Factorio Forums

When i try to join a multiplayergame with friend (3 players total incuding me.) I fail time after time to join the game.
First the catching up progress bar is going backwards, then I'm getting the message:
You have been disconnected as you computer wasn't fast enough to keep up with the server.

When I'm hosting i expierence low FPS (20-30) and my fellow players experience major lags, it's at a point that its not fun for them to play anymore on a server i host
I have these specs:

AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1090T Processor 3.20 GHz
12 GB RAM
GeForce GTX 560Ti

Also i tested my internet connection while i was dropping and i have a 89MB/s Download, 92 MB/s Upload and a ping of 4ms

I'm not such a great technichinal if it comes to computers so i dont know excatly what i have, but I've been told it should be sufficient.
I would appreciate some guidance!!!

Hey Tim,
Unfortunately the error message your getting of "your computer wasn't fast enough to keep up with the server." is exactly what the issue here is.
Simply put, your processor cannot simulate the world quickly enough in order to keep up with the current simulation of the host, this will be an issue for example when the host is running at 60 Updates Per Second (UPS) but your client can only preform at 20 UPS.

There are however ways to get around this issue, but it does involve gameplay that is a bit worse for you:

Try to limit the hosts game speed

You can turn the games simulation speed down (or up) by asking the server host to run the following command: where X = a value between 0.1 and 1 (where 0.1 is 10% game speed, and 1.0 is 100% game speed) - perhaps try 0.5 for 50% game speed)

Try to give the world some more room to breathe in terms of CPU requirements

(Note: This only works really if you have a mega base, I'm talking over 150 trains, 4500 beacons etc etc)
You can achieve this by getting rid of all belts and replacing the base you have created with a bot-based-base.

Run SuperPi to get a better understanding of your CPU's performance

1) Download SuperPi from here: https://www.techpowerup.com/download/super-pi/ (pick the Super Pi Mod v1.5 XS on the left)
2) Run the application, but be sure to not have factorio or any other games open during this
3) Click Calculate, and select 1M and press OK
4) Press OK again to start the benchmark
5) Leave your PC alone until it finishes
6) Report back here with how long the application took to calculate 1 million pi values.

note: as an example here, my CPU can run mega bases at an okay speed, mostly 50-60 UPS when using a bot-base - my calculation time takes 9.751s
It might be worth asking your friends to do the same test, so you can see who has the slowest CPU for running Factorio - whoever has the slowest should be the host.

Hey AlienX,

thnx for your ultra clear answer on my questions and the solutions you proposed.

I've run the superpi and for 1M i get an 21.153 sec time.
Looking at my friends computers they get about 10 seconds, so there is the problem.
I thought my hardware wasnt that bad, but appparently i'm wrong there

only 2 questions remain:


1, is there a solution to boost my computer processing capacity without getting new hardware? (for example clean up my computer and re-instal windows?)\
2. if i need to get new hardware, will only a GPU be enough? at 400 euro for only the graphics i still find this very expensive. if i have to spend more then that i dont know if its worth it for me.

your input is highly appreciated!

Hey,
No problem - always here to help.

In regards to your questions:
1) Unfortunately no, SuperPi is a synthetic benchmark - what this means is it's an unusual load for the system to have (100% CPU constantly), so if your processor is not up to par when it's being forced to use as much of it as possible then you're not going to get anything else out of it - you could however try overclocking, but that's a whole different conversation.
2) Again no on this one, Factorio is not very GPU intensive, all of the core logic for simulating the world is all done on the CPU.