Well, my PC used to have Windows 98 SE, and whenever I'd play Soldat, there would be no lag problems whatsoever (unless, of course, there was a big lagger in the game). I started having major problems, though (not Soldat related), and I decided to reformat my HDD and install Windows XP instead of 98. Now when I play Soldat, the graphics seem to lag a bit. For example, it takes twice as long for Soldat to start, and whenever I click one of the tabs at the top, it'll take me to the specified page, but the tab won't highlight for two or three seconds. However, that's not my biggest problem. The main one is whenever I'm in a game, if I engage with more than two people at a time, my ping will spike (up to about 800 or 900) for a second or two. It's unbelievably annoying, and I can hardly play anymore. I've also been having some graphics problems with Windows XP lately, but I'm not too sure if that's related.

I'd really appreciate any help anyone can give me. I'm tired of this lag...

Try uninstalling and reinstalling your video card Drivers, and make sure you're updated to the latest version of Direct X (9.0c)

Also, ensure that your PC is free from spyware and adware that may be consuming your system resources.

Well I've got DirectX 9.0c, and I'm 100% sure my PC is free of Spyware/Adware. I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling my video card drivers later, though. Thanks. I think I'll even try uninstalling and reinstalling Soldat... hey, it's worth a shot.

any joy dude?

the reason lapis asked about

a) graphics card drivers:
when you install XP initially the dx version is rather old and naff. can cause problems.
do you get lag with mulitple players on screen when you're playing offline just with bots?
you can lower the back buffer count and make sure antialiasing is off in the soldat setup- this should lower some of the work on your graphics chip.
it may not however because xp as a whole has a lot more going on in the background than 98. apparently to improve your 'windows experience'.
you can change in the control panel the settings to make xp run better for performance than being visually pleasing. but i doubt thatll have much effect on gaming.

b)spyware and adaware
aswell as making your pc chug if they consume system memory and cpu time, malware can also consume bandwidth for their evil information gathering and reproduction processes.
which could lead to lag spikes when you play.
again it could be xp. have you turned off autmatic updates? and any other bandwidth consuming features that run? like an anti virus?

if those 2 dont work then theres a sticky thread about optimising your connection....