UpsetChaps Tribes2 Guide - Connection Tweaks

The network code in Tribes2 is excellent and you really should not need to use these settings unless you wish to experiment or are having problems. ISDN users should try the 56K or DSL presets in the network menu first. There are very few settings available to adjust, I will document them to the best of my knowledge here so you can experiment to see which is best suited to your connection. To set the variables open the file clientPrefs.cs in your Tribes2 base/prefs directory and manually edit the relevant $pref::Net:: entry.
Network Meter	To activate the new network meter press the key you have assigned or try CTRL + N. The first network meter consists of a text display of current ping and packet loss for your connection along with two bars. The upper bar shows the amount of packets being sent by your client while the lower bar shows the amount of packets being received by your client. The second network meter is accessed by pressing your network meter key twice. You will see a plotted graph consisting of blue, green, red and white/grey lines. The light blue line shows packets received from the server per second while the dark blue line shows bytes received from the server per second. The green line shows ping while the red line shows packet loss The grey line shows bytes sent by your client to the server per second while the white line shows packets sent by your client to the server per second. If any of the bars/lines fluctuate wildly then adjust the relevant network setting so that the bar or line stabilises. If either of the network meters show heavy packet loss then your receive bytes / packets setting may be too high. Try reducing PacketRateToClient and/or PacketSize until packet loss is reduced or stopped altogether.

PacketRateToClient	This setting has a range of 2 to 32. PacketRateToClient is used to calculate how many gameworld updates you receive from the server per second. Use this in combination with PacketSize to limit the maximum amount of bytes per second your client will receive from the server.The amount of bytes per second is calculated as follows, PacketRateToClient x PacketSize = Maximum bytes per second. Example if you are on an ISDN connection and using built in voice communication via microphone then experiment with a PacketRateToClient of 20 with a PacketSize of 320 which results in 6400 bytes a second maximum. Note that too low a PacketRateToClient setting can result in redjacks, useful range is therefore 10 to 32.

PacketSize	This setting has a range of 100 to 450. PacketSize is the maximum data size for each packet, not maximum data per second. In combination with PacketRateToClient it controls network packets so that your connection bandwidth does not get saturated. Use this in combination with PacketRateToClient to tweak the maximum amount of bytes per second your client will receive from the server. The bandwidth is calculated as follows, PacketRateToClient x PacketSize = Maximum bytes per second. Example if you are on an ISDN connection and using built in voice communication via microphone then experiment with a PacketRateToClient of 20 with a PacketSize of 320 which results in 6400 bytes a second maximum.

PacketRateToServer	This setting has a range of 8 to 32. In many games your FPS governs how many gameworld updates you send to the server, a high FPS gave an unfair advantage over those with lower FPS. In Tribes that is not the case, PacketRateToServer restricts the number of packets being sent to the server by your client and can be used to help connection bandwidth related problems for those with low upstream bandwidth. In most cases set this to default or the maximum of 32, lowering can help in some circumstances such as limited upstream bandwidth and fine tuning. You may wish to experiment by adjusting the setting so that it is a divisor of your framerate. Use the FPS figure displayed using show("framecounter()"); as a guideline for actual FPS. For example if your FPS is averaging 60 then try a value of 30.

simPacketLoss simPing	If you wish to practice offline with latency, ping and packetloss emulation then adjust these settings as needed. Example, if you normally play online with 200 ping and 1% packet loss then adjust simPing to 200 and simPacketLoss to 1. Be sure to reset them to 0 when playing online.

Suggested settings are in the table that follows. They are however guidelines, adjust them as needed by monitoring your connection in game and alter settings as needed. It is very important that you read the PacketRateToClient, PacketSize and PacketRateToServer 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.

LAN	PacketRateToServer "32" PacketRateToClient "32" PacketSize "450"

ADSL / Cable / Wireless	PacketRateToServer "32" PacketRateToClient "20" PacketSize "450"

ISDN Bonded	PacketRateToServer "32" PacketRateToClient "20" PacketSize "450"

ISDN Single	PacketRateToServer "32" PacketRateToClient "20" PacketSize "(See Table Below)" 64000 BPS: PacketSize "320" 56000 BPS: PacketSize "280"

56K Modem	PacketRateToServer "24" PacketRateToClient "20" 240 PacketSize "(See Table Below)" 50000 BPS: PacketSize "260" 48000 BPS: PacketSize "250" 46000 BPS: PacketSize "240" 44000 BPS: PacketSize "230" 42000 BPS: PacketSize "220" 40000 BPS: PacketSize "210" 38000 BPS: PacketSize "200"

V34 Modem	PacketRateToServer "24" PacketRateToClient "12" PacketSize "(See Table Below)" 33600 BPS: PacketSize "240" 31200 BPS: PacketSize "230" 28000 BPS: PacketSize "220"

28.8 Modem	PacketRateToServer "24" PacketRateToClient "12" PacketSize "(See Table Below)" 200 28000 BPS: PacketSize "220" 26400 BPS: PacketSize "200"

Minimum Bandwidth Settings - Testing purposes or temporary settings while lag settles.	PacketRateToServer "10" PacketRateToClient "10" PacketSize "100"