Game Lag White Paper › Problems only some players hit

Different display settings Different display settings

Cause ID pt-display-option · Primary owner Game team (Client development)

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If settings such as a visible player limit, hidden NPC name tags or models, or low-spec mode differ between two clients, they see different things.

Why Only one client has a “limit nearby characters shown” setting or low-spec mode on → Effect Distant or low-priority NPCs aren’t drawn (working as intended) → On screen The NPC is missing on one side only

Symptoms

Invisible / ghost entities

Factors

Stall

Who’s affected

One client on the same PC, Just me

When

When crowds gather, Always

Owner

Primary owner Game team (Client development)

Game team action items

Show when an entity is hidden by a setting, keep settings files separate per client so they don’t get mixed up.

On the graph

Outliers only · Entities drawn on screen per client

Where to look

The two clients’ visible player limit, name tag/model hiding, and low-spec mode settings side by side, with one set to match the other. Also whether the two clients share one settings file and overwrite each other

Confirmed if

With matching settings both screens show the same thing, and the missing NPCs were distant entities beyond the display limit or low-priority entities

Ruled out if

Still missing on one side with identical settings: points to a channel/phase difference or a lost spawn message

Check with

The player’s own environment

Sources

1. Changing the Quantity of Characters Displayed On-screen (FINAL FANTASY XIV UI Guide) Square Enix
   The display limit setting (Character and Object Quantity) controls how many characters and objects are drawn on screen

See also

Same layer: Problems only some players hit

• A lagging player moves in bursts on others’ screens
• Fast-forward on servers that process on arrival
• Per-player input buffer size
• Validation false positives concentrated on one ISP
• One lagging party member and boss mechanics
• A lagging client controls the monster
• Bloated data on one character
• Different channel, instance, or phase
• Spawn messages dropped during loading
• AOI registration race
• Lost baseline snapshot
• Missed despawn message (ghost entity)
• Spawn data lost in the burst after entering
• Entity ID reuse mix-up
• Fixed UDP port collision
• Sessions keyed by IP or device (bug)
• Multi-client restriction
• Background window throttling
• Simultaneous access to cache or asset files
• Streaming failure from memory or VRAM shortage
• Client version or data mismatch
• Per-connection send budget and priority
• Entities held back by clock estimate error

Same symptom (Invisible / ghost entities), other layers

• Slow storage delays asset streaming L1 Client game process
• Keepalive default of 2 hours L8 Sockets and protocols
• Slow start after idle L8 Sockets and protocols

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