Steady Ping servers not matching game, need help understanding

[V1k1]

Hi. I am finally testing Steady Ping for Valorant.

I have our gaming PCs set as Console and added to the Gaming Devices in Geo Filter. I am using Steady Ping (Expert, 10ms, the lowest). I have the shape around North America.
Geo-Latency is on, ping assist is off, strict mode on, but I don't have filtering enabled on. Not sure if 

For Valorant, in game, I am able to select servers, so of course I only select the lowest ping server in California, thus only putting me in well, the California server.

Ping without Steady Ping or any Geo settings on is usually around 17-22, but with the recent firmware update, it spikes to 25 or 26. Prior beta firmware was much smoother without Steady Ping.

Now I am trying Steady Ping. I have it set as Active for our gaming PC as "console".

In-game in the Valorant California server, I get these random connections for Oklahoma, or even Copenhagen. From the Valorant interface, there is no Oklahoma server. I can't say for Copenhagen.
I noticed last night when the wife and I were in a match together, mine showed Oklahoma while hers showed Copenhagen.
We also had those little graphs that showed steady ping helping. It doesn't always show.

What alson baffles me is the note for Steady Ping "When your ping falls below your Target Ping, we'll raise it artificially to keep your connection perfectly stable. Try a number slightly above your usual average ping."

Based on this note and knowing my ping hovers around 17-22 / 25, I would imagine setting this Target Ping to 25 would well, keep my ping near that in-game. Instead, it looks like it's adding a LOT of ping to my existing ping. In game it goes to like 36 or so. I thought setting my target ping to the "slightly above average ping" would keep it stable, but rather it keeps it at 36.

Instead, I set the lowest target ping to 10ms which keeps my ping around 26-27.

Am I going crazy or misinterpreting the steadyping note or completely missing a step?

Why is it identifying servers that are completely outside of california? Could it be recognizing another server of some sort, like maybe voice chat being routed through some other Valorant server on the back end?

When in a California server, and it's measuring against oklahoma or copenhagen, is this affecting my steady ping / connection? I can't imagine it helps my connection if it's looking at copenhagen.

What can I do or provide so Valorant servers can properly be identified? I've seen other posts give some server IDs?

ections to oklahoma or even 

[Netduma Fraser]

If you want the minimal addition in ping then Simple would actually be better as I believe it averages around +8ms. I would think you would need filtering on for this to work best but having filtering off is definitely the reason it's just showing any server and choosing it as what it believes is the host. If you're selecting the server in game then as long as the Geo-Filter mirrors that then there shouldn't be any issues with filtering enabled. It should be target ping and not added on ping as far as I am aware, does it work that way when filtering is enabled?

[V1k1]

7 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

If you want the minimal addition in ping then Simple would actually be better as I believe it averages around +8ms. I would think you would need filtering on for this to work best but having filtering off is definitely the reason it's just showing any server and choosing it as what it believes is the host. If you're selecting the server in game then as long as the Geo-Filter mirrors that then there shouldn't be any issues with filtering enabled. It should be target ping and not added on ping as far as I am aware, does it work that way when filtering is enabled?

I can try Simple shortly and see what that does. But yea, the Expert mode/target ping seems to add ping as opposed to going to that target ping as the note indicates.

When I turn filtering on and block out Oklahoma (so i just select the west coast of USA), then I'm unable to join Valorant matches for the California server. It just forever loads. The second I turn off filtering, it will join.

Are there other ways to maybe provide any data for Valorant servers to correct this? Or could they maybe be routing something like Voice chat through another server in Oklahoma (or Copenhagen)?

[Netduma Fraser]

I can certainly pass that on if it continues to behave in that way when filtering is enabled. We've got a Valorant DPI update this week so it may be better then, it should reach 100% of routers by Friday so let us know over the weekend if that continues.

[V1k1]

On 2/24/2025 at 4:04 PM, Netduma Fraser said:

I can certainly pass that on if it continues to behave in that way when filtering is enabled. We've got a Valorant DPI update this week so it may be better then, it should reach 100% of routers by Friday so let us know over the weekend if that continues.

Happy to hear this is being added now.

Is there any way I can spot check this? Can I simply add Valorant to the activities in Smartboost and see if it shows as "online"?

Or is this more related to the server locations for the geo filtering?

[Netduma Fraser]

On 2/26/2025 at 3:13 AM, V1k1 said:

Happy to hear this is being added now.

Is there any way I can spot check this? Can I simply add Valorant to the activities in Smartboost and see if it shows as "online"?

Or is this more related to the server locations for the geo filtering?

Yes if you add it to SmartBOOST it should more reliably trigger when playing once your router has downloaded the update

[V1k1]

Fraser, I have Valorant added in Smartboost and I synced to the cloud.

I see "Valorant" fluctuating between online / offline throughout a match.
I can't tell if this is functioning properly, if it's fully been added yet, or what. I'll monitor over the weekend.

I still would like to clarify how SteadyPing / Expert works because the description does not align with what it's applying.
If my non-SteadyPing (setting disabled) is 19-22 (give or take), with consistent random spikes to 25/26, then I would apply SteadyPing / Expert target ping to 25 or 26, and the idea is that my ping in Valorant should incur the added ping to maintain the target set of 25 or 26, right?

Because when I do that, ping instead goes >30, which clearly isn't my set target. Normally, my raw Valorant ping (no fancy router settings applied) never goes above 30. By this I mean raw as in no geo filter, no steadyping settings, etc.

Again, not sure if this has anything to do with the Valorant DPI update. I'll monitor this weekend and test a few scenarios.

[Netduma Fraser]

In your situation simple would be enough to counter the spikes, you wouldn't need to use expert specifically. It should make your ping the value you set, not add on top, seems to be doing a bit of both which is odd. Could well be just Valorant that happens for, do you notice Steady Ping working in that way still on other games?

[V1k1]

On 2/28/2025 at 4:06 AM, Netduma Fraser said:

In your situation simple would be enough to counter the spikes, you wouldn't need to use expert specifically. It should make your ping the value you set, not add on top, seems to be doing a bit of both which is odd. Could well be just Valorant that happens for, do you notice Steady Ping working in that way still on other games?

Update.

Steadyping/CC:

I think I found what's helped without Steadyping. I went back and tested with waveform and latency was very bad on download. Guess my CC settings aren't consistent throughout the day anymore like it was on prior firmware at 80%. After testing again, I can only get down to <3ms on download at 55% download (100% is 906Mbps). Hit detection was a million times better in Valorant and ping was much steadier overall once I applied this setting. I haven't had a chance to check it against other games that typically show live ping.

Of course, I was able to achieve this low latency at 80% on prior firmware at most times (tested via waveform and Valorant felt great all the time).
So, for anytime CC applies, I it nearly halves my download speeds, which is why I turned off BI classification, so it doesn't detect my work laptop as gaming and reduce download speeds by half for my wife and I while working. It's not so much an issue after work hours while we're gaming since we don't need full speeds then.

I'd love to see this router latency piece be more stable at the faster CC speeds like prior. I don't really want to downgrade my firmware either. I can deal with it for now. I really hope there's more stability at higher percentages in future updates (and not just adaptive CC).

SmartBoost:

Valorant goes online/offline in Smartboost more frequently now, alongside "Gaming". Gaming stays online for the most part. I assuming CC stays on as Valorant goes "offline" briefly? Or this would be good to know. During one round it can go online/offline two or three times in smartboost.

Geo-Filter:

In Valorant, Geo-Filter for our gaming PC devices still shows Oklahoma at times, or sometimes it'll show near us in California, or one of our PCs will show us in Cali and the other in oklahoma. Not sure how that works on the router's backend/cloud. The only server we connect to in Valorant is the California one, and from the Valorant menu, Oklahoma isn't even an option. Texas is the closest one. So not sure what's up with that.

 

[Netduma Fraser]

ACC will eliminate that worry, no bufferbloat and full speeds!

Yes that makes sense, will go offline briefly when no proper gaming activity active and then online when detected. Grab the ID for that server and we can see if it is mislocated

[V1k1]

16 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

ACC will eliminate that worry, no bufferbloat and full speeds!

Yes that makes sense, will go offline briefly when no proper gaming activity active and then online when detected. Grab the ID for that server and we can see if it is mislocated

ACC is aiming to maintain full (or near full) speeds while minimizing the bufferbloat? Would this mean reduction in latency shown on pingplotter and/or waveform bufferfloat test with faster speeds?

Any insight to how it's going to work, or do this? I understand if you can't share that at this time. I'm very interested and would love to be a beta test this. Fingers crossed it's coming soon!

Valorant in Smartboost will go online/offline even as I'm running around the map/round, shooting, etc? Isn't it nearly always sending small pieces of data? I'm just asking because if it's going online/offline, does this mean CC is also turning on and off as it detects gaming activity online/offline?

Regarding server ID, please see my Geo Filter below with server ID. This is me playing from LA connected to the Valorant N. California server in San Jose.

Second photo is ping heat map for Valorant, which looks correct for all server options in game that I can select.

No VPN.

 

[V1k1]

Second photo where it shows my location with the check mark and Oklahoma again. Also playing with steadyping once more.

[V1k1]

Annnnd when the wife and i are playing together on the same server - both connecting to oklahoma but different ping in the router, same ping in the game.

Very weird. Doesn't seem to be accurate, right?

also, you can see in my first screen caps the ping going up and down until I turned on steadyping. but after 1 deathmatch, i turned steadyping off, but it clearly is retaining the smoother ping as if the steadyping setting is still on, even though you can see I have it disabled below.

Definitely scratching my head here.. I'm wondering if the router is actually routing me (V1k1Desktop) to some server in Oklahoma but my wife to... Oklahoma but with lower ping? That looks like ping we'd get when it shows Los Angeles or California servers.

[V1k1]

Today was a bit different. Again, connected to the same N. California server which is not Los Angeles.

The server IDs for below hosts:

Oklahoma 1HCCW01
Los Angeles IC5CFZ

At one point joining a game it connected to Copenhagen for 10 seconds!

[Netduma Fraser]

On 3/5/2025 at 7:17 AM, V1k1 said:

ACC is aiming to maintain full (or near full) speeds while minimizing the bufferbloat? Would this mean reduction in latency shown on pingplotter and/or waveform bufferfloat test with faster speeds?

Any insight to how it's going to work, or do this? I understand if you can't share that at this time. I'm very interested and would love to be a beta test this. Fingers crossed it's coming soon!

Valorant in Smartboost will go online/offline even as I'm running around the map/round, shooting, etc? Isn't it nearly always sending small pieces of data? I'm just asking because if it's going online/offline, does this mean CC is also turning on and off as it detects gaming activity online/offline?

Regarding server ID, please see my Geo Filter below with server ID. This is me playing from LA connected to the Valorant N. California server in San Jose.

Second photo is ping heat map for Valorant, which looks correct for all server options in game that I can select.

No VPN.

 

Yes that's the idea, not sure how much I can divulge at the moment so will er on the side of caution and say nothing! All looking good there.

On 3/5/2025 at 7:47 AM, V1k1 said:

Second photo where it shows my location with the check mark and Oklahoma again. Also playing with steadyping once more.

On 3/5/2025 at 7:57 AM, V1k1 said:

Annnnd when the wife and i are playing together on the same server - both connecting to oklahoma but different ping in the router, same ping in the game.

Very weird. Doesn't seem to be accurate, right?

also, you can see in my first screen caps the ping going up and down until I turned on steadyping. but after 1 deathmatch, i turned steadyping off, but it clearly is retaining the smoother ping as if the steadyping setting is still on, even though you can see I have it disabled below.

Definitely scratching my head here.. I'm wondering if the router is actually routing me (V1k1Desktop) to some server in Oklahoma but my wife to... Oklahoma but with lower ping? That looks like ping we'd get when it shows Los Angeles or California servers.

10 hours ago, V1k1 said:

Today was a bit different. Again, connected to the same N. California server which is not Los Angeles.

The server IDs for below hosts:

Oklahoma 1HCCW01
Los Angeles IC5CFZ

At one point joining a game it connected to Copenhagen for 10 seconds!

Thanks for that, I'll pass it on to the team to see if it needs to be rectified

[V1k1]

30 minutes ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Yes that's the idea, not sure how much I can divulge at the moment so will er on the side of caution and say nothing! All looking good there.

Thanks for that, I'll pass it on to the team to see if it needs to be rectified

Thanks Fraser.

We do notice when the router geo filter shows one of our computers with higher ping while were connected to the same California server, whoever has the higher router ping does more poorly in the match, or dies in game from what feels like high ping (dying when you don’t even see a player peek out from a corner fully).

whenever it shows the low ping via router (even if it says Oklahoma but 15 ping), we do better, we don’t seem to die from enemies around corners (connection/network feels more in sync with what’s happening on our screen).

I hope it’s rectified because I’m not sure about the router connecting me to Oklahoma or Copenhagen at times when I join a Valorant match. I had one game last night where my ping was at 80 in the router interface. Nothing else was active on the network besides the wives pc with the 15 ping. Sometimes we both get lucky at 15 ping haha.

 

[V1k1]

@Netduma Fraserany update on this?

Does the team need any other information from me to look into this?

[Netduma Fraser]

For now I think it'll be fine, they'll do some more cloud updates and we can see if that improves it at all, there isn't really any other explanation I can think of other than being incorrectly located/misclassified

[V1k1]

Idk if it’s fine when the router shows me a random server with higher ping and the game feels like it’d be at that router ping.

this to me is very detrimental as I’m seeing the relationship between Valorant matches connected to the San Jose server (per the game) with the router showing an Oklahoma server and high ping, or even Copenhagen, and that match feeling less responsive with firefights.

is there any way to check if I’m technically connected to the right server during a match regardless if the router is saying I’m at 80 ping in Oklahoma?

if the router is misclassifying it, is this actually what my ping is? Is the router somehow going through Copenhagen when it says that?

I feel like I need to do additional checks because it won’t be sustainable if the router is pushing me through Copenhagen for a server close by in California

[Netduma Fraser]

Fine as in I don't think they'll need any more information for now. 

No specific way to check no. Not necessarily, with the servers not always responding to pings correctly it could just be incorrect, it could also be using relay servers which I've already asked the team about revealing (it might be they use ports for them that aren't covered) - if they are using relay servers then there isn't much we can do about it but there isn't a lot of evidence so far to suggest they are doing that

[V1k1]

1 minute ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Fine as in I don't think they'll need any more information for now. 

No specific way to check no. Not necessarily, with the servers not always responding to pings correctly it could just be incorrect, it could also be using relay servers which I've already asked the team about revealing (it might be they use ports for them that aren't covered) - if they are using relay servers then there isn't much we can do about it but there isn't a lot of evidence so far to suggest they are doing that

Understood. I think ideally for this feature to work correctly, even for geo filtering, it should see where I am and the game server I’m connecting to. I tested if I block out Oklahoma, then I can’t connect into Valorant matches in California nearby.

to me this feature won’t be accurate to use if incorrectly showing servers.

So the Oklahoma server may be a relay server? I’m not well versed in what a relay server is but can read more about it.

Please let me know if I can provide any additional info to help get to a one to one connection from myself to the respective valorant server. I do not want to see Oklahoma pop up or Copenhagen 😂. Nothing against those areas, just misleading to me and my router

thank you for the help and please continue to relay this info to the team

[V1k1]

Today was so bad I don't think I can play Valorant with this router at this point in time.

I tried rebooting everything, tried without steadyping. Mine won't even show a server (it briefly did at the start of our gaming session).

My wife's PC is showing stuck in Oklahoma City with consistent spikes in ping up to 100-200 even though we are only connecting to the California server - in game ping shows 25-30 with Steadyping on.

Per the router settings, nothing else is happening on our network besides gaming, she's not even alt-tabbing during the ping spikes. Our PCs also show no other network activity.
We both are getting some hitch in-game, like a quick lag spike that is seen/felt and it matches with what the router shows when it spikes.

In-game, bullets aren't connecting, we're dying nearly before we see an enemy. It's honestly getting worse day by day.

When the router shows low ping, everything is so good, so fluid, close to real-time feeling.

I honestly don't know what to do or expect at this point anymore. I'm seeing other posts of similar issues (I gave the other user my experience).

What is happening? Why is this getting worse day by day? Are there back-end updates happening? What is being worked on currently to alleviate or even look into what's causing this issue?

I would like to know as it's apparent that other are experiencing similar issues in BO6.
I don't want to have to look into other routers as this one is still fairly new.