Find out if there's a service outage by checking Runescape and Old School on Twitter, and the service update archive.
Diagnose your issue
Identify the cause and find out how to eliminate it.
| Poor connection | Graphical issue | Input lag | |
| Frame drops at certain times in the day | ✓ | ||
| Frame drops on certain worlds | ✓ | ||
| Audio stops and starts | ✓ | ||
| High ping | ✓ | ||
| Audio stops and starts | ✓ | ||
| Frame drop in high populated areas / fights | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Stuttering or jerky gameplay | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Consistently low frame-rates | ✓ | ✓ |
Poor connection
One of the most common causes of lag is a poor connection - this is often referred to as having a high 'ping'.
- A 'ping' is the length of time in milliseconds that it takes for your computer to send a small packet of information and receive it back from a server
- The longer it takes for the information to complete this process, the higher your ping will be
- This usually means there's a connection problem between your system and our servers
Graphical issue
If either your graphics card or driver are outdated or your hardware doesn't meet our recommended specifications, your system may be struggling to produce enough Frames Per Second (FPS).
- FPS is the speed at which your graphics card is able to render consecutive images on your screen - this works like a flipbook, the faster your graphics card can cycle through each image the smoother the movement appears
- If your device does not meet our recommended specifications you may need to lower your settings to improve your in-game experience
- If your device meets our requirements then this may be caused by a graphical problem
Input lag
If you're playing on a desktop that uses a separate display, you may be experiencing 'input lag', this is a delay between your graphics device sending a frame to your display device.
- If your display is a TV try switching to a monitor - the refresh rate on a monitor is generally higher than that of a TV and should improve your experience
- Turn off Vsync in the graphics settings - Vsync Vertially synchronises the game's FPS with your monitor's refresh rate, this can reduce your FPS up to 50%
- There may be a fault with your monitor - if this is the case you'll notice the same performance issues across any games you play and you'll need to get in touch with the manufacturer