How Do I Optimize My Ns Experience?

BugBrain

<div class="IPBDescription">I have a few terms I'd like explained</div> What are these, why are they important, how should I arrange them to be able to play NS the best my comp can run? I will put more here, if I find more I don't know.

cl_Cmdrate
cl_Updaterate
choke
loss
lag
jaggies
V-sync-I remember a big post that used to be here about V-sync, but I don't remember the details of it.
ex_interp

Should I change the drivers for my vid card and such? What settings (on my comp and in Half Life) do I need to tweak? How do I figure out the <i>truth</i> to how fast my internet connection is? What in the hell is really happening when I'm pistoled 2 seconds after rounding a corner?

If all you do is point me to a good FAQ, I would appreciate it.

Edit*-already found an answer to one of my questions. Was right here on the forums all along.

Swift

I foresee many responses.. But im too lazy to help. =P

fps_max 9999999999.234 FTW

Breakthrough

V-Sync is vertical sync. When it's on, it usually limits your maximum frames per second to 60, but reduces screen tearing (which you can hardly notice with it off). For better FPS, turn it off.

Swift

Thank god, an anti-vsync gamer. =]

typical_skeleton

lag is a term commonly used to refer to high latency. Latency is the time it takes information from your computer to reach the server, etc. If the information is travelling slowly, your latency is high; quickly, it's low. "lag" just refers to spikes in latency. The cause of these spikes is innumerable.

"laggy", of course, means a connection is prone to lag spikes, or is in general slow.

I'm not sure what context you heard "jaggies" in, but it's used to refer to a lot of things. It's commonly used to refer to graphical anomalies, such as uneven edges, etc (in my experience). Maybe there's something more specific that I'm not aware of.

"loss" refers to information lossed while being transmitted. This results in warping, etc, of characters. I'm not sure if it has a more specific meaning in Half Life.

Lt_Patch

cl_cmdrate is the frequency of command locators that you send to the server, the client (cl_) command rate (cmdrate). Should be no more than max_fps setting. (packets/sec)

cl_updaterate is the frequency of clientside locator refreshers, again, should be no more than max_fps. (packets/sec)

choke is the amount of packets disregarded by your PC, as there is no frame in which to adress it packets details (packets/sec)

Loss, is the number of packets lost, either in transit, or at the server. Calculated from cl_cmdrate, and the number of packets recieved. This, ideally needs to be 0 at all times, although 1-2 loss is still playable. (packets/sec)

Lag, is a frequently used term to describe a slow connection to a server, cauing players to warp all over the place. Not only is this used to describe high latency, it is also (incorrectly) used to describe situations of unusually high choke, and/or loss.

Jaggies can refer to badly arranged pixels on a sprite, causing the surface to be aliased, or appear jagged, this can be countered by forcing anti-aliasing to either 2x, 4x, or whatever your graphics card supports. It can also describe the appearence of the netgraph, when you are experiencing unusual amount of choke/loss, as the netgraph draws the amount as a jagged line.

ex_interp is the amount of interpolation that occurs within the Half-Life engine, this is the dreaded "Hit Reg" variable, too high, or too low, and your hits will never register. for faster connections (I'm talking 5-15ms latency. REALLY fast connections) then you can lower this variable. Higher latencies need to leave this value alone. If ex_interp is too low, then the client starts to extrapolate the locations of everyone, using the packets from the server. This is why you are getting 'stola'd round the corner, as the attacker's client is extrapolating the information...

That lot is off the top of my head, as I can't be arsed to look all of them up for 100% accurate information. Most of the time, you'll never need to change any command variables, as a correctly configured Steam client takes care of the majority of the variables...