dafremen
02-20-2001, 03:29 PM
Having played Quake2 for a little over 3 years, one of the most common complaints I hear are screams of LAGG!! from the HPBs/Modem Users.
The most common cause of these problems are due to misinformation or plain old fashioned ignorance about these two settings:
rate and cl_maxfps
I would like to take a second to clear up the mystery surrounding these two settings and maybe give some advice on how to set these two. I would like to conclude by giving my two-cents worth on how LPBs can set these two variables responsibly for the good of all the players in the game.
cl_maxfps - This is the most important setting to adjust. What cl_maxfps determines is the rate at which the server will send a player updated information about the state of the game. The higher the value, the more server bandwidth you will be using, period. If you are a modem users, having this set too high can cause your modem to get bogged down with more packets than it can handle, this leads to lag and eventually can lead to overflow. The default is 90. This is WAY too high.
rate - This setting determines the maximum size in bytes of any single packet that the server will send you. It is adjusted by setting your "connection speed" in the multiplayer player setup. The same thing applies to modem users, it's just not as noticeable (if cl_maxfps has been lowered already). If there is a lot of updated information to be sent, you can either receive it in smaller chunks, or you can get it all in one big lump. This setting will decide how the server sends it to you.
Recommended Settings:
Although some opinions may vary, I and several other players did a series of exhaustive tests and have come up with some good "rule of thumb" settings for cl_maxfps and rate for all users, as well as settings specific to both HPBs and LPBs.
General Settings: rate - 2500 cl_maxfps - 40
This is a good middle-of-the-road setting, providing plenty of screen refreshes for the broadband user while giving the modem user a decent hedge against avoidable packet loss and overflow.
HPB: rate - 1500 cl_maxfps - 31
This is a really good setting for avoiding packetloss, overflow and LPB-induced lag.
(I will elaborate on LPB-induced lag in a second.) One downside to this setting is a slight choppiness to the screen refresh and bumping cl_maxfps up to 35 should clear most of this up. These settings are really about the most lag-proof and playable however.
LPB: rate - anything under 5000
cl_maxfps - 60 and under
Now I know some LPBs are going to come back and tell me I'm full of sh*t about these settings, but I happen to have Zoid of ID software on my side for the fps side of these settings anyhow. Anything over 61 is bandwidth hogging PLAIN and simple. You achieve no noticeable performance improvements at these refresh rates. The one exception to that is that there are certain tricks (most notably the grenade launcher jump on q2dm8) that cannot be done unless you bump your FPS above 90. However, unless you are DOING those trix, there is NO reason to hog up server time by asking for more packets than you need and you increase the likelihood of LPB-induced lag if you are playing with HPBs.
LPB-induced lag:
Many LPBs will deny this to the bitter end, but we have tested this and we know that LPB-induced lag IS possible. Here's how we think it works: When you are an LPB and you have your rate and especially your cl_maxfps cranked up, what you are saying is send me positional updates AND get my positional updates at this rate. In a crowded room situation, there's a lot going on, this causes a lot of update information to be generated and the server has to send you at LEAST your rate number of bytes worth of this information every cl_maxfps refresh period. This taxes server bandwidth and causes a noticeable delay in the form of lag for other players with lower cl_maxfps settings. For HPBs with lower rate settings, this can mean that they won't get the information until its already obsolete, explaining the "Where the hell did you come from" syndrome.
If you're an LPB that plays Q2 and gives a flying **** about skill vs. skill, give the HPBs a break and keep yer settings at a reasonable level.(ie 5000 and under and 50 and under) Then you can truly say that you played a fair game. If you don't give a ****, crank it up...who cares? Obviously not you.
Finally in an LPB vs. LPB game..go for it.
Setting Rate and Cl_maxfps:
To set rate and cl_maxfps, do the following:
In the console type -
rate <rate value>
set cl_maxfps <cl_maxfps value>
Examples:
rate 2500
set cl_maxfps 40
cl_maxfps CAN be modified without the set command but this will not always work in all environments, the method shown is foolproof, just not idiotproof.
Hope this helped.
8) Daffy - Dafremen>FAS>
Fragz Ain't Skillz (http://members.home.net/fremgreen/fas.htm) - Where the bull$h*t ends...the game begins.
The most common cause of these problems are due to misinformation or plain old fashioned ignorance about these two settings:
rate and cl_maxfps
I would like to take a second to clear up the mystery surrounding these two settings and maybe give some advice on how to set these two. I would like to conclude by giving my two-cents worth on how LPBs can set these two variables responsibly for the good of all the players in the game.
cl_maxfps - This is the most important setting to adjust. What cl_maxfps determines is the rate at which the server will send a player updated information about the state of the game. The higher the value, the more server bandwidth you will be using, period. If you are a modem users, having this set too high can cause your modem to get bogged down with more packets than it can handle, this leads to lag and eventually can lead to overflow. The default is 90. This is WAY too high.
rate - This setting determines the maximum size in bytes of any single packet that the server will send you. It is adjusted by setting your "connection speed" in the multiplayer player setup. The same thing applies to modem users, it's just not as noticeable (if cl_maxfps has been lowered already). If there is a lot of updated information to be sent, you can either receive it in smaller chunks, or you can get it all in one big lump. This setting will decide how the server sends it to you.
Recommended Settings:
Although some opinions may vary, I and several other players did a series of exhaustive tests and have come up with some good "rule of thumb" settings for cl_maxfps and rate for all users, as well as settings specific to both HPBs and LPBs.
General Settings: rate - 2500 cl_maxfps - 40
This is a good middle-of-the-road setting, providing plenty of screen refreshes for the broadband user while giving the modem user a decent hedge against avoidable packet loss and overflow.
HPB: rate - 1500 cl_maxfps - 31
This is a really good setting for avoiding packetloss, overflow and LPB-induced lag.
(I will elaborate on LPB-induced lag in a second.) One downside to this setting is a slight choppiness to the screen refresh and bumping cl_maxfps up to 35 should clear most of this up. These settings are really about the most lag-proof and playable however.
LPB: rate - anything under 5000
cl_maxfps - 60 and under
Now I know some LPBs are going to come back and tell me I'm full of sh*t about these settings, but I happen to have Zoid of ID software on my side for the fps side of these settings anyhow. Anything over 61 is bandwidth hogging PLAIN and simple. You achieve no noticeable performance improvements at these refresh rates. The one exception to that is that there are certain tricks (most notably the grenade launcher jump on q2dm8) that cannot be done unless you bump your FPS above 90. However, unless you are DOING those trix, there is NO reason to hog up server time by asking for more packets than you need and you increase the likelihood of LPB-induced lag if you are playing with HPBs.
LPB-induced lag:
Many LPBs will deny this to the bitter end, but we have tested this and we know that LPB-induced lag IS possible. Here's how we think it works: When you are an LPB and you have your rate and especially your cl_maxfps cranked up, what you are saying is send me positional updates AND get my positional updates at this rate. In a crowded room situation, there's a lot going on, this causes a lot of update information to be generated and the server has to send you at LEAST your rate number of bytes worth of this information every cl_maxfps refresh period. This taxes server bandwidth and causes a noticeable delay in the form of lag for other players with lower cl_maxfps settings. For HPBs with lower rate settings, this can mean that they won't get the information until its already obsolete, explaining the "Where the hell did you come from" syndrome.
If you're an LPB that plays Q2 and gives a flying **** about skill vs. skill, give the HPBs a break and keep yer settings at a reasonable level.(ie 5000 and under and 50 and under) Then you can truly say that you played a fair game. If you don't give a ****, crank it up...who cares? Obviously not you.
Finally in an LPB vs. LPB game..go for it.
Setting Rate and Cl_maxfps:
To set rate and cl_maxfps, do the following:
In the console type -
rate <rate value>
set cl_maxfps <cl_maxfps value>
Examples:
rate 2500
set cl_maxfps 40
cl_maxfps CAN be modified without the set command but this will not always work in all environments, the method shown is foolproof, just not idiotproof.
Hope this helped.
8) Daffy - Dafremen>FAS>
Fragz Ain't Skillz (http://members.home.net/fremgreen/fas.htm) - Where the bull$h*t ends...the game begins.