When something stops working, the cause is usually recent and boring. The checks for how to fix latency below run from most to least likely, so stop as soon as one helps.

Network problems and server problems look identical from your side, which is why the status page comes first. Confirming that how to fix latency is not a server-side problem takes thirty seconds and saves an evening. Community wikis are excellent for data and unreliable for timing, which is a useful distinction. Error codes are usually searchable and usually point at a category rather than a specific fault.

If you only read one section

Verify the files, restart fully, and only then start changing settings — reversing that order is what turns ten minutes into an evening.

Stopping it happening again

There are maybe five realistic causes of how to fix latency, and they are ordered below by how often each one is the answer. If you are following this with someone else, agree on the plan before starting rather than mid-run. Symptoms that appear only after several minutes usually point at heat or memory rather than the game.

When it is not your problem at all

Rushing the setup is the single most reliable way to spend longer overall. Where a fix requires administrator rights, that is worth noticing before running it. Storage that is nearly full causes symptoms across the whole system, not just where the space ran out.

If it started after an update

A corrupted cache produces symptoms that look nothing like a corrupted cache. Almost every case of how to fix latency traces back to something that changed in the last week. The community figured most of this out through repetition, and the pattern has held up well. The error text for how to fix latency is accurate and unhelpful at the same time, which is a frustrating combination.

When reinstalling is actually justified

Consistency beats optimisation until you are comfortable, and often after that too. If it works for other people on the same version, the cause is local by definition. Reverting one change at a time is slower than reverting everything and far more informative.

If two games break the same way, the cause is on the system rather than in either game. It helps to know why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation differs slightly. The most recent change is the most likely cause, and it is rarely the one people suspect.

  • Check the launcher settings as well as the in-game ones.
  • Check whether an update landed since you last played.
  • Disable all mods, confirm, then re-enable in batches.
  • Test on a second user account to isolate configuration.

What not to do

  • Following a guide written for an older version and assuming nothing moved.
  • Changing settings that are hard to reverse before trying the reversible ones.
  • Updating drivers as a reflex when the problem started with a driver update.
  • Leaving mods enabled while insisting the base game is broken.

Questions people also ask

Do I need to finish the story first?

No, though a few things are simpler afterwards. Where progression matters, the relevant step says so.

What if it does not work for me?

Go back to the first step and confirm each assumption instead of retrying the last one. The failure is almost always earlier than it appears.

Is there a faster method?

Usually yes, and usually it is riskier. The route above trades a little speed for a much lower chance of having to start over.

The method above is deliberately unexciting, which is exactly why it keeps working.