So I happened to be reviewing a blog I follow today and stumbled across Leatrix's Latency Fix (http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info13581-LeatrixLatencyFix.html) (LLF). LLF is not actually a World of Warcraft Add-on per-say (it is not written in LUA) but a Window's based VB-Script. It is designed to alter how your computer handles the receipt and response to data sent to it over the network (internet). In a very shortened explanation, it's supposed to reduce your "Latency". The add-on (http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info13581-LeatrixLatencyFix.html) home page has a VERY in-depth explanation about the program and what it is designed to do.
I ran my anti-everything software against the files and have also reviewed the code in the script and really didn't see anything jump out at me as malicious or harmful. My question for you guys, though, is this. Have any of you downloaded and attempted to use LLF only to experience any issues?
I'm running it now and so far, I'm liking what I am seeing, but something like this leaves me weary (sp?)
Quote from: Thraice on Thu, 2010-03-11 : 19:07I'm running it now and so far, I'm liking what I am seeing, but something like this leaves me weary (sp?)
I too would be weary after doing all that research. You may, however, want to be wary.
I did not review the script so I can't say anything about the safety of running the script on your machine. From quickly going over the FAQ I understand why it works but I would still be cautious of making the change. If every OS ships with the ACK delay there must be a very good reason why. Especially since almost every bit of information your computer sends to, or receives from, THE INTERNET is going to be using TCP.
Quote from: Tarn on Thu, 2010-03-11 : 19:33
Quote from: Thraice on Thu, 2010-03-11 : 19:07I'm running it now and so far, I'm liking what I am seeing, but something like this leaves me weary (sp?)
I too would be weary after doing all that research. You may, however, want to be wary.
I did not review the script so I can't say anything about the safety of running the script on your machine. From quickly going over the FAQ I understand why it works but I would still be cautious of making the change. If every OS ships with the ACK delay there must be a very good reason why. Especially since almost every bit of information your computer sends to, or receives from, THE INTERNET is going to be using TCP.
Indeed. After reviewing the code I monitored the installation using the SysInternals Suite (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062.aspx) and didn't notice anything abnormal. I intend on continuing to monitor both CPU processing and network traffic for anything suspicious.
Good so far, though, and it has reduced my observed in-game latency a good bit. I'll toss up any negative feedback I get though.
Back in the day, the network settings in windows 9x were shipped optimized to deal with phone modems, not cable/dsl modems. As such, I remember changing my registry. Having to many ACKs would actually slow you down, and may reduce the quality of other people's Internet/LAN around you.
I took a brief look at the script, it it looks like what it does is basically changes/adds a value under each folder in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\ (I bet they are the differnt NICs or something like that) called "TcpAckFrequency" set to a value of 1.
The script also seems to put another holder value in there that says it ran, so it can read it later.
It is likely safer to just modify the values yourself, as like Tarnn, I am scared of VBSs. That being said, I see nothing glaringly wrong with the one that "installs" it - I have not looked at the one that removes it.
Quote from: Lumara on Thu, 2010-03-11 : 21:52
Back in the day, the network settings in windows 9x were shipped optimized to deal with phone modems, not cable/dsl modems. As such, I remember changing my registry. Having to many ACKs would actually slow you down, and may reduce the quality of other people's Internet/LAN around you.
I took a brief look at the script, it it looks like what it does is basically changes/adds a value under each folder in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\ (I bet they are the differnt NICs or something like that) called "TcpAckFrequency" set to a value of 1.
The script also seems to put another holder value in there that says it ran, so it can read it later.
It is likely safer to just modify the values yourself, as like Tarnn, I am scared of VBSs. That being said, I see nothing glaringly wrong with the one that "installs" it - I have not looked at the one that removes it.
Yes... it modifys TcpAckFrequency from 2 to 1 and adds the Check. Like I said, nothing harmful in the VBS. :)
What you are doing is modifying your OS to be better for smaller packets. It's been many years since I have played with Microsoft network stack at any depth, but I seem to recall reading that Win7 optimized network traffic dynamically based on network code within the game. I'll look into it tomorrow when I am not dead tired.