Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Southeast Asia
50-130ms to SEA server- Low player population in SEA region — SBMM may expand to match against other regions
- Cross-region matches against US West or EU when SEA queue is depleted
- Players in Philippines or Indonesia may get 60-120ms to Singapore SEA server
South America
100-200ms when matched to US East- SA server has low population — SBMM frequently expands to US East
- Brazilian players connecting to US East face 100-180ms depending on ISP routing
- Some ISPs route São Paulo traffic through Miami adding latency hops
Oceania
20-50ms to OCE, 150ms+ if cross-region- Small OCE player base — SBMM may route matches to SEA or US West
- NZ players get 30-50ms to Sydney OCE servers, higher if matched elsewhere
What players commonly report
- SBMM silently placing players on cross-region servers with no ping warning
- Portal shot inconsistency at high latency or high jitter
- No persistent in-game ping display by default
- RedKard anti-cheat (Equ8) causing launch failures when flagged by security software
- Low population in SEA/OCE/SA regions leading to frequent cross-region matches
- Dying behind walls — lag compensation edge cases in portal geometry
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Check your ping with the in-game display
1. Launch Splitgate: Arena Reloaded and enter a match 2. Open Settings → Gameplay or HUD options and look for a ping/latency display toggle 3. Alternatively, open the scoreboard during a match (default Tab key) — ping is shown per player including yours 4. Watch for spikes above 80ms — if your ping jumps by 40ms+ during a match, that is a network path problem 5. If ping is consistently high (80ms+ on local region servers), your ISP routing to the server datacenter is suboptimal
Establishes whether your issue is latency (high ping) or frame rate (low FPS). Portal shot inconsistency is almost always a latency or jitter problem — confirming this first saves time.
02 Switch to a wired Ethernet connection
1. Connect your PC to your router with a Cat5e or Cat6 Ethernet cable 2. In Windows: Settings → Network & Internet → Wi-Fi → turn off Wi-Fi (optional but reduces interference) 3. Your PC will use the wired connection automatically 4. Relaunch Splitgate and check ping — jitter should drop significantly
WiFi adds 5-30ms of unpredictable jitter. In an arena FPS, jitter degrades reaction-speed duels and makes portal shots feel inconsistent even when average ping is acceptable. Wired connection is the single best free improvement.
03 Restart matchmaking if ping is unexpectedly high
1. Before accepting a match, note the displayed ping or region indicator if visible 2. If you enter a match and ping is much higher than expected (e.g. 150ms when you normally get 30ms), leave and re-queue 3. Splitgate's SBMM expands search radius over time — re-queuing resets the expansion timer and prioritizes closer servers 4. Avoid queuing during off-peak hours in your region if cross-region matches become frequent
Cross-region matches are a known issue in Splitgate — SBMM silently expands search radius, placing players on distant servers. Rejoining resets the search and typically finds a closer server.
04 Close background bandwidth consumers
1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc → Task Manager → Performance tab → Open Resource Monitor 2. Click the Network tab — sort by 'Total (B/sec)' to see what is using bandwidth 3. Close or pause: Windows Update (Settings → Update → Pause 7 days), torrents, OneDrive, cloud backups, Discord video streams 4. Launch Splitgate with only necessary apps running
Background uploads and downloads create burst congestion that causes ping spikes during critical moments. Arena FPS matches are decided in seconds — a 100ms spike during a portal duel is a lost fight.
General network tips (not Splitgate-specific)
05 Verify RedKard anti-cheat is not being flagged by security software
1. If Splitgate fails to launch or crashes with an anti-cheat error, check your antivirus/security software 2. RedKard (visible as 'equ8' in Task Manager) may be blocked by aggressive security tools 3. Add the Splitgate game folder to your antivirus exclusion list: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Splitgate 2\ 4. Restart Splitgate after adding the exclusion
A blocked or crashed anti-cheat process causes game launch failures. This is a setup issue unrelated to network but commonly confused with connection problems.
Regions with good connectivity
Players in these regions likely won't benefit much from a network optimizer.
- Western Europe — EU Central server (Germany/France) covers Western Europe well. Major IXPs in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris provide excellent routing. EU players typically achieve 15-50ms.
- US East Coast — US East server is the primary NA region with the largest player pool. East Coast players typically achieve 10-40ms. Midwest players also well-served.
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects Splitgate automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Splitgate by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.