Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Oceania
10-40ms (Sydney), 150-250ms (Singapore/NA fallback)- Single server in Sydney — very low population causes region to show as 'unavailable' during off-peak
- New Zealand players get 30-60ms minimum to Sydney
- Region often forces Oceania players to queue on Asia SE (Singapore) or NA servers, adding 150-250ms
- Long queue times at any hour due to low player count
Southeast Asia
20-120ms to Singapore depending on country and ISP- Single server in Singapore — players in Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand get 60-120ms+
- Low population causes 'region unavailable' errors at off-peak hours
- Some SEA players connect to Korean servers for better population, adding latency
- Philippine ISPs route poorly to Singapore
South America (non-Brazil)
10-30ms (Brazil), 50-120ms (Argentina/Chile/Colombia)- Single server in Brazil — non-Brazilian South Americans get 40-120ms+
- No western South America server coverage
- Low population overall compared to NA/EU/Korea
Middle East / Africa
100-200ms to Europe- No dedicated Middle East or Africa servers — players route to EU
- 100-200ms baseline latency to Europe servers
- High latency makes rubberbanding in PvP severe
What players commonly report
- Rubberbanding during PvP encounters — character snapping back to previous position
- Desync causing hits not to register or enemies to appear in wrong positions
- TavernWorker.exe disk scanning causing in-game stutters
- Server region unavailable errors for Oceania and SEA players
- No in-game ping display to diagnose connection issues
- High baseline latency for players outside Korea, NA, and EU
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Enable Steam FPS/ping overlay
1. In Steam, go to Settings > In-Game 2. Enable 'In-Game FPS Counter' 3. While in Dark and Darker, press Shift+Tab to open Steam overlay 4. Some UE5 games also show network stats — check Settings > Video > show network stats if available in-game menu
Provides real-time latency monitoring inside the dungeon to identify when connection issues occur
02 Use Ethernet instead of WiFi
Connect your PC directly to the router with an Ethernet cable. Disable WiFi adapter in Windows Settings > Network. Rubberbanding is heavily associated with WiFi use in community reports — the packet loss and jitter from wireless interference is amplified by the game's punishing loot-loss mechanic.
Eliminates wireless jitter and packet loss — the most impactful single hardware change for a dungeon crawler with permadeath loot
General network tips (not Dark and Darker-specific)
03 Check ping before queuing using Windows ping or a network tool
Dark and Darker does not show in-game ping by default. Use Windows built-in tools: open Command Prompt and ping the nearest server (note: game servers block ICMP, so standard ping will time out — use Steam's built-in FPS overlay or third-party tools like Latencymon). Alternatively, use the Nvidia GeForce Experience overlay (Alt+Z) which shows network latency.
Confirms your baseline latency before entering a dungeon. If ping is high before you queue, it will be high during the run.
04 Close TavernWorker.exe-related disk activity before raiding
IronShield's TavernWorker.exe performs disk sector scans that can cause stutters. Before dungeon runs: ensure no large file operations are running (downloads, cloud sync), defragment/check disk health (HDD users especially affected), and consider closing non-essential programs that compete for disk I/O. You cannot stop TavernWorker.exe without disabling the anti-cheat.
Reduces client-side stutters that compound network desync, particularly on HDDs or slow SSDs
05 Add game directory to antivirus exclusions
1. Open Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Manage settings 2. Under Exclusions, add folder: C:\Program Files\IRONMACE\Dark and Darker\ 3. Also exclude TavernWorker.exe if your antivirus is flagging it 4. Note: Kaspersky users should update to latest definitions as Ironmace submitted TavernWorker.exe for whitelisting in 2024
Prevents antivirus real-time scanning from competing with TavernWorker.exe and causing stutters during dungeon runs
Regions with good connectivity
Players in these regions likely won't benefit much from a network optimizer.
- South Korea — Home country of developer Ironmace. Korean servers are well-maintained with very high population. Korean players typically get 5-20ms.
- Central/Western Europe — EU and EU Central servers cover most European players. Germany, France, Netherlands typically get 20-50ms.
- US East Coast — NA East server on AWS us-east-1 provides 10-40ms for East Coast players. Good population.
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects Dark and Darker automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Dark and Darker by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.