HalfLife Connection Tweaks
NOTE: These tweaks are for
HalfLife prior to the 1.1.0.0 patch, if you have HalfLife 1.1.00 then visit the new HalfLife 1.1.0.0 tweaks page. |
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| fps_lan fps_modem |
In HalfLife your FPS rate governs how many gameworld updates you send to
the server, a high FPS will be more gameworld updates and a low FPS will be less gameworld
updates. Too high an FPS on a slow untweaked connection will cause very high ping and
unplayable lag. It is very important that fps_modem and fps_lan are set to a sensible
limit or you will saturate your bandwidth. Rate settings above or equal to 5000 use the
fps_lan variable and rates below 5000 use the fps_modem setting, I suggest setting both
the same to stop confusion. As a guide monitor your connection while on a server using r_netgraph 1 and move to a part of the map that will give you a very high FPS. Set your fps_lan or fps_modem and watch the netgraph, if you see a steadily rising green area like a hill then your fps_lan or fps_modem setting is too high for your connection. Reduce fps_lan or fps_modem setting until the green area is flat, albeit with perhaps a very short spike. If you are not sure then fps_lan or fps_modem to 31 or try the suggested settings that appear at the foot of this page and increase/lower them by small amounts if needed. Assuming that your connection allows very high FPS settings do not set cl_maxfps so high that connection lag and graphics related lag are confused. Example, if you are capped at 120 FPS and your system drops as low as 30 FPS then it will feel like connection lag when in fact it is not. |
| rate | This controls network packets so that your connection bandwidth does not get saturated, setting is for maximum bytes per second. Note that with Stac/Microsoft compressed connection you can use higher rates than normal for your connection type. Rate settings above or equal to 5000 are related to the fps_lan variable and rates below 5000 are related to the fps_modem setting, I suggest setting both fps caps the same to stop confusion - See r_netgraph for a guide on how to adjust this setting and the suggested settings that appear at the foot of this page. |
| uprate |
This controls upstream network data packet size so that your connection bandwidth does not get saturated. Note that with Stac/Microsoft compressed connection you can use higher rates than normal for your connection type. |
| pushlatency | This helps the network and game prediction code, 0 is default and is the suggested setting. If you do wish to alter pushlatency there are two options. Set it to -999 and let HalfLife do full prediction as it will ignore anything that is higher than your current latency or try setting your pushlatency to a negative value that is around 50% to 100% of your average ping. Example if you are pinging 200 on average then try a setting of -100. If you are unsure leave this at its default value. |
| r_netgraph |
When setting this to 1 you will see a graph appear at the base of your screen. Green lines mean packets are being received okay, yellow that rate capping is causing your client to reject packets and red that the packet was lost. Blue lines are very unusual and point to problems with the ISP or the ISP that the server is located on, either change your ISP or join another server. If you have steady flat green line then all is well. In the case of long rising/falling green hills lower your fps_modem/fps_lan, for yellow increase your rate. If you have a lot of red then change ISP or server. If you have to play on the server or use the ISP then try adjusting fps_lan/fps_modem to compensate for the lost packets. |
| cl_download_ingame |
This determines if downloads are allowed during a multiplayer game. this to 0 to stop downloading of decals etc. while playing. |
Suggested settings are in the table that follows. They are however guidelines, adjust them as needed by monitoring your connection using r_netgraph and alter settings based on its information. See the description of how to use and interpret the information that r_netgraph shows in the above table. It is very important that you read the netgraph, rate, uprate and fps_modem/lan notes before you use these settings. If you do not see an exact connection speed setting then use the closest. Example, perhaps you connect at 50000 or 52000 on modem, use the 48000 setting from the table. |
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| LAN | fps_modem "90" |
| ADSL / Cable / Wireless | fps_modem "90" |
| ISDN Bonded | fps_modem "90" |
| ISDN Single (Stac/Microsoft compression) | fps_modem "90" |
| ISDN Single | fps_modem "80" |
| 56K Modem (Stac/Microsoft compression) | fps_modem "60" |
| 56K Modem (Hardware compression) | fps_modem "55" |
| V34 Modem (Stac/Microsoft compression) |
fps_modem "45" |
| V34 Modem (Hardware compression) |
fps_modem "35" |
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