Soldier of Fortune Connection Tweaks
Soldier of Fortune has some useful commands
for optimizing your network connection, however as network gameworld updates are directly
tied with FPS it is important to find a compromise that gives you high FPS without
saturating your connection. The commands shown below can be entered in the console or
added to your config file(s). |
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| cl_maxfps | In Soldier of Fortune 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 cl_maxfps is set to a sensible
limit or you will saturate your bandwidth. As a guide monitor your connection while on a server using netgraph 1 and move to a part of the map that will give you a very high FPS. Set your cl_maxfps and watch the netgraph, if you see a steadily rising red area like a hill then your cl_maxfps is too high for your connection. Reduce cl_maxfps until the red area is steady. If you are not sure then use cl_maxfps 30 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 resulting in high or erratic ping. 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. Some servers limit maximum rate so there really is no point in setting it higher than the server you are playing on allows - See netgraph for a guide on how to adjust this setting and the suggested settings that appear at the foot of this page. |
| netgraph | When setting this to 1 you will see a graph appear at the base of your screen near the health bar. I find the netgraph is not as useful as the one in Quake2, however it is simpler to use. Adjust your cl_maxfps until the red area is as steady in height as possible, then adjust rate so that the red line is reduced. If you have steady 'flat' red line then all is well. In the case of rising red 'hills' lower your cl_maxfps. If you see dark red/black areas they indicate packet loss, if this is greater than 10% and consistent and you have to play on the ISP/server adjust your cl_maxfps to compensate. |
Suggested settings are in the table that follows. They are however guidelines, adjust them as needed by monitoring your connection using netgraph and alter settings based on its information. See the description of how to use and interpret the information that netgraph shows in the above table. It is very important that you read the netgraph, rate and cl_maxfps 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. If you are using voice communication programs such as RogerWilco, Battlecom, Teamsound etc. then please adjust settings accordingly. Allow 1024 bytes for downstream and 512 bytes for upstream usage by the voice communication program.. |
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| LAN | set cl_maxfps "120" |
| ADSL / Cable / Wireless | set cl_maxfps "120" |
| ISDN Bonded | set cl_maxfps "90" |
| ISDN Single (Stac/Microsoft compression) | set cl_maxfps "90" |
| ISDN Single | set cl_maxfps "80" |
| 56K Modem (Stac/Microsoft compression) | set cl_maxfps "60" |
| 56K Modem (Hardware compression) | set cl_maxfps "55" |
| V34 Modem (Stac/Microsoft compression) |
set cl_maxfps "45" |
| V34 Modem (Hardware compression) |
set cl_maxfps "35" |
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