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View Full Version : Remedies for choke / latency in Counter-strike


outkast134
06-03-2004, 03:24 AM
Many people are again blaming the servers for their choke / lag problems. However, if not everyone in the server is lagging or experiencing choke then it cannot be a fault of the server. However there are some simple remedies you can do to fix or balance any connectivity problems.

First: Rates
There are 3 rates which can be adjusted; rate, cl_cmdrate, cl_updaterate

rate is the connection speed which you are communicating with the server at. Typically a rate of 8000 - 9999 is used. If you set your rate over 9999 then it just defaults to the game servers max allowed rate. GH and TFC currently allows 9999 which is the fastest needed for network connections.

cl_cmdrate and cl_updaterate set the size and frequency of data communication between clients and the server. Ideally you do not want to change your cl_updaterate. It's default value is 20. However cl_cmdrate can be used to tweak your connectivity to help aliviate you from lag or choke. Its default value is 30, but it can be set as high as 100. Currently I have my cl_cmdrate set at 80 and experience 0 - 1 choke at the most.

Second: Graphics
Not all "lag" is connection related. CS 1.6 uses many times more resources than CS1.5 did. It you are experiencing some lag and cannot seem to get rid of it you may want to turn your game graphics down.

Third: Connection Quality
Many times the reason why a few people in the server lag, but not everyone, is because of the current quality of the connection between you and the server. In order to see if there are routing problems between you and the server you can run a simple tracert to the server. That will show you the latency to each routing hop along the path from your computer to the server.

Some other info... Here are the server and connection specs for where TFC is hosted. http://xgamingservers.com/serverspecs.shtml

Here is something pulled from the FAQ of XGS's site.
FAQ:
It seems since the update that I have some Lag that I did not have in the past whats going on?

XGS Reply:
This is due to the Graphics change not the server. Please remember that if not EVERYONE in the server is lagging then its not the server. If you look at the system requirements for the new Steam CS1.6 they are about 3-4 times higher then what they were with the old CS1.5. If you are having "Lag" or system problems try reducing your graphics. Also make sure you are running the latest Drivers for your Video and Direct X.

Here is a link to more general info about tweeking your CS.
http://www.btinternet.com/~cyberchimp/counter-strike.htm

}|ast

ferret
06-03-2004, 08:29 AM
Altered this just a little to include GH. For reference, the GameHavoc server is hosted in Dallas, on a dual hyperthreaded Xeon 2.4ghz machine with a gig of ram and two 80gig 7200rpm 8mb cache HDDs. The game servers are split between the two HDDs to help the i/o load. The server has a 10mbit connection to the datacenter, which runs 15 GigE connections on about 8 OC-48 SONET rings, which of course then feed into OC-192s.

Before anyone asks, yes, 10mbit is all we need. I could upgrade to 100mbit, but we don't even average 3mbit at peak times. Each full CS server uses just under 1mbit of bandwidth.

Athena
06-03-2004, 09:37 AM
Thanks guys, very hopeful info for some of us little ppl that knows a lot about nothing. ;)

outkast134
06-03-2004, 03:28 PM
I'm just sick of people telling me to switch to a linux server because they are laggy.....

}|ast

ferret
06-03-2004, 03:31 PM
I'm just sick of people telling me to switch to a linux server because they are laggy.....

}|ast

Actually, you're better off right now. Pre-STEAM, Linux WAS better. But currently Windows has the better performance, because they just totally screwed up steam HLDS. Supposively a new version is on the way with performance improvements.

outkast134
06-03-2004, 06:16 PM
Thats what I said but too many ppl are still in awe of the CS1.3 days when Linux servers kicked windows ass. Regardless, OS has nothing to do with LAG anyways... it just changes the minimum sys requirements you need to be able to run a HLDS hehe

}|ast

acme420
06-13-2004, 03:56 AM
if you choke lover your cmdrate if you have loss lower your updaterate, for lag lower your rate.

ThriKreen
06-13-2004, 01:45 PM
Other way around I believe.

If you have packetloss it means data from servertoclient is getting lost, so increasing the rate and cl_updaterate should help alieviate it.

If you have choke, it means the incoming floods out the outgoing, so lowering rate and cl_updaterate, and increase cl_cmdrate so your data can make it out to the server.

VeNoM
06-19-2004, 03:58 PM
im going to play neverwinter nights..

[gh]Spurty
06-21-2004, 03:10 PM
Why are you having to do this manually? sessh .. its like all of 5 lines of code to monitor and autoconfigure the loss/choke .. heck, you can see they already have the code in there, they just never switched it on for some reason (netgraph)

Don't forget, servers differ in their rates, often wildly, so just cause you have a nice smooth ride on one server, means not a lot about the next one you hop on.

Highest your rate can be (that the server will listen to) on Natural Selection is 7000, anything over that is dropped, but does nicely flood its way to the server slowing others down and eating up more yummy bandwidth.

Anyway, choke/loss is horrid when you have it, so good luck removing it. It really shouldn't be a bug you have to configure out of your game manually.

ferret
06-21-2004, 04:15 PM
GH servers have a max rate of 9999, so anything higher is wasted anyways. The server can handle it, though.

HighPingedLPB
06-22-2004, 05:44 PM
if you choke lover your cmdrate if you have loss lower your updaterate, for lag lower your rate.

if you choke your lover? huh? :P

Cold Steel
07-20-2004, 01:08 PM
if you choke lover your cmdrate if you have loss lower your updaterate, for lag lower your rate.

if you choke your lover? huh? :P

I don't think your lover would like that! :-(

Dark Knight Zer0
07-20-2004, 01:50 PM
maybe hes needs to collect on the insurance?

DK0