Counter Strike - Tweaking



Many of you will want info on tweaking CS (well Half-Life really). When I first started out without any tweaks CS was laggy and my ping was always high. However now I can get a good stable ping. With a bit of tweaking you to can enjoy CS with hopefully lower pings and a more stable connection :).

First off I'll introduce you to the commands you can use to tweak your net connection

What is lag and what can you do to combat it?
Lag and latency are the enemies of every online gamer. Sometimes the two are confused so to clear up any issue here's what they are:

Lag: When you lock up and can't move for a few seconds
Latency: Your ping time. Say it's 200. You have 200ms latency between you and the game server.

Lag, and increases in latency (i.e. ping) occur depending on what is happening on screen. If you are in a quiet area of the map one minute then all hell breaks loose with bullets and players flying passed and all around you, your connection will have to handle more data. This is when problems can occur.

If you lag a lot check out the settings below. Also try not to use weapons that fire a lot of bullets at once (say the para). Instead arm yourself with a shotgun or other weapons that do not fire at such a high rate. Also take breaks in quiet areas for 2-3 seconds. Allow your connection to stabilise.

How to add changes
There are two ways:

1) Create a file called autoexec.cfg Place it in your /cstrike/ folder. In the file (open via notepad) add the following (delete ones you do not want to change):

rate "<number you want>"
pushlatency "-<number you want>"

2) When in the game, bring down the console (' key) and type the command in. For example /rate 4000 will set my rate to 4000. All commands can be entered this way, just remember to add a / at the start before everything or it will not work :).

NOTE: Backup your config whenever you tweak it!

Netgraph
The netgraph is your ally in the fight to stabilize your connection.

To view it type /net_graph 1 at the console (console key = ` ). 
Warning: The net_graph will lower your frame rate when in use. Be sure to turn it off when you are playing and not tweaking :)

1: Your current Frame rate (FPS)
2: Bandwidth speed of data being received from the server.
3: Bandwidth speed of data being transmitting to server.
4: Server Incoming update time.
5: The graph.
6: Client outgoing update time.
7: Based on your framerate. If the graph is spiky you'll want to lower / raise your frame rate to compensate.

Note: Next to the fps count (In the pic: 50.3 fps),  you may have a ping value. This is more accurate than the value you'll see on the scoreboard and for tweaking purposes is better to use that value when seeing how much your tweaking has improved your connection.

net_graph 1:  As shown above.
net_graph 2: Same as net_graph 1, but with the addition of a graph at the top which gives indications of the size of the packets sent from the server.
net_graph 3: Gives you basic information, but does not lower your framerate as much as the other two net_graph settings.

Good CONNECTION	Average CONNECTION
Bad CONNECTION	Net_graph Position and size
	net_graphwidth x x = Width. Default 192. net_graphpos "x" x = Graph position.  Left = 0, Right = 1, Centre = 2

Try to ensure the graph is stable. I.e. the graph shown is moving at a constant rate and there are no peaks in it. If there are a few peaks play with the rate settings (mentioned on next page). Your aim is to get a nice green line, with no or little amounts of yellow.

Tweaking Continued - >