Reviews:
 ·HughesNet Satell..
4 edits | reply to Doc Lithius
Facebook Games
Farmville - Works, takes some time for the Marketplace to pop up and if its not loaded in less then 5 mins refesh the page. Just don't have too much farmville items or its going to take forever to load.
Mifia Wars - Works but I sometimes have problems loading properties...I sure its not a hughesnet glitch but give it time.
Fishville - Works but my dad's g/f says "saving tank" keeps popping up random when she feeds her fish.
Cafe World - every time she loads this game my fap hits hard for some odd reason. I never check it out but i suggest staying away.
/end of facebook games
Others
xbox 360: What you can do - you can log in, update your system and games, check messages, buy XBLA games, look at peoples gamer score and compare games, share your gamercard all over the net of what games you playing. you can play one or two games online and that's either Texas Hold'em or UNO but requires god membership. If you want DLC (download content) then you would have to use xbox.com to send over to your console. Just make sure to download large updates 2am to 7am
xbox 360: What you CANT do - no netflix, no party chat, no last.fm, matchmaking games. that's right no Halo, Gears of War, Call Of Duty, Grand Theft Auto 4. you think you are not lagging but other players will see you sliding, bouncing here and there and everybody be thinking you are a cheater and get console banned for life on xbox live. Gold membership is a waste of time. you cannot use Marketplace on the console. it keeps getting me a time out error code.
So what can I do to play MP games? Do it like I do, setup a LAN (Local Area Connection) full of computers All you need is a router. I have 7 computers on each room where I play COD4 and CODWaW PC with OpenWarfare mod for custom game mods and maps. Its very fun to play LAN based games. my friends that experience online gaming says LAN is better because you don't lag at all. My suggestion, use wired connection because wi-fi does not cut it.
Also you can do the same with the xbox 360. buy more systems. too cheap to buy the same game then use your head and google. that's all I got to say. Make sure all xbox's hook on the same router or you'll get a failure to connect host.
--
HN7000S 5.8.0.72 - 99 West 1370 MHz -Transmit 1 watt - .74m Dish - Pro Plan - installed October 2007 - WRT54G V6 DD-WRT V24 |
4 edits | Last updated April 22st, 5:04 PM ET
Online gaming on HughesNet... To some, it's a faraway dream. To others, it's a reality distorted by horrendous connections and riddled with errors. HughesNet themselves tells you that the connection is basically for "checking your e-mail, surfing the web," or "downloading pictures". In a lot of cases, they're quite right. Gaming on HughesNet generally nets you a lot of frustration due to the inconsistent connection, poor upload speeds, or other assorted reasons, some of which defies explanation. But there is hope. Not every online game out there is unplayable! And that's what this topic is for.
Below are a list of games I've either personally tested, or heard might run well under HughesNet, as well as some games which do not run well. I'll also give some rationale as to why a game does or doesn't work well on our unique connection type.
Note: These results may vary based on your usage plan, location, and how heavily your satellite(s) is being impacted at the time. Playing during heavy-usage hours for your satellite will ultimately not work, in my experience, causing your game to spiral into ridiculously-massive pings.
Games Which Work
MMOs
- World of Warcraft -- Works perfectly! There's a little hang time between when you issue a command and when it's actually carried out, but that's about it. Even PvP and massive raids work just fine!
Addendum by wowow: Works well enough on HughesNet that you can multi-box (play multiple accounts you own at the same time on several computers)!
- Ragnarök Online -- Works perfectly as well. Again, there's a little hang time between commands and execution.
- EverQuest -- Same, though somewhat more noticeable here.
- Guild Wars -- Same input lag. Also, If your connection hiccups, your character may teleport around a little, usually zipping back to where they started when you started walking.
- Second Life -- Massive input lag. Due to the fact that everything is happening right at that very moment live, this is a real test of patience. Even walking is made extremely difficult, especially during heavy-usage times. You may also get people telling you your outfit hasn't changed or that you're a white, puffy cloud... But otherwise, everything works as it should.
- Dofus -- Due to the fact that everything is extremely turn-based, this game works perfectly! The only noticeable snag comes when you move around on the overworld map. As you might expect, there's a slight input delay.
- MapleStory (Updated by mihakken) -- Works almost flawlessly due to the way the netcode is set up, but picking up items (loot, dropped items, etc.) can be difficult -- sometimes impossible -- unless you have a pet which can collect your items for you. The Free Market also shows a great deal of lag, though that may be the norm due to how many players are usually in there.
Star Trek Online (Contributed by zenzinger) -- "works in the freetime window. only lags because of the massive amount of people (only 20 or so onscreen) in the same sector block"
Non-MMOs
- Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends -- Believe it or not, these actually work very well on HughesNet! Input lag, as usual, but otherwise not bad at all.
- Browser games -- Every browser-based game I've played has worked due to the fact they're not very taxing on your connection. Tetris Friends' "Arena" mode has a tendency not to let you log in, but if you can get in, it works fine after that.
Facebook Games (Contributed by user yolarry)
- Farmville - "Works, takes some time for the Marketplace to pop up and if its not loaded in less then 5 mins refesh the page. Just don't have too much farmville items or its going to take forever to load."
- Mafia Wars - "Works but I sometimes have problems loading properties...I sure its not a hughesnet glitch but give it time."
- Fishville - "Works but my dad's g/f says "saving tank" keeps popping up random when she feeds her fish."
Console/Handheld Networking
- Mario Kart DS -- Provided you can keep your opponents around, this game works...oddly enough...flawlessly, from what I can tell!
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin -- There's a bit of drifting in Co-op Boss Rush Mode, but it seems to work well enough. Shop Mode works without flaw.
- Pokémon Generation IV games -- Flawless. Simple as that.
- XBox 360 and XBox Live Arcade services (Contributed by yolarry) -- As long as the game isn't a "twitch" game, first-person shooter, "matchmaking service" game, or game which requires a consistant connection (Bomberman Online (?), for example), it will work. For example, Uno or 1 vs. 100 will work just fine as they require minimal input on the player's part. Games like Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3 will appear to work, but on the other players' screens, you'll appear to be sliding around like crazy and possibly get reported and/or banned for "hacking", even though you're just lagging. (This can be blamed on poor netcode for most of those games (which assume you have a great connection)).
Other services XBox Live Arcade provides, such as the Marketplace, NetFlix, Party Chat, and Last.FM, simply do not work under HughesNet due to constant timeout errors, or in the case of Party Chat and Last.FM, exceeding the Fair-Access Policy threshold.
SOCOM: Confrontation (PS3 version) (Contributed by zenzinger) -- An FPS that works on HughesNet? According to zenzinger, it's "not to shabby".
Games Which May Potentially Work
- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos/The Frozen Throne -- Similar to how Heroes of Newerth works, the netcode seems to use the fastest player as its baseline, balancing things out in the end. Since I don't have my authentic CD-Key codes handy, I can't test this myself.
- PlanetSide -- Supposed, this works just fine. I've been unable to test it since I don't feel like plunking down the cash to do so (my trial periods have long expired), but I've read in a couple places that due to how the netcode works, players on slower connection may actually have an advantage over players on faster connections.
- Grand Chase -- Playing by yourself works perfectly with no problems, as you might guess. However, I have not yet tested to see if playing in a room works.
- City of Heroes -- Again, untested due to unwillingness to pay to do so. Probably works about as well as Guild Wars or World of Warcraft, rather than Florensia (see below).
- GunBound -- Should work pretty well due to the fact that everything's turn-based! But I've been wrong before.
- Diablo II/Lord of Destruction -- May work. I've played on poor connections before and the biggest snag was the game sometimes didn't load the maps correctly.
- Facebook - Cafe World (Contributed by yolarry) - "every time she loads this game my fap hits hard for some odd reason. I never check it out but i suggest staying away."
- Voyage Century (Contributed by zenzinger) -- "it wasn't awe full."
- Halo 3/ODST (XBox 360) (Contributed by Russ1972) -- As implausible as it sounds, supposedly Halo 3's multiplayer mode does work on HughesNet! But only if you're playing private matches. The public rooms do not work.
Games Which Don't Work
- Any first-person shooters (other than PlanetSide) -- Don't hold your breath. Some FPSes end up having you zip-zap around while others will simply kick you out for exploiting. Others still put you at a grave disadvantage as your idle body would appear frozen in place on others' screens even if you're clear across the room on yours, making you a sitting duck. Now, I haven't tested them all, but I can only assume that it's mostly the same for them all.
- Florensia -- Jaggy movement far exceeding that of Guild Wars and talking to NPCs crashes the game. The crashing might be a purely isolated incident, but I can't be sure since I've never played it on a land-based connection.
- WarCraft II: Battle.Net Edition -- The game pauses every few seconds, complaining of a "syncing" issue with you, and eventually times out and boots you.
- Kaillera-based things -- Don't even bother. The lag destroys your gameplay experience and then some. Though it does make a somewhat amusing sight to some degree...
- Combat Arms (Contributed by zenzinger) -- I actually did try this one myself a while back, but it was zenzinger that indirectly reminded me of it. As with most first-person shooters, this does not work. zenzinger adds, "dont bother. it'll take you an hour to get from one side to the other"
- Dungeon Fighter Online -- For whatever reason, the game just plain won't let you log in. It's unknown if it works if you somehow manage to login, but I wasn't able to log in no matter what time of day I tried! Given this, I'd say it doesn't work on HughesNet.
If you folks have any experience with any games not listed here, please feel free to post your experiences and I'll add them to the list (after testing, where I can, of course)!
--
ISP: HughesNet Satellite Internet
Modem Model: HN9000
Service Plan: ProPlus (525MB/day, 1.6 Mbps Down 250 Kbps Up) |
