDGS but significantly less when checking another server then the lag is likely on our end and you have nothing to worry about. (Keep in mind you should test with a North American based server otherwise that could falsify the results.)
Step 7: If your ping was 150ms+ when checking both servers then the lag is most likely your connection/network. To see if this can be resolved go to the "Resolving Network Lag" section below.

Identifying Random Disconnects
To identify if it is you or the server causing these disconnects follow these steps below

• Check if other players disconnecting: If you see other members frequently logging in/out then it is likely the server. You can confirm this easily by asking "is anyone else getting disconnected?" if other players say "yes" then it is likely server issues causing the disconnection. If this is the case feel free to let a staff member know. If no one else seems to be having issues then it is likely your home connection and you should follow the remaining steps.
• An easy way to check if it's your connection causing the issues is to try loading a different web page such as youtube.com. If youtube.com loads then this confirms your internet connection is working. 99% of the time this means the fault is on the server the other 1% of the time it means it is your internet service provider having issues connecting to our servers and there is nothing you can really do (fix this up later)

[Coolskate2449]

Seems legit for server owners

[Zeedin]

Also don't just say "lag" do /ping and if you don't get a message back then there is a problem.

[Broseidon]

Also don't just say "lag" do /ping and if you don't get a message back then there is a problem.

The issue with that is that /ping is not allowed

[Zeedin]

Also don't just say "lag" do /ping and if you don't get a message back then there is a problem.

The issue with that is that /ping is not allowed

Still gives a message back when you do it